Ketav Ivri
INTRODUCTION:
If the person of faith has not lost their ability to think,
they soon realise that facts sometimes get in the way of faith. What happens
when faith and facts collide?
This article, based on the writing of Haggai Misgav[1]
from the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
explores three rabbinic approaches to this question.[2]
THE TALMUDIC DISCUSSION ON THE PROVENANCE OF HEBREW
WRITING:
There are two forms of Hebrew script, Ketav Ivri or
Old Hebrew and Ketav Ashuri, the square script of the Hebrew we still
use today. Technically, our ‘Hebrew’ script is not really Hebrew but Ashurite.
The Talmud[3]
records a second century CE discussion between three rabbis about the original
format of Hebrew writing:
