« Tel Aviv: Warm, Sunny, Seaside | Main | Language Immersion »

January 24, 2007

When the language was new

I recently read about Eliezer Ben Yehuda (1858-1922), father of modern Hebrew. He moved from Russia, via Paris, to Palestine in 1880 with his new wife. From the moment they stepped on the boat they committed themselves to speaking Hebrew in the home and on the street. As the Bible, at that time, remained the primary source for the language, few people spoke it and there weren’t yet words for modern-day living. So he had to start inventing words and speaking those words and weaving the gorgeous language that I unravel on a daily basis. He has been called a visionary and a nut (necessary qualities for such an enterprise, it seems to me) and is the subject of a wonderful song by Israeli singer Chava Alberstein.

Ben Yehuda Street.

Another view of Ben Yehuda Street.

Posted by Ilene Weismehl  at 6:19 AM | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: MeredithZ at January 27, 2007 11:14 AM

Posted by: marc adler at January 30, 2007 02:43 PM

Post a comment

Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:
Remember Me? YesNo

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)