The History & Revival of the Hebrew Language | History of Israel Explained | Unpacked

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.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:37 History of the spoken Hebrew language
01:13 Hebrew as a written language
02:39 The development of modern written Hebrew
03:41 The revival of spoken Hebrew
04:00 Yiddish and resistance to spoken Hebrew
05:02 Eliezer Ben Yehuda and his son
06:47 How to make Hebrew a living language
08:08 The invention of modern Hebrew words
09:05 Cementing Israeli identity through Hebraization
09:48 Hebrew Land and Language
10:38 Outro
Subscribe and turn on your notifications so you don’t miss future uploads!
kzbin.info?sub_...
Let’s connect:
Website - www.jewishunpacked.com
Instagram - / jewishunpacked
Twitter - / jewishunpacked
TikTok - / jewishunpacked
Facebook - / jewishunpacked
-----------
Photo/Video Credit:
- GPO/Moshe Pridan/Pinns Hanns/Ya'acov Saars/Kluger Zoltan/Daniel Kaplan/Cohen Fritz
- Library of Congress
- Livioandronico2013
THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS:
Executive Producers:
- Shevi Peters
- Adam Milstein
Platinum Level:
- Rachel & Jack ז”ל Gindi Family Foundation
- Meryl and Sam Solomon, Beit Zayit
- Lily and Kam Babaoff
- Dr. Shmuel and Evelyn Katz
Silver Level:
- Melanie & Martin Glatt
This series would not be possible without the generous support of:
- The Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation
-----------
About History of Israel Explained: This series casts a new perspective on the history of the modern State of Israel, both pre and post 1948. We explore the inspiring highs and heartbreaking lows, and the everyday struggles of ordinary people. Understand how the Jewish State came to be by meeting prominent Zionist figures and learning about key historical events. Explore aspects of Israeli society, from its famous military to the meaning of the national anthem, and more.
About Unpacked: We provide nuanced insights by unpacking all things Jewish. People are complex and complicated - yet we’re constantly being pushed to oversimplify our world. At Unpacked we know that being complex makes us more interesting. Because of this, we break the world down with nuance and insight to drive your curiosity and challenge your thinking.
#Israel #Education #History

[@ArmadilloMan]

“Robert Downey Jr has had the greatest comeback in history” The Hebrew Language: “Hold my Torah”

[@terrybaker8156]

Hold my Torah? More like, “Bitch ,please!”

[@adamender9092]

As an Irishman I hope we follow in their footsteps to revive our language

[@darnit1944]

Maybe you can start by strictly speaking Gaelic in your house, raised your child as a native Gaelic speaker or publish a dictionary

[@besongoben5820]

And never forget no matter how "unionated" you are ypu will never be Anglo saxons!!!!

[@victoresan]

@@besongoben5820 you needn't be an aglo saxon or wish to be one to be a unionist

[@adamender9092]

@Ɣilasnsen Id It's not too late now, try to be less pessimistic

[@jacobp9621]

I hope y’all stop hating Israel

[@N_Pakhomios]

As an Egyptian, this story inspired me for years to revive our Coptic (Egyptian) language. I started with myself, and hopefully one day I’ll play a part in reviving our language here in Egypt. ⲫⲁⲓ ⲟⲩϩⲱⲃ ⲉϥⲛⲁϣⲧ ⲁⲗⲗⲁ ⲁⲛϣⲁⲛϭⲱⲛⲧ, ⲧⲉⲛⲛⲁⲧⲁⲛϧⲟ ⲛ̀ⲧⲉⲛⲁⲥⲡⲓ ⲛ̀ϣⲟⲩⲙⲉⲛⲣⲓⲧⲥ ϧⲉⲛ ⲭⲏⲙⲓ

[@Vinicius-eg2sw]

So beautifully said.

[@rahkeemthegreat360]

In the second half of the 20th century, Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria started a movement to revive the Coptic language.

[@sayyestolife333]

Bless you

[@Reichsritter]

Start by rejecting Islam

[@broz1488]

The real miracle of modern Hebrew is that linguists like Eliezer Ben Yehuda could take an ancient language like biblical Hebrew, that had been frozen in time by 2000 years of being a liturgical language and not a spoken language, and transform it into a independent fully functioning 21st century spoken language. It's like Jurassic Park in a linguistic sense.

[@adrianblake8876]

It wasn't frozen in time, it continued to evolve all those years. It just wasn't spoken as a vernacular...

[@broz1488]

@@adrianblake8876 Hebrew when compared to other languages, did not evolve. Which is why a ten year old Israeli kid can pick up a 3500 year old book written in Hebrew and understand it. Take any written language from 3500 years ago and ask their modern linguistic descendants to understand it. Not possible. Thus in comparison to other languages, Hebrew did not evolve. Obviously modern Hebrew is a different story which shows Hebrew evolving rapidly, but this covers less than a hundred years of Hebrew's existence.

[@adrianblake8876]

@@broz1488 For one, that's an exaggeration. Hebrew speakers can read the Bible as well as an English speaker can read, say, Shakespeare (ie, milage may vary). And it certainly helps that the way Hebrew is written, phonetic changes that affect legibility when spoken, affect it less when written (somewhat like with Chinese). Remember that the vowel points were invented in 10th century CE... But Hebrew did evolve while it was dead. Medieval scholars were writing in Hebrew and furthered the language's development...

[@broz1488]

@@adrianblake8876 Shakespeare is a bad example. Firstly Shakespeare has a different sentence structure to modern English and uses words that are no longer used in modern English. A better comparison as how it appears to me, is to compare let say Torah Hebrew and modern Hebrew to that of clipped precise English read by a news caster with that of spoken English.

[@broz1488]

@@adrianblake8876 to be honest it is easier to read Hebrew without the vowels. Which is why Israelis don't use vowels. They are a nuisance.

[@shevetlevi2821]

Really interesting. It occurred to me that if Eliezer Ben Yehuda's household was the first Hebrew speaking household in 1900 years, and his son was the first native born Hebrew speaker, then the Ben Yehuda family is the ground zero for how native sounding Hebrew sounds today.

[@thehair9236]

@efopo what a stupid argument. This can't be because it just can't be. Ok bro

[@590af]

Ummm... it happened, deal with it. What's so hard to belive in that?

[@DeusHex]

Hebrew was never stopped to be spoken. It just that the Jews often used it as a second language for torah study and reading and between the jews themselves

[@alexcarter8807]

@efopo Then the Jews said: Hold my shakshuka.

[@manygor2687]

@@DeusHex Using for torah means it wasn't spoken.

[@WillieJeng]

As a Taiwanese, I have trouble communicating with my grandmother who mostly speaks Taiwanese while many young urbanites like me speak Mandarin. As kids nowadays don't know even basic phrases in Taiwanese, I wonder if this would ever be possible in Taiwan to built our identity.

[@Israelball]

I never knew that. That's so sad :(

[@theredknight9314]

That’s right, I forgot that there were two separate languages. So wait, can you not read the symbols written in Taiwan, but instead simplified Chinese? (forgot the name for complex Chinese symbols)

[@LordDirus007]

Huh, for some reason I thought they spoke Cantonese in Taiwan. Gotta do better research

[@KellyBell1]

Maybe you could be the one to get the language ball rolling .😊

[@eden6056]

Isn't Taiwanese just Hokkien , the same dialect from Fujian province

[@eliseoandrade8126]

The Hebrew language is a miracle 😱🔥🙌🏻

[@kalles.4881]

I'd rather see it as a revelation. A most beautiful one.

[@gregoryjones7712]

its a new language true hebrew is dead

[@56pjr]

That is because Hebrew is God's language. Read the old testament in Hebrew. It is all about Jesus.

[@chanson2431]

@@gregoryjones7712 I dont think you were following the narration of this video. hmm

[@yogun1922]

@@56pjrdefinitely! And just as Christ resurrected so does his language AND his nation! God never breaks his promises. The end times are near! Jesus is alive!

[@muymuy777]

I really love the language and want to be able to speak Hebrew fluently someday. Binge watching these videos while being quarantined. Great content!👍

[@divyanshkherde5019]

" An average Hindu teenager can read and understand a 300 years old manuscript without help? Unlikely! But Any Hebrew speaker can open up an 3000 years old Hebrew text and make sense of it."

[@ADeeSHUPA]

Semitic

[@CartoonsinHindi]

what 300 years old language you taking about hindustani ? which is now hindi, but its root language which is sanskrit is at least 7000 years old.

[@divyanshkherde5019]

@@CartoonsinHindi 300 year old(actually 7-900yrs old) manuscript ,meant . And universe is made up of chchandas( padartha) which is made up of rashmis and rashmi is made up of aksharas or say Sanskrit is srishti(universe ) because universe is made up of subtle vibrations which are called RASHMI's so universe is made up of Sanskrit. Cycle of creation and dissolution is eternal so is Sanskrit. Stop calling it several thousand years old its is utter nonsense, rubbish. u understand everything is made up Sanskrit/rashmi/chchanda

[@faridosbuh8450]

​@jai Kumar as a linguist I just HAVE to answer to all the missinformation here. sanskrit is not at all an old language. it comes from the same root at english,dutch,russian,french etc. sanskrit comes from a language called PIE (proto indo european) that was spoken about 6000 years ago. sanskrit itself is about 3500 years old. sanskrit had a huge influence in asia, but it is by no means an 'especially old' or 'especially interesting' language. PS. another language related to the same family is Lithuanian; and it is one of the most conservative daughter languages of PIE. So, in a funny coincidence, lithuanian and sanskrit share quite some common features that have since been lost in other daughter languages from PIE.

[@faridosbuh8450]

@jai Kumar wow. just wow. these are not even topics of discussion for linguists. these are absolute facts. this opinion you have is absolutely nowhere to be found in the field. google is your friend :P PS. a child can not be older than his parent :P

[@AnjumulHaque]

The resilience of the Jewish people for bringing back a lost language and coming back to their home land is noteworthy.

[@ayylmao2190]

@ only 26% of Israeli Jews have European origins, nice try though

[@tpxchallenger]

@ Yeah, give western Turkey and Constantinople back to the Greeks!!

[@thedoge7817]

@@tpxchallenger You should give your home to me because I claim several thousand years ago my ancestor lived where you live now.

[@tpxchallenger]

@@thedoge7817 Doubt it. All I'm doing is pointing out the utter hypocrisy of pointing fingers at the Israeli without mentioning the expulsion of Greeks from Turkey which happened in the late 1920s and the Greeks had been there more than a thousand years before the Turks.

[@ayaanwa1837]

Real Jews never left Palestine. Some converted to Islam and some to Christianity. European Zionists converted to Judaism and revived Hebrew to steal Palestaine.

[@adhamhmacconchobhair7565]

I know what I need to do. •become fluent in Irish •get into politics •become minister for gaeltacht •find a way to extend my term if its successful up to that point •make all primary schools gaelscoils •make more jobs not allow english •make all secondary schools Irish •make it illegal to speak english in areas with majority of the population being able to speak Irish •record slowly map out areas where Irish is only allowed •remove english from everywhere and make it completely illegal •record my progress It may be strict but nothing else is working.

[@Potjenjks2988]

Banning english from businesses will cause insane economic downfall.

[@ivan7d632]

U can't revive the language just through banning English. English is native for the most part of the people. You can make education in Irish cheaper for Gaelic speakers. You need to prove people that they need this language

[@adamender9092]

@@Potjenjks2988 It really won't though, we can do it slowly and start with native businesses

[@adamender9092]

@@ivan7d632 Banning Irish was how English became the dominant language here but I agree with you

[@tigerwest4748]

Children are the future. Elizier Ben Yehuda was clever to make Hebrew not a subject but teach every subject in Hebrew. Education is key. And need lotsa patience.

[@GemGoddess01]

This was so inspiring. Hopefully we can do the same with Sanskrit.

[@arpitpatra]

Do it. Translate books into sanskrit

[@gazibizi9504]

Sanskrit was never spoken.

[@babulaltivari42]

@@gazibizi9504 what?😂

[@__Man__]

yes, people didn't speak Sanskrit, they spoke the impure one called Prakrit, you would be considered as Brahmin or weirdo if you used the purified Sanskrit to speak. Then, all of those Prakrits diverged into the languages of Northern India from Punjabi to Bengali as far as Rohingyan and Dhivehi

[@babulaltivari42]

@@__Man__ what you are saying is completely right but Sanskrit was spoken before prakrit became peoples preferred language

[@zch7345]

Excellent condensed reflection on restoring Identity. Indeed restoration is a painful process. Greatest honor to those who took on such mammoth task in zeal & endurance. Their legacy is built into every generations.

[@MultiSciGeek]

This is pretty amazing from an anthropological/sociological point of view. To think that Israelis today speak a language their grandparents wouldn't understand... just wow. Like how the hell do you achieve this? How do you convince everyone to speak a language that nobody speaks, and better yet educated them in it and force them to use it?

[@DeusHex]

Hebrew was never stopped to be spoken. It just that the Jews often used it as a second language for torah study and reading and between the jews themselves. The way I read the torah in my yeminte synagogue is the same as was practiced in the time of the first temple. We know the yeminte tradition is one of the oldest because we use a system that is documented in the talmud: 2 bible 1 translation. Meaning we read the Torah in Hebrew once, and in aramaic once, as many of the people in the time of the second temple didn't understand Hebrew, and instead used Aramaic, so we preserved that system even tho 2500 years passed and we dont know native aramaic lol.

[@simonbennatan8257]

Well, I think the answer is that it wasn't just "forced" it was a combination of motivation (like in Ireland) and the need of using a lingua franca (like between bilingual vascophones from Spain and France). And it helps that is was used as a language of prayer. Maybe try the daily habit of reading one or two pages in your target language in the morning and at night and then meet people preferably from other language backgrounds that want to use this as a common language. And involve immigrants in this. Usually immigrants have more children anyway. And ask yourself what's more important, your language or your skin tone?

[@richiestyles5143]

@@simonbennatan8257 When Hebrew was revived. Pretty much all of the Jews in the British Mandate of Palestine were Yiddish speaking. The switch to Hebrew was primarily a political one, Yiddish and Ladino were seen as the language of exile and the symbol of the oppression the Jewish Diaspora had faced, Hebrew was their original language and the symbol of things were when they had a land to call their own. To ensure Hebrew became the lingua franca of Israel, the Israel government and Hebrew commissions began a campaign of "Jewish man, speak Hebrew" and were increasingly hostile and suppressive of Yiddish media(search up Hebrew language war) to establish Hebrew as the main lingua franca of the region. Remember Israel's modern majority Mizrahi population only began around the start of the 50s when the Arab states turned on their own Jewish populations and kicked them out as some sort of weird retaliation for Israel existing. Israel, for most of it's pre-founding in the 19-20th century was mainly Ashkenazi and although Israel was pretty hebraicized by WW2, the war's aftermath sent a new wave of un-hebraicized Yiddish speakers who wanted to write and create media and generally live with the language they spoke all their lives, but because that posed a threat to Israel's linguistic unity, linguistic fanatics attacked Yiddish publications and started the "Jewish man, speak Hebrew" campaign. This lead to Yiddish's linguistic bounce back after the Holocaust being a lot less than it could have been as well as the virtual extinction of Western (The Yiddish spoken in most Germanic countries, it was similar to Eastern Yiddish, but with much less or no Slavic loan words due to their speakers never immigrating to Eastern Europe like the Eastern Yiddish did.

[@pukinsarvi.studio]

God has always His ways, one way or another. It is said that it was a miracle that the Jewish state was founded, but the Torah (5 books of Mosheh) tells us that every time Israel repents when they are in exile, they will be brought back from 4 corners of the world where I expelled them says יהוה.

[@alexcarter8807]

Hebrew has the coolest looking alphabet!

[@ezemdianosike5277]

That's so true. I just love looking at it. It helps me relax lol

[@manaspandey7086]

True

[@leontrotsky8505]

זה תמיד משמח אותי לראות אנשים שנהנים ומוקירים את התרבות והשפה שלי! 🥰

[@eye2eye899]

It’s like Zelda runes I love it

[@ObamaSexGaming2007]

Agreed

[@funDAYsmiling]

You know this IS something very cool and almost unprecedented in human history as it was almost all but dead.

[@abhyudaysinghparmar6055]

There is also a moment going on in India to revive sanskrit

[@DeusHex]

Hebrew was never stopped to be spoken. It just that the Jews often used it as a second language for torah study and reading and between the jews themselves

[@alexcarter8807]

I grew up in Hawaii and Hawaiian is undergoing a revival. It's the 2nd official language in the state along with English.

[@funDAYsmiling]

alex carter That’s so cool! I’ve never visited Hawaii, and live in Florida, where I’m from but know it’s beautiful. I buddy of mine here moved out there.

[@vinfacts11]

What would advise the Celtic nations to revive their language?

[@christianamerican473]

@stephan daoust based

[@pottingsoil]

@stephan daoust based.

[@NeoConNET7]

@stephan daoust Alt-Right lie. If u want Celtic, go learn it. Don't blame Jews for you Gentiles not keeping your culture alive.

[@alexilsley897]

Well In Cornwall we are, recently the Cornish council have released the Cornish language plan that will make all schools teach Cornish to pupils. Which is Great because soon may children will be speaking it as a first language. I’m nearly fluent and 13 ☺️

[@levand3673]

@@NeoConNET7 Very true!

[@knowhere60]

To add, Hebrew was used for correspondence and commerce across world Jewery, as well as for poetry, as with Rabbi Shalom Shabazz of Yemen, etc.

[@smutib2863]

They didn’t speak Hebrew as a spoken language during the Roman era. They spoke Aramaic.

[@avoiceinthewilderness5766]

This is correct in part. Many spoke Greek also. Y'shua would speak in Hebrew at times and the common folk could not understand, which frustrated His disciples. And He would say, this is just for you few. Many things Y'shua said make so much sense when seen through the Hebraic lens.

[@richiestyles5143]

@@avoiceinthewilderness5766 He means as a spoken language. Jesus could understand Hebrew because it was a liturgical or religious language. Many priests can understand Latin, that doesn't mean Latin is a everyday spoken language.

[@donthiago5965]

Get the fact Babylon conquered Israel that's how it was dead

[@adrianblake8876]

​@@donthiago5965 No, The Bible explicitly says in Ezra that the population that returned from the Babylonian exile spoke the Jewish tongue (which wasn't Aramaic)

[@pricefight800]

fun fact, the hebrew word for ice cream glida(גלידה) would probably be named the same as if it was created in biblical time, since its based on the ancient word galad/glad/geled(גלד) for ice, which pretty much died 2300 years ago

[@adrianblake8876]

Fun fact: probably not though... The root is RU in the Bible, and even in Arabic where the word for "ice" is "jalīd", the word for ice-cream is "thalj" (literally: "snow")...

[@cehaem2]

Arameic had technically replaced Hebrew as a spoken language by the time of the destruction of the temple (let's assume that's a fact..)

[@sigalsmadar4547]

Let's not. Rabbis would never teach in aramaic. The Holy Text is written in Hebrew. You might be interested in "The Moses Controversy" documentary showing how yes, Moses did write the Torah at that time in history, and it's HEBREW, not "proto semitic" that's the original language. patternsofevidence.com (no anti-semitic or Christian "missionary" (to Jews) postulations, fyi)

[@menachemsalomon]

@@sigalsmadar4547 The Rabbis very often taught in Aramaic, as it was the language the people knew and understood. Similar to the way most lectures in the US are in English or Yiddish, not in Hebrew.

[@savvageorge]

The main language of the Eastern Roman Empire was Greek, not Aramaic. This why when Jews like Josephus or Matthew (Disciple of Jesus) decided to become authors their preferred language for writing was Greek, not Aramaic.

[@cehaem2]

@@savvageorge Spoken language. You're commenting on something you clearly didn't read. Greek was the language of administration and arts. And there still was considerable literaly output in Arameic.

[@savvageorge]

​@@cehaem2 If there was considerable output are you able to name any Aramaic authors from the Roman period? I can't think of any. The historical evidence seems to suggest Greek was the preferred language.

[@dolfi1961]

Ireland, they tried to revive the GAELIC language, as their national language when they got their independence from Great Britain. They failed on it

[@tFighterPilot]

Cuz they all speak English

[@Yesica1993]

Amazing story, thank you!

[@thechurchofsymmetra8247]

Many countries should take this step. India should revive Sanskrit, Irish should revive Gaelic, Italy should revive Latin etc…

[@user-re4qm1fs2w]

Italian is an evolved form of Latin so it wouldn’t make a lot of sense. Latin evolved into french, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian.

[@michaelmelamed9103]

Latin never died. It’s been used continuously in catholic liturgy and in medicine. We studied Latin in the 1st year of med school in Europe

[@alg11297]

The language is still growing with many slang terms popping up all the time. There is a think-tank in case a new word has to be invented. When it is agreed on what the word will be, it is highly published as part of the news. Can you imagine that in English?

[@UNPACKED]

The Hebrew Academy (mentioned in the video) is much more than just a think tank, they are the authority on Hebrew language.

[@kittykatzcenteno7160]

Yes. En france, "l'académie française "does exactly the same. A new dictionary is always beeig actualized. The same for many other countries.

[@jarauvejsi9468]

@@UNPACKED ffetygg 💁‍♀️💪💖💖💖💖💖💖💖😂🤗🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🌜🌜🌜🌜🌜🌛🌛🌛😶😶😶💝💝👌👏

[@majarimennamazerinth5753]

C’mon, linguistic determinism doesn’t really hold

[@funDAYsmiling]

alg11297 This actually is the case in English and English is rife with slang which changes roughly every 50 years and instead of newspapers, the English literally did invent the first dictionaries that we respect today as dictionaries and there are so many dictionaries that what constitutes actual dictionaries are debatable.

[@dudefrombelgium]

woah wait hertzl himself proposed german as the language for the jewish state. imagine if that realy caught on.

[@nonamemcgillicutty9585]

That's the only difference between Nazis and Israelis, holy hell

[@dudefrombelgium]

@@nonamemcgillicutty9585 you stupid person. you are comparing 8 milion people of mixed origin with nazism while the situation is completely different and by the way you know nothing about israel and palestine.

[@tFighterPilot]

It wouldn't. It couldn't. Most Jews didn't come from German speaking areas. Herzl didn't really consider their existence. There's no way they'd learn German to live in Israel.

[@vadimzdonutube]

That would never have worked

[@daraa151]

Bullshit!

[@cjschneidt9089]

Thank god I've been WAITING for this video.

[@Blackaddder]

Cj Schneidt i’m very sad for you

[@lincolnbarnabas32]

Wow🥺 this is an amazing story. ❤️

[@jacobklein8156]

Modern Hebrew speakers can read Aramaic with some effort. Think of it like reading Chaucer.

[@talknight2]

Aramaic is more foreign to modern Hebrew than Chaucer's Middle English is to Modern English. I'd compare reading Aramaic to an English-speaker trying to read Scots (the language, not the dialect).

[@richiestyles5143]

@@talknight2 More like trying to read German or Dutch. Scots is pretty much a dialect of English. I mean compare Scots to how Scottish speakers speak standard Scottish English. The differences between Scots and English are overblown.

[@Kaprinov.ic7]

Im a native Aramaic speaker and I know that Hebrew is supposed to be very similar but i barely understand it without reading. Because the modern day Israel adopted Ashkenazi version as the norm

[@UNPACKED]

Modern Hebrew is actually much more closely related to the Sephardic "accent" of Hebrew in terms of pronunciation and syllabic emphasis. The similarities between Hebrew and Aramaic are much closer when comparing to Old Aramaic (both Eastern and Western).

[@Kaprinov.ic7]

@@UNPACKED like dat

[@Jewish_Israeli_Zionist]

I am a native Hebrew speaker and the one difficulty I have with Aramaic is the vocabulary... definately not the pronounciation. The pronounciation is ornamental.

[@Kaprinov.ic7]

@@Jewish_Israeli_Zionist Yes because it is a vasssssst language. As a native Aramaic, I don't understand Aramaic spoken among (Mandaic people) for example. The same in Arabic people can speak the same language but not understand a single word from it like Lebanese and Moroccan Arabic. However some similarities are there

[@Jewish_Israeli_Zionist]

@@Kaprinov.ic7 indeed and the Biblical and Talmudic Aramaic is very different from the modern Aramaic. I know the basic grammar. Nevertheless, Aramaic and Hebrew are beautiful languages.

[@Tbone-bv3wg]

The most amazing miracle by God-- keeping Israel- her people and language and her land-- alive for 2,000 years!

[@mayanlogos92]

That's my favourite story 🔥 Love this language ❤⚘

[@moose9840]

Gam ani ohev, e'vrete afpam met.

[@shivamrai2886]

I dream of Sanskrit returning as well✊🏽

[@D__Ujjwal]

It starts from you. Learn Sanskrit, teach your kids sanskrit. Don't dream if you can't follow yourself

[@djphlange]

a video on the Paleo Hebrew would be awesome, a very unique looking language and its what wouldve been written on the Ten commandments

[@Relikvien]

Kids have no problem with learning many different languages. They will be able to passively systemize the grammar, and the phonetics up to several languages.

[@darius684]

I grew up speaking Japanese and English since i was around 4 im trying to fit in foreign languages before my brain loses the flexibility

[@bobted6266]

That's really interesting

[@MaryamofShomal]

This was such an inspirational story! Baruch Hashem 🙏🏽

[@josueverificado1464]

Amazing story,

[@56pjr]

That is because Hebrew is God's language. Read the old testament in Hebrew. It is all about Jesus.

[@sleeexs]

@@56pjr No its not

[@56pjr]

God is Holy, you are sinful. Repent and believe in Jesus.

[@sleeexs]

@@56pjr didnt exist

[@sleeexs]

@@56pjr "repent and believe in harry potter"

[@Kurdedunaysiri]

It is a amazing video.

[@pukinsarvi.studio]

The book of Eliezer Ben Yehuda book is awesome, I suggest to read it.

[@sagivmaaravi763]

Fun fact: the 4th president James Maddison learn Latin, Greek, French, and Hebrew making him one of the president who knew a Semitic language. P.S Thomas Jefferson "allegedly" knew Arabic but no official source can support this statement.

[@erpollock]

Throughout the Middle Ages, the rabbinical commentaries that surround the Bible passages were written in Hebrew. So it was a language of scholarship and kept alive by Jewish scholars whose writings are studied today. In our Jewish high school, part of the curriculum was learning to read these Hebrew commentaries written by famous scholars. And Hebrew was the language of a huge compendium of Jewish law like the Shulchan Aruch and ethical treatises like Mesilat Yesharim, The Path of the Just. But it was not a spoken language. Letters to other scholars were written in Hebrew, though. Like Latin, it was a scholarly written language.

[@erpollock]

In the 90s, I bought a two volume English-Hebrew dictionary published by Alkalay, a popular dictionary. My father owned a large Alkalay Hebrew-English dictionary which I inherited. Now when I can't find a Hebrew word in the Internet, I look in the Alkalay dictionaries - and often find the word is missing. My 1990s Hebrew dictionaries are outdated. The point is, Hebrew is a language that is constantly developing for new situations, a new generation with its own slang, words put together out of previous words - you can't publish a dictionary that keeps up with the vitality of the language. And then there's the vocabulary of the Israeli army! That's another language entirely!

[@Oldfaithful61]

There seems to be some discussion as to whether it was Hebrew or Aramaic which was spoken in the first century A.D. I found some very interesting ideas about the language situation in Israel around that time, and about what language it was Jesus Christ (or Yeshua) and the people of His days actually spoke with eachother in everyday life, which I copy here in extenso. With my thanks to author and scholar Dr. David Reagan (University of Texas, Austin). Aramaic is a Semitic language related to Hebrew in much the same way as Spanish is related to Italian. It was a major language in the Middle East and beyond in the centuries before and after the time of Christ. It seems to have been (in varying dialects) the language of the common people throughout much of the Middles East at the time of Christ. Although the Jews of the time must have known and spoken Hebrew, it is still likely that the common language of the Bible lands was Aramaic. Of course, they may have simply considered it a different form of Hebrew in the same way that the Arabic of Morocco cannot be understood by the Arabs of Iraq and vice versa, but they all consider themselves to be speaking Arabic. I say this because Aramaic is not mentioned as a distinct language in the New Testament. Therefore, it may have been considered as another form of Hebrew because of its similarity. The evidence for Jesus speaking Aramaic is found in some of the statements in the gospels that are transliterated in the King James Bible. For instance: Mark 5:41 The statement is said to be Aramaic and not Hebrew or Greek. Also notice that it is translated for those who were reading it in Greek. Another example is: Matthew 27:46 > This statement is also said to be in Aramaic. As I said before, Aramaic is closely related to Hebrew but it is not the same language. Therefore, whenever someone was speaking in Aramaic in the Bible, this had to be translated into Greek before it was put in the New Testament books as Greek. However, this pretranslation would have been required whether they spoke Aramaic or Hebrew (for another example of pretranslation see Acts 21:40, where Paul spoke in Hebrew but the book of Acts was written in Greek). Greek was the universal language, Latin was the governmental language, Hebrew was the religious language of the Jews, and Aramaic was the common language of the Middle East. These folks were quite linguistic no matter how you look at it. ☺ Quotations from older Bible Books in Aramaic: Daniel 2:4-7 :8; Ezra 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Jeremiah 10:11. This almost certainly goes back to the Persian influence in language at the times these books were written. Dr. David Reagan

[@menachemsalomon]

From about the Babylonian Exile, Aramaic became the _lingua franca_ among Jews. Hebrew was still used as the religious language, for formal prayer and study. (BTW, Hezekiah's official in II Kings referenced the Aramaic/Hebrew language barrier.) The Mishnah was formalized in Hebrew, though the discussions which later became the Talmud took place in Judeo-Aramaic, a sort of pidgin between the two languages. This pidgin, sometimes leaning toward Hebrew, sometimes towards Aramaic, continued to be used as the written language for most study texts and commentaries, up to the present day. Interestingly, formal contracts, for marriage and divorce, are almost entirely Aramaic (with Hebrew letters).

[@menachemsalomon]

@@alanhughes8152 It was present, common enough. I don't know how popular it was among the traditional Jews for their own use. It was the secular vernacular, only reluctantly a secondary language into which scripture was translated. (The Septuagint was seen as a tragedy, something to be mourned rather than celebrated.)

[@MrLantean]

During the Babylonian Captivity, only the poorest Jews are left behind in Judea to maintain the farms and other infrastructures. These Jews continue to speak vernacular Hebrew while those taken to Babylon adopt Aramaic as vernacular while retaining Hebrew as the liturgical language of Jewish religion. Aramaic is retained when the exiles return to Judea after liberated by the Persians. During the time of Jesus, there are pockets of Jewish communities in Judea continue vernacular Hebrew in their own communities while speaking Aramaic with those outside of their communities. The last vestiges of vernacular Hebrew end perhaps by the 2nd or 3rd centuries when any remnants of vernacular Hebrew are completely supplanted by Aramaic. Aramaic is the lingua franca of the Jews during the 1st Century and therefore it is reasonable that Jesus speak Aramaic although he may know vernacular Hebrew as well.

[@waynechason5855]

Wow! Awesome information on the revival of the Hebrew language!

[@always.bhavesh]

I hope Hindus can learn something from this and work towards reviving Sanskrut ... Kutos for efforts 👍 🙏धन्यवादाः।🙏

[@always.bhavesh]

@jai Kumar 💯Agreed

[@alieracevedo6732]

Good video had to watch this for human geo.

[@kyleag86]

same lol

[@samiabe8686]

Guaranteed, ancient Hebrew speakers wouldn’t understand a single sentence spoken by modern Israelis.

[@dmeads5663]

Well, obviously. They have way more words now.

[@Jewish_Israeli_Zionist]

We understand ancient Hebrew.

[@davidtamiran]

Not Guaranteed!!

[@chaseofori-atta2225]

The Hebrew language has an awesome history!

[@richiestyles5143]

Late Modern English is around 300 years old so most likely your average American Teenager would be able to read a 300 year old book.

[@ronkropf3280]

May the Jews, Their land and language endure forever!!!

[@t.b.player7102]

Fascinating

[@crw45able]

I'm sure most of us could understand a 300 year old text in English, there would be some quaint expressions that have fallen out of use but it wouldn't be like reading Chaucer.

[@rahulkiidrawing]

I hope we can also do it with our language sankrit which can unify bharat on language.

[@babulaltivari42]

Would you send your kids to a sanskrit school with modern education being taught to them even if the rest of the community doesn't?

[@rahulkiidrawing]

@@babulaltivari42 I don't have issues sending, if modern education teach sanskrit, l will ensure my children will learn Sanskrit if i have to hire private teacher. My parent could not do it. But I will do.

[@babulaltivari42]

@@rahulkiidrawing Felt good to read that👍🏻

[@LightBearer93]

Probably Zionism's greatest achievement, even more than the state.

[@Jewish_Israeli_Zionist]

The state is great also. Don't believe the fake news.

[@randomname8858]

As an Israeli, I gotta agree with you on that

[@fallendown8828]

Yep, seems right. Also the tech, service and medicine industries that have been established by them are cool too.

[@RaffaelloLorenzusSayde]

Many of the Roman's barely left anything behind, some of them had a habit of destroying things

[@user-bo8nb2mi]

First man Adam spoke in holy language Hebrew. He placed his hand in a stream, lifted hand up and said: Ma? Mayim! Later generations Teutonic man placed hand in stream and said: Vass? Vasser! Later generations Latin man placed hand in stream and said: What? Water! Etc. Quoi? Aqua! Adam means man in Hebrew. In Hebrew: D in Adam stands for Hebrew word Dam=blood. M in Adam stands for Hebrew word Mayim=water. A in Adam stands for Hebrew word afer or affar meaning dust. Thus is man comprised of blood, water, dust. Thus is Hebrew a holy language. A=Aleph (א), D=Daled (ד), M=Mem (מ)

[@richiestyles5143]

Hebrew isn't more Holy than Latin, Greek or any language. Only God is holy. Hebrew weren't more moral or their language more pure than any other language, God just decided that his chosen people were going to be them, despite their sins and iniquities. Also, your timeline is weird, the Crusaders including the Teutonic knights came to Israel after the Romans and Quoi is French, not Latin(although it descends from Latin). The French Crusader like the Knights Templar came to Israel around the same time as the Teutonic knights. Also, Israel is incredibly fertile so them being shocked at finding water is weird. There's a reason why it was referred to as the Promised land.

[@Gebri3l]

@@richiestyles5143 language affects human development, language affects how group of people think, what the communities priorities are and so on. How we communicate with ourself and others is affected by language. Language is the source of our knowledge, how we all Perceive the world is affected by the language we speak. If humans knows this, why would a God choose a random language 🤔

[@ParadigmFluxEmporium]

'sometimes it takes a little bit of crazy to create profound change.' so true. 'Crazy' combined with All Inclusive Unconditional Love is key to profound societal change.

[@adrianblake8876]

"Crazy" in the video meant beating your wife and isolating your kid, not unconditional love by any means of the word...

[@DavidYoel13]

Amazing video Exactly what I was looking for Toda raba

[@shirleybillingsley9635]

I want to learn Hebrew so that I can read the Torah in the natural language

[@ronkropf3280]

That is just so awesome 👌 👏 👍 😍

[@rjp-sf9hg]

The average American teenager has trouble reading and writing his/her own language. Spelling is a challenge. According to testimony of high school students, "it hurts to think." Maybe they should try learning Hebrew. ;)

[@KellyBell1]

I really enjoy learning new things about old and ancient history and languages BUT…some people just talk so much faster than I can actually hear, process, remember. I can’t keep up with fast speakers so I watch a video 3x. 😂

[@MrSushh]

That’s pretty cool

[@csongorszendrey2180]

Actually. Magyar was and is in the same boat. It was also a "dead" languages until it's revival & subsequent modernization in the early 1820s leading up to the 1848 revolution. So there is a precedent. Keep up the good work but occasionally double check the research.

[@tFighterPilot]

What are you talking about? Hungarian was spoken continuously, even when it wasn't the official language of Hungary.

[@richiestyles5143]

Since when did Hungarian ever die out. You're confusing Hungarians gaining equal status with the Austrian Germans in the Austria-Hungarian empire to the same as language revival. Hungarians were never assimilated by the Austrians and always kept their language. Even Theodor Herzl, who was a native German speaker, had Tivadar(the Hungarian version of Theodor as his name), not to mention the Hungarian church and Jewish Hungarian churches which used Hungarian in teaching. They wouldn't have done so if Hungarian was a dead language.

[@kishorekunal5983]

Amazing and Inspiring video....👌👌👌👌

[@isaacchetrit2735]

יפה מאד!

[@sugasheeze]

Most Jews in Israel during the Roman period were not native Hebrew speakers. Aramaic was the most common first language.

[@hlits6310]

Brilliant, thank you

[@sgt.mcgillicuddy2948]

As a Cajun of Louisiana, we face a problem with our dialect of French not being transmitted from our grandparents’ generation to the young. Most young people are monolingual English speakers now. The tale of Hebrew’s revitalization fascinates me and gives me hope that even though our native Louisiana French speakers are dying at an alarming rate, it’s still possible to bring it back from the brink.

[@sirfluffythegreat420]

Take it to yourself to learn this version of French, and then try and teach it to others in an educational setting. Plus you will always have the benefit of there being so many Francophones in the world, so no doubt it’ll be useful

[@sgt.mcgillicuddy2948]

@@sirfluffythegreat420 doing my best! We also need the native speakers to remember to *use it in the home* !!!

[@zachbunch8701]

What language did they speak before Eber?

[@messiahspeople]

I know you had a lot of ground to cover but you ignored the amazing role played by Ben Yehudah's second wife, Hemda.

[@kannadabusinessworld1626]

India wants to revive Sanskrit as Hebrew stands out an example!!

[@hassanabdulahi4705]

The word for dad is also Abba in Somali

[@GeoffSh4rt]

Why did Ben Yehuda opt for a Safardi accent rather than an Ashkenasi one?

[@joshuacrommie6249]

Weren’t the Sephardi diasporic languages more similar to ancient Hebrew than the Ashkenazi?

[@glennzoo]

The real answer (not mentioned before yet), is that he thought Sefardi was more authentic and pure, Ashkenazi "corrupted" by European languages

[@joshuacrommie6249]

@@glennzoo Ben Yehuda is sort of right (coming from an Ashkenazi).

[@tFighterPilot]

@@TurkistanSeneti It isn't. The vowels and the accentuation are Sephardic. Sehparadic pronunciation is much more understandable for a modern Hebrew speaker than Ashkenazi pronunciation.

[@ahk9838]

@@tFighterPilot as a speaker of portuguese with some ladino influence, i can speak hebrew words with a way better accent than yiddish words so you must be right. I still cant understand them lol maybe in the future

[@MrAllmightyCornholioz]

YHWH BLESS THE HEBREW LANGUAGE

[@Paraglidecrete]

I quote from '' Hebrew is Greek '' by Josef Isaac Yahuda page 8 ''II. That the Hebrews were Asiatic Greeks- αβροί and ηπειρώται , probably the KHARIBU and HEPIRU of Syrian and Egyptian annals-and that their language was Continental Greek '' . There is info in wiki about the Hapiru that seems are the ηπειρωται Hepirote ( Danaans -Dorians Greeks ) mentioned above . Wikipedia : Hapiru, Habiru, and Apiru.I will also look for the Kharibu that can be K or Ch __ r__B__ , the vowels can differ as it happens in the greek dialects.

[@benjifranks8547]

So basically modern Hebrew isn’t the same as paleo Hebrew

[@ariseshine.isaiah601miracl4]

Shalom,Halleluyah....From House of YHWH Shalom ,India Kumi ori!!!

[@RubixCubix_]

Hebrew was partially revived, the pronunciation is wrong though.

[@adam2956]

I really hope Ireland can do the same

[@numbolnor5806]

2:33 I have that original document in my bait cneset

[@moose9840]

WHAT? WHICH ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

[@anthonymanderson7671]

This is really interesting Revival of a dead language is really an interesting norm

[@realjo733]

How amazing! maybe we can do the same with Ge'ez in Ethiopia which is very similar to Hebrew btw.

[@smariscal24]

Also chatolicism make a lot of pressure to make people believe Jesus spoke Aramaic, and a lot of Christians actually believe that without even know the truth, even the copies from Hebrew to greek of the new testament are called "the original greeks" are not even the original, the expression on the text is Hebrew, not greek.

[@dmeads5663]

What does it matter? The language spoken by Jesus isn’t important.

[@sleeexs]

it was written in greek

[@Jewish_Israeli_Zionist]

Even the pope says that 🔺️👁. They lie to the catholic children that the Jews killed Jesus, without telling them that Jesus was Jewish by himslef. Pathetic in my opinion.

[@simonbennatan8257]

So let me translate this if you read this comment in 2021. In 1981 some guy moved to his ancestral land with the dream of reviving a language with no speakers. That was one guy in 1981. Now it's 2021. And in just another 27 years an army that speaks this revived language wins a war against 6 enemy countries. You don't need any religious book or person to understand what's going on. Either you see God or the Jewish people. And either one is fine. Do you chose to feel hate or love?

[@adrianblake8876]

It wasn't just one guy, language revival takes teamwork...

[@Eyammovie]

Well if this is possible... I'm gonna revive ge'ez (the ancient semitic language of Ethiopia) which is only used for prayer and religious books of Ethiopian Orthodox church!

[@veganconservative1109]

Twenty-four Hour Back history as to how I wound up here: 1. October 2023 invasion of Israel 2. Dennis Prager asking people (Jewish or not) to put Jewish boxes on their door frames to show solidarity with the Jews 3. Discovering the Shim symbol 4. Discovering it is Aramaic 5. Discovering Aramaic is originally Assyrian 6. Discovering Paleo-Hebrew (looks kind of like Tolkien's Elvish language) 7. Trying to find the Paleo-Hebrew symbol or symbols for 'Jehovah' (I AM) 8. Finally landing here. I found that Aramaic symbols being based on Assyrian (Iraq/Babylonian, etc) problematic. Not cultures who followed the path of Jehovah. About on the same problematic level I had on the idea that someone wanted the Jewish people to speak German. (Yikes!) Now I am all sorts of confused. I'd like to see the ancient symbol (not the pictorial ones) that meant 'The Great I AM' (God of Adam, Noah, Moses, Isaac, Yeshuah, and so on.) Any help?

[@RameshSingh-kc8yg]

Sanskrit is used in all indian languages as it is base for all languages.

[@AL-ri6bk]

Spirit~

[@euanstokes2828]

As a Scot I hope we can learn from Hebrew to revitalise Gaelic.

[@jazzed2b]

God of the Bible should be credited with the revival of Hebrew. If you study the Jeremiah 29:11 and the book of Ezekiel starting chapter 36, the Lord revealed this vision before Babylon took over Israel Judah and over 600 years before the nation of Israel was essentially wiped out by the Roman Empire but for a few remnants scattered throughout the world for over 2500 years. What is more incredible is that the nation of Israel was reborn on May 14, 1948 and so perfectly time with the revival of Hebrew. Simply incredible, as no other country or groups of people have been as persecuted, yet so redeemed throughout the history of the world.

[@GraftedOliveBranch]

Isaiah 53 - 'Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you - his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind - so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore i will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors'. Praise Yeshua... Shalom from Australia.

[@GraftedOliveBranch]

@@kagenou3359 Quite the contrary.

[@tehray3094]

0:52 "Hebrew began to die out around the year 70." --> Didn't Hebrew begin to die out in the Persian era and during the Hellenistic era Jews already spoke a mixed language of Hebrew and Aramaic? In the Roman era, Jews had already stopped speaking Hebrew. Jews in Galilee like Jesus would speak mostly Aramaic only, and some Latin and Greek. That was what I learned.

[@PawanKumar-bn7yt]

It would be amazing if Sanskrit could be revived too

[@babulaltivari42]

Would you send your kids to a sanskrit school with modern education being taught to them even if the rest of the community doesn't?

[@PawanKumar-bn7yt]

@@babulaltivari42 yes. Lakin meray bachey nahi hai abhi 😂

[@babulaltivari42]

@@PawanKumar-bn7yt Acha laga jaan ke sab hindu aisa soche toh Sanskrit jarur revive hogi. Bache bhi hojayenge, i believe in you😜

[@D__Ujjwal]

It starts from you. Learn Sanskrit, teach your kids sanskrit. Don't dream if you can't follow yourself

[@D__Ujjwal]

​@@babulaltivari42why can't it go hand in hand modern education plus sanskrit

[@Newsopathy-gf2ug]

Not a bad documentary, though important details were missed. Does it say something about modern Irish and Scots that they don't appear to be bothered enough to bring back their Celtic languages?

[@hmshood9212]

Wish the same can be done properly with Latin

[@elitecommando74]

So Hebrew was guessed to be used as Latin was for biblical use only?

[@DeusHex]

Hebrew was never stopped to be spoken. It just that the Jews often used it as a second language for torah study and reading and between the jews themselves

[@farhatjabeen2904]

But is a different language to biblical as they even took words from Arabic and Latin

[@felishiafreddy8346]

We are from Horeb the biblical Hebrew school in India we are proud to be an Indian reading our Bible in Hebrew offer our prayers in Hebrew תודה רבה