希伯萊百科全書

希伯萊百科全書 （希伯來文：האנצקלופדיה העברית）係套用希伯來文寫嘅百科全書，有32卷，1949年到1980年發行。

史

喺 Bracha Peli 嘅出版公司順利嘅出版咗 Joseph Klausner 教授主編嘅「綜合百科」之後，Bracha Peli 個仔 Alexander Peli 開始要編一部規模更大嘅希伯來文百科全書。

1944年天時熱希伯來百科全書由構想變做現實，成立咗個諮詢委員會為本百科全書定目標。喺以色列立國嘅夏天，第一卷開始印。 項目嘅名譽會長就係當時嘅以色列總理哈伊姆魏茨曼。

第一卷包括咗由 Aleph(א) 到澳大利亞（Australia）之間嘅文章，以色列獨立宣言就係第一幅出現嘅相，而喺第 32 卷喺 Tishrei 就係呢套百科全書嘅最後一條。

In the publisher's introduction was written:

我哋好有信心呢本百科全書會實現提供出色內容嘅願望而一卷會好過一卷。我哋會喺五到六年內寫好十六卷而成個項目會就目標達成。

但係，希伯來百科全書寫足三十幾年，要到 1980年先出齊晒，比預期遲咗廿五年。頭頭尾尾，成本百科全書有三十二卷。喺仲寫緊嗰陣，出咗額外一卷補篇1，對卷1到卷16嘅內容進行更新同補充；寫完卷32之後，另外一卷補篇2跟住出版。成套書嘅索引卷喺1985年，即係卷32出版5年之後出咗。補篇3喺1995年出版，對補篇2進行咗數據更新；佢仲包含咗兩卷因「以色列國」同「以色列之地」而進行嘅大量更新。

The many years needed for completion of the encyclopedia meant that its editors were replaced over the years. The position was held by en:Joseph Klausner, en:Benzion Netanyahu, en:Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Nathan Rotenstreich, Yehoshua Gutman, and en:Joshua Prawer. The editorial supervisor throughout all the volumes was en:Alexander Peli. More than 2500 writers participated in the writing of the encyclopedia. Among them the leading Israeli scientists and fifteen Nobel laureates.

During the period of publication, a tremendous significance was associated with the encyclopedia. This was demonstrated by the fact there were people that felt a driving need to be included in the encyclopedia as a sort of stamp of approval of their importance and position. Bracha Plai, publisher of the encyclopedia, later told of an author who approached her one day and threatened to commit suicide if he was not included: "Even though his standing in the Hebrew literature was not of great importance, I did not take any chances and included him as an entry." At times, arguments arose over who would write a given article, arguments that stemmed from academic differences of opinion or from political or emotional factors. Such was the case with the articles on en:Ben Gurion and on en:Adolf Hitler.

The newer volumes of the encyclopedia that were written in the en:nineties and edited by David Shacham were criticized for allegedly containing a en:post-Zionist tone.

Within a year of the last volume being published the rights to the encyclopedia had been sold. Schocken Publishing House are said to be working on a new, revised en:edition of the encyclopedia.

特點

呢部百科全書嘅性質反映咗喺佢副標題度：「屬於猶太人同以色列人嘅綜合百科全書」。 The encyclopedia covers all the general topics, but the Jewish-Israeli emphasis is discernible, principally in articles dealing with Judaism, en:Jews, and Israel, which go beyond their general world discernible. Thus the encyclopedia takes care to emphasize in every biographical article the Jewishness of the person, even when Judaism is of no significance in the person's life (e.g. en:Boris Pasternak), as well as the person's impact on Jewish people. The longest biographical article (thirty-two columns) is on en:Theodor Herzl, and the longest non-Jewish biographical article is on en:Goethe.

Articles dealing with various countries and cities typically give an account of the place's general history, followed by a separate detailed account of its Jewish history where it has one; in particular, for places which were under Nazi rule a detailed account is given of the fate of its Jewish community during the en:Holocaust. Similarly, in describing countries and cities with an existing Jewish community, the encyclopedia invariably provided a detailed account of the number of Jews, their professions and main places of habitiation, the structure of the community etc.

Writers of the encyclopedia did not hide their Jewish-nationalistic political views. Thus the en:Kingdom of Jordan did not warrant an entry since the encyclopedia did not recognize it. Details of this country are included within the article "Land of Israel," and it is stated in the beginning of the article that in the Hebrew language, the phrase includes the "land of Israel" on both sides of the en:Jordan River. In the second supplementary volume, the entry "Jordan" finally appears, reflecting the change of political attitudes in Israeli society in the passing decades.

The letter en:Aleph contains the largest number of articles, and six and a half volumes are accorded to it (more than 30% of the anticipated number of volumes). The last article is "en:Ethers" (אתרים). The longest article starting with aleph is "Land of Israel" (ארץ ישראל), to which an entire volume is dedicated: volume 6. Next in size is "United States of America" (ארצות הברית של אמריקה), which spans 126 columns. The collective size of the aleph articles does not stem from its relative weight in the en:Hebrew alphabet, but rather reflects the initial enthusiasm with which the editors tried to include the sum of human knowledge. When it became clear that at that rate and depth production of the encyclopedia would never come to an end, it was decided to limit its extent (which, among other things, led to the existence in the first volumes of "see also"'s that in the end pointed to unwritten articles). The smallest letter in the encyclopedia is the letter en:Tsade (צ), which spans 531 pages, less than one volume, and is contained in volume 28.

A famous non-political controversy involved the article on en:Plato (אפלטון) appearing in volume 5. Professor en:Yeshayahu Leibowitz, one of the Encyclopaedia's main editors, sharply disagreed with the interpretation given to Plato's ideas. This he expressed by adding in the forward pages of this volume, where he was listed as "Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz, editor in Philosophy", a footnote reading "until page 223" (the page where the Plato article appeared).