ABSTRACT

Along with Greek and Latin, the primary “learned languages” of the European humanist tradition, Hebrew was taught at the American colleges founded before the Revolution. 1 As in Europe, where university instruction in Hebrew began at the University of Paris in the thirteenth century, commencement orations were delivered in the ancient tongues. 2 Not surprisingly, most commencement addresses were delivered in Greek and Latin, but investigation of college histories indicates that a number of them were presented in Hebrew.