Modern Hebrew: The Past and Future of a Revitalized Language by Norman Berdichevsky

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This book is addressed to general audience and does not require any previous knowledge of the language. It enables new students and those interested in Israeli events and culture, an appreciation of the achievements, dilemmas and challenges facing the language. Among the questions the book answers are ….How different are Modern and Biblical Hebrew? What Biblical Hebrew words continue to be the source of so many disputes ? Why has Hebrew declined in the Diaspora? How did Hebrew become a modern language? How large a “Hebrew Gap” is there between Israel and the Diaspora? How did it win out over Yiddish? How did Modern Hebrew inspire other national language revivals? How has ignorance of Modern Hebrew by critics put Israel at a disadvantage? How did Hebrew survive in the USSR? What is the future of Hebrew instruction at the university level and in charter schools in the U.S. and the U.K.? Is Hebrew slang becoming more innovative? How fluent or proficient are Israeli Arabs in their mastery of Hebrew for professional and career purposes? Are you surprised that more Egyptian university students are studying Modern Hebrew than American students? Also discussed are the dilemmas facing the language arising from the fact that Israelis and Jews in the Diaspora “don’t speak the same language,” while Israeli Arabs and Jews do.