The revival of Hebrew in Israel

Abstract or Introduction

The revival of Hebrew is considered to be the most astonishing revival of a language, which however was not entirely dead, but it was used exclusively for religious matters for a period of 2000 years. It is considered to be a remarkable achievement, one tightly linked to the Hebrew pride. The high nationalism of Hebrew parents led them to using Hebrew as the language to bring up their children. Children were spoken to and taught in Hebrew and this way native speakers of the language were created. After the foundation of the Israel state and the continuous efforts concerning the revival of the language, Hebrew has gone from being an inactive language used only in the religious domain to a living language used by over nine million users.

When talking about the study of a language’s revival, we refer to the study of all factors relevant or any obstacles to that revival. Studying various language revival attempts can provide insight on revival techniques, on what actually works and which motives are strongest when attempting to revive a language. Also through comparison between those attempts a lot of useful information about what works can come up.