Isaac Mozeson

Isaac Elchanan Mozeson[1] (born 1951)[2] is best known for his research and writings[3] about the origin of languages.[4]

Early life

In a 1990 interview he traced his area of interest to a "lasting impression" by having "heard his grade school Rebbe recount the Torah story of the Tower of Bavel" and talking of "a common language."[2]

Mozeson was born 1951 in British Columbia[2][5] to "Rabbi and Mrs. Leon M. Mozeson of Portland, Me."[1] The family moved to Brookline, Massachusetts, where he attended the Maimonides School and graduated 1969.[6]

Mozeson's subsequent formal education is from Yeshiva University[7][8] NYU[2] "and at the Erna Michael College of Hebraic Studies." He and his wife Lois married in 1978;[1] they adopted and raised two children.[2]

The Word: The Dictionary that Reveals the Hebrew Source of English

Mozeson's ten years of work[2] on The Word: The Dictionary that Reveals the Hebrew Source of English[3][9] began "while working on his doctorate at NYU." The Dictionarys foundation had early challengers, including his PhD advisor, who called some of his examples "a coincidence."[2] The author of The Dictionary of Word Origins, Joseph Shipley,[10] said that "The Word is a challenge to linguistics" and added "The parallels traced seem beyond the range of coincidence."[2]

The Origin Of Speeches: Intelligent Design in Language

Mozeson's The Origin Of Speeches: Intelligent Design in Language[11][12][13] has a Tower of Babbel drawing with a subheading that refers to "The Language of Eden." The book asks why "belief that blind chance endowed human beings with the sense and physiology to devise a highly complex system of expression" is widely given more acceptance than belief in the Bible's account of the Tower of Babel.[11]

Edenics controversy

Edenics is Mozeson's description regarding speech in the Garden of Eden as the original human language[13] and that "human language did not evolve by accident."[4][2] A Jewish Press book review of Mozeson's The Origin Of Speeches: Intelligent Design in Language used the word Edenic more than once but did not use his term Edenics;[4] neither did a satire published in The Algemeiner Journal about the naming of the book "Origin of the Speeches" as similar to Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species.[11] The latter even rejects the term in the singular, writing that "Isaac Mozeson, a Ph.D. in linguistics from NYU ... hypothesizes a primal, universal language that he calls Edenic (and others might call proto-Semitic or ancient Hebrew)." It also refers to PIE after citing Mozeson's "Proto-Indo-European" and states about "Dr. Mozeson and a team of researchers" that "they have no idea if the language ever existed." The satire supports the concept of a single universal tongue, and uses examples from modern Hebrew.[14]

Other works

He is the co-author[2] of Wars of the Jews: A Military History from Biblical to Modern Times[15] and a senior editor for The Jewish Heritage Writing Project.[2]

In 1994 Mozeson and his wife co-authored Jerusalem Mosaic: Young Voices from the Holy City.[16] A 2001 curriculcum guide describes it as "Gr. 8-12. Jewish and Arab teens talk about their lives in Jerusalem and their hopes for the future."[17] The 1909-founded American Academy of Religion lists the book in its "Guidelines for Teaching About Religion in K-12 Public Schools in the United States" as "Recommended for grades 6-12" and writes "Jewish, Christian, and Muslim perspectives from varying positions on the secular-orthodox spectrum."[18][19]

Mozeson's other works include:

  • Beginner's Hebrew Word Book: An Illustrated Dictionary[20]
  • A 2 Z: The Book of Rap and Hip-hop Slang (co-authored)[21][22]
  • Voices and Faces of Homeless Teens (co-authored)[23]

References
  1. "Lois Stavsky, a Teacher, Is Wed to Isaac Mozeson". The New York Times. July 5, 1978.
  2. Eliezer Gervirtz (December 1990). "Isaac Mozeson's new book reveals the Hebrew source of English". Good Fortune. pp. 74–78.
  3. "A Booth-by-Booth Guide to the Book Fair". The New York Times. September 15, 1989.
  4. Yocheved Golani (November 22, 2006). "Title: The Origin Of Speeches: Intelligent Design in Language". The Jewish Press.
  5. "about the author".
  6. "Kol Bogrei Rambam: Connecting Maimonides Alumni Worldwide" (PDF). Maimonides School. April 2007.
  7. where he later taught: "Purim and Passover Issue". Yeshiva University.
  8. (at age 22; see 1990 interview): "Commentator: Official Undergraduate News of Yeshiva College" (PDF). Yeshiva University. September 24, 1974. The newest addition to the English department js also the youngest member of the faculty. Mr. Isaac Mozeson, who is teaching for the first time this year, is a YU graduate with an M.A. from CUNY.
  9. Isaac Mozeson (1989). The Word: The Dictionary that Reveals the Hebrew Source of English. Shapolsky Publishers. ISBN 978-0-9335-0344-1.
  10. Joseph Twadell Shipley (1945). Dictionary of Word Origins. ISBN 978-0-8022-1557-4.
  11. Adam Jacobs (July 20, 2012). "Intelligent Design in Language". Algemeiner Journal.
  12. Isaac Mozeson (2006). The Origin Of Speeches: Intelligent Design in Language. Lightcatcher Books. ISBN 978-0-9719-3888-5.
  13. "Hebrew, the Mother of Languages". The Jewish Press. January 29, 2020.
  14. "In Edenic (and Modern Hebrew) the word for ..."
  15. Monroe Rosenthal; Isaac Mozeson (1990). Wars of the Jews: A Military History from Biblical to Modern Times. New York: Hipporcrene Books. ISBN 978-0-8705-2786-9.
  16. Isaac E. Mozeson; Lois Stavsky (1994). Jerusalem Mosaic: Young Voices from the Holy City. Four Winds Press. ISBN 978-0-0276-7651-8.
  17. "Israel NOW Solidarity Response Curriculum" (PDF). The Jewish Education Center of Cleveland. May 24, 2001.
  18. "Guidelines for Teaching About Religion in K-12 Public Schools in the United States". American Academy of Religion. April 4, 2010.
  19. "Asian Continent". 36 teenagers in Jerusalem during two summers— 1992 and 1993 .. Jewish, Muslim, and Christian
  20. Beginner's Hebrew Word Book: An Illustrated Dictionary. Sure Sellers, Inc. 1991. ISBN 978-1561710577.
  21. Lois Stavsky; Isaac Mozeson; Dani Reyes Mozeson (1995). A 2 Z: The Book of Rap and Hip-hop Slang. Boulevard Books. ISBN 978-1-5729-7007-6.
  22. Jon Caramanica (September 28, 2003). "This Was 'Spinal Tap' For the Hip-Hop Generation". The New York Times. the actual volume -- A2Z: The Book of Rap and Hip-Hop Slang -- they "used to write ..."
  23. Lois Stavsky; Isaac E. Mozeson (1990). Voices and Faces of Homeless Teens. Shapolsky Publishers. ISBN 978-1-57297-007-6. photographer=Robert Hirschfield
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