Religious, Linguistic, Literary and Social Considerations in the Transition from Purism to Mixed Language / שיקולי לשון, ספרות וחברה בוויכוח על הטהרנות

Many interpretations have been given for the talmudic phrase 'the language of the Torah is one thing and the language of the Sages is another' throughout the ages, in order to support the prohibition or permissibility of mixing biblical Hebrew with mishnaic Hebrew. The significance of this debate for modern Hebrew literature was far greater than merely linguistic: the linguistic debate concerning means of expanding the Hebrew language; the literary debate on the question of combining the languages; the very attempt to develop a modern Hebrew idiom, all had religious and intellectual aspects which affected the postures of the participants and influenced the development of modern literary Hebrew. This article traces several interpretations of the talmudic statement in the context of the maskilic debate on Hebrew language and literature for a period of about one hundred years. It surveys both internal arguments among the Maskilim and their confrontation with traditional approaches. The article depicts the shift in emphasis of the debate against the background of social and ideological processes — starting with the linguistic aspect, which instructed the approaches of Isaac ha-Levi Satanow and Hayyim Keslin, through the literary outlook which was prominent in the views of Mordechay (Marcus) Strelisker and Yisrael Rall, and ending with the social aspect, represented by the approaches of Alexander Langbank and Joseph ha-Levi. Because of the special importance attached to the linguistic activity of Mendele Mocher Seforim and to his position on the question of combining the languages, the survey concludes with Mendele's use of the talmudic phrase, which displays links with the views of the medieval grammarians, like Ibn Janaḥ and Abraham, the son of Maimonides. Within this framework, an attempt is made to reconcile Mendele's 'purist' approach, emerging from his letter to Ravnitzky, with Bialik's definitive assertion that with the full coalescence of the language of the nosaḥ ('standard', 'version'), the 'ridiculous division between biblical and non-biblical style was abolished'.