I can remember the exact moment I knew that I had come to “own” the Hebrew language. I was sitting in my childhood synagogue shortly after returning from a year in Israel when I looked up to the ארון הקודש (ark) to see the words: דע לפני מי אתה עומד emblazoned above. I read it, immediately understood what the words meant, and realized in a quick second that Hebrew was now second nature to me.
Since that day in the synagogue, I have taken great pride in my Hebrew fluency. I have come to naturally link my knowledge of the language with my love of Israel, deepening my inherent sense of the inextricable link between the Hebrew on my lips and the Israel in my heart. My Hebrew experience connected me to Israel and Israelis in a profound way that has continued to provide meaning and joy to my life.
Language is a primary factor that binds people to people and people to places. It is used every day, enabling us to navigate and make meaning of our lives. It is the purveyor of culture through musical lyrics, theater, newspapers, literature and more. Hebrew is more than the language of Israel – it is in many ways one of the core threads of Jewish peoplehood, connecting the Jewish people through time and space. In today’s world, which can feel at one and the same time very intimate and very isolating, connection has become essential, something eagerly sought after. If some of the deepest human connections are forged through language, then it follows that if we want to create a strong sense of Jewish belonging and peoplehood, Jews must own our shared language, Hebrew.
Responses
The rebirth of Hebrew is intimately and inextricably intertwined with Israel and as long as there is ambivalence and even alienation between a Jew and Israel, Hebrew will be a chore, a challenge and a barrier. If you believe, as I do, that Hebrew competency, if not fluency, is an essential element of a thick, rich Jewish identity, then we need to make a compelling case, a guide to the Hebraically perplexed. As a second language, Hebrew is hard to acquire, but it is worth the effort because it will enable and ennoble Jewish identity. Hebrew will create a connection to Israel that is untranslated and unmediated. Learning Hebrew is a sacrifice, especially in the sense of the Hebrew word korban, it brings a Jew closer to Israel - the...
Sagarin emphasizes that Modern Hebrew - despite our failures in North America - can indeed be learned. By the same token, it can also be taught. There are no shortage of courageous teachers - some armed with little more than a profeciency level only slightly higher than their students - willing to stand before them and teach the lanuage of Jewish renaissance. We need to invest in these brave teachers by deepening their knoweledge of the language, by giving them twenty-first century teaching tools and classrooms, and by fostering the passion that brought them to the classroom in the first place.