[Avodah] timeline??

[Joel C. Salomon]

On 12/26/2011 06:42 PM, Harvey Benton wrote:
> my question is, what was there to learn from the
> tagim, when the original text (most believe) was
> not the modern hebrew that we use ??

I recall reading a theory (I thought it was on A/A, but searching
aishdas.org does not turn it up) that the *original* original script,
the one the Avos would have used, would be the Aramaic one (see
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_alphabet>) -- Avraham was from
Aram, after all --; and that the Phoenician "ktav ivri" was adopted
after the conquest of Eretz Yisrael.

That would explain where the 5 final letter forms come from, and how
they were "lost, and Ezra reestablished them".

(Trouble is, the theory [as I remember it] has some holes, e.g.,
archeological evidence of Phoenician turning into Aramaic.  If anyone
else remembers seeing this, and where, maybe the fellow who wrote this
originally has some answers.)

--Chesky