Many children invent words that are new and special. Sometimes their inventions are funny and sometimes clever – but most of them are forgotten with time. Ben-Tzion, the son of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, didn’t imagine that to this day all of us would be using the name that he gave over one hundred years ago to the spinning toy of Hanukkah, the s'vivon (dreidle)!
The Revival of the Hebrew Language
It’s hard to believe that once Jews in the land of Israel didn’t speak Hebrew as their everyday language! When they wanted to buy bread in the grocery store they would ask for “broit” in Yiddish, “khubez” in Arabic or “ekmak” in Turkish, each according to the language that they knew. They borrowed books from the “biblioteka”, and they traveled to Jerusalem in an “automobile” or rode on an “azino” (that is, on a donkey). Everyone spoke in his own language, and there wasn’t one language that was common to everyone. Hebrew was the holy tongue, the language in which one prayed, studied Torah and in which one sang on the Sabbath and holidays. Due to the determination of Eliezer Ben- Yehuda and a few others of his generation Hebrew became an everyday language.
“National unity of the people will not exist unless they speak one language […] only through the Hebrew language will the nation of Israel live in its own land…” (Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, from the journal “Havatzelet”, Issue 26-28, 5’642– 1882.
Age Group: KINDERGARTEN
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generalEliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858-1922) was born in Lithuania to a Hassidic family. In his youth he was introduced to the idea that the Hebrew language would be the national language of the Jewish people and that it would once again be used as the language of speech and creativity. The idea of the re-birth of the Hebrew language in the land of Israel excited Ben- Yehuda, and he decided to devote his life to it. And thus, he made aliyah (immigrated to the land of Israel) in 1881 and dealt with the revival of the language all his life: He wrote in the literary journal “Havatzelet”, put out the daily newspaper “HaTzvi” and completed his life’s work, the great dictionary that he composed, “The Ben- Yehuda Dictionary”.
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Copies Distributed:
60,000
Publishing:
דני ספרים
Year of Distribution:
1772 2011-2012
