History of Hebrew
Revival of Hebrew Language
Gender Differences in Hebrew
- 1881: Eliezer Ben-Yehuda began reviving language
- Due to local movements, Hebrew replaced local Jewish dialects such as Yiddish, Persian, and Arabic
- Hebrew is the most widely spoken language in Israel today
- Women: books were in Yiddish and they did not learn Hebrew
- Men: learned Hebrew
Background
- Hebrew language was born in 2000 BCE
- Spoken language died in 200 CE
- Survived only as a written language, specifically in the Torah and other religious texts
- Jews were persecuted globally, so they learned other languages to assimilate
- Aramaic was the language spoken in Persia, Syria, and Israel during this time
Hebrew in the Soviet Union
- Use of Hebrew was banned
- Teachers were imprisoned for creating a Hebrew network
- Hebrew books were seized from libraries
- Yiddish was the only recognized national language of the Russian Jews
British Mandate in Israel
- 1922: Hebrew established as one of the three official languages in Israel (other two were Arabic and English)
- Needed universal language to connect the many different people arriving in Israel in the 20th century