Am haaretz (, people of the Land) is a term found in the Hebrew Bible and (with a different meaning) in rabbinic literature. Grammar In Biblical Hebrew the word usually is a collective noun, but occasionally is pluralized as עמי הארץ amei ha-aretz "peoples of the land" or (in Late Biblical Hebrew) super-pluralized as עמי הארצות amei ha-aratzot "peoples of the lands". In Mishnaic Hebrew and later, the term refers to a single person: one such person is called an am ha-aretz, and multiple are amei ha-aretz. In Modern Hebrew the usual plurals are am ha-aretz and amei ha-aretz, but the super-plural amei ha-aratzot is occasionally used. In Yiddish and Yeshivish, it is often pluralized עמי הארצים amei ha-aratzim or עמרצים amaratzim. Tanakh In the Tanakh, the term "the people of the land" (Hebrew am ha'aretz) refers to a special social group or caste within the Kingdom of Judah. Among the activities of the biblical am ha'aretz was the revolt against Athaliah. By contrast, the plural ammei ha'aretz or ammei ha'aretzot refers to foreigners, either the nations of the world (gentiles) or the native Canaanite population living within Eretz Yisrael. In the Second Temple period, the "people of the land" (am ha'aretz) are contrasted with those returning from the Babylonian captivity, "Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building". It is unclear whether the term refers to the people of Judah who remained behind and adopted syncretistic views, or to non-Hebrews. Rubenstein (2003) considers that in the Book of Ezra and Nehemiah it designates the rural Jews who had remained in the land while the aristocratic and priestly classes were deported to exile in Babylonia. In the view of Kartveit (2009) the terms used in Ezra and Nehemiah may not be precise in their distinctions; there may be implication that the "people of the land" (Ezra 4:4) had intermarried with the "peoples of the lands" (Ezra 9:1 ammei ha'aretzoth), and there may be an equation or relation with the origin of the Samaritans. Rabbinic Judaism Usage of the term am ha'aretz in the Hebrew Bible has little connection to usage in the Hasmonean period and hence in the Mishnah. The Talmud applies "the people of Land" to uneducated Jews, who were deemed likely to be negligent in their observance of the commandments due to their ignorance, and the term