Founding of Modern Hebrew by Eliezer Ben Yehuda

From the time of the great exile by the Romans until the 19th century, most Jewish people in the land of Israel spoke Yiddish, Ladino, German, Russian or other languages. When the Zionist movement began its return to the Jewish homeland, they began to revive the ancient Hebrew language, previously used only in prayer. The initiator of this revival of modern Hebrew was Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. He started the Hebrew Language Academy which published the first modern Hebrew dictionary in 1910. He and his colleges created words for modern everyday things not found in ancient Hebrew. Today, Jewish people all over the world write and speak the language. Countless books of all kinds have been published in Hebrew including Nobel Prize winning literature by S. Y. Agnon. Major streets have been named after Ben-Yehuda in cities throughout the country. This Jewish History Moment was brought to you by Israel National Radio.

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