JOEL M. HOFFMAN, PH.D., is the author of In the Beginning: A Short History of the Hebrew Language and is the chief translator for the 10- volume series, My People's Prayer Book (winner of the National Jewish Book Award) and for My People's Passover Haggadah. He writes a biweekly column on Hebrew for The Jerusalem Post. He has held faculty appointments at Brandeis University and at Hebrew Union College- Jewish Institute of Religion. He lives in New York.
