New Yorker Review of Book on Hebrew Punctuation Sparks Criticism Over Colonialism Claim
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Oct 3
New Yorker Review of Book on Hebrew Punctuation Sparks Criticism Over Colonialism Claim
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 3
Summary
Louis Menand’s New Yorker review spotlighted Florence Hazrat’s book arguing Hebrew punctuation marks are relics of a “brutal colonial system,” triggering a backlash online.
Hazrat links punctuation’s role in reviving spoken Hebrew to what she calls an “artificial sense of unity” among Jews and also describes Israel’s conduct in Gaza as “genocide.”
Menand called the book “irreverent and delightfully intellectual” but said its broad premise leads to “overreach,” including the suggestion that different language choices might have averted atrocities.
Daniel Sugarman of Jewish News UK, Tablet editor Isaac de Castro and former prosecutor Dave Aronberg were among critics who denounced the argument as antisemitic and pseudoscientific; Fox News Digital said it sought comment from Hazrat and the magazine.