The installation is TeXLive on Ubuntu 12.04.
I've been using a variety of source files, some of them extremely simple. I can post if necessary, but thought it might be irrelevant given the seeming ubiquity of this error.
It's weird too because I had it working briefly (sort of), by deleting all the /emph modified Hebrew text. Then I kept screwing around with the installation and after that it stopped working again. What was I doing? Mostly tlmgr commands to update stuff. And fc commands like fc-cache -fv. Nothing else can think of.
I've wasted way too much time on this today. Any pointers or clues greately appreciated.
Anyways here's one source file:
This is my BASH log trying to compile:
I tried using a variety of source files, some of my own that I know had worked from my Window7 / MiKTeX installation, some of which I found online. The following source file I found online as an example of working with Hebrew in LaTeX:
Source file can be found at hebexample
for this particular file the BASH log looks like: