Hebrew
Yesterday we had the opportunity to learn more about Hebrew in CFI's staff meeting. We had a special speaker, Rabbi Ben Yehuda, Eliezer ben Yehuda's grandson.
Hebrew has not always been a spoken language. Of course it started out that way, and the people of Israel spoke the language for many years, but then the Babylonian exile came. As the people settled in Babylon they started speaking Aramaic instead of Hebrew. For about two and a half millenia the only time Hebrew was spoken was when the scriptures were read or prayers uttered. Of course you can imagine that this came to be like a game of Chinese whispers. Not at first of course. It would have taken a while before the people forgot the meaning of the words they were uttering, but inevitably the day came when the people were just repeating meaningless sounds they had been taught. This meant that no new words were being added to Hebrew and we have no idea how Hebrew was originally spoken. Many of the ultra orthodox came to believe it was God's language, not to be spoken until the Messiah reigns here on earth. This was the background that Eliezer ben Yehuda was born into in 1858. Before Theodor Herzl pushed Zionism ben Yehuda was a proponate of the idea and moved along with his new wife to "Palestine." Unlike the ultra orthodox though, ben Yehuda believed that the Jews should once again speak Hebrew as their main language, especially since the situation of the Jews of the day spoke different languages from all over the world. If you were a Jew living in Jerusalem and you spoke German you would have nothing to do with your neighbor who spoke Italian. Ben Yehuda decided he would change this by bringing Hebrew back to life. Through years of research, creativity, writing a newspaper, and teaching school in Hebrew, Ben Yehuda was able to bring Hebrew back to life.
Hebrew has not always been a spoken language. Of course it started out that way, and the people of Israel spoke the language for many years, but then the Babylonian exile came. As the people settled in Babylon they started speaking Aramaic instead of Hebrew. For about two and a half millenia the only time Hebrew was spoken was when the scriptures were read or prayers uttered. Of course you can imagine that this came to be like a game of Chinese whispers. Not at first of course. It would have taken a while before the people forgot the meaning of the words they were uttering, but inevitably the day came when the people were just repeating meaningless sounds they had been taught. This meant that no new words were being added to Hebrew and we have no idea how Hebrew was originally spoken. Many of the ultra orthodox came to believe it was God's language, not to be spoken until the Messiah reigns here on earth. This was the background that Eliezer ben Yehuda was born into in 1858. Before Theodor Herzl pushed Zionism ben Yehuda was a proponate of the idea and moved along with his new wife to "Palestine." Unlike the ultra orthodox though, ben Yehuda believed that the Jews should once again speak Hebrew as their main language, especially since the situation of the Jews of the day spoke different languages from all over the world. If you were a Jew living in Jerusalem and you spoke German you would have nothing to do with your neighbor who spoke Italian. Ben Yehuda decided he would change this by bringing Hebrew back to life. Through years of research, creativity, writing a newspaper, and teaching school in Hebrew, Ben Yehuda was able to bring Hebrew back to life.
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