New Yorker Article Linking Hebrew Punctuation to Colonialism Sparks Outrage

A book review in The New Yorker magazine has ignited controversy by linking Hebrew punctuation to a "brutal colonial system" and the war in Gaza. The review, titled "The Curious Power of Punctuation" by Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and author Louis Menand, discusses Florence Hazrat's book "On the Mark," which explores the history of punctuation. Menand quotes Hazrat as stating that Hebrew punctuation marks are "relics of a brutal colonial system that is far from over." According to the review's interpretation of Hazrat's argument, the addition of punctuation transformed Hebrew into a spoken language, fostering an "artificial sense of unity among Jewish people from all over the globe" and encouraging them to move to a land already inhabited by Palestinians. Hazrat reportedly describes Israelis as a "people made to suffer and bear the brunt of European anti-Semitism in the most horrendous ways for generations."

Menand himself presents the connection to Gaza as an example of an argument that has gone too far, suggesting that "it seems (the reason is not altogether clear) that, had Yiddish been the official language of Israel, atrocities might have been avoided." These remarks have drawn sharp criticism online, with many condemning the inclusion of Jewish history and Israel in a discussion about writing conventions.

Rabbi Elhanan Poupko, president of the American-Israeli Jewish Network (EITAN), reacted on X (formerly Twitter), questioning the difference between the review's sentiment and the obsessive hate prevalent in 1930s Germany. Daniel Sugarman, deputy editor of the British newspaper Jewish News, derided the piece, noting that the book's author is a British academic and suggesting that a "new generation" holds similar views to previous ones regarding pseudo-scientific nonsense involving Jews.

Further scrutiny revealed that Hazrat posted on October 7, 2023, expressing "Solidarity always with Gaza & Palestine" and urging donations to Islamic Relief for Gaza, without mentioning the Hamas attacks. The Hebrew Language Academy, however, offers a different perspective, explaining that modern Hebrew punctuation largely adopted conventions from European languages like German, Russian, English, and French to facilitate reading, rather than originating from a unique Israeli system. The Academy adopted its punctuation rules in the early 1940s, when Hebrew was already a spoken language, drawing primarily from Central and Eastern European traditions. More recent rules, updated in 1992 and published in 1993, aligned Hebrew punctuation more closely with English usage.