Name	Hebrew
Nativename	'' '' |pronunciation standard Israeli: - ,standard Israeli (Sephardi): ,Iraqi: , Yemenite: ,Ashkenazi:
Region	Israel Global (as a liturgical language for Judaism), in West Bank, and Gaza
Speakers	Total < 9,000,000 First language 5,300,000 (2009);Second language 2,500,000 (2009) Home language 200,000 (approx.) in the United States speak Hebrew at home 1''United States Census 2000 PHC-T-37. Ability to Speak English by Language Spoken at Home: 2000. '' Palestinian territories Second language 500,000 - 1,000,000 Extinct as a regularly spoken language by the 4th century CE, but survived as a liturgical and literary language; revived in the 1880s
Familycolor	Afro-Asiatic
Fam2	Semitic
Fam3	Central Semitic
Fam4	Northwest Semitic
Fam5	Canaanite
Script	Hebrew alphabet
Nation
Agency	Academy of the Hebrew Language ()
Iso1	he |iso2heb
Lc1	heb |ld1Modern Hebrew
Lc2	hbo |ld2Ancient Hebrew |ll2Biblical Hebrew language
Lingua	12-AAB-a
Notice	IPA }}

Hebrew (, '''', ) is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such as the Samaritans. Modern Hebrew is spoken by most of the seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world. The language is attested from the 10th century BCE to the late Second Temple period, after which the language developed into Mishnaic Hebrew. Modern Hewbrew is one of the official languages of Israel, along with Arabic.

Ancient Hebrew is also the liturgical tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular, though today about 700 Samaritans remain. As a foreign language it is studied mostly by Jews and students of Judaism and Israel, archaeologists and linguists specializing in the Middle East and its civilizations, by theologians, and in Christian seminaries.

The core of the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible), and most of the rest of the Hebrew Bible, is written in Classical Hebrew, and much of its present form is specifically the dialect of Biblical Hebrew that scholars believe flourished around the 6th century BCE, around the time of the Babylonian exile. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as '''' (), "The Holy Language", since ancient times.

Naming

The modern word "Hebrew" is derived from the word "ʕibri" (plural "ʕibrim") one of several names for the Jewish people. It is traditionally understood to be an adjective based on the name of Abraham's ancestor, Eber ("ʕebr" עבר in Hebrew) mentioned in Genesis 10:21. This name is possibly based upon the root "ˁ-b-r" () meaning "to cross over". Interpretations of the term "ʕibrim" link it to this verb; cross over and homiletical or the people who crossed over the river Euphrates.

In the Bible, "Hebrew" is called '''' () because Judah ('''') was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation, late 8th century BCE (Is 36, 2 Kings 18). In Isaiah 19:18, it is also called the "Language of Canaan" (.

In the Torah, the term "Hebrew" is generally agreed to come from a group know as Habiru (or 'Apiru), a people who have lost their status in a community to which they had originally belonged.

History

Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages.

Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah during the 10th to 7th centuries BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a spoken vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile, when the predominant language in the region was Old Aramaic.

Hebrew was nearly extinct as a spoken language by Late Antiquity, but it survived as a literary language and as the liturgical language of Judaism, evolving various dialects of literary Medieval Hebrew, until its revival as a spoken language in the late 19th century.

Oldest Hebrew inscriptions

The earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered was found at Khirbet Qeiyafa in July 2008 by Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel. A 3,000-year-old pottery shard bearing five lines of faded characters was found in the ruins of an ancient town south of Jerusalem. Garfinkel noted that the find suggests biblical accounts of the ancient Israelite kingdom of David could have been based on written texts.

The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, the traditional time of the reign of David and Solomon. Classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar (named after the city in whose proximity it was found) is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks and Etruscans later became the Roman script. The Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it.

Numerous older tablets have been found in the region with similar scripts written in other Semitic languages, for example Protosinaitic. It is believed that the original shapes of the script go back to Egyptian hieroglyphs, though the phonetic values are instead inspired by the acrophonic principle. The common ancestor of Hebrew and Phoenician is called Canaanite, and was the first to use a Semitic alphabet distinct from Egyptian. One ancient document is the famous Moabite Stone written in the Moabite dialect; the Siloam Inscription, found near Jerusalem, is an early example of Hebrew. Less ancient samples of Archaic Hebrew include the ostraca found near Lachish which describe events preceding the final capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian captivity of 586 BCE.

Classical Hebrew

In its widest sense, ''Classical Hebrew'' means the spoken language of ancient Israel flourishing between the 10th century BCE and the turn of the 4th century CE. It comprises several evolving and overlapping dialects. The phases of Classical Hebrew are often named after important literary works associated with them.

Archaic Biblical Hebrew from the 10th to the 6th century BCE, corresponding to the Monarchic Period until the Babylonian Exile and represented by certain texts in the Hebrew Bible (Tanach), notably the Song of Moses (Exodus 15) and the Song of Deborah (Judges 5). Also called Old Hebrew or Paleo-Hebrew. It was written in a form of the Canaanite script. (A script descended from this is still used by the Samaritans, see Samaritan Hebrew language.)

Standard Biblical Hebrew around the 8th to 6th centuries BCE, corresponding to the late Monarchic period and the Babylonian Exile. It is represented by the bulk of the Hebrew Bible that attains much of its present form around this time. Also called Standard Biblical Hebrew, Early Biblical Hebrew, Classical Biblical Hebrew (or Classical Hebrew in the narrowest sense).

Late Biblical Hebrew, from the 5th to the 3rd centuries BCE, that corresponds to the Persian Period and is represented by certain texts in the Hebrew Bible, notably the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Basically similar to Classical Biblical Hebrew, apart from a few foreign words adopted for mainly governmental terms, and some syntactical innovations such as the use of the particle ''shel'' (of, belonging to). It adopted the Imperial Aramaic script.

Israelian Hebrew is a proposed northern dialect of biblical Hebrew, attested in all eras of the language, in some cases competing with late biblical Hebrew as an explanation for non-standard linguistic features of biblical texts.

Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE, corresponding to the Hellenistic and Roman Periods before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and represented by the Qumran Scrolls that form most (but not all) of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Commonly abbreviated as DSS Hebrew, also called Qumran Hebrew. The Imperial Aramaic script of the earlier scrolls in the 3rd century BCE evolved into the Hebrew square script of the later scrolls in the 1st century CE, also known as ''ketav Ashuri'' (Assyrian script), still in use today.

Mishnaic Hebrew from the 1st to the 3rd or 4th century CE, corresponding to the Roman Period after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and represented by the bulk of the Mishnah and Tosefta within the Talmud and by the Dead Sea Scrolls, notably the Bar Kokhba Letters and the Copper Scroll. Also called Tannaitic Hebrew or Early Rabbinic Hebrew.

Sometimes the above phases of spoken Classical Hebrew are simplified into "Biblical Hebrew" (including several dialects from the 10th century BCE to 2nd century BCE and extant in certain Dead Sea Scrolls) and "Mishnaic Hebrew" (including several dialects from the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE and extant in certain other Dead Sea Scrolls). However, today, most Hebrew linguists classify Dead Sea Scroll Hebrew as a set of dialects evolving out of Late Biblical Hebrew and into Mishnaic Hebrew, thus including elements from both but remaining distinct from either. By the start of the Byzantine Period in the 4th century CE, Classical Hebrew ceases as a regularly spoken language, roughly a century after the publication of the Mishnah, apparently declining since the aftermath of the catastrophic Bar Kokhba War around 135 CE.

Around the 6th century BCE, the Neo-Babylonian Empire conquered the ancient Kingdom of Judah, destroying much of Jerusalem and exiling its population far to the East in Babylon. During the Babylonian captivity, many Israelites were enslaved within the Babylonian Empire and learned the closely related Semitic language of their captors, Aramaic. The Babylonians had taken mainly the governing classes of Israel while leaving behind presumably more-compliant farmers and laborers to work the land. Thus for a significant period, the Jewish elite became influenced by Aramaic. (see below, Aramaic spoken among Israelites).

After Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon, he released the Jewish people from captivity. "The King of Kings" or Great King of Persia, later gave the Israelites permission to return. As a result, a local version of Aramaic came to be spoken in Israel alongside Hebrew, also the Assyrian empire before that caused Israel to speak a variant of Aramaic for trade, in Israel-Judea these languages co-mingled. The Greek Era saw a brief ban on the Hebrew language until the period of the Hasmoneans. By the beginning of the Common Era, Aramaic was the primary colloquial language of Samarian, Babylonian and Galileen Jews, western and intellectual Jews spoke Greek, but a form of so-called Rabbinic Hebrew continued to be used as a vernacular in Judea until it was displaced by Aramaic, probably in the 3rd century CE, certain Sadducee, Pharisee, Scribe, Hermit, Zealot and Priest classes maintained an insistence on Hebrew, all Jews maintained their identity with Hebrew songs, and simple easy to remember quotes from the Hebrew texts. (other opinions on the exact date range from the 4th-century BCE to the end of the Roman period).

Jewish diaspora

While there is no doubt that at a certain point, Hebrew was displaced as the everyday spoken language of most Jews, and that its chief successor in the Middle East was the closely related Aramaic language, then Greek, scholarly opinions on the exact dating of that shift have changed very much. In the early half of the 20th century, most scholars followed Geiger and Dalman in thinking that Aramaic became a spoken language in the land of Israel as early as by the start of Israel's Hellenistic Period in the 4th century BCE, and that as a corollary Hebrew ceased to function as a spoken language around the same time. Segal, Klausner, and Ben Yehuda are notable exceptions to this view. During the latter half of the 20th century, accumulating archaeological evidence and especially linguistic analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls has disproven that view. The Dead Sea Scrolls, uncovered in 1946-1948 near Qumran revealed ancient Jewish texts overwhelmingly in Hebrew, not Aramaic. The Qumran scrolls indicate that Hebrew texts were readily understandable to the average Israelite, and that the language had evolved since Biblical times as spoken languages do.. Recent scholarship recognizes that reports of Jews speaking in Aramaic indicates a multi-lingual society, not necessarily the primary language spoken. Alongside Aramaic, Hebrew co-existed within Israel as a spoken language. Most scholars now date the demise of Hebrew as a spoken language to the end of the Roman Period, or about 200 CE. It continued on as a literary language down through Byzantine Period from the 4th century CE. Many Hebrew linguists even postulate the survival of Hebrew as a spoken language until the Byzantine Period, but some historians do not accept this.

The exact roles of Aramaic and Hebrew remain hotly debated. A trilingual scenario has been proposed for the land of Israel. Hebrew functioned as the local mother tongue with powerful ties to Israel's history, origins, and golden age and as the language of Israel's religion; Aramaic functioned as the international language with the rest of the Mideast; and eventually Greek functioned as another international language with the eastern areas of the Roman Empire. Communities of Jews (and non-Jews) are known, who immigrated to Judea from these other lands and continued to speak Aramaic or Greek. According to another summary, Greek was the language of government, Hebrew the language of prayer, study and religious texts, and Aramaic was the language of legal contracts and trade. There was also geographic pattern: by the beginning of the Common Era, "Judeo-Aramaic was mainly used in Galilee in the north, Greek was concentrated in the former colonies and around governmental centers, and Hebrew monolingualism continued mainly in the southern villages and no man's land of Judea." In other words, "in terms of dialect geography, at the time of the tannaim Palestine could be divided into the Aramaic-speaking regions of Galilee and Samaria and a smaller area, Judaea, in which Rabbinic Hebrew was used among the descendants of returning exiles." In addition, it has been surmised that Koine Greek was the primary vehicle of communication in coastal cities and among the upper class of Jerusalem, and Aramaic was prevalent in the lower class of Jerusalem, but not in the surrounding countryside. After the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt, Judaeans were forced to disperse and many relocated to Galilee, so most remaining native speakers of Hebrew at that last stage would have been found in the north.

The Christian New Testament contains some clearly Aramaic place names and quotes. Although the language of such Semitic glosses (and in general the language spoken by Jews in scenes from the New Testament) is usually referred to as "Hebrew"/"Jewish" in the text, this term often seems to refer to Aramaic instead (and its related expressions) seems to mean 'in Hebrew', and it has often been argued that it means this and nothing more. As is well known, it is used at times with words and expressions that are clearly Aramaic. Thus in John 19:13, is given as an explanation of the Lithostrotos, and is a Grecized form of the Aramaic word gabbětā, 'raised place.'"|group="note"}} and is rendered accordingly in recent translations. Nonetheless, many glosses can be interpreted as Hebrew as well; and it has been argued that Hebrew, rather than Aramaic, lay behind the composition of the Gospel of Matthew. (See the Hebrew Gospel hypothesis or Aramaic of Jesus for more details on Hebrew and Aramaic in the gospels.)

Mishnah and Talmud

The term generally refers to the Hebrew dialects found in the Talmud , excepting quotations from the Hebrew Bible. The dialects organize into Mishnaic Hebrew (also called Tannaitic Hebrew, Early Rabbinic Hebrew, or Mishnaic Hebrew I), which was a spoken language, and Amoraic Hebrew (also called Late Rabbinic Hebrew or Mishnaic Hebrew II), which was a literary language. The earlier section of the Talmud is the Mishnah that was published around 200 CE, though many of the stories take place much earlier, and was written in the earlier Mishnaic dialect. The dialect is also found in certain Dead Sea Scrolls. Mishnaic Hebrew is considered to be one of the dialects of Classical Hebrew that functioned as a living language in the land of Israel. A transitional form of the language occurs in the other works of Tannaitic literature dating from the century beginning with the completion of the Mishnah. These include the halachic Midrashim (Sifra, Sifre, Mechilta etc.) and the expanded collection of Mishnah-related material known as the Tosefta . The Talmud contains excerpts from these works, as well as further Tannaitic material not attested elsewhere; the generic term for these passages is Baraitot. The dialect of all these works is very similar to Mishnaic Hebrew.

About a century after the publication of the Mishnah, Mishnaic Hebrew fell into disuse as a spoken language. The later section of the Talmud, the Gemara , generally comments on the Mishnah and Baraitot in two forms of Aramaic. Nevertheless, Hebrew survived as a liturgical and literary language in the form of later Amoraic Hebrew, which sometimes occurs in the text of the Gemara.

Because as early as the Torah's transcription the Scribe has been the highest position in Judaism, Hebrew was always regarded as the language of Israel's religion, history and national pride, and after it faded as a spoken language, it continued to be used as a ''lingua franca'' among scholars and Jews traveling in foreign countries throughout history. After the 2nd century CE when the Roman Empire exiled most of the Jewish population of Jerusalem following the Bar Kokhba revolt, the Israelites adapted to the societies in which they found themselves, yet letters, contracts, commerce, science, philosophy, medicine, poetry, and laws continued to be written mostly in Hebrew, which adapted by borrowing and inventing terms.

Medieval Hebrew

After the Talmud, various regional literary dialects of Medieval Hebrew evolved. The most important is Tiberian Hebrew or Masoretic Hebrew, a local dialect of Tiberias in Galilee that became the standard for vocalizing the Hebrew Bible and thus still influences all other regional dialects of Hebrew. This Tiberian Hebrew from the 7th to 10th century CE is sometimes called "Biblical Hebrew" because it is used to pronounce the Hebrew Bible; however properly it should be distinguished from the historical Biblical Hebrew of the 6th century BCE, whose original pronunciation must be reconstructed. Tiberian Hebrew incorporates the remarkable scholarship of the Masoretes (from ''masoret'' meaning "tradition"), who added vowel points and grammar points to the Hebrew letters to preserve much earlier features of Hebrew, for use in chanting the Hebrew Bible. The Masoretes inherited a biblical text whose letters were considered too sacred to be altered, so their markings were in the form of pointing in and around the letters. The Syriac script, precursor to the Arabic script, also developed vowel pointing systems around this time. The Aleppo Codex, a Hebrew Bible with the Masoretic pointing, was written in the 10th century likely in Tiberias and survives to this day. It is perhaps the most important Hebrew manuscript in existence.

In the Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain important work was done by grammarians in explaining the grammar and vocabulary of Biblical Hebrew; much of this was based on the work of the grammarians of Classical Arabic. Important Hebrew grammarians were Judah ben David Hayyuj, Jonah ibn Janah and later (in Provence) David Kimhi. A great deal of poetry was written, by poets such as Dunash ben Labrat, Solomon ibn Gabirol, Judah ha-Levi and the two Ibn Ezras, in a "purified" Hebrew based on the work of these grammarians, and in Arabic quantitative or strophic meters. This literary Hebrew was later used by Italian Jewish poets.

The need to express scientific and philosophical concepts from Classical Greek and Medieval Arabic motivated Medieval Hebrew to borrow terminology and grammar from these other languages, or to coin equivalent terms from existing Hebrew roots, giving rise to a distinct style of philosophical Hebrew. This is used in the translations made by the Ibn Tibbon family. (Original Jewish philosophical works were usually written in Arabic.) Another important influence was Maimonides, who developed a simple style based on Mishnaic Hebrew for use in his law code, the Mishneh Torah. Subsequent rabbinic literature is written in a blend between this style and the Aramaized Rabbinic Hebrew of the Talmud.

Hebrew persevered through the ages as the main language for written purposes by all Jewish communities around the world for a large range of uses - not only liturgy, but also poetry, philosophy, science and medicine, commerce, daily correspondence and contracts. There have been, of course, many deviations from this generalization such as Bar Kokhba's letters to his lieutenants, which were mostly in Aramaic, and Maimonides' writings, which were mostly in Arabic; but overall, Hebrew did not cease to be used for such purposes. This meant not only that well-educated Jews in all parts of the world could correspond in a mutually intelligible language, and that books and legal documents published or written in any part of the world could be read by Jews in all other parts, but that an educated Jew could travel and converse with Jews in distant places, just as priests and other educated Christians could once converse in Latin.

Revival

Hebrew has been 'revived' several times as a literary language, and most significantly by the Haskalah (Enlightenment) movement of early and mid-19th century Germany. Near the end of that century the Jewish activist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, owing to the ideology of the national revival (''Shivat Tziyon'', later Zionism), began reviving Hebrew as a modern spoken language. Eventually, as a result of the local movement he created, but more significantly as a result of the new groups of immigrants known under the name of the ''Second Aliyah'', it replaced a score of languages spoken by Jews at that time. Those languages were Jewish dialects such as the Judeo-Spanish language (also called Judezmo or Ladino), Yiddish, Judeo-Arabic, and Bukharian language, or local languages spoken in the Jewish diaspora such as Russian, Persian, and Arabic.

The major result of the literary work of the Hebrew intellectuals along the 19th century was a lexical modernization of Hebrew. New words and expressions were adapted as neologisms from the large corpus of Hebrew writings since the Hebrew Bible, or borrowed from Turkish and Arabic (mainly by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda) and older Aramaic and Latin. Many new words were either borrowed from or coined after European languages, especially English, Russian, German, and French. Modern Hebrew became an official language in British-ruled Palestine in 1921 (along with English and Arabic), and then in 1948 became an official language of the newly declared State of Israel. Hebrew is the most widely spoken language in Israel today.

In the Modern Period, from the 19th century onward, the literary Hebrew tradition as pronounced in Jerusalem revived as the spoken language of modern Israel, called variously ''Israeli Hebrew'', ''Modern Israeli Hebrew'', ''Modern Hebrew'', ''New Hebrew'', ''Israeli Standard Hebrew'', ''Standard Hebrew'', and so on. Israeli Hebrew exhibits many features of Sephardic Hebrew from its local Jerusalemite tradition but adapts it with numerous neologisms, borrowed terms (often technical) from European languages and adopted terms (often colloquial) from Arabic.

The literary and narrative use of Hebrew was revived beginning with the Haskalah (Enlightenment) movement. The first secular periodical in Hebrew, ''Hameassef'' (The Gatherer), was published by Maskilim literati in Königsberg (today's Kaliningrad) from 1783 onwards. In the mid-19th century, publications of several Eastern European Hebrew-language newspapers (e.g. HaMagid, founded in Lyck, Prussia, in 1856) multiplied. Prominent poets were Chaim Nachman Bialik and Shaul Tchernichovsky; there were also novels written in the language.

The revival of the Hebrew language as a mother tongue was initiated in the late 19th century by the efforts of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. He joined the Jewish national movement and in 1881 immigrated to Palestine, then a part of the Ottoman Empire. Motivated by the surrounding ideals of renovation and rejection of the diaspora "shtetl" lifestyle, Ben-Yehuda set out to develop tools for making the literary and liturgical language into everyday spoken language. However, his brand of Hebrew followed norms that had been replaced in Eastern Europe by different grammar and style, in the writings of people like Achad Ha-Am and others. His organizational efforts and involvement with the establishment of schools and the writing of textbooks pushed the vernacularization activity into a gradually accepted movement. It was not, however, until the 1904-1914 Second Aliyah that Hebrew had caught real momentum in Ottoman Palestine with the more highly organized enterprises set forth by the new group of immigrants. When the British Mandate of Palestine recognized Hebrew as one of the country's three official languages (English, Arabic, and Hebrew, in 1922), its new formal status contributed to its diffusion. A constructed modern language with a truly Semitic vocabulary and written appearance, although often European in phonology, was to take its place among the current languages of the nations.

While many saw his work as fanciful or even blasphemous (because Hebrew was the holy language of the Torah and therefore some thought that it should not be used to discuss everyday matters), many soon understood the need for a common language amongst Jews of the British Mandate who at the turn of the 20th century were arriving in large numbers from diverse countries and speaking different languages. A Committee of the Hebrew Language was established. After the establishment of Israel, it became the Academy of the Hebrew Language. The results of Ben-Yehuda's lexicographical work were published in a dictionary (''The Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew''). The seeds of Ben-Yehuda's work fell on fertile ground, and by the beginning of the 20th century, Hebrew was well on its way to becoming the main language of the Jewish population of both Ottoman and British Palestine. At the time, members of the Old Yishuv and a very few Hasidic sects, most notably those under the auspices of Satmar, refused to speak Hebrew and only spoke Yiddish. There still remains a sizable population in Jerusalem, particularly in the Meah Shearim area, that still prefers to stick to the language of the original settlers of the area, Yiddish. They only learn enough Hebrew to speak to shopkeepers and get jobs.

Modern Hebrew

Standard Hebrew, as developed by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, was based on Mishnaic spelling and Sephardi Hebrew pronunciation. However, the earliest speakers of Modern Hebrew had Yiddish as their native language and often brought into Hebrew idioms and literal translations from Yiddish.

The pronunciation of modern Israeli Hebrew is based mostly on the Sephardic Hebrew pronunciation. However, the language has adapted to Ashkenazi Hebrew phonology in some respects, mainly the following:

the elimination of pharyngeal articulation in the letters ''chet'' () and ''ayin'' () by many speakers. the conversion of () from an alveolar flap to a voiced uvular fricative or trill , by most of the speakers. ''see Guttural R'' the pronunciation (by many speakers) of ''tzere'' as in some contexts (''sifrey'' and ''teysha'' instead of Sephardic ''sifré'' and ''tésha''') the partial elimination of vocal ''Shva'' (''zman'' instead of Sephardic ''zĕman'') in popular speech, penultimate stress in proper names (''Dvóra'' instead of ''Dĕvorá''; ''Yehúda'' instead of ''Yĕhudá'') and some other words similarly in popular speech, penultimate stress in verb forms with a second person plural suffix (''katávtem'' "you wrote" instead of ''kĕtavtém'').

Status

Modern Hebrew is, along with Arabic, an official language of the State of Israel.

The Soviet authorities considered the use of Hebrew "reactionary" since it was associated with both Judaism and Zionism, and the teaching of Hebrew at primary and secondary schools was officially banned by the Narkompros (Commissariat of Education) as early as 1919, as part of an overall agenda aiming to secularize education (the language itself did not cease to be studied at universities for historical and linguistic purposes). The official ordinance stated that Yiddish, being the spoken language of the Russian Jews, should be treated as their only national language, while Hebrew was to be treated as a foreign language. Hebrew books and periodicals ceased to be published and were seized from the libraries, although liturgical texts were still published until the 1930s. Despite numerous protests, a policy of suppression of the teaching of Hebrew operated from the 1930s on. Later in the 1980s in the USSR, Hebrew studies reappeared due to people struggling for permission to go to Israel (refuseniks). Several of the teachers were imprisoned, for example, Ephraim Kholmyansky, Yevgeny Korostyshevsky and others responsible for a Hebrew learning network connecting many cities of USSR.

Phonology

Biblical Hebrew had a typical Semitic consonant inventory, with pharyngeal /ʕ ħ/, a series of "emphatic" consonants (possibly ejective, but this is debated), lateral fricative /ɬ/, and in its older stages also uvular /χ ʁ/. /χ ʁ/ merged into /ħ ʕ/ in later Biblical Hebrew, and /b ɡ d k p t/ underwent allophonic spirantization to [v ɣ ð x f θ] (known as begadkefat spirantization). The earliest Biblical Hebrew vowel system contained the Proto-Semitic vowels /a aː i iː u uː/ as well as /oː/, but this system changed dramatically over time.

By the early Middle Ages, /ɬ/ had shifted to /s/ in the Jewish traditions, though for the Samaritans it merged with /ʃ/ instead. The Tiberian reading tradition of the Middle Ages had the vowel system /a ɛ e i ɔ o u ă ɔ̆ ɛ̆/, though other Medieval reading traditions had less vowels.

A number of reading traditions have been preserved in liturgical use. In Oriental (Sephardi and Mizrahi) Jewish reading traditions, the emphatic consonants are realized as pharyngealized, while the Ashkenazi (eastern European) traditions have lost emphatics and pharyngeals, and show the shift of /w/ to /v/. The Samaritan tradition has a complex vowel system which does not correspond closely to the Tiberian systems.

Modern Hebrew pronunciation developed from a mixture of the different Jewish reading traditions, generally tending towards simplification. Emphatic consonants have shifted to their ordinary counterparts, /w/ to /v/, and [ɣ ð θ] are not present. Many Israelis merge /ʕ ħ/ with /ʔ χ/, do not have contrastive gemination, and pronounce /r/ as a uvular trill [ʀ] rather than an alveolar trill, as in many varieties of Ashkenazi Hebrew. The consonants /tʃ dʒ/ have become phonemic due to loan words, and /w/ has similarly been re-introduced.

Hebrew grammar

Hebrew grammar is partly analytic, expressing such forms as dative, ablative, and accusative using prepositional particles rather than grammatical cases. However, inflection plays a decisive role in the formation of the verbs and nouns. E.g. nouns have a construct state, called "smikhut", to denote the relationship of "belonging to": this is the converse of the genitive case of more inflected languages. Words in smikhut are often combined with hyphens. In modern speech, the use of the construct is sometimes interchangeable with the preposition "shel", meaning "of". There are many cases, however, where older declined forms are retained (especially in idiomatic expressions and the like), and "person"-enclitics are widely used to "decline" prepositions.

Morphology

Like all Semitic languages, the Hebrew language exhibits a pattern of stems consisting typically of "triliteral", or 3-consonant consonantal roots (2- and 4-consonant roots also exist), from which nouns, adjectives, and verbs are formed in various ways: e.g. by inserting vowels, doubling consonants, lengthening vowels, and/or adding prefixes, suffixes, or infixes.

Hebrew uses a number of one-letter prefixes that are added to words for various purposes. These are called inseparable prepositions or "Letters of Use" (''Hebrew: אותיות השימוש, Otiyot HaShimush''). Such items include: the definite article ''ha-'' () (="the"); prepositions ''be-'' () (="in"), ''le-'' () (="to"), ''mi-'' () (="from"; a shortened version of the preposition ''min''); conjunctions ''ve-'' () (="and"), ''she-'' () (="that"), ''ke-'' () (="as", "like").

The vowel accompanying each of these letters may differ from those listed above, depending on the first letter or vowel following it. The rules governing these changes, hardly observed in colloquial speech as most speakers tend to employ the regular form, may be heard in more formal circumstances. For example, if a preposition is put before a word which begins with a moving Shva, then the preposition takes the vowel (and the initial consonant may be weakened): colloquial ''be-kfar'' (="in a village") corresponds to the more formal ''bi-khfar''.

The definite article may be inserted between a preposition or a conjunction and the word it refers to, creating composite words like ''mé-ha-kfar'' (="from the village"). The latter also demonstrates the change in the vowel of ''mi-''. With ''be'' and ''le'', the definite article is assimilated into the prefix, which then becomes ''ba'' or ''la''. Thus *''be-ha-matos'' becomes ''ba-matos'' (="in the plane"). Note that this does not happen to ''mé'' (the form of "min" or "mi-" used before the letter "he"), therefore ''mé-ha-matos'' is a valid form, which means "from the airplane".

:''* indicates that the given example is grammatically non standard''.

Syntax

Like most other languages, the vocabulary of the Hebrew language is divided into verbs, nouns, adjectives, and so on, and its sentence structure can be analyzed by terms like object, subject, and so on. However, persons who speak only Indo-European languages (e.g. English, French, Urdu, Persian) may find the structure of Hebrew sentences quite surprising. Hebrew sentences do not have to include verbs. The verb To Be in present tense is omitted (although implied). Unlike the verb ''To Have'', none of the possession terms in Hebrew is a verb. There is no word that is supposed to come before every singular noun. Moreover, many sentences can have a few correct orders of words.

==Writing system== Modern Hebrew is written from right to left using the Hebrew alphabet, which is an abjad, or consonant-only script of 22 letters. The ancient paleo-Hebrew alphabet is similar to those used for Canaanite and Phoenician. Modern scripts are based on the "square" letter form, known as ''Ashurit'' (Assyrian), which was developed from the Aramaic script. A cursive Hebrew script is used in handwriting: the letters tend to be more circular in form when written in cursive, and sometimes vary markedly from their printed equivalents. The medieval version of the cursive script forms the basis of another style, known as Rashi script. When necessary, vowels are indicated by diacritic marks above or below the letter representing the syllabic onset, or by use of ''matres lectionis'', which are consonantal letters used as vowels. Further diacritics are used to indicate variations in the pronunciation of the consonants (e.g. ''bet''/''vet'', ''shin''/''sin''); and, in some contexts, to indicate the punctuation, accentuation and musical rendition of Biblical texts (see Cantillation).

Hebrew in Judaism

According to some Jewish traditions, Hebrew was the language of the creation. Likewise, Hebrew is considered to be the one language spoken by the united mankind before the dispersion connected with the Tower of Babel. According to Jewish esoteric teachings, the Hebrew letters are the lifeforce of all things created, determining their essence.

Liturgical use

Hebrew has always been used as the language of prayer and study, and the following pronunciation systems are found.

Ashkenazi Hebrew, originating in Central and Eastern Europe, is still widely used in Ashkenazi Jewish religious services and studies in Israel and abroad, particularly in the Haredi and other Orthodox communities. It was influenced by the Yiddish language.

Sephardi Hebrew is the traditional pronunciation of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews and Sephardi Jews in the countries of the former Ottoman Empire. This pronunciation, in the form used by the Jerusalem Sephardic community, is the basis of the Hebrew phonology of Israeli native speakers. It was influenced by the Judezmo language.

Mizrahi (Oriental) Hebrew is actually a collection of dialects spoken liturgically by Jews in various parts of the Arab and Islamic world. It was possibly influenced by the Aramaic and Arabic languages, and in some cases by Sephardi Hebrew, although some linguists maintain that it is the direct heir of Biblical Hebrew and thus represents the true dialect of Hebrew. The same claim is sometimes made for Yemenite Hebrew or ''Temanit'', which differs from other Mizrahi dialects by having a radically different vowel system, and distinguishing between different diacritically marked consonants that are pronounced identically in other dialects (for example gimel and "ghimel".)

These pronunciations are still used in synagogue ritual and religious study, in Israel and elsewhere, mostly by people who are not native speakers of Hebrew, though some traditionalist Israelis are bi-dialectal.

Many synagogues in the diaspora, even though Ashkenazi by rite and by ethnic composition, have adopted the "Sephardic" pronunciation in deference to Israeli Hebrew. However, in many British and American schools and synagogues, this pronunciation retains several elements of its Ashkenazi substrate, especially the distinction between tsere and segol.

See also

Cantillation

Cursive Hebrew

Hebraization of English

Hebrew acronyms

Hebrew alphabet

Hebrew literature

Hebrew phonology

Jewish languages

Romanization of Hebrew

Study of the Hebrew language

Notes

References

Bibliography

Hoffman, Joel M, ''In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language.'' New York: NYU Press. ISBN 0-8147-3654-8.

Izre'el, Shlomo, "The emergence of Spoken Israeli Hebrew", in: Benjamin Hary (ed.), ''The Corpus of Spoken Israeli Hebrew (CoSIH): Working Papers I'' (2001)

Kuzar, Ron, ''Hebrew and Zionism: A Discourse Analytic Cultural Study''. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter 2001. ISBN 3-11-016993-2, ISBN 3-11-016992-4.

Laufer, Asher. "Hebrew", in: Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press 1999. ISBN 0-521-65236-7, ISBN 0-521-63751-1.

Sáenz-Badillos, Angel, 1993 ''A History of the Hebrew Language'' (trans. John Elwolde). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-55634-1

External links

Ancient Hebrew Research Center Research and Learning Hebrew Resources

Fully Transliterated Modern Hebrew Course (with listing of verb roots and derived verbs)

Morfix online dictionary

Early Hebrew Newspapers Thousands of pages of mid- to late-19th-century and early 20th-century newspapers written in Hebrew and readable on line.

Categorized Hebrew language study resources on the Internet

Hebrew fonts

USA Foreign Service Institute (FSI) Hebrew basic course

Category:Fertile Crescent Category:Hebrew Bible topics Category:Languages of Israel Category:Semitic languages Category:VSO languages

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Name	Natalie Portman
Birth name	Natalie Hershlag()
Birth date	June 09, 1981
Birth place	Jerusalem, Israel
Alma mater	Harvard University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1994–present
Partner	Benjamin Millepied (2010–present; 1 child) }}

Natalie Hershlag (; born June 9, 1981), better known by her stage name Natalie Portman, is an actress with dual American and Israeli citizenship. Her first role was as an orphan taken in by a hitman in the 1994 French action film ''Léon'', but major success came when she was cast as Padmé Amidala in the ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy. In 1999, she enrolled at Harvard University to study psychology while still working as an actress. She completed her bachelor's degree in 2003.

In 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Anton Chekhov's ''The Seagull''. In 2005, Portman received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as well as winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for the drama ''Closer''. She won a Constellation Award for Best Female Performance, and a Saturn Award for Best Actress for her starring role in ''V for Vendetta'' (2006). She played leading roles in the historical dramas ''Goya's Ghosts'' (2006) and ''The Other Boleyn Girl'' (2008). In May 2008, she served as the youngest member of the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival jury. Portman's directorial debut, ''Eve'', opened the 65th Venice International Film Festival's shorts competition in 2008.

In 2011, Portman won the Academy Award, the Golden Globe Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, and the BAFTA Award for her lead performance as Nina in ''Black Swan''.

Early life

Portman was born in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Shelley (née Stevens), an American homemaker who works as Portman's agent, and Avner Hershlag, an Israeli citizen who is a fertility specialist and gynecologist. Portman's maternal ancestors were Jewish immigrants to the United States, from Austria and Russia (her mother's family had changed their surname from "Edelstein" to "Stevens"). Her paternal ancestors were Jews who moved to Israel from Poland and Romania. Her paternal grandfather, whose parents died at Auschwitz, was an economics professor in Israel, and her Romanian-born great-grandmother was a spy for British Intelligence during World War II.

Portman's parents met at a Jewish student center at Ohio State University, where her mother was selling tickets. They corresponded after her father returned to Israel, and were married when her mother visited a few years later. In 1984, when Portman was three years old, the family moved to the United States, where her father received his medical training. has said that although she "really love[s] the States... my heart's in Jerusalem. That's where I feel at home."

Portman and her family first lived in Washington, D.C., but relocated to Connecticut in 1988, and then settled on Long Island, New York, in 1990.

Education

In Washington, D.C., Portman attended Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School. Portman learned to speak Hebrew in addition to English, and attended a Jewish elementary school, the Solomon Schechter Day School of Glen Cove, New York. She graduated from Syosset High School in Syosset, Long Island, in 1999. Portman skipped the premiere of her film ''Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace'' so she could study for her high school final exams.

In 2003, Portman graduated from Harvard College with a B.A. degree in psychology. "I don't care if [college] ruins my career," she told the ''New York Post'', according to a Fox News Channel article. "I'd rather be smart than a movie star." At Harvard, Portman was Alan Dershowitz's research assistant. While attending Harvard, she was a resident of Lowell House and wrote a letter to the ''Harvard Crimson'' in response to an essay critical of Israeli actions toward Palestinians.

Portman took graduate courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the spring of 2004. In March 2006, she appeared as a guest lecturer at a Columbia University course in terrorism and counterterrorism, where she spoke about her film ''V for Vendetta''.

Portman has professed an interest in foreign languages since childhood and has studied French, Japanese, German, and Arabic.

As a student, Portman co-authored two research papers that were published in scientific journals. Her 1998 high school paper, "A Simple Method to Demonstrate the Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Sugar", co-authored with scientists Ian Hurley and Jonathan Woodward, was entered in the Intel Science Talent Search, in which she was named a semifinalist. In 2002, she contributed to a study on memory called "Frontal Lobe Activation during Object Permanence: Data from Near-Infrared Spectroscopy" during her psychology studies at Harvard.

Career

Early work

Portman started dancing lessons at age four and performed in local troupes. At the age of ten, a Revlon agent asked her to become a child model, but she turned down the offer to focus on acting. In a magazine interview, Portman said that she was "different from the other kids. I was more ambitious, I knew what I liked and what I wanted, and I worked very hard. I was a very serious kid."

Portman spent her school holidays attending theater camps. When she was ten, she auditioned for the Off-Broadway show ''Ruthless!'', a musical about a girl who is prepared to commit murder to get the lead in a school play. Portman and future pop star Britney Spears were chosen as the understudies for star Laura Bell Bundy. In 1994, she auditioned for the role of a child who befriends a middle-aged hitman in Luc Besson's film, ''Léon'' (aka ''The Professional''). Soon after getting the part, she took her grandmother's maiden name "Portman" as her stage name, in the interest of privacy and to protect her family's identity. ''Léon'' opened on November 18, 1994, marking her feature film debut. That same year she appeared in the short film ''Developing'', which aired on television.

1995–99

During the mid-1990s, Portman had roles in the films ''Heat'', ''Everyone Says I Love You'', and ''Mars Attacks!'', as well as a major role in ''Beautiful Girls''. She was the first choice to play Juliet in ''William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet'', but producers felt her age wasn't suitable. In 1997, Portman played the role of Anne Frank in a Broadway adaptation of ''The Diary of Anne Frank''.

Also in 1997, Portman was cast as Padmé Amidala in the ''Star Wars'' prequel trilogy. The first film, ''The Phantom Menace'', began filming in June 1997 and opened in May 1999. Following production on ''The Phantom Menace'', she initially turned down a lead role in the film ''Anywhere but Here'' after learning it would involve a sex scene, but director Wayne Wang and actress Susan Sarandon (who played Portman's mother in the film) demanded a rewrite of the script. Portman was shown a new draft, and she decided to accept the role. The film opened in late 1999, and she received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Ann August. Critic Mary Elizabeth Williams of ''Salon'' called Portman "astonishing" and said that "[u]nlike any number of actresses her age, she's neither too maudlin nor too plucky." She then signed on to play the lead role of a teenaged mother in ''Where the Heart Is'', which opened in April 2000.

2000–05

After filming ''Where the Heart Is'', Portman moved into the dorms of Harvard University to pursue her bachelor's degree in psychology. She said in a 1999 interview that, with the exception of the ''Star Wars'' prequels, she would not act for the next four years in order to concentrate on studying. During the summer break from June to September 2000, Portman filmed ''Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones'' in Sydney, along with additional production in London.

In July 2001, Portman opened in New York City's Public Theater production of Chekhov's ''The Seagull'', directed by Mike Nichols; she played the role of Nina alongside Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. The play opened at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. That same year, she was one of many celebrities who made cameo appearances in the 2001 comedy ''Zoolander''. Portman was cast in a small role in the film ''Cold Mountain'' alongside Jude Law and Nicole Kidman.

In 2004, Portman appeared in the independent movies ''Garden State'' and ''Closer''. ''Garden State'' was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and won Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards. Her performance as Alice in ''Closer'' earned her a Supporting Actress Golden Globe as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

The final ''Star Wars'' prequel, ''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith'', was released on May 19, 2005. The film was the highest grossing domestic film of the year, and was voted Favorite Motion Picture at the People's Choice Awards. Also in 2005, Portman filmed ''Free Zone'' and director Miloš Forman's ''Goya's Ghosts''. Forman had not seen any of her work but thought she looked like a Goya painting, so he requested a meeting.

2006–09

Portman hosted ''Saturday Night Live'' on March 4, 2006. In a SNL Digital Short, she portrays herself as an angry gangsta rapper (with Andy Samberg as her Flavor Flav-esque partner in Viking garb) during a faux-interview with Chris Parnell, saying she cheated at Harvard University while high on marijuana and cocaine. The song, titled "Natalie's Rap," was released – alongside other sketches from the show – in 2009 on ''Incredibad'', an album by the Lonely Island. In another sketch, she portrays a student named Rebecca Hershlag (her actual surname) attending a Bar Mitzvah, and in an installment of the recurring sketch The Needlers (also known as Sally and Dan, The Couple That Should Be Divorced), plays a fertility specialist (her father's profession).

''V for Vendetta'' opened in early 2006. Portman portrayed Evey Hammond, a young woman who is saved from the secret police by the main character, V. Portman worked with a voice coach for the role, learning to speak with an English accent, and she famously had her head shaved.

Portman has commented on ''V for Vendetta'' political relevance and mentioned that her character, who joins an underground anti-government group, is "often bad and does things that you don't like" and that "being from Israel was a reason I wanted to do this because terrorism and violence are such a daily part of my conversations since I was little." She said the film "doesn't make clear good or bad statements. It respects the audience enough to take away their own opinion".

Both ''Goya's Ghosts'' and ''Free Zone'' received limited releases in 2006. Portman starred in the children's film ''Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium'', which began filming in April 2006 and was released in November 2007; she has said that she was "excited to do a kids' movie." In late 2006, Portman filmed ''The Other Boleyn Girl'', a historical drama in which she plays Anne Boleyn; Eric Bana and Scarlett Johansson co-starred. She was named one of the hottest women of film and TV by ''Blender'' Magazine.

In 2006, she filmed Wong Kar-wai's road movie ''My Blueberry Nights''. She won acclaim for her role as gambler Leslie, because "[f]or once she's not playing a waif or a child princess but a mature, full-bodied woman... but she's not coasting on her looks... She uses her appeal to simultaneously flirt with and taunt the gambler across the table." Portman voiced Bart Simpson's girlfriend Darcy in the episode "Little Big Girl" of The Simpsons' 18th season.

She appeared in Paul McCartney's music video "Dance Tonight" from his 2007 album ''Memory Almost Full'', directed by Michel Gondry. Portman co-starred in the Wes Anderson short film ''Hotel Chevalier'', opposite Jason Schwartzman, in which she performed her second nude scene (her first being ''Goya's Ghosts''). In May 2008, Portman served as the youngest member of the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival jury, and in 2009, she starred opposite Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal in the drama film ''Brothers'', a remake of the 2004 Danish film of the same name.

In 2008, Portman at age 27 made her directorial debut at the Venice Film Festival. "Eve", a short movie about a young woman who is dragged along on her grandmother's romantic date, was screened out of competition. Portman said she had always had a fascination with the older generation, and drew inspiration for the character from her own grandmother.

2010–present

Portman played a veteran ballerina in Darren Aronofsky's 2010 film ''Black Swan'', a role of which critic Kurt Loder wrote: "Portman gives one of her most compelling performances in this film, which is saying something." To prepare for the role, she went through five to eight hours of dance training each day for six months and lost 20 pounds. In 2011, she won both the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for best lead actress.

After Portman's Oscar win, controversy arose over who performed the bulk of the on-screen dancing in ''Black Swan''. Sarah Lane, one of Portman's dancing doubles in the film, claimed that Portman performed only about 5 percent of the full-body shots, adding that she was asked by the film’s producers not to speak publicly about it during the Oscar season. Director Aronofsky defended Portman by issuing a statement insisting that Portman performed 80% of the on-screen dancing in the movie.

Portman's next film was ''No Strings Attached'', which was released on January 21, 2011, followed by ''Your Highness'', opposite James Franco and Danny McBride. She also played the role of Jane Foster in Kenneth Branagh's superhero film adaptation ''Thor''. In 2010, Portman dropped out of the lead role of Elizabeth Bennet in the novel adaptation ''Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'', but she continues as producer.

Social and political causes

Portman, who is an advocate for animal rights, has been a vegetarian since childhood. She became a vegan in 2009 after reading Jonathan Safran Foer's ''Eating Animals''. She does not eat animal products or wear fur, feathers, or leather. "All of my shoes are from Target and Stella McCartney," she has said. In 2007, she launched her own brand of vegan footwear.

In 2007, Portman traveled to Rwanda with Jack Hanna, to film the documentary ''Gorillas on the Brink.'' Later, at a naming ceremony, Portman christened a baby gorilla Gukina, which means "to play." Portman has been an advocate of environmental causes since childhood, when she joined an environmental song and dance troupe known as World Patrol Kids. She is also a member of the One Voice movement.

Portman has also supported antipoverty activities. In 2004 and 2005, she traveled to Uganda, Guatemala, and Ecuador as the Ambassador of Hope for FINCA International, an organization that promotes micro-lending to help finance women-owned businesses in developing countries. In an interview conducted backstage at the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia and appearing on the PBS program ''Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria,'' she discussed microfinance. Host Fareed Zakaria said that he was "generally wary of celebrities with fashionable causes," but included the segment with Portman because "she really knew her stuff."

In the "Voices" segment of the April 29, 2007, episode of the ABC Sunday morning program ''This Week with George Stephanopoulos'', Portman discussed her work with FINCA and how it can benefit women and children in Third World countries. In fall 2007, she visited several university campuses, including Harvard, USC, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Princeton, New York University, and Columbia, to inspire students with the power of microfinance and to encourage them to join the Village Banking Campaign to help families and communities lift themselves out of poverty.

In 2010, Portman's activist work and popularity with young people earned her a nomination for VH1's Do Something Awards, which is dedicated to honoring individuals who do good.

Portman is a supporter of the Democratic Party, and in the 2004 presidential race she campaigned for the Democratic nominee, Senator John Kerry. In the 2008 presidential election, Portman supported Senator Hillary Clinton of New York in the Democratic primaries. She later campaigned for the eventual Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, during the general election. However, in a 2008 interview, she also said: "I even like John McCain. I disagree with his war stance – which is a really big deal – but I think he's a very moral person."

Personal life

In the May 2002 issue of ''Vogue'', Portman called actor/musician Lukas Haas and musician Moby her close friends. After starring in the video for his song "Carmensita", she began a relationship with American folk singer Devendra Banhart, which ended in September 2008. She met ballet dancer Benjamin Millepied in early 2009, on the set of her film ''Black Swan'', for which Millepied acted as choreographer. By late 2009, the two had begun dating. On December 27, 2010, a Portman representative told the press that Portman and Millepied were engaged and expecting a child, due in the summer of 2011. The following June, Portman gave birth to her first child, a son named Aleph Portman-Millepied.

In 2002, on the concept of the afterlife, Portman said, "I don't believe in that. I believe this is it, and I believe it's the best way to live." In 2006, she said that she felt more Jewish in Israel and that she would like to raise her children Jewish: "A priority for me is definitely that I'd like to raise my kids Jewish, but the ultimate thing is to have someone who is a good person and who is a partner."

Filmography

+ Film roles
Title	Year	Role	Notes
! scope="row"	1994	Mathilda	Also known as ''The Professional''
! scope="row"	1994	Nina	23-minute short film
! scope="row"	1995	Lauren Gustafson
! scope="row"	1996	Marty
''Everyone Says I Love You''	1996	Laura Dandridge
''Mars Attacks!''	1996	Taffy Dale
''Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace''	1999	Padmé Amidala
! scope="row"	1999	Ann August
! scope="row"	2000	Novalee Nation
''Zoolander''	2001	Herself	Cameo
''Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones''	2002	Padmé Amidala
! scope="row"	2003	Sara
! scope="row"	2004	Samantha
! scope="row"	2004	Alice Ayres
''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith''	2005	Padmé Amidala
! scope="row"	2005	Rebecca	received a limited US theatrical release in April 2006
! scope="row"	2006	Evey Hammond
''Paris, je t'aime''	2006	Francine	Ensemble film with 18 segments. She appears in the segment directed by German writer-director Tom Tykwer.
''Goya's Ghosts''	2006	Inés Bilbatúa & Alicia
''My Blueberry Nights''	2007	Leslie
''''	2007	Jack's Ex-Girlfriend
''Hotel Chevalier''	2007	Jack's Ex-Girlfriend	13-minute short companion piece to ''The Darjeeling Limited''
''Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium''	2007	Molly Mahoney
''''	2008	Anne Boleyn
! scope="row"	2009	Emilia Greenleaf	Originally titled ''Love and Other Impossible Pursuits'', with limited theatrical release in February 2011
''New York, I Love You''	2009	Rifka
! scope="row"	2009	Grace Cahill
! scope="row"	2010	Nicole
! scope="row"	2010	Nina Sayers
! scope="row"	2011	Emma Kurtzman
''Your Highness''	2011	Isabel
! scope="row"	2011

+ Television roles
Title	Year	Role	Notes
''Sesame Street''	2003–2004	Herself/Natalie	Season 34, Episode: "Oscar Needs a Change of Scenery"Season 35, Episode: "Alan's Vacation Replacement"
''Saturday Night Live''	2006	Host
''''	2006	Aurora Mardiganian (narration)	Documentary film
''''	2007	Darcy	Season 18, Episode: "Little Big Girl" (voice)

+ Theatrical roles
Production	Year	Role	Notes
''Ruthless!''	1994
''''	1997	Anne Frank
''''	2001

Awards

+ Awards and award nominations
Award	Award category	Year	Title of work	Result
Academy Award		2011
Academy Award		2005	''Closer
! scope="row"	Best Actress	2011	''Black Swan''
! scope="row"		2010	''Black Swan''
British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)		2005	''Closer''
British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award (BAFTA)		2011	''Black Swan''
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award		2005	''Closer''
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award		2005	''Closer''
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award		2011	''Black Swan''
Chicago Film Critics Association Award	Best Supporting Actress	1996
Chicago Film Critics Association Award	Most Promising Actress	1996	''Beautiful Girls''
Chicago Film Critics Association Award	Best Supporting Actress	2009
Golden Globe Award		2000
Golden Globe Award	Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture	2005	''Closer
Golden Globe Award		2011	''Black Swan''
Golden Raspberry Award		1999	''Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace''
Golden Raspberry Award		2003	''Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones''
Golden Raspberry Award		2003	''Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones''
Independent Spirit Awards		2011	''Black Swan''
Irish Film and Television Award		2005
London Film Critics' Circle Award		2005	''Closer''
London Film Critics' Circle Award		2011	''Black Swan''
MTV Movie Award		2005	''Garden State''
MTV Movie Award	Best Female Performance	2011	''Black Swan''
MTV Movie Award		2005	''Garden State''
MTV Movie Award		2011	''Black Swan''
MTV Movie Award		2011	''Black Swan''
National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award		2004
! scope="row"	Best Actress	2010	''Black Swan''
Online Film Critics Society Award		2005	''Closer''
Online Film Critics Society		2010	''Black Swan''
People's Choice Award		2005
San Diego Film Critics Society Award		2004	''Closer''
Satellite Award		2005	''Closer''
Satellite Award		2005	''Garden State''
Satellite Award	Best Actress in a Drama	2010	''Black Swan''
Saturn Award		2000	''Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace''
Saturn Award		2003	''Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones''
Saturn Award	Best Actress	2006	''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith''
Saturn Award	Best Actress	2006	''V for Vendetta''
Saturn Award	Best Actress	2010	''Brothers''
Saturn Award	Best Actress	2011	''Black Swan''
Screen Actors Guild Award		2011	''Black Swan''
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress	2000
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Drama/Action Adventure	2002	''Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones''
Teen Choice Award		2002	''Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones''
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Drama	2005	''Closer''
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Drama	2005	''Garden State''
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Action/Adventure	2005	''Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith''
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Liar	2005	''Garden State''
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Liplock	2005	''Garden State''
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Love Scene	2005	''Garden State''
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Drama/Action Adventure	2006
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Drama	2011	''Black Swan''
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Actress: Romantic Comedy	2011
Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Liplock	2011	''Black Swan''
! scope="row"		2011	''Black Swan''
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award		2005	''Closer''
Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award	Best Supporting Actress	2005	''Garden State''
Vancouver Film Critics Circle		2011	''Black Swan''
! scope="row"		2010	''Black Swan''
Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress	2000	''Anywhere but Here''
Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film – Leading Young Actress	2001	''Where the Heart Is''

References

External links

Category:1981 births Category:20th-century actors Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from Connecticut Category:American child actors Category:American film actors Category:American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Category:American people of Israeli descent Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:American people of Romanian-Jewish descent Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:American vegans Category:Animal rights advocates Category:Best Actress Academy Award winners Category:Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Israeli film actors Category:Israeli emigrants to the United States Category:Israeli Jews Category:Israeli people of Austrian origin Category:Israeli people of Polish origin Category:Israeli people of Romanian origin Category:Israeli people of Russian origin Category:Israeli vegans Category:Jewish actors Category:Living people Category:Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role Screen Actors Guild Award winners Category:People from Jerusalem Category:People from Nassau County, New York Category:People from New York City Category:People from Washington, D.C. Category:Saturn Award winners

ar:ناتالي بورتمان an:Natalie Portman az:Natali Portman bn:ন্যাটালি পোর্টম্যান zh-min-nan:Natalie Portman be:Наталі Портман be-x-old:Наталі Портман bs:Natalie Portman bg:Натали Портман ca:Natalie Portman cs:Natalie Portmanová co:Natalie Portman cy:Natalie Portman da:Natalie Portman de:Natalie Portman et:Natalie Portman el:Νάταλι Πόρτμαν es:Natalie Portman eo:Natalie Portman eu:Natalie Portman fa:ناتالی پورتمن fr:Natalie Portman fy:Natalie Portman ga:Natalie Portman gv:Natalie Portman gl:Natalie Portman ko:나탈리 포트만 hy:Նատալի Փորտման hi:नताली पोर्टमैन hr:Natalie Portman io:Natalie Portman id:Natalie Portman it:Natalie Portman he:נטלי פורטמן kn:ನಟಾಲಿಯಾ ಪೋರ್ಟ್‌ಮ್ಯಾನ್‌ ka:ნატალი პორტმანი la:Natalia Portman lv:Natālija Portmane lb:Natalie Portman lt:Natalie Portman hu:Natalie Portman mk:Натали Портман mr:नॅटली पोर्टमन arz:ناتالى بورتمان ms:Natalie Portman nl:Natalie Portman ja:ナタリー・ポートマン no:Natalie Portman uz:Natalie Portman nds:Natalie Portman pl:Natalie Portman pt:Natalie Portman ro:Natalie Portman ru:Портман, Натали sq:Natalie Portman simple:Natalie Portman sk:Natalie Portmanová sl:Natalie Portman sr:Натали Портман sh:Natalie Portman fi:Natalie Portman sv:Natalie Portman tl:Natalie Portman ta:நடாலீ போர்ட்மேன் te:నటాలీ పోర్ట్‌మన్ th:นาตาลี พอร์ตแมน tr:Natalie Portman uk:Наталі Портман ug:ناتالىيە پورتمەن vi:Natalie Portman yo:Natalie Portman zh:娜塔莉·波特曼

name	The Greek
media	The Wire
portrayer	Bill Raymond
creator	David Simon
gender	Male
first	"Ebb Tide" ''(episode 2.01)''
last	"–30–" ''(episode 5.10)''
occupation	International smuggling/Organized Crime Boss
footnotes	}}

The Greek is a fictional character on the HBO drama ''The Wire'', played by actor Bill Raymond. The Greek is the head of an international criminal organization involved in narcotics and human trafficking. The Greek is a mysterious figure involved in numerous criminal activities. His given name is never mentioned on the show, and though he is known only as "The Greek", he has stated (in the episode Port in a Storm) that he is not actually Greek. A quiet and unassuming man, the Greek prefers to keep a low profile, operating all of his business through his lieutenant Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos. His smuggling organization operated from a small diner in Baltimore for years, and while Vondas would conduct business the Greek would listen in quietly at the counter. Nick Sobotka, upon seeing the Greek identify himself, was amazed that the shadowy figure had been in plain sight the entire time.

Despite his calm appearance, the Greek is cunning and ruthless, and only interested in facts that make him more money. Series creator David Simon has said that The Greek is an embodiment of raw unencumbered capitalism. Anyone interfering in this process is eliminated immediately, and he prefers to leave victims headless and handless to hinder identification.

The Greek's smuggling operation includes importing sex trade workers, illicit drugs, stolen goods and chemicals for drug processing. He bribes union stevedores to move containers through the Baltimore port for him and uses his muscle, Sergei "Serge" Malatov, to run containers back and forth from the port to his warehouse, a front managed by "Double G" Glekas. The Greek supplies the major drug dealers in East Baltimore with pure cocaine and heroin, using Eton Ben-Eleazer to move his drugs. His chief client is Proposition Joe, but he is also affiliated with smaller drug dealing organizations like those run by "White Mike" McArdle. His sex trade interests in Baltimore include a brothel run by a madam named Ilona Petrovitch, bringing in girls from eastern Europe. He manages to avoid prosecution for his crimes because an FBI counter-terrorism agent named Kristos Koutris tips him off if a criminal investigation gets too close. It is suggested he and Vondas may serve as federal informants.

Biography

Season 2

thumb|right|250px|The Greeks The Greek began to draw police attention in Baltimore when his contact at the docks, Frank Sobotka, became the target of an investigation. At the same time a container of thirteen dead young women intended for the sex trade was discovered at the docks, triggering a high-profile homicide investigation. The container belonged to the Greek and the girls were killed by a crewman onboard the vessel that had delivered them. The ship's crew had been paying the girls for sex and when one of the girls refused, she was killed. The crewman responsible dumped her overboard and collapsed the air pipe to kill the remaining women. The Greek had Sergei track the crewman down, interrogated him personally, and had Vondas kill him.

As the investigation continued the police were able to link Eton and Sergei to the drug smuggling operation. When police began tracking containers as they left the port, The Greek and Vondas began to close down the operation temporarily by dumping their cell phones and stealing "clean" containers. Persuading Sobotka to keep the smuggling operation going he bought further protection from Agent Koutris by betraying a load of Colombian cocaine, giving him time to destroy incriminating evidence in the warehouse and Glekas' store.

The Greek recognized that the investigation was too extensive to stop and made plans to leave, sending Vondas to assure Proposition Joe that supply of drugs would continue albeit with new faces. He attempted to buy Sobotka's silence with promised legal aid for his son, but when he learned from Koutris that Frank was planning to turn informant he had the union man killed. Although Frank's nephew Nick Sobotka was able to identify The Greek in a photo and Sergei was pressured to give up the location of his hotel suite, Vondas and the Greek had already boarded a flight to Chicago. Aware that the Greek and Vondas were gone, the police left the investigation behind and moved on to the drug dealers he supplied.

Seasons 4 & 5

The Greek continued to supply "Proposition Joe" Stewart, who formed an organization with other drug dealers called the New Day Co-Op to provide The Greek's product to them in exchange for reduced violence and sharing of territory. When Omar Little steals an entire shipment of heroin from the Greek's men as it is being delivered to Stewart's people, Marlo Stanfield demands a meeting with Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos in order to allay his fears that Stewart was responsible. Once Stanfield is satisfied, he waits for the Major Crimes Unit's investigation into his activities to cease and then moves to establish a direct relationship with Vondas and the Greek. After getting in communication with Vondas through former soldier Sergei, Marlo eventually sells himself as Joe's replacement by convincing the Greek that he requires an insurance policy in the form of a replacement for Proposition Joe, in the event that anything should happen to him. Realizing that Stanfield will move against Stewart regardless of his approval, the Greek accepts Marlo's proposal to act as an "insurance policy," knowing that it will mean Joe's death.

After Stewart's murder, Stanfield meets with Vondas to initiate their new business relationship. Stanfield's tenure proves short lived when he is forced into retirement by an investigation, and the other Co-Op members purchase the connection from Stanfield. In the closing scenes of the series finale, Slim Charles and Fat-Face Rick take over meeting with Vondas while the Greek listens quietly in the background.

References

Category:The Wire (TV series) characters Category:Fictional American people of Greek descent

Name	Ofra Haza
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Bat Sheva' Ofra Haza
Alias	Ofra Haza
Birth date	November 19, 1957
Died	February 23, 2000Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel
Origin	Ha'tikva neighborhood, Tel Aviv, Israel
Instrument	Vocals, Piano
Genre	World, Pop, Ethnic electronica, Middle eastern
Occupation	Singer, songwriter, actress
Years active	1969–2000
Movies	"Shlager" (1979 Israel), "Suburban Girl" (1979 Israel), "Primal Justice" (1997 Israel), "Prince Of Egypt" (1999 USA)
Label	Hed ArziEastWest RecordsShanachie RecordsBMG AriolaAusfahrtSire/Warner Bros. Records
Website	Ofra.Haza.Co.IL}}

Ofra Haza (Hebrew: עפרה חזה November 19, 1957 – February 23, 2000) was an Israeli singer of Yemeni origin, an actress and international recording artist.

Her voice has been described as mezzo-soprano, of near-flawless tonal quality, capable of lending itself to a variety of musical styles with apparent ease.

Inspired by a love of her Yemeni Jewish culture, the appeal of her musical art quickly spread to a wider Middle Eastern audience, somehow bridging the divide between Israel and the Arab countries. As her career progressed, Haza was able to switch between traditional and more commercial singing styles without jeopardizing her credibility. Her music fused elements of Eastern and Western instrumentation, orchestration and dance-beat. She became successful in Europe and the Americas; during her singing career, she earned many platinum and gold discs.

Early life

Haza was born the youngest of nine children in the poor Tel Aviv neighborhood of Hatikvah. Her first home was at 39 Boaz Street. At the age of twelve, Haza joined a local theater troupe, and manager Bezalel Aloni spotted her singing talent. He staged many of his productions around Haza and later became her manager and mentor. At the age of 19, she was Israel's first pop star and retrospectively, music journalists described her as "The Madonna of the East".

By the time she had completed her military service in 1979, Haza had matured as a singer and was ready to launch a solo career.

Career

Her first album, entitled ''Al Ahavot Shelanu'' (Our Love), was released in 1980 and yielded a string of popular radio hits, including ''Hageshem'' (The Rain), ''Shir Ahava La'chayal'' (Love Song For The Soldier), ''Kmo Tzipor'' (Like A Bird) and what ultimately became her signature song in Israel, ''Shir Ha'frecha'' (The Bimbo Song). The latter was written for the film ''Schlager'' (1979) in which Haza played a leading role. At first, radio stations across the country refused to play the song due to its explicit lyrics but it quickly climbed the charts and reached #1, where it stayed for five consecutive weeks.

A second album soon followed, ''Bo Nedaber'' (Let's Talk), which included the hugely popular hits ''Tfila'' (Prayer) and ''Simanim Shel Ohavim'' (Lovers Signs).

Her third album, ''Pituyim'' (Temptations) came out in 1982 and enjoyed equal success with such hits as ''Gabriel'' and ''Kol Yom Matchila Shana'' (A New Year Starts Everyday). With this album, more well-known writers agreed to write her songs, including Tzvika Pick and Nurit Hirsh.

In 1983, Haza's career jumped to a new level of success and popularity. At the Eurovision Song Contest, she came in a close second to the Luxembourg entry with the song "Chai" (Alive). Her popularity in Israel reached enormous heights. Her 1983 album, ''Chai'', became her biggest-selling album to date and the title track was voted the #1 song of the year. Author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor notes in ''The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History'' that Haza's performance of this song was highly symbolic as it contains the lyric "Israel Is Alive". As the contest was held in Munich, Germany, the scene of the 1972 Olympic's massacre, there was considerable patriotism involved with the Israeli entry. Additional hits from the album included ''Amen Lamilim'' (Amen For Words) and ''Sof Hakayitz'' (End Of Summer). Haza was voted "Female Vocalist Of The Year" four years in a row, from 1980 through 1983. Later that year, Haza released ''Shirey Moledet'' which consisted of her renditions of well-known Israeli folk songs. Public response was so overwhelming, she went on to release two more volumes (in 1985 and 1987).

''Bait Ham'' (Warm House) was released in 1984 and included such hits as ''Yad Beyad'' (Hand In Hand), ''Itcha Halayla'' (With You Tonight) and the title track. The album quickly went gold. In December that year, Haza released what was to become the turning-point of her career, a collection of Yemenite songs, simply titled ''Yemenite Songs''. Despite lukewarm radio airplay, the album went on to become a best-seller, quickly reaching platinum status. This LP was reissued in the United States by Shanachie Records under the title ''Fifty Gates of Wisdom''.

The album ''Adama'' (Earth) followed in 1985 and saw the top writers in the country contribute to the album: Sasha Argov, Naomi Shemer, Ya'akov Orland and Ehud Manor, among others. The album produced the enormously popular hits, ''Adama'', ''Goral Echad'' (One Destiny) and ''Mishehu Holech Tamid Iti'' (Someone Always Walks With Me).

In 1986, Haza tried to update her sound and gathered with acclaimed producer Izhar Ashdot to create ''Yamim Nishbarim'' (Broken Days). The album had an edgy rock sound and the lyrics were deep and personal and written by Haza herself, a first. The album went gold and produced the hits ''Kol Haklafim'' (Open Your Cards), ''Bo Ve-Nagen Oti'' (Come and Play Me) and ''Hake'ev Haze'' (This Pain).

When asked about her musical roots in an interview on KCRW-FM radio (1993, Santa Monica), Haza spoke of her Yemenite Jewish parents, a childhood filled with music and singing and a passion for traditional Yemenite songs, picked up from her mother. Questioned about the theatre troupe, she spoke of poverty and the total neglect of successive governments for the Hatikvah neighborhood; and how, by way of protest, the community had rallied to create something positive and dramatic, which would make others sit up and take notice of the forgotten neighbourhood.

International artist

Her major international breakthrough came in the wake of the album ''Shirei Teiman'' (Yemenite songs), which she recorded in 1984. The album consisted of songs that Haza had heard in childhood, using arrangements that combined authentic Middle Eastern percussion with classical instruments. Further recognition came with the single "Im Nin'Alu", taken from the album ''Shaday'' (1988), which won the New Music Award for Best International Album of the Year. The song topped the Eurochart for two weeks in June that year and was on heavy rotation on MTV channels across the continent. For years to come, this song would be extensively re-released, re-mixed and sampled, for example on Coldcut's remix of Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full," and by DJ Cheb I Sabbah in La Kahena. The single made only a brief appearance in the UK top 40 singles chart, but became a dance floor favorite across Europe and the USA, topping the German charts for nine weeks. Subsequent singles were also given the dance-beat / MTV-style video treatment, most notably, ''Galbi'', ''Daw Da Hiya'' and ''Mata Hari'', but none quite matched the runaway success of her first hit. ''Im Nin'alu'' would go on to be featured on an in-game radio playlist of the video game ''Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories'', released in 2005 and featured on Panjabi MC's album "Indian Timing" in 2009.

Haza also received critical acclaim for the albums ''Fifty Gates of Wisdom'' (1988), ''Desert Wind'' (1989), ''Kirya'' (1992), ''Ofra Haza'' (1997) and for her collection of children's songs, ''L'Yeladim'' (1982).

In 1992, ''Kirya'' (co-produced by Don Was) received a Grammy nomination.

In 1994, Haza released her first Hebrew album in seven years, ''Kol Haneshama'' (The Whole Soul). Though not an initial chart success, the album produced one of her biggest hits to date, ''Le'orech Hayam'' (Along The Sea). The song did not have any substantial chart success upon its release to radio but became an anthem after Haza performed it on the assembly in memorial to deceased Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a week after he was assassinated. Radio stations around the country started playing it and people took notice. Its lyrics became even more symbolic following Haza's own death in 2000.

Collaborations and performances

Her collaborative work with internationally established acts included the single "Temple of Love (Touched by the Hand of Ofra Haza)", recorded with The Sisters of Mercy in 1992. Thomas Dolby co-produced ''Yemenite Songs'' and ''Desert Wind'', where he was also a guest musician. Haza guested on Dolby's album ''Astronauts And Heretics'' (1992), singing on the track "That's Why People Fall In Love". She recorded "My Love Is for Real" with Paula Abdul in 1995 and on Sarah Brightman's album ''Harem'', Haza's vocals were included on "Mysterious Days", thanks to an idea by Brightman's partner Frank Peterson (ex-Enigma), who produced both ''Harem'' (2003) and the album ''Ofra Haza'' (1997).

For the ''Kirya'' album, Iggy Pop, a friend of Don Was, performed the narration on "Daw Da Hiya" and Haza joined him and a host of other stars for the video and single release "Give Peace A Chance" in 1991. She also sang on the soundtracks of ''Colors'' (1988), ''Dick Tracy'' (1990), ''Wild Orchid'' (1990), ''Queen Margot'' (1994) and ''The Prince of Egypt'' (1998). In ''The Prince of Egypt'', she voiced the small role of Yocheved, as well as singing "Deliver Us". When Hans Zimmer, who was working with Haza on the music for ''The Prince of Egypt'', introduced her to the artists, they thought that she was so beautiful that they drew Yocheved, whom Haza voiced, to look like the singer. For ''The Prince of Egypt'''s soundtracks, Haza sang the song "Deliver Us" in 18 languages (including Czech — "Tak vyveď nás", Dutch — "Verlos ons, Heer", English — "Deliver Us", Finnish — "Johdata", French — "Délivre nous", German — "Erlöse uns", Greek — "Eleftheri", Hebrew — "Hoshia Na", Hungarian — "Szabadíts", Italian — "Ascoltaci", Norwegian — "Befri Oss", Polish — "Uwolnij Nas", Portuguese — "Liberte Nos", Spanish — "Libranos", Swedish — "Befria Oss"; Turkish – "Mýsýr Prensi"; about half of these were sung phonetically). On the soundtrack of ''The Governess'' (1998), Haza is the featured singer on seven of the twelve tracks and worked closely with film music composer Edward Shearmur. In 1999, she performed (together with late Pakistani artist Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan) the track "Forgiveness", on the contemporary symphony album ''The Prayer Cycle'' by Jonathan Elias. As a featured background vocalist, Haza's voice has been recorded, re-mixed or sampled for Black Dog's "Babylon" single, Eric B and Rakim's "Paid In Full (Coldcut Remix)" and for the M/A/R/R/S hit "Pump Up The Volume". The single "Love Song" has been re-mixed by DJs many times, its powerful vocal performance and comparatively sparse musical arrangement making it the perfect vehicle for a dance-rhythm accompaniment.

Covers of songs by other artists included the Carole King / James Taylor classic "You've Got a Friend", Madonna's "Open Your Heart", Gary Moore's "Separate Ways", and Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".

There were many distinguished live performances and Haza spoke with fond memories of her visits to Japan and Turkey. Notable too, was her performance at the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, where she appeared alongside Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. "Paint Box" was written specially for the event. Her 1990 live recording, ''Ofra Haza At Montreux Jazz Festival'' was released in 1998.

Haza shared duets and concert performances with Glykeria, Yehudit Ravitz, Paul Anka, Paula Abdul, Michael Jackson, Iggy Pop, Hoite, Buddha Bar, Ishtar, Gidi Gov, Whitney Houston, Tzvika Pick, Khaled, Prachim Yerushalaim, The Sisters of Mercy, Thomas Dolby, Stefan Waggershausen, Eric B and Rakim, Gila Miniha, Hans Zimmer, Hagashash Hachiver, Yaffa Yarkoni, Shoshana Damari and posthumously with Sarah Brightman.

At the fall of 1999, Haza recorded new material for a new album that she worked on with Ron Aviv, a music producer from Petah Tikva. At the time, she also worked with the Finnish violinist Linda Brava, who released a previously unreleased track called ''Tarab'' on her MySpace page on May 14, 2010. On the track, Haza sings in English, Arabic and Hebrew, while Brava plays the electric violin. The track might be the last recording of Haza, before she died.

Marriage

On July 15, 1997, Haza married businessman Doron Ashkenazi. They had no children together. Ashkenazi died of a suspected drug overdose after Haza's death, on April 7, 2001, leaving a daughter from his previous marriage and a 14-year-old adopted son Shai Ashkenazi.

Death

right|thumb|250px|Ofra Haza's grave in yarkon cemetery Ofra Haza died on February 23, 2000 at the age of 42, of AIDS-related pneumonia. While the fact of her HIV infection is now generally acknowledged, the decision by the major Israeli newspaper ''Ha'aretz'' to report about it shortly after her death caused controversy in Israel.

After Haza's death was announced, Israeli radio stations played non-stop retrospectives of her music and then Prime Minister Ehud Barak praised her work as a cultural emissary, commenting that she also represented the Israeli success story — "Ofra emerged from the Hatikvah slums to reach the peak of Israeli culture. She has left a mark on us all".

The disclosure that Haza had likely died as a result of AIDS added another layer to the public mourning. The fact that a star with a reputation for clean living could be stricken caused shock among fans, debate about the media's potential invasion of her privacy, and speculation about how she had become infected, particularly blaming her husband.

As reported indirectly some years later, her husband, who died in 2001, had said that she became infected as a result of a blood transfusion in a hospital following a miscarriage.

She is buried in the Artists section in Yarkon Cemetery in Petah Tikva.

Legacy

Bezalel Aloni, Haza's manager and producer of 28 years, published a book ''Michtavim L'Ofra'' (Letters to Ofra) in 2007. The book is partly Aloni's autobiography and partly a biography of Haza, an includes letters written by Aloni.

In 2005, she was voted the 32nd-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website ''Ynet'' to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.

On March 22, 2007, on the seventh anniversary of her death, the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality and the Tel Aviv Development Fund renamed part of the public park in the Hatikva Quarter ''Gan Ofra'' (Ofra's Park) in her honor. The park is placed at the end of Bo'az street where Haza's childhood home was. The park features a children's playground, symbolizing her love for children and the old quarter where she grew up and always came back to.

Tributes

''Touched By The Hand of Ofra Haza Fanzine'' (2008–09) was a tribute fanzine.

''Sharim Ofra'' (Singing Ofra) 2002 — A tribute concert to commemorate the life of Ofra Haza where Israeli singers sang Haza's songs.

Documentaries

''Life & Death of Ofra Haza'' 2002 — Aired on the Israeli channel 2, January 29, 2002. This documentary in Hebrew focuses on Haza's entire life and career until her sad death.

''Sodot'' (Secrets) 2005 — Aired on Israeli channel YES, this documentary in Hebrew and partly English is about Haza's life and attempts to answer questions surrounding her death.

''Dokoceleb Ofra Haza'' 2007 — Aired on the Israeli entertainment station HOT, February 22, 2007. This documentary in Hebrew focuses on Haza's career, achievements and marriage.

''Lost Treasure of Ofra Haza'' 2010 — Aired on the Israeli channel 10, February 22, 2010. This documentary in Hebrew and partly English focuses on Haza's inheritance.

Albums with Shechunat Hatikvah Workshop Theatre

1974 — ''Ahava Rishona'' (First Love)

1976 — ''Vehutz Mizeh Hakol Beseder'' (Aside From That All Is Ok)

1977 — ''Atik Noshan'' (Ancient Old)

Solo albums

1979 — ''Shir HaShirim Besha'ashu'im'' (Song Of Songs with Fun)

1980 — ''Al Ahavot Shelanu'' (About Our Loves)

1981 — ''Bo Nedaber'' (Let's Talk)

1982 — ''Pituyim'' (Temptations)

1982 — ''Li-yeladim'' (Songs For Children)

1983 — ''Hai'' (Alive)

1983 — ''Greatest Hits''

1983 — ''Shirei Moledet A'' (a.k.a. ''Shirei Moledet 1'') (Homeland Songs A)

1984 — ''Bayt Ham'' (A Place for Me)

1984 — ''Shirei Teyman'' (a.k.a. ''Yemenite Songs'' ''or'' ''Fifty Gates of Wisdom'')

1985 — ''Adamah'' (Earth)

1985 — ''Shirei Moledet B'' (a.k.a. ''Shirei Moledet 2'') (Homeland Songs B)

1986 — ''Yamim Nishbarim'' (Broken Days)

1987 — ''Album HaZahav'' (The Golden Album)

1987 — ''Shirei Moledet B'' (a.k.a. ''Shirei Moledet 3'') (Homeland Songs C)

1988 — ''Shaday''

1989 — ''Desert Wind''

1992 — ''Kirya''

1993 — ''Oriental Nights''

1994 — ''Kol Haneshama'' (My Soul)

1995 — ''Star Gala''

1997 — ''Ofra Haza''

1998 — ''Ofra Haza At Montreux Jazz Festival''

2000 — ''Bemanginat Halev vol. 1'' (Melody Of The Heart vol. 1)

2004 — ''Bemanginat Halev vol. 2'' (Melody Of The Heart vol. 2)

2007 — ''The Remixes''

2008 — ''Forever Ofra Haza - Her Greatest Songs Remixed''

Soundtracks

1988 — ''Colors''

1990 — ''Dick Tracy''

1990 — ''Wild Orchid''

1994 — soundtrack for ''La Reine Margot'' (Queen Margot)

1998 — ''The Prince of Egypt''

1998 — ''The Governess''

1999 — ''The King And I'' (Hebrew version)

2000 — ''American Psycho: Music from the Controversial Motion Picture''

See also

Mizrahi Music

References

External links

Ofra Haza Official Website

Ofra Haza at Internet Movie Database

Ofra Haza memorial page at Find a Grave

Category:1957 births Category:2000 deaths Category:AIDS-related deaths in Israel Category:Dance musicians Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1983 Category:Israeli columnists Category:Israeli Eurovision Song Contest entrants Category:Israeli female singers Category:Israeli film actors Category:Israeli Jews Category:Israeli pop singers Category:Jewish musicians Category:Jewish singers Category:People from Tel Aviv Category:Sire Records artists Category:Israeli people of Yemeni origin

ar:عوفرة حازة cs:Ofra Haza de:Ofra Haza es:Ofra Haza eo:Ofra Haza fr:Ofra Haza hr:Ofra Haza it:Ofra Haza he:עפרה חזה la:Ofra Haza hu:Ofra Haza nl:Ofra Haza ja:オフラ・ハザ nds:Ofra Haza pl:Ofra Haza pt:Ofra Haza ro:Ofra Haza ru:Хаза, Офра simple:Ofra Haza sr:Офра Хаза fi:Ofra Haza sv:Ofra Haza th:โอฟรา ฮาซา tr:Ofra Haza uk:Офра Хаза yi:עופרה חזה

Josef Hassid () (28 December 1923 - 7 November 1950) was a Polish violinist.

Born 28 December 1923 in Suwałki, Poland, as Joseph or Józef Chasyd, second youngest of four children, he lost his mother when he was ten and was brought up by his father Owseij who took charge of his career. After lessons with a local violin teacher he studied from 1934 at the Chopin School of Music in Warsaw under Mieczyslaw Michalowicz (1876-1965) and Irena Dubiska (1899-1989). In 1935 he entered the first Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Warsaw, but suffered a memory lapse; he received an honorary diploma.

His father arranged for him to play for fellow Pole Bronisław Huberman (1882-1947), who was much impressed and he arranged for Hassid to study under the Hungarian virtuoso Carl Flesch (1873-1944) at his summer course in 1937 at Spa, Belgium, where fellow students included Ivry Gitlis (b. 1922) and Ginette Neveu (1919-1949). He developed a tremendous passion for a young lady there, three years his senior, but the liaison was broken up by her family (possibly because they were not Jewish), which had a disturbing effect on him.

London studies & concerts

Hassid came to London with his father in 1938 at Flesch’s invitation, to continue studies with him. Flesch concentrated on his musical and interpretative development rather than technical skills. Musical celebrities who heard him play at Flesch’s house and were astonished at his ability included Joseph Szigeti (1892-1973), Jacques Thibaud (1880-1953), David Oistrakh (1908-1974) and Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962). In a passage supplementing his father’s memoirs Carl F. Flesch wrote that “Hassid was no doubt one of the strongest violin talents of his time. Indeed Fritz Kreisler, after hearing him at my father’s house, said: ‘A fiddler such as X [mentioning a very famous name] is born every 100 years; one like Hassid every 200 years.’” Kreisler loaned Hassid for the remainder of his career a violin of 1860 by the French maker J.B. Vuillaume (d. 1875), which was a great improvement on the instrument he had played up until then.

He gave a private recital with the pianist Ivor Newton on 9 March 1938 as “Yossef Hassid” at the home of Mr L.L. Gildesgame, 41 Clifton Hill, South Hampstead, where the guests included Sir Henry Wood. After giving a private recital at the home of Sir Philip Sassoon, Hassid made his public debut at a recital with Gerald Moore in the Wigmore Hall on 3 April 1940, billed as the “Polish Boy Violinist”, playing works by Corelli (''La folia'' variations), Debussy, Schubert (Sonata in G), Bach (adagio & fugue from one of the unaccompanied Sonatas), Paganini (''I palpiti'') and others. The next day ''The Times'' said Hassid “showed imagination and musical insight” and that “his performance created a strong impression.” Many years later Moore commented that Hassid was “the greatest instrumental genius I’ve ever partnered. I don’t know how to explain his incandescence. He had technical perfection, marvellous intonation, glorious tone – but there was something above that which was quite incredible, a metaphysical quality. Sadly he had an unhappy love affair which literally drove him mad. But then maybe the unrest inside him made him play so fantastically.” (Interview in ''The Gramophone'', April 1973.) Three weeks later on the evening of 25 April he made his orchestral debut at the Queen’s Hall in a Polish Relief Fund concert (broadcast on the BBC Home Service) playing the Tchaikovsky concerto with the LPO under Gregor(y) Fitelberg (during which he suffered a memory lapse). The concerto was preceded by two short items by Chabrier & Kondracki and followed by Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. The next day ''The Times'' reported that Hassid “showed some signs of nervousness at the outset”, but “the beauty of his tone was striking and the brilliance of the finale” earned him generous applause.

He also gave a few recital broadcasts on the BBC and played the Beethoven concerto during an afternoon concert in the Queen’s Hall with Sir Adrian Boult conducting the LPO on 5 January 1941. On the 8th ''The Times'' commented of Hassid “a technically accomplished performance, but he has not yet attained to the purity of style, especially in the matter of sustaining an even tone throughout a phrase that the music needs.” Hassid’s final concert was also at the Queen’s Hall, on the afternoon of 1 March 1941, where he played the Brahms concerto with the Sidney Beer Symphony Orchestra of about thirty players under Sidney Beer. ''The Times'' review (4 March) noted that the concerto was “the least satisfactory part of the concert, because neither the young violinist not the conductor seemed to have a determined view of Brahms to present to their hearers. The solo performance was scarcely more than that of a clever student who has worked hard to memorize the concerto but is still liable to be thrown off his stroke, even to the point of forgetting his notes occasionally. The rhythm throughout was indecisive and the last pages of the Finale became almost a race between soloist and orchestra.”

Illness & death

Although originally shy and introverted Hassid was described as a carefree, likeable young man when he first came to London, but by February 1941 it became apparent that he was suffering from a severe mental disorder with violent mood swings, often becoming sullen and withdrawn, turning against his violin, his father and his religion. An inability to recognise close friends rapidly led to complete withdrawal from the world at large. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and on 19 June, withdrawn and uncooperative, he was admitted to St Andrew’s Hospital in Northampton for insulin coma therapy and electroconvulsive therapy. Hassid’s agent, the impresario Harold Holt, wrote to the superintendent of St Andrew’s: “He is nothing short of a violinistic genius and of such exceptional quality that we want to make the greatest effort possible to cure him. I would particularly like to stress that he is ''most exceptional'', and might have – had this illness not developed – been one of the greatest figures in the violinistic world.” His condition improved for a time and he left the hospital on 2 May 1942, but on 9 December that year he was certified insane and admitted to Moorcroft House, a private asylum in Hillingdon, Middlesex, three days later, for further treatment. On 13 July 1943 Hassid was transferred to an asylum in Epsom (Long Grove Hospital), morose, indifferent and evasive, either silent or laughing inanely. He remained there for the rest of his life. His father had died in 1949 and the following year after an unsuccessful brain operation (bilateral prefrontal leucotomy) on 20 October Hassid developed meningitis and died at 10.17 p.m. on 7 November 1950; he was not quite 27 years old. The hospital records show his height as 5ft 3¾in and his weight as 9 stone.

Recordings

Fred Gaisberg of EMI arranged for a test recording of Elgar’s ''La Capricieuse'' (Op.17) with accompanist Ivor Newton at the Abbey Road Studios on 9 Jan. 1939 when Hassid had just turned 15 and then Walter Legge produced a further eight recordings on 12 & 28 June and 29 Nov. 1940, this time accompanied by Gerald Moore. The delay was due to Hassid’s agent Harold Holt who thought he should continue his studies for another year. Some who heard Hassid perform live say that the records do not show him at his best. Even so, his performances of Joseph Achron’s ''Hebrew Melody'', Sarasate’s ''Zapateado'' and Kreisler’s ''Caprice viennois'' in particular are superb and show virtuosity of the highest order in expressive phrasing. To quote from Bryan Crimp’s note with the Testament CD: “The moment Hassid puts bow to string he beguiles the ear via a captivating and uniquely individual sound . . ., a peerless technique and an arresting and frequently original interpretative approach. His technical security and cleanness of attack are awesome, his tone at once vibrant, virile and indescribably pure and sweet.” Hassid apparently thought that his vibrato sounded too fast on record, but this is probably just a matter of taste.

Based on notes with CD issues, Feinstein 1997, newspaper advertisements & reviews, etc.

Complete published recordings issued on CD:

Pearl GEMMCD9939 (1992)

Testament SBT1010 (1992)

Symposium SYMPCD1327 (2003)

(The Testament & Symposium CDs also include the test from 1939.)

Josef Hassid was one of several prodigies whose brilliant careers were short lived. Bruno Monsaingeon's The Art of Violin commemorates Hassid.

References

STRAD magazine 94.1983/84.8; 12/1997; 5/1998, p. 455

STRAD Index

Anthony Feinstein: “Psychology and the child prodigy: the mental illness of violin virtuoso Josef Hassid.” (''History of Psychiatry'', vol. 8, part 1, no. 29 [1 March 1997], pp. 55-60.)

External links

Hassid photo

Category:Polish classical violinists Category:1923 births Category:1950 deaths Category:People with schizophrenia Category:Jewish classical musicians Category:Polish Jews

de:Josef Hassid es:Josef Hassid fr:Josef Hassid it:Josef Hassid ja:ヨーゼフ・ハシッド pl:Józef Chasyd ru:Хассид, Йозеф