The American Jewish Press Association, composed of the editors and publishers of Jewish newspapers published in English in the United States and Canada, has approved a study on the transliteration of Hebrew terms into the English language, it was announced here by Adolph Rosenberg, newly-elected president of the AJPA.
The study climaxes a 16-year-long project under the chairmanship of Leo Frisch, editor of the American Jewish World of Minneapolis-St. Paul and honorary president of the AJPA. Working closely with Mr. Frisch has been Philip Slomovitz, editor of the Jewish News, Detroit; and Albert W. Bloom, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, Pittsburgh. The editors have been in contact with experts in Hebrew scholarship in their effort to resolve the transliteration problems.
According to Mr. Frisch, the conclusions of the study represent a compromise of various conflicting views that have resulted in confusions when efforts have been made to transliterate from the Hebrew to the English. This has been true, especially, he said, in the spelling of Jewish holidays and other frequently-used Hebrew words and terms. On the basis of the study approved by the AJPA, suggested spellings will be brought together into one manual, which will be printed and distributed not only to editors but also to various Jewish communal organizations and to business firms. In the main, Mr. Frisch said, the new version will be a modernized treatment of the Sephardic pronunciations of Hebrew.
The words whose spelling was agreed upon to date are: Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Hoshana Raba, Shemini Atzeret, Simhat Tora, Hanuka, Hamisha Asar b’Shvat, Purim, Pesah, Lag b’Omer, Shavuot and Tisha b’Av.
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