Hebrew 'Ivrit

Hebrew, or 'Ivrit, is a member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. It is the language of the Hebrew Bible, and the Old Testament of the Christians. Its history is unique. It is thought that Hebrew gradually became extinct as a spoken language around 200 AD, but has continued as a written language for many centuries thereafter. It was used to write books and documents in a variety of fields, including religion, law, business, philosophy, literature, and medicine. The core of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah, traditionally believed to have been first recorded in the time of Moses 3,300 years ago, is written in Classical Hebrew.

Hebrew was revived as a spoken language during the late 19th and early 20th century as Modern Hebrew, replacing Arabic, Yiddish, Russian, and a variety of other languages spoken by Jews who emigrated to Israel.

Hebrew is spoken by about 5 million people in Israel. In addition, it is spoken by several hundred thousand speakers in the Palestinian territories and expatriot Jewish communities around the world (Ethnologue).

Hebrew began to die out as a spoken language after the Jews were defeated by the Babylonians in 586 BC. Spoken Hebrew was replaced by Aramaic, although it was preserved as the language of religion, learning, and literature. Hebrew became a spoken language again after the establishment of Jewish settlements, mostly from Russia. It became an official language of British Palestine in 1922. Today, it is the dominant official language of the State of Israel, along with Arabic and English, and remains the liturgical language of Jews worldwide.

Hebrew is used for official, public and private purposes throughout Israel, with the exception of the Arab sector, where Arabic is used. Government schools teach in either Hebrew or Arabic, however Hebrew is a compulsory subject through the tenth grade in all schools, even the Arabic ones. Hebrew is the medium of instruction at the university level as well. It is the language of most newspapers, books, magazines, radio, and television.

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda

The revival of Hebrew is intimately associated with the name of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda,who was born in Russia and who came to Palestine, then a province of the Ottoman empire, in 1881 with revival plans for the Hebrew language. Ben-Yehuda wanted the Jews in Palestine to speak Hebrew exclusively. He settled in Jerusalem, planning to use it as the base for spreading his revivalist ideas throughout Palestine and the Diaspora. His plan was to make Hebrew the language of the home and of education, and to expand the Hebrew vocabulary to meet the demands of the society. He understood that if children could learn Hebrew from a young age in school, they would become proficient in it when they grew up. In this way, Hebrew would become a living language.

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Croatian	Czech	Danish
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Swedish	Turkish	Hebrew
Ukrainian	Welsh