UNPACKED – The History & Revival of the Hebrew Language
This week, we’re looking at the revival of the Hebrew language. While the Bible and some religious texts were written in ancient Hebrew, it hadn’t been spoken in daily life for centuries.
In fact, Hebrew hadn’t been a living, breathing language since way back in the time of the Bar Kochva revolt in 135 CE.
Given the situation, it’s hardly surprising that Theodor Herzl – the father of modern Zionism – thought the language of the future Jewish state should be German.
Others disagreed. And one man – Eliezer Ben Yehuda – made the revival of the Hebrew language his life’s work.
While history remembers Ben Yehuda as being solely responsible for the rebirth of Modern History, the truth is a little different. Without this determined linguist, however, the language of modern Israel would be very different from what we hear today.
Let me know what you think about Herzl’s German idea, Ben Yehuda’s mania for Hebrew or the other subjects raised by this video below.
