Ahavat Tzion אהבת ציון
The first novel in Hebrew: Abraham Mapu wrote it in Kovno and printed it in Vilna in 1853. It is set in the days of King Hezekiah, its language is that of the Tanakh, and in that language, for the first time, it was not prayer or law that spoke but love and invention.
What it is. A tale of two families in Judea in the days of Hezekiah and Isaiah, with parted lovers, a substitution and a recognition. The plot is taken from the European novel, the words from the Tanakh: Mapu wrote as though Hebrew had never ceased to be living.
Why it is remembered. Before it, Hebrew was written for prayer, law, commentary and verse—but not for novels. Ahavat Tzion showed that an ordinary human story could be told in that language, and modern Hebrew literature is counted from it. The book was read even where novels were frowned upon: people took it up to learn the language.
What is not in it. No open preaching of the Haskalah; Mapu's quarrel with the old order is in his other books. Here there is the Land of Israel, fields, shepherds and the Jerusalem of the prophet's day—and it was this image that the generation which later went to build fell in love with.
The author is Abraham Mapu (1808–1867), a teacher from Kovno; this reference does not yet hold a record for him.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Documents of the period
- Ahavat Tzion, Vilna 1853 — the year and place of the first printing
Scholarship
- Reference works on modern Hebrew literature — the primacy of the book and its language
Basis: documents and evidence.