1722: Monis Appointed by Harvard Corporation as “Instructor of the Hebrew Language
1735: Monis’ “A Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue” is first Hebrew textbook published in print
Judah Monis (1683 – 1764)
First “Instructor of the Hebrew Language” in America
Judah Monis (February 4, 1683 – April 25, 1764) was North America’s first college instructor of the Hebrew language, teaching at Harvard College from 1722 to 1760, and authored the first Hebrew textbook published in North America. Monis was also the first Jew to receive a college degree in the American colonies.
Monis was born on February 4, 1683, likely in Italy or the Barbary States. He immigrated to New York City in the early 1700s, and later moved to Massachusetts and received a Master of Arts from Harvard College in 1720 . On April 30, 1722, the Harvard Corporation appointed him an “Instructor of the Hebrew Language”, granting him an annual salary of 50 pounds for two years. However, at that time, Harvard required all faculty to be professing Christians, and so Monis converted to Christianity a month before beginning his Harvard career.
Monis taught at Harvard for almost forty years, but his teaching responsibilities waned over time and Monis struggled with a reputation as an ineffective teacher and disciplinarian. Monis retired from Harvard in 1760.
“A Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue”
A Grammar of the Hebrew Tongue published in 1735. (Library of Congress)
In the 17th and early 18th centuries, Harvard’s undergraduate curriculum included regular Hebrew course work to facilitate close reading and interpretation of the Old Testament and rabbinical writings, and Monis compiled a Hebrew Grammar textbook for students. Because there was no Hebrew type for printing presses in America, students initially copied Monis’ Hebrew Grammar by hand into personal notebooks. By 1726, Monis began working to raise money to publish the textbook. Finally, in 1735, with the financial support of the Corporation, Monis published the first Hebrew textbook in America: “Dickdook leshon gnebreet, A Grammar of the Hebrew tongue.” Bostonian Printer Jonas Green published a thousand copies of the textbook, the first Hebrew textbook printed in North America. Monis sold the books himself out of his Cambridge home, and it was a required text for all Harvard students for the ensuing 25 years.
“Nomenclatura hebraica“
Headed on the first page with the words Nomenclatura hebraica, Monis describes this work as “Short nomenclator or vocabular in English and Hebrew: composed alphabetically for the use and benefit of my pupils in particular and for the advantage of those who are desirous to obtain the knowledge of the Hebrew tongue in general, which may be that great help to understand not only ye sacred oracles in their original, but even any Jewish author (so far as concern owns) as also it may give great insight in ye tongue to those, as to compose it, a work altogether new, [ca. 1735]”
This handwritten volume is a vocabulary with the Hebrew word in the left column, and the English translation on the right. While the book is arranged in sections by letter, individual entries do not appear in strict alphabetical order. The small vocabulary varies greatly and includes entries like enigma, excommunication, and martyr, as well as cucumber and maggot.