WHY HEBREW IS FUNDAMENTAL TO JEWISH EDUCATION Linguistics and Longevity: The Interdependence of Language, Heritage, and Nationalism

ALVIN I. SCHIFF, PH.D. Irving I. Stone Distinguished Professor of Education, Azrieli Graduate School, University

The sen'es both a.i a unique expres.sion of the .Jewish heritage and a key instrument ofthe sun'ival of the Jewish people. The mystique of Hebrew lies in its uniformity and constancy despite being .spoken by throughout the world and its multifaceted character—its use in the , the home, the arts, business, and in everyday life.

ccordingto Douglas H. Whalen, Senior of mankind's oldest languages andthe oldest Ascientist at Haskens Laboratories, Yale continuous language (Aron & Zeldin, 1996) University, there are some 6,000 languages raises the question: In the face of 2,000 spoken today. Half of them are expected to years of dispersion, how did Hebrew in vanish within the next century because of the modern times emerge as an altneusprache influence of more common languages such as (an old-new language) that is currently the English, Chinese, and Spanish. In Australia, vernacular of some 5,000,000 Jews and only ten people can speak Jingulu, an aborigi­ 1,000,000 non-Jews in , the spoken nal language. In Alaska, there are only three language of another million Jews in the households in which the native tongue Diaspora, and the language of and Kuskokwim still prevails. World-wide, learning of another 4,000,000 Jews world­ Whalen noted, some 100 languages have just wide? one nadve speaker (Whalen, 1988). The miracle of the continuity and revival In addition, some modern languages bear of Hebrew as a living language has little resemblance to the ancient languages impressed people speaking endangered "mi­ from which they developed. For example, nor" languages such as Basque, Irish, and modern Greek speakers cannot understand Welsh. Linguistic delegations from , Homer's Iliad or Odys.sey unless they have Ireland, and Scotland have visited Israel to special training in classical Greek. Hindustani learn about the various methods of language is hardly similar to Sanskrit, its progenitor. instruction, particularly the , the study And modern Chinese speakers cannot read institute for adults that stresses oral compre­ Confiicius with understanding unless they hension, conversation, and daily terminol­ have special schooling in the subject. ogy, and the ivrit b 'ivrit approach—the Therefore, the continuity of Hebrew, one method of teaching other subjects in the ­ brew language. Both of these instrucdonal techniques helped bring about the renais­ In dedicating this essay to Bemard Reisman, I recall the sance of Hebrew. numerous meetings of the Homstein Professional Advisory Committee under my chairmanship when the Hebrew was never a dead language in the matter of Hebrew language was discussed. Bemie was accepted sense of the term. Yet, it was always enthusiastically supportive of efforts to enhance revived. It never ceased to be a medium of the Hebrew-language background of the Homstein religious expression for the Jewish people. students, particularly of those in the education Yet, it was reborn. This is its mysdque, the concentration. In our discussions we underscored the importance of the knowledge of Hebrew for Jewish text bipolar power of the Hebrew language. It is study, for synagogue mvolvement, and for a stronger the vehicle of a sacred past, of eternal Jewish relationship with Uie State of Israel.

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values. At the same time, it is a major lingua, the prime or first language of the expression of contemporary Jewish vitality. human race (Goldman, 1993; Simpson, 1979). Even though it was not used or was rarely Hebrew continued to be the language of used as a vernacular in the lands of Jewish 's descendants, the , when dispersion since the destruction ofthe Second they were enslaved in Egypt for 210 years. Temple in almost 2,000 years ago, The Midrasit observes that the Israelites were it was employed regularly during the last two redeemed from Egypt as a Hebrew nation millennia by the vast majority of Jews wher­ because, among other things, "they did not ever they resided as a language of prayer, change their language" {Midrasii Leviticus study, and ritual observance. And although it 32:5). They stubbornly retained their lin­ did not die, it was revived during the last guistic identity. Hebrew was the common century as a common, everyday spoken lan­ everyday language of the Israelite masses guage. This revival in Palestine/Israel bor­ from the time they conquered the Land of dered on the miraculous, since the immi­ until the end of the First Common­ grants who came to Israel from dozens of wealth with the destruction of theFirst Temple countries throughout the world and com­ in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. prised the vast majority of the Jewish popula­ When the Jews returned to their homeland tion brought with them such a large variety of from Babylonia some 100 years later, Hebrew linguistic baggage. was revived, but not without difficulty. Hebrew, as an ancient language, is well Nehemiah, the leader of the returnees, had to over 3,500 years old. Although there are employ strong measures to guarantee the Canaanite, Akkadian, Amorite, and Egyp­ continued use of Hebrew for study, for tian linguistic antecedents that are consid­ public reading of the Bible, and for daily ered by some as pre-biblical forms of the conversation. He notes, "Half of the children language we now know as Hebrew, the Bible [of the returning exiles] spoke A.shdodit (the is the first corpus of texts written in this language of/Ishdod) and did not know how to medium. It was a fully fashioned literary speak Yeltudit (Hebrew)" (Nechemiah 13:24). vehicle. Nehemiah "waged the first war in Jewish In biblical times, Hebrew was the common history against the detractors of the Hebrew language of the various peoples living in the language" (Federbursh, 1967) because he Mideast area called Canaan, such as the realized that Hebrew was a conditione sine Moabites, the Amorites, andtheEdomites. It qua non for the survival of the Jewish people, is for this reason that Hebrew was known in for its spiritual continuity, and for the re- the Bible as Sefat Carta 'an, the language of establishment of the Jewish nation in the Cana 'an (:18; " com­ Land of Israel. mentary on Genesis 45:12). Similar challenges regarding the use of Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, Hebrew by the Jewish people were faced in according to Jewish rabbinic tradition, spoke subsequent periods of . During in the language of the Bible. This notion is the days of Yehudah Ha-, Judah the Prince, reinforced in the Midrash (a collection of patriarch of and redactor of the commentaries and interpretations on the Misitnalt—the first part of the , the Bible) that notes that Abraham was descended body of early Jewish civil and religious law— from Ever, the great-grandson of Noah, who in 200 CE Hebrew was in danger of disap­ spoke Ivrit or Hebrew, the language of Ever pearing as a national language and being {Midrasii Rabbahi Genesis 18:14). To be replaced by , both as a vernacular sure, the letters of Ivrit and Ever are the and as a means of literary expression. same. In medieval and contemporary times, Judah warned the Jewish people about the Hebrew was regarded by some scholars, in­ neglect of Hebrew. He meticulously spoke cluding leading Christian scholars in Eu­ Hebrew at home. The Talmud relates that rope, to be Adam's original tongue, the prima even his maidservant had such a command of

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Hebrew that his students learned from her people, a sustaining feature of a landless Hebrew words and terms that they had either nation. forgotten or had never known (Rosh Hashanah For the disappearance of the Jewish com­ 26; Megillah 18). munity of Alexandria, a vibrant center of Rabbi Meir, a leading scholar of the sec­ Jewish life several hundred thousand strong ond century who made major contributions to at the turn of the first century, was ever in the development of the Oral Law, also tried to their minds. The basis for Alexandrian ­ stem the tide of the Aramaic language. He ish culture was the , the Greek rules, "When a child begins to speak, his translation ofthe Bible. The Jews of Alexan­ father should speak Hebrew to him and teach dria became fiilly Hellenized as they studied him (in the original Hebrew text); and the Bible and other Judaic sources in Greek if the father fails to speak to him in the Holy translation. Philo, the leading Jewish phi­ Tongue and does not teach him Torah, it is as losopher of the first century CE in Alexan­ ifhe buries him" (S'i^ei, Deuteronomy II: 19). dria, studied, wrote, and taught in Greek. It During the eleventh and twelfth centuries is doubtful whether he had a working knowl­ in North Africa and in the Spanish peninsula, edge of Hebrew. took root in a large segment of the And what happened to this formidable Jewish population as the language of literary Jewish community? Its decline began with and philosophical writing while Aramaic, the process of Hellenization and de- used in Babylonia for almost a millennium, Hebraization. Several centuries later, after continued to serve as the language of Talmu­ other unfortunate events, the Jewish rem­ dic study and discourse. Twelfth-century nants of Alexandria were absorbed into Is­ , the most illustrious figure in lamic culture. the post-Talmudic era—an outstanding rab­ One example of the strong advocacy of the binic authority, radonalist, philosopher, and use of Hebrew language and Hebrew lan­ royal physician—wrote many ofhis works in guage instruction is this statement made at Arabic to accommodate the Jewish masses, the end of the nineteenth century by Rabbi many of whom did not know Hebrew. How­ Baruch Epstein (quoted in Federbush, 1967), ever, Maimonides became convinced that Russian Talmudic scholar and biblical ex- Judaic literature should be written and stud­ egete. ied solely in Hebrew. Toward this end, he refused to translate his fourteen-volume mag­ Whoever has a hand and heart of faith, whose num opus—Mishneh Torah, the massive codi­ spirit and are faithful to his people, his fication of Jewish law—from Hebrew into reUgion, and his language, and wants to build Arabic. And, it seems he later regretted a loyal household in Israel, should try hard to having done most of his writing in Arabic. ensure that his sons and daughters, from the Moreover, he stressed that the study of He­ time they are being nursed by their mothers, brew was a religious obligation ofthe highest hear Hebrew spoken and are encouraged to order (Haramati, 1992). emote in Hebrew. After that, the parents will Following in Maimonides' footsteps were be able to implant in their hearts feelings of many religious leaders who vigorously com­ pure faith. In all their daily activities, includ­ bated efforts to de-Hebraize Jewish life, to ing their play, from the time they wake up until develop a in translation, to use the they go to sleep, children should speak He­ languages ofthe lands of Jewish residence as brew with their parents and among them­ the vehicles of Bible study and communion selves. And their will become with the Almighty. These leaders helped their mother tongue. transform Hebrew into a religious-national value of Jewish life in exile. As such Hebrew In viewing Jewish history over the last two became the ethnic-national ingredient in­ millennia, one observes a unique linguisdc grained in the consciousness of the Jewish phenomenon among the Jewish people. The

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Talmud notes that the Jews were trilingual: nance of Hebrew in Jewish religious life They had an internal language, an external despite the talmudic allowance to use any language, and a sacred language {Baba Kama language in reciting the Shema and in the 83). Toward the end ofthe Second Common­ performance of mitzvot—religious deeds. He wealth, in the first century BCE their internal wrote (and 1 translate from his original He­ language was an Aramaic-Syrian dialect, brew source). which served as their vernacular. Greek was their external language, which they used in We can imagine what would have happened their relations with ; Hebrew was had the Jews behaved regarding the use of their sacred language for religious and na­ Hebrew only according to the halakhah, which tional purposes. In the and permits the use of "any language" in the syna­ contemporary times, for example, the inter­ gogue and home, and would have used "any nal language of Jews in the Spanish peninsula language" for reading the Shema, for daily •wasJudesmo, a Spanish-Jewish dialect. Ital­ prayer, for reciting the for the sancti­ ian or Spanish was their external language, fication of the Sabbath and Festivals, the bless­ and Hebrew the language of their religious ings on the partaking of food and other bless­ study, prayer, and ritual observance. ings. If that happened, there would be no trace In Eastern Europe, , a German- of Hebrew in our hves, not even in our reh­ Jewish language, was their internal language gious hves. and, depending upon where they resided, But, the people with its national feelings either Polish, Russian or Hungarian, and the had no desire to use the halakhic permission like, was their external language; Hebrew granted by the scholars of the Jewish rehgion was their sacred tongue. Using Hebrew as at a time when the rehgious feelings of these their sacred language meant that they com­ scholars superseded their national feehngs. municated in the holy tongue thrice daily The Jewish people took extreme care to recite with their Maker. This is why an historian of all these aforementioned things in the Hebrew the Hebrew language observed, 'The Hebrew language. And, thus, the national language of people never spoke any language as a reli­ the Jewish people was dominant in the syna­ gious nation other than Hebrew" (Federbush, gogue; and, more significantly, it was the 1967). tongue of every Jewish home. The Hebrew In the Talmud, there is an interesting mother recited the first moming prayer, modeh disputation regarding the recitation of the ani, in Hebrew with her children. The sound Shema, the holiest of Jewish prayers, between of Hebrew resounded at the meal table as all Judah the Prince and the sages of the Talmud. the people who ate recited the appropriate Judah held that the Shema must be recited in blessings before the meal and grace after the Hebrew only. The sages opined that it could meal in Hebrew. It was in Hebrew that every be recited in any language, if the person Jew recited his bedtime prayers as he closed praying does not understand Hebrew his eyes. It was in Hebrew that he welcomed {Berakhot 13; Satah 32). Most Jews did not the Sabbath and festivals with Kiddush and understand Hebrew in Judah's time. bade them farewell with havdalah, the special The halakhah (the authoritative Jewish ceremony marking the end of the Sabbath. It law) was decided according to the opinion of was the sound of Hebrew in every home and the sages. This brings us to an intriguing synagogue and street that sanctified the secu­ socio-historical-religious reality of diaspora lar life of the Jew. This was not possible by the Jewish life during the last two millennia, use of "any language" for rehgious purposes. eloquently described by Rabbi Yitzhak Nissenbaum, the passionate spokesman for What a powerful statement about the will of religiousZionism inEurope who was martyred a people entrenched in their heritage, who during the Holocaust. Nissenbaum (1926) took care that all life-cycle events were con­ expressed his amazement regardingthe domi­ ducted in Hebrew!

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Contributing significantly to the survival these two developments. He stressed the vital of Hebrew as a living language was the use of integrative relationships between the revival written Hebrew as a means of communica­ of Hebrew, its continuance as the Jewish tion. A prime use of Hebrew during the ethnic language, and the renaissance of Jew­ medieval and contemporary periods was in ish nationhood in Palestine. This relation­ the Responsa, lengthy answers by rabbinic ship was at the heart of his theory of the authorities about matters of Jewish life. He­ Jewish State as the merkaz ruhani, the spiri­ brew was used to inform and guide the tual cultural center, for Jewish life every­ Jewish community regarding Jewish religious where. and ethical practices. An example of this In his seminal essay, "Imitation and As­ kind of writing is the nineteenth-century similation," Ahad Ha'am (1893) posits that a bestseller, Kitzur Shulhan Arukh, a concise minority culture in Western society must summary ofthe authoritative Ashkenazi c code willynilly emulate the majority culture. How­ of Judaic law and custom. ever, there are two kinds of imitation, writes Communication between the leaders of Ahad Ha' am—absorptive i mitation and com- the various Jewish communities was almost petifive imitadon—and each has vastly dif­ always in Hebrew. In 1903 the leaders of the ferent consequences. Absorptive imitation Jewish community of Safi, Morocco, wrote in leads to assimilation. The family of Moses Hebrew to Theodore Herzl after receiving Mendelsohn, a founder of the from him informadonal materials on Zion­ (Jewish Enlightenment) movement and the ism in the German language. In their letter to Reform movement, believed in the use of Herzl, the Jews of Safi requested that the German as the language of study and prayer "honorable prince" communicate with them for the German Jewish masses. His family about Zionism in Hebrew. They also asked fell prey to absorptive assimilation. Four of that he send them the Hebrew translation of his six sons intermarried, as did the children Judenstaat, his treatise on the establishment of his other sons. of a Jewish State, and make available the Imitation will inevitably lead to total as­ Hebrew rendition of other books and materi­ similation unless the minority culture learns als relevant to the Zionist idea. to compete with the majority. For Jews, that Letter wridng between ordinary Jews was competition, Ahad Ha'am believed, was the often done via the Holy Tongue, and Jewish daily use of its national language, which communal records were always kept in He­ served as a barrier to assimil ation. Moreover, brew. Communal regulations and announce­ the sacred literacy of the Jews "seemed to ments were promulgated primarily in He­ balance the pull toward the majority lan­ brew. Business documents between Jews guage" (Spolsky & Cooper, 1991). were often written in Hebrew, and merchants Ahad Ha'am viewed the role of Hebrew as frequently kept their private business records serving both as a unique expression of the in Hebrew. Invitations to weddings and other Judaic heritage and as a key instrument of the family events were issued in Hebrew, and creative survival of the Jewish people. Every wills were written in the Holy Tongue as were nation, he noted, participates in the world inscriptions on gravestones. This wide vari­ scene in a special way via its national lan­ ety of Hebrew language usage helped guaran­ guage. The Jewish people's "national stock" tee Hebrew's survival. lies in the Hebrew language that is the link The development of Hebrew as a modern between the dispersed Jewish communities of vernacular corresponds, in a practical way, to the Diaspora and the link between genera­ the development of the modern Jewish State. tions of Jews. Ahad Ha'am, the brilliant Hebraist, secular To be a national language, Ahad Ha'am Jewish philosopher, and Zionist leader, saw insisted, its usage as a mother tongue or the natural indispensable linkage between vernacular is not sufficient. The national

WINTER/SPRING 1999 IVhy Hebrew is Fundamental to Jewish Education / 165 language must incorporate the spiritual and Jews in Jerusalem continued to restrict the cultural wealth of the nation and its national use of Hebrew to sacred activities—and pro­ ideals. As such, the combination of Jewish vided for secular Zionists a channel for their religion, literature, and language has been ethnic feelings and expression. Moreover, he the Jewish people's portable property after created many new words based on the Bible the exile began with the destruction of the and Talmud and even developed some new Temple in 70 CE. And when the Holy Land words with Arabic roots. To propagate the would become once again the physical center use of these new words he disseminated them of the Jewish people, Ahad Ha'am (1893) in the newspaper he published. Other lovers opined, the Hebrew language would be the of Hebrew helped ensure that the ancient bridge between the Land and the Diaspora. tongue of the Prophets would once again Although the initial steps toward the re­ become the vernacular. Thus, the revival of vival of Hebrew in modern times took place in Hebrew was part of a complex historical, Europe, its fixll-blown development occurred social, psychological, and linguistic process. in the Jewish homeland. The revival of In effect, the revitalization took place in the Hebrew as a modern spoken language began new Zionist settlements through people who in Palestine in the later decades of the nine­ were inspired by the idea of ethnic and cul­ teenth century with the arrival from Eastern tural Jewish rebirth, particularly through the Europe of Zionist pioneers, chief among them arduous efforts of enthusiastic persistent teach­ Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. ers (Harshav, 1993). And the pupils then The pioneers were determined to revive became the Hebrew instructors of their par­ ancient Hebrew and make it the common ents. language of the new State about which they Ben Yehuda and his associates and fol­ dreamt and for which they devoted their lives. lowers engaged in milhetnet ha-safah, a lan­ According to most accounts, Ben Yehuda guage war, between 1912 and 1914, figliting largely was responsible for the near-miracle for aplace for Hebrew in Palestine along with of making Hebrew the national language of other languages and particularly for Hebrew Palestine (now Israel) spoken by the masses as the language of instruction in the newly (St. John, 1972). He beheved fervently that a founded Technion inHaifa. They established Jewish rebirth in Palestine was not possible an educational system in which Hebrew, with without the revival of Hebrew. For him, almost no exceptions, became the only lan­ spoken Hebrew, as the soul of a living guage used. To accomplish this in i\\eyishuv people, was the essence of Jewish renais­ meant transforming a language used only for sance. Without a language capable of ex­ special purposes—prayer and study—to a pressing all the nuances of life, both ancient single vernacular for all the communication and modern, the rebirth of the Jewish people needs of this varied population (Spiegel, in its land would be meaningless. 1962). And during the era of the British Ben Yehuda insisted on using Hebrew in Mandate (1918-1948), Hebrew was recog­ his home and raising his children speaking nized as an official language of Palestine the language. While his neighbors conversed along with English and Arabic. in the language of their former countries of In retrospect, the mystique of Hebrew is its residence or in Yiddish or Ladino, Ben Yehuda constancy—its uniformity. As Jews resided did not allow any language other than He­ in countries all over the globe, their ancestral brew to be spoken in his home. Thus began language was influenced in different times the process of nativization and normalization and places by Aramaic, Greek, , Arabic, of Hebrew in modern times (Glinert, 1991; Spanish, French, German, Polish, and Rus­ Haramati, 1980). was born sian languages. This led to regional differ­ in Palestine as Ben Yehuda removed the fear ences in Hebrew language usage. Neverthe­ of linguistic innovation from the hearts of less, Hebrew maintainedauniformity througli­ many religious Jews—the bulk of religious out; it retained its ancient structure and char-

WINTER/SPRI NG 1999 Journal of Jewish Communal Service / 166 acter. The essential uniformity of the Hebrew people in its homeland and in the Diaspora, language in its various stages of development and the continuity of Jewish nationalism are prompted the author of the essay on Hebrew interdependent. in the Encyclopedia Judaica to make the bold claim that twentieth-century intelligent REFERENCES Hebrew speakers with a high-school back­ Ahad Ha'am. (1893). Hikkui Ve'hiihoriut. hi ground are able to read and understand Kol Kitvei Ahad Ha'am. Jerusalem: Jerusa­ literature written in Hebrewfrom the earliest lem Pubhshing House. dmes to the most modern (Orman, 1972). Aron, Isa, & Zeldin, Michael. (1996). Change in And conversely, accordingto Charles Berlitz Jewish education: Prescriptions and para­ (1982), the prominent American language doxes. Agenda, 7, 19-26. educator, "If the prophets who compiled the Berlitz, Charies. (1982). Native tongues. New books of the Old Testament could return to York: Giosset and Dunlap. present-day Israel, they would still be able to Federbush, Simon. (1967). Halashon Ha'Ivrit read the Israeli daily press." Both these B'Yi.vael V'Va-amim. Jerusalem: Mosad claims miglit be somewhat exaggerated. How­ Harav Kook. ever, they underscore the fact thatthe changes Glinert, Lewis. (1991). The "back to the future" that took place over time in vocabulary, mor­ syndrome in language plaruiing: The case of phology, syntax, and pronunciation did not modem Hebrew. In David Marshall, ed., transform the fimdamental nature of Hebrew. Language planning. Amsterdam: John Ben­ Currently, Hebrew is used in different jamin. ways for different purposes by different Goldman, Shalom. (1993). Hebrew and Bible in people. Many secularists see Hebrew prima­ A merica—The First Two Centuries. Han over, rily as a vehicle of modern communication NH: Brandeis University Press and and modern literature. In contrast, most Dartmouth College. ultra-Orthodox Jews, a small minority in Haramati, Shiomo. (1992). IvritHayahB'mrutzai Israel, consider Hebrew to be a holy tongue to Hadorot. Jerusalem: Massada. be used solely for Judaic learning and prayer. Haramati, Shiomo. (1980). Reishit Hahinukh From an historical, sociolinguistic per­ Ha'Ivri Ba'Aretz U'trumalo L'Hahayat spective, the Hebrew language is a multifac­ Halashon. Jerusalem: Massada. eted linguistic vehicle of Jewish life from Harshav, Binyamin. (1993). Language in the earliest times until the present. Hebrew, in all time of revolution. Berkeley, CA: Univer­ its usages, contributed significantly to Jewish sity of Califomia Press. survival througliout the ages. Therefore, one Nissenbaum, Yitzhak. (1926). Imrei Drush. cannot appreciate the value of Hebrew via any Warsaw: Weiser. single dimension of the language. Hebrew Orman, Uzi. (1972). Hebrew grammar. In C. must be considered in all its forms and variety Roth and G. Wigorder, ed.. Encyclopedia of usages, including biblical Hebrew, mishnaic Judaica, Vol. 8. Jerusalem: Keter. Hebrew, rabbinic Hebrew, liturgical Hebrew, Simpson, J.W. (1979). A first course in linguis­ modern Hebrew, and Hebrew terminology tics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. associated with Judaic literacy and used in Spiegel, Shalom. (1962). Hebrew reborn. Phila­ the Jewish internal languages such as Ladino delphia: Jewish Pubhcation Society. and Yiddish. This means considering the use Spolsky, Bernard, & Cooper, Robert. (1991). of Hebrew in the synagogue, educational set­ The languages of Jerusalem. Oxford: Ox­ tings, the home, business, the arts, culture, ford University Press. professions, and the street. Hebrew's St. John, Robert. (1972). Tongue of the prophets. mulddimensionalisni is its disdnctiveness as North Hollywood, CA: Wilshire Book Co. a survival mechanism. Indeed, it demon­ Whalen, Douglas H. (1988, March). New York strates clearly that the survival of Hebrew as Times Magazine. a Holy Tongue, the survival of the Jewish

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