Hebrew Literature: For the second week of the course, you read the story Mendele’s “Shem and Japheth on the Train”, The story belongs to the period of the revival of Hebrew as an everyday spoken and written language. Last week, we learned that one of the

Hebrew Literature: For the second week of the course, you read the story Mendele’s “Shem and Japheth on the Train”, The story belongs to the period of the revival of Hebrew as an everyday spoken and written language. Last week, we learned that one of the new things about this literature is that it referred to real, historical events, for the first time (while older Hebrew literature was mostly elaborating on religious significances divorced from historical reality). This assignment has two parts: First, say where in the story can you see historical context being represented? (hint: think about the social situation that is represented, and how it is related to the background information I provide in the lectures). Second, answer the following question briefly: how does the story combine religious meanings with representing historical context? What do you think is special or interesting in this combination?