Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda was a Hebrew writer and lexicographer, generally considered the father of modern Hebrew, and one of the first active Zionist leaders. Born Eliezer Yiẓḥak Perelman in Luzhky, Lithuania, he officially adopted the pseudonym Ben-Yehuda, which he had previously used in his literary activities when he went to Palestine. Ben-Yehuda’s father, a ChabadHasid, died when Eliezer was five years old. At the age of 13, he was sent to his uncle to attend the yeshivah in Polotsk. The head of the yeshivah, a maskil in secret, introduced him to secular literature. To save him from heresy, his uncle sent him to study in Glubokoye, in the Vilna district, where Ben-Yehuda made the acquaintance of Samuel Naphtali Herz Jonas, also a Chabad Hasid, who was writing for Hebrew periodicals. Jonas persuaded him to prepare for secondary school matriculation, and his eldest daughter, Deborah, taught him Russian. After a year of preparation, he entered the Dvinsk Gymnasium, from which he graduated in
The Russo-Turkish War (–78) and the struggle of the Balkan nations for liberation planted in Ben-Yehuda the idea of the revival of the Jewish people on its ancest
Hebrew: Eliezer Ben-Yehuda & the Revival of Hebrew
In his pioneering work on language revivals and language revivers published in , the American linguist Einar Haugen wrote: “It appears to be almost the rule that such movements can be traced back to a single devoted person, who gave focus to the prevailing dissatisfactions of his people. Having issued from the group whose language was neglected, such reformers often had more than a purely intellectual motivation for establishing the existence of their language. Theirs became one contribution to the general liberation of the group, a medium of revolt and a symbol of unity.” For the Hebrew language revival, one of the truly outstanding socio-linguistic events of modern times, this characterization is eminently true of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda.
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, was born Eliezer Yitzhak Perelman, in the Lithuanian village of Luzhky on January 7, Like virtually all Jewish children of that time and place he began learning Hebrew from a very tender age as part of a thoroughly religious upbringing. He excelled in his studies and ultimately was sent to a talmudic academy (yeshiva) in the hope that he would become a rabbi. H
Eliezer Ben Yehuda - The Father of Modern Hebrew
It’s a well-known fact that Hebrew is the national language of Israel and of Jews around the world. What you might not have heard is that the Hebrew language wasn’t spoken from the second century until the end of the 19th century. That means no one around the world spoke Hebrew for nearly years! We know this might be hard to believe, but this is the only case where a language that ceased to be an everyday spoken language was revived as a country’s spoken, literary, and national language.
The revival of the Hebrew language
The revival of the Hebrew language is mostly attributed to Eliezer Ben Yehuda. Ben Yehuda realized that in order to be considered a nation, the Jewish people must have a common language to call their own.
With that thought in mind, Ben Yehuda moved to Jerusalem and began creating and spreading the Hebrew word, first amongst family and friends. Slowly schools began teaching in Hebrew, writers used it as their inspirational language, and even the Zionist Congress adopted it as their official language. It took time, but Ben Yehuda’s dream became a reality and now Hebrew i
When Eliezer Ben-Yehuda arrived in Palestine in , Hebrew had not been the spoken language of the Jewish people since the time of the Bible. Yet, thanks to Ben-Yehuda, by enough Jewish pioneers were speaking Hebrew that the British Mandate authorities recognized it as the official language of Jews in Palestine.
Ben-Yehuda conceived of Jewish nationalism as both the return to the historical homeland in the land of Israel, as well as the revival of the Hebrew language. To accomplish the latter, Ben-Yehuda needed to inspire a near impossible feat: transform Hebrew, which for centuries had been used only in study, into a modern spoken language.
A Youthful Yearning
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda was born Eliezer Perelman in Luzhky, Lithuania, in The son of a Chabad Hasid, Ben-Yehuda was given a traditional religious education at a local yeshiva. The rosh yeshiva, or head of the school, was secretly a maskil, or enlightened thinker. He introduced Ben-Yehuda to secular literature and piqued the boy’s interest in non-religious study.
Eventually Ben-Yehuda transferred to a Russian school, but he remained obsessed with modern Hebrew literature, eagerly consuming Hebrew periodicals, especially
Biographies you may also like
Benjamin franklin biography report rubric Dr. Franklin seems to have taken much pains to search out the history of his immediate ancestors. He traced them back four generations to Thomas Francklyne of Ecton, in Missing: rubric.
Osang gwon biography of mahatma gandhi Osang Gwon: The Deodorant Type, Statoil Art Programme, Statoil, Bæ rum, Norway Osang Gwon, Temenggong Artists-In-Residence, Singapore, Singapore Postmodern Times, HADA Missing: mahatma gandhi.
Biography of jesse owens for kids Jesse Owens Biography Summary: Jesse Owens ( - ) was famous for willing four Olympic Gold Medals and being called “perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track .
Las valenzuela biography of barack obama This biography provides details about Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States. It describes that he was born in in Hawaii to a white American mother and black Kenyan Missing: las valenzuela.
Omraam mikhael aivanhov teachings of the prophet Over time, with the contribution of its users and scholars, this platform will become a scientifically reliable tool, based on primary sources, for navigating the vast world of the .
William butler yeats biography timeline info William Butler Yeats published his first works in the mids while a student at Dublin's Metropolitan School of Art. His early accomplishments include The Wanderings of Oisin and .