Galila Whitmarsh

Eliezer Ben Yehuda and the Revival of Modern Hebrew: Language and Identity Galila Whitmarsh

The resurrection of ancient Hebrew and its transformation to a Modern Language is unparalled in linguistic history. Almost unaided, and without precedent, Eliezer Ben Yehuda (1858-1922), known as the father of spoken Hebrew, initiated the revival of Classical Hebrew; a language which for 2,000 years had not been spoken as a vernacular. Affected by a time of national turmoil throughout Europe, Ben Yehuda developed the idea that the key to Jewish national entity was the revival of the Jewish people on their ancestral soil via their ancestral language, Hebrew. While still in Europe he wrote about uniting the Jewish People using the Hebrew Language as a common tongue. He felt that having their own language would be a unifying force for all Jews, impeding future assimilation and ultimate annihilation. This idea was furthered by his own immigration to the Holy Land and his work toward the revival of the Hebrew language and culture there. The unprecedented success of the revival of Modern Hebrew will interest anyone who cares about language development and the impact one person can have as its ardent pioneer.