Hebrew: The Rise of a Language

Abstract

One of the most significant factors that harms a society in the long term is the gradual distancing from its shared values ​​and potential to bring differences together. In this study, we will discuss the transformation of Hebrew from a sacred scriptural language into a language used in daily life, which was thought of years before the establishment of Israel in 1948. In a world where Jews used the language of the countries they lived in with different regulations, a young man named Ben-Yehuda alone began the process of making Hebrew a spoken language and the banker Rothschild family supported this young man financially until the end. Despite all obstacles and difficulties, Hebrew was declared the official language in Palestine in 1922 and was made compulsory in kindergartens. The purpose of this study is to give a concrete example of the dilemma of what can I do alone, of humanity, who was turned into a witnesses to the genocide that took place especially after October 7, and also the importance of investing in people and the belief that the right goal will eventually be achieved one day. Thus, Zionism, summarized as Jewish nationalism, used religious motives over the promised land as a value that could keep all Jews together, while solving the critical aspect of a common language which was its most important pillar, in the early 1900s, and only the land part remained.