# Davka

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{{Short description|Jewish software company}}
{{Infobox company
| name             = Davka Corporation
| type             = [Private](/source/Privately_held_company)
| foundation       = 1982
| location_city    = [Chicago](/source/Chicago), [Illinois](/source/Illinois)
| location_country = United States
| industry         = Software
| products         = Judaic games, encyclopediae, word processors, etc.
| homepage         = http://www.davka.com/
}}

'''Davka Corporation''' is a software company specializing in applications related to [Jewish](/source/Jewish) history, customs and traditions and the [Hebrew language](/source/Hebrew_language).<ref>{{cite news |title=Helping the amateur cantor to lead |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1188392550757&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |work=[The Jerusalem Post](/source/The_Jerusalem_Post) |date=10 September 2007 |accessdate=2008-11-07 }}{{dead link|date=February 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=A textual treasure: Study while you write |url=http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1137605871654&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull |work=[The Jerusalem Post](/source/The_Jerusalem_Post) |date=22 January 2006 |accessdate=2008-11-07 }}{{dead link|date=February 2014}}</ref> Founded in 1982, Davka is notable as the publisher of several early games for the [Apple II](/source/Apple_II) computers including ''The Lion's Share'' (1983 video game) by Robert Aaron and ''[The Philistine Ploy](/source/The_Philistine_Ploy)'' by Robert Aaron and Alan Rosenbaum.<ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://www.lysator.liu.se/adventure/Davka.html
| title       = Adventureland: Davka
| accessdate  = 2008-11-03
| last        = Persson 
| first       = Hans
|author2=Stefan Meier
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url         = http://www.dadgum.com/giantlist/
| title       = The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers
| accessdate  = 2008-11-03
| last        = Hague
| first       = James
}}</ref>  The company has published numerous software titles for the [PC](/source/Personal_computer), [Macintosh](/source/Macintosh) and [Palm](/source/Palm_OS) platforms including the ubiquitous Davkawriter Hebrew/English Word processor.<ref>
{{cite web
| url         = http://www.davka.com/cgi-bin/about.cgi
| title         = About Davka
| accessdate         = 2008-11-03
| author         = Davka Corporation
| archive-url         = https://web.archive.org/web/20081005060153/http://www.davka.com/cgi-bin/about.cgi
| archive-date         = 2008-10-05
| url-status         = dead
}}
</ref>
<!-- 2015 DisAmBig, but not big enough (for own article) 14:17, 4 December 2015 Dispenser .. (Disambiguated: The Lion's Share  ==> The Lion's Share (1983 video game)) -->

==Name==
The name ''Davka'' comes from a Hebrew word that is difficult to translate.  At times the intent is to say "exactly so";<ref name=WashP.meaning>{{cite news  |newspaper=[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)
|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/05/14/bytes-38/3799d089-ea0e-4dec-92df-e4a64b7dcc8b |date=May 14, 1983 |title=Bytes & |first=Joyce |last=Wadler }}</ref> often, the word "specifically" can be used as a synonym, but it has many other translations.

==About==
In the late 1990s and somewhat beyond, its major competitor was
Jerusalem-based [Torah Educational Software](/source/Torah_Educational_Software).<ref name=NYT.98Kalish>{{cite news   
|newspaper=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)
|title=For the Oldest of Lessons, the Newest of Tools - The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/12/circuits/articles/31libe.html
|date=December 31, 1998   |author=Jon Kalish}}</ref>

==Davkawriter==
'''DavkaWriter''' is a Hebrew-English [word processing](/source/word_processing) program for [Windows](/source/Microsoft_Windows). (A [Mac](/source/MacOS) version is available as well.)

Its built-in tools include a dictionary, a thesaurus, and a translating tool. It comes with the complete Hebrew texts of the Bible and many other volumes of Jewish literature. Its spellchecker recognizes both English and Hebrew words.

'''DavkaWriter Platinum'''<ref name=JP.2002>From an image of the box {{cite news
|newspaper=[The Jewish Press](/source/The_Jewish_Press)  |date=December 6, 2002  
|author=Shimon Lewin  |title=Davka Writer Platinum
|pages=41}}</ref> was reviewed in 2002, 2004 and 2006 issues of [The Jewish Press](/source/The_Jewish_Press), referring to  updated versions.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.jewishpress.com/sections/scitech/electronics-today/davkawriter-platinum-4-0-2/2004/12/29 
|title=Davkawriter Platinum 4.0 |date=December 29, 2004  |website=JewishPress.com}}</ref>

===CD-ROM - Soncino Classics Collection===
Davka also released a CD-ROM named '''[Soncino](/source/Soncino_Press) Classics Collection''' that contains:<ref>{{cite web  |website=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)
|date=December 31, 1998
|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/12/circuits/articles/31libe-fonc.html
|title=From the Torah to the Zohar - Soncino Classics Collection}}</ref>
* Hebrew and English of [Tanach](/source/Tanach)
* Aramaic and English of the [Soncino Talmud](/source/Soncino_Press)
* Soncino Midrash Rabbah
* Soncino Zohar

In addition to ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)''{{'}} 9 paragraph 1998 review, a full page was devoted in [The Jewish Press](/source/The_Jewish_Press) to this CD in 2003.<ref name=JP.CD>{{cite news  
|newspaper=[The Jewish Press](/source/The_Jewish_Press)
|date=May 30, 2003  |author=Shimon Lewin  |title=Soncino Classics Collection
|page=36}}</ref>

==See also==
* [Torah Educational Software](/source/Torah_Educational_Software)
* [Jewish Nonviolent video games](/source/Nonviolent_video_game)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.davka.com/}}
* [http://www.davkawriter.com DavkaWriter website]
* [https://www.jta.org/1997/06/05/life-religion/features/around-the-jewish-world-move-over-barbies-cd-rom-jewish-iq-baseball-scores-big "Jewish software runs the gamut, from educational games to printing programs to advanced research tools for the scholar" : a JTA comparative overview]

{{Authority control}}

Category:Companies based in Chicago
Category:Hebrew language
Category:Jewish mass media
Category:Jewish printing and publishing
Category:Judaism software
Category:Privately held companies based in Illinois
Category:Video game companies of the United States
Category:Windows word processors

{{US-videogame-company-stub}}
{{Windows-software-stub}}
{{WordProcessor-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Davka](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davka) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davka?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.