Eliezer Yitzhak Perelman, later known as Eliezer ben Yehuda, was born in Vilna, Russia on January 7, 1858. Like all Jewish children during that time, at the age of three Eliezer began to study Hebrew and the Bible. His parents had hoped he would become a rabbi; however, an enlightened Rabbi turned Eliezer into a "free thinker" and a revolutionary.
Then, at the age of seventeen, Eliezer had a revelation, which he described as follows: "It was as if the heavens had suddenly opened, and a clear incandescent light flashed before my eyes, and a mighty inner voice sounded in my ears: the renascence of Israel on its ancestral soil."
Realizing how important a common language was for a nation, Eliezer dedicated himself to: "Yisrael be'artzo uvilshono" - the rebirth of the nation of Israel in its own land, speaking its own language.
Wanting to help the Jewish Palestinian community, Eliezer began to study medicine in Paris, France. Suffering from tuberculosis, he was unable to continue, but this didn't prevent him from taking advanced Hebrew classes, taught in Hebrew. Changing his surname to Ben-Yehuda, he began to publish articles in the Hebrew Language press, in which he called for the emigration to the Land of the Fathers. In response to this article the first group of halutzim (pioneers) of the so-called BILU group came to Eretz Israel.
Eliezer married his childhood sweetheart and in 1881 the couple sailed for Palestine, then a province of the Ottoman Empire.
His plans were three-fold:
1. Hebrew in the home
2. Hebrew in school
3. Words, words, words
Eliezer noticed it wasn't difficult to speak Hebrew with the people he met. His only frustration was the shortage of modern Hebrew words.
The couple's first son, Ben-Zion Ben-Yehuda, became the first all-Hebrew speaking child in modern history and thanks to the little boy, Eliezer had to create many new Hebrew words - like ice-cream, handkerchief, towel, bicycle, just to name a few.
Religious Jews, able to read and speak Biblical Hebrew, didn't want to use the holy tongue for every-day purposes. Thus, when the orthodox community excommunicated Ben-Yehuda, he turned to the Sephardic community, whose chief rabbis at the time were, in addition to accepting the concept of Zionism, more open towards the revival of the Hebrew language.
Teaching at Jerusalem's Alliance school, Ben Yehuda insisted that Hebrew became the official language of instruction., The principle of the school, Nissim Bechar, realized that Hebrew would be the only common language which the children, coming from different Jewish communities, could understand. A teacher wrote of the difficulties at that time:
"In a heavy atmosphere, without books, expressions, words, verbs and hundreds of nouns, we had to begin teaching.... We were half-mute, stuttering, we spoke with our hands and eyes."
But the first seeds had been planted, and already after a few months, the children chattered fluently in Hebrew.
In a bid to attract adults, Ben-Yehuda published his own Hebrew newspaper - a novelty during that time. Through this paper he also introduced new words that were hitherto missing, such as newspaper, editor, telegram, etc.
To aid Hebrew language students, Ben-Yehuda began to compile a dictionary, which had begun as an aid for himself when he was still in Paris.
Because the daily new words had to be precise, accurate and according to strict philological rules, Ben-Yehuda became a scientific lexicographer, and founded the Hebrew Language Council to help him.
Six months after his wife Debora died of Tuberculosis in 1891, Eliezer married her sister, who until that time lived in Russia. Changing her name to "Hemda", she learned to speak Hebrew in record time and made it her life's work to support Eliezer.
Often working 18 hours a day on his "Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew" Eliezer was able to publish the first 6 volumes in 1910. After his death in 1922, his widow and son Ehud were able to complete the 17 volumes.
Eliezer ben-Yehuda was a man who devoted all his energies to the revival of the Hebrew language. For him there was no turning back. He led the way, regardless of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, despite his ill-health. Driven by an inner motivation Eliezer ben-Yehuda fulfilled his mission.
Thanks to this man, who according to the doctor had lived for many, many years on "borrowed time", Hebrew became the unifying language of the Jewish people, returning from all corners of the earth, to Eretz Israel
Then, at the age of seventeen, Eliezer had a revelation, which he described as follows: "It was as if the heavens had suddenly opened, and a clear incandescent light flashed before my eyes, and a mighty inner voice sounded in my ears: the renascence of Israel on its ancestral soil."
Realizing how important a common language was for a nation, Eliezer dedicated himself to: "Yisrael be'artzo uvilshono" - the rebirth of the nation of Israel in its own land, speaking its own language.
Wanting to help the Jewish Palestinian community, Eliezer began to study medicine in Paris, France. Suffering from tuberculosis, he was unable to continue, but this didn't prevent him from taking advanced Hebrew classes, taught in Hebrew. Changing his surname to Ben-Yehuda, he began to publish articles in the Hebrew Language press, in which he called for the emigration to the Land of the Fathers. In response to this article the first group of halutzim (pioneers) of the so-called BILU group came to Eretz Israel.
Eliezer married his childhood sweetheart and in 1881 the couple sailed for Palestine, then a province of the Ottoman Empire.
His plans were three-fold:
1. Hebrew in the home
2. Hebrew in school
3. Words, words, words
Eliezer noticed it wasn't difficult to speak Hebrew with the people he met. His only frustration was the shortage of modern Hebrew words.
The couple's first son, Ben-Zion Ben-Yehuda, became the first all-Hebrew speaking child in modern history and thanks to the little boy, Eliezer had to create many new Hebrew words - like ice-cream, handkerchief, towel, bicycle, just to name a few.
Religious Jews, able to read and speak Biblical Hebrew, didn't want to use the holy tongue for every-day purposes. Thus, when the orthodox community excommunicated Ben-Yehuda, he turned to the Sephardic community, whose chief rabbis at the time were, in addition to accepting the concept of Zionism, more open towards the revival of the Hebrew language.
Teaching at Jerusalem's Alliance school, Ben Yehuda insisted that Hebrew became the official language of instruction., The principle of the school, Nissim Bechar, realized that Hebrew would be the only common language which the children, coming from different Jewish communities, could understand. A teacher wrote of the difficulties at that time:
"In a heavy atmosphere, without books, expressions, words, verbs and hundreds of nouns, we had to begin teaching.... We were half-mute, stuttering, we spoke with our hands and eyes."
But the first seeds had been planted, and already after a few months, the children chattered fluently in Hebrew.
In a bid to attract adults, Ben-Yehuda published his own Hebrew newspaper - a novelty during that time. Through this paper he also introduced new words that were hitherto missing, such as newspaper, editor, telegram, etc.
To aid Hebrew language students, Ben-Yehuda began to compile a dictionary, which had begun as an aid for himself when he was still in Paris.
Because the daily new words had to be precise, accurate and according to strict philological rules, Ben-Yehuda became a scientific lexicographer, and founded the Hebrew Language Council to help him.
Six months after his wife Debora died of Tuberculosis in 1891, Eliezer married her sister, who until that time lived in Russia. Changing her name to "Hemda", she learned to speak Hebrew in record time and made it her life's work to support Eliezer.
Often working 18 hours a day on his "Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew" Eliezer was able to publish the first 6 volumes in 1910. After his death in 1922, his widow and son Ehud were able to complete the 17 volumes.
Eliezer ben-Yehuda was a man who devoted all his energies to the revival of the Hebrew language. For him there was no turning back. He led the way, regardless of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, despite his ill-health. Driven by an inner motivation Eliezer ben-Yehuda fulfilled his mission.
Thanks to this man, who according to the doctor had lived for many, many years on "borrowed time", Hebrew became the unifying language of the Jewish people, returning from all corners of the earth, to Eretz Israel
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