The first Hebrew grammar published in the New World, and the first book printed in America with a substantial amount of Hebrew text.

Judah Monis (1683-1764) emigrated from Europe to North America around 1715. Settling first in Long Island and New York City, he eventually (ca. 1720) moved to Boston, where he was publicly baptized on March 27, 1722. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed Harvard College’s first Hebrew Instructor, a position he held until his resignation in 1760. Already by 1720, Monis had completed a first draft of the grammar textbook he would eventually use to teach Hebrew at Harvard. Because of a lack of funds and sufficient Hebrew type, however, the book was not published until 1735. As the first Hebrew grammar printed on American soil, Dickdook Leshon Gnebreet would serve generatioꩵns of students at Harvard and other institutions of higher learning in New England.