Hebrew Wikipedia

History

Timeline

• 8 July 2003: The Hebrew edition of Wikipedia was launched.
• 25 October 2003: The 1,000th article was written.
• 22 July 2004: The first meeting of Hebrew Wikipedians took place in Tel Aviv, Israel.
• 10 September 2004: The 10,000th article was written.
• 20 September 2004: The Hebrew version of the Flag of Kazakhstan article became the one millionth article created in all Wikipedias.
• 24 December 2006: The 50,000th article was written.
• 10 January 2010: The 100,000th article was written.
• 29 August 2013: The 150,000th article was written.
• 28 December 2016: The 200,000th article was written.
• 15 September 2019: The 250,000th article was written.
• 3 August 2021: The 300,000th article was written.

Hebrew Wikipedia features several organized article writing projects, among them Wikitort – an academic project to write original articles about tort law, PhysiWiki – a project to write and improve articles about physics with the cooperation of the Weizmann Institute of Science, and ongoing academic projects. Another major topic is Jewish history and the History of Israel. In 2006, the Elef Millim project () was launched to provide Wikipedia with free images. Groups of Wikipedians meet for field trips around the country to take pictures of Israeli sites.

Hebrew spelling is a matter of debate. Since the standards published by the Academy of the Hebrew Language are not always meticulously followed in common usage, the Hebrew Wikipedia community decides on problematic cases of spelling through discussion and polls to ensure consistency. When technically possible, spelling decisions are periodically enforced using automatic replacement by a bot.

Hebrew Wikipedia's requirements for notability standards are relatively strict.

Hebrew Wikipedia organizes yearly competitions, sometimes with the assistance of the Wikimedia Foundation, as well as social gatherings and picnics.

Haaretz journalist Omer Benjakob said in 2023 in relation to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict that "Unlike many Wikipedias in languages with a global span, like English, Spanish or Arabic, Hebrew Wikipedia resembles its Polish or Hungarian counterparts in being more of an "Israeli Wikipedia." It can be seen as having an implicit pro-Israeli bias." Historian , comparing coverage of the Gaza war on English and Hebrew Wikipedia in 2024, said that "where the distortions lie, are in the Hebrew Wikipedia."{{cite AV media |trans-title = |access-date = 26 January 2025 |archive-date = 20 January 2025 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20250120151624/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-BtV0sJVgM&feature=youtu.be |url-status = live

2010 Knesset meeting

On the occasion of the 100,000 articles milestone, the Science and Technology Committee of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) invited Wikipedia contributors and users to the 2 February 2010 morning meeting, to join in a debate about Wikipedia and other open-source resources. Some Wikipedia contributors at the meeting criticized "the lack of government cooperation with their efforts to compile a free online Hebrew-language encyclopedia," as well as sharing complaints from Wikipedia editors abroad that since the Israel Defense Forces does not release photos for free redistribution on the Internet, the sole source of available pictures for entries such as the Gaza War and the 2006 Lebanon War are the Palestinians.{{cite news

Hamichlol

Main article: Hamichlol

Hamichlol ( "The Entirety") is a mirror of the Hebrew Wikipedia. It contains articles copied from the Hebrew Wikipedia which are edited to be acceptable to certain Orthodox Jewish readers.

Statistics

As of January 2024, the Hebrew Wikipedia ranks among the best language editions in retention of new editors, while also having one of the highest edit revert rates.

References

References

1. (11 May 2001). "Wikipedia-l new language wikis".
2. (15 September 2019). "הערך ה-250,000 בויקיפדיה העברית".
3. [[:he:ויקיפדיה:פרויקט WIKITORT]]. ''Hebrew Wikipedia''.
4. [[:he:ויקיפדיה:מיזמי ויקיפדיה/פיזיוויקי]]. ''Hebrew Wikipedia''.
5. [[:he:ויקיפדיה:עבודות ויקידמיות]]. ''Hebrew Wikipedia''.
6. [[:meta:Elef Millim project]]
7. Shai, David. (21 April 2019). "Wikipedia's good bots fixing Hebrew language entries".
8. [[:he:ויקיפדיה:מה ויקיפדיה איננה]]. ''Hebrew Wikipedia''.
9. (17 November 2023). "Netanyahu vs. Israeli Security Chiefs: Wikipedia Is New Front in Gaza War Blame Game". [[Haaretz]].
10. (1 March 2018). "Without Women or Evolution: 'Ultra-Orthodox Wikipedia' Is Literally Rewriting History". [[Haaretz]].
11. (January 2024). "Wikimedia projects comparison [public]". Wikimedia.