Eliezer Ben Yehudah

Eliezer Ben Yehudah
Eliezer Ben Yehuda in his desk.
Birth	7 January 1858 Lujki , Russian Empire
Deaths	16 December 1922 (64) Jerusalem , Palestine
Occupation (s)	journalist, teacher, philologist

Eliezer Ben-Yehuda ( Hebrew : - ), born Isaac Eliezer Perelman Elianov at Lujki , Russian Empire (now Belarus ), January 7, 1858, died in Jerusalem December 16, 1922), journalist and philologist Jewish Palestine from Lithuania - Belarus. It plays a leading role in the resurrection of Hebrew as spoken language (the modern Hebrew ), a hundred years after the rebirth of Hebrew as a literary language at the beginning of the Haskalah.

Family

His father Yehuda Leib and his mother Feyga Perelman. Both are Jewish Hasidic ( Chabad Hasidim ) and speak Yiddish.

Education

Like many Jewish boys high in Eastern Europe at the same time that he himself will be in contact with the Hebrew Bible and Talmud for 9 years. Indeed, at the age of three years, he began the study of major texts of the liturgy that is the Hebrew Torah and Mishnah. Following the death of his father at age 5, his mother entrusts his care to his uncle David Wolfson.

After reaching the age of religious majority ( bar mitzvah ), or 13 years old, his uncle sends him to pursue religious studies in a small Talmudic academy ( yeshiva ) at Polotsk , a city of present Belarus. A student he meets by chance he had recommended to register for the new small yeshiva in the city, he became a student of Rabbi Maskil Rabbi Yossi Bloker who secretly introduce to Jewish ideas of the Haskalah by making him read certain books deemed heretical by the Orthodox. He will read from other Zohar Ha-Teva (The window of the Ark), Kour Oni (Robinson Crusoe), the Guide of the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides , Principles and foundations of divine wisdom Haim Z. Slonimski , the Treasury of Wisdom Zvi Rabinovitch , Ahavat Zion (Love of Zion) by Abraham Mapu .

In 1876 the Bulgarians rose up against the power ottoman.

It is for these years it comes to the firm conviction that the Jewish people is entitled, like all other peoples, to form themselves into nation-state somewhere on Earth. In an autobiography he wrote between 1917 and 1919, he explained that this was when, at the age of 17, it is invaded by the ideal of the renaissance of the Jewish people and language history in the land of ancestors, Eretz Israel. Despite the pessimism of the Jewish writers of that time about the future of the Hebrew language and the same face to its usefulness, he became convinced that we must try to reconstruct, on Eretz Israel, a Jewish nation Hebrew speakers only language common to all Jews . But Hebrew is not the first language of any Jews for centuries. After reading Vistnik Yebroukou, Russian translation of the English novel, Daniel Deronda by George Eliot , he decided to go to Paris to study medicine and to give financial autonomy. He is already planning to settle in Israel later.

In 1877, at age 19, he completed his secondary education and in 1878 he left for France Dinabourg.

Paris

It was in a cafe in the Latin Quarter that he met his third master, a Russian journalist named Tchashnikov corresponding to Leilah Mir. Noble family and friend of Princess Troubetskaa , the journalist in his forties, took him under his wing and through this encounter, Eliezer learns the secrets of journalism and politics in Paris. He accompanies Tchashnikov the debates of the National Assembly and the theater. To support herself and pay for his studies, he Tchashnikov provides translation services from French to Russian.

He began medical studies at the University of Paris (Sorbonne). During his first winter in the city, he contracted tuberculosis , a deadly disease today. Physicians to consult with fear for his life and advised him to leave France for a country where the winters are less cold. His health condition forces him soon to abandon his medical studies, but not before he announces his plan to Paris.

When Eliezer finally dares to tell his journalist friend the secret of his arrival in Paris, the Tchashnikov supports and encourages him to make known, through newspapers, his idea of the resurrection of Hebrew .

Under the pen name E. Ben-Yehuda, he submitted an article entitled She'elah Lohatah (A burning issue) to the newspaper Ha Maggid , but without success. His article was finally published in 1879 in the journal Ha Shahar. In this text harbinger of political Zionism, he argues that the Hebrew can only exist if a Jewish nation saw in the land of his ancestors.

Why did you come to the conclusion that Hebrew is a dead language, it is unusable for the arts and sciences, it is only valid for "topics that relate to the existence of Israel? If I did not believe in the redemption of the Jewish people, I would have rejected the Hebrew as an unnecessary hindrance. I accepted that maskilim Berlin were right to say that Hebrew was only of interest as a bridge to the Enlightenment. Having lost hope in redemption, they can see no other use for that language. Because, Sir, let me ask you what does it mean for a Hebrew man who ceases to be Hebrew. What is there more to him than the Latin or Greek? Why learn it in Hebrew, or why he would read his literature Renaissance?

It is foolish to proclaim loudly: "Conserve Hebrew, lest we perish! "The Hebrew may be that if we revive the nation and bring back the land of his ancestors. This is the only way to achieve this redemption that nothing ends. Without this solution we are lost, lost forever.

His text does not undermine the men of the Haskalah, which according to most Yehuda had already given up much to religion as the Jewish national heritage and would consider the use of Hebrew as a means to promote integration of Jews in various nations of Europe. Berel Dov Bar Goldberg for example, Yehuda frequent regularly during his stay in Paris, is not at all conducive to its proposed national resurrection.

It was at that Yehudah Goldberg met several famous Jews like Michael Erlanger , head of charities of Edmond de Rothschild , Mordechai Edelman editor of Socialist Ha Emet (Truth) and Getzel Zelikovitch , who became known during the Fashoda crisis. Sephardic pronunciation of Hebrew spoken by the latter had a large effect on Yehuda who heard for the first time .

In Paris he took the habit of conversing in Hebrew with Jews he meets. For the purposes of his own conversations, he gives a list of ancient and modern Hebrew words and goes even invent new words to describe things and ideas which had not then associated words in this language. In his autobiography he says milon (dictionary) is actually the first neologism that has developed in this adopted language.

In 1880, he published two articles in the newspaper Havazelet (Lily) by Israel Dov to advocate the use of Hebrew as a language of instruction in schools in Jerusalem.

His health is rapidly deteriorating. The doctors found that prohibit him from attending the laboratories of the faculty of medicine and suggest him to leave France for a warmer climate. Believing he soon succumbs to his illness, he will take the decision to go to Jerusalem as soon as possible. In the absence of a medical career, he participated in seminars given by the Alliance Israelite Universelle (AIU) hoping to qualify for a teaching position at the agricultural school Mikveh Israel of Charles Netter. It is considered unemployable. However Netter does admit to the normal school teachers from the IAU. The Assyriologist Yosef Halevi is one of his teachers .

When Judah began to spit blood, the medical school is the normal hospital at the Rothschild Hospital. Then he was hospitalized he meets Abraham Moshe Luntz , also hospitalized, who taught him that the various Jewish communities already established in Israel, the Ashkenazi, Sephardi, North African and Georgia, have the habit of Sephardic Hebrew speaking, the only language understood by all. After two weeks in the hospital, his doctor ordered to leave France for a Southern country. The hospital, which finances his trip to Algiers where he is regaining strength during the winter. He returned to France at the end of winter, but have very little time: he decided he should meet with the owner of the Ha Shahar who, unlike him, believed that the Jewish people can live his life to people, even in exile. He therefore proceeds to Vienna , at the expense of his Russian friend .

Vienna, Jaffa

Arriving in Vienna, he went directly home Smolenskin Peretz. The wife of the latter tells him he is not at home but in Russia for two months to investigate the pogroms which have just burst into several points of the empire. Smolenskin returns home some two weeks after the arrival of Judah. It is then useless to him to convince the owner of the Ha Shahar anything since it has completely changed his opinion .

Meanwhile, his fiance Deborah had joined with the firm intention to follow him wherever he goes. He began teaching Hebrew to Deborah who, like all Jewish women of that time never learned to speak the language. The young couple married in Cairo in Egypt. During their honeymoon, they explore a few towns in the Mediterranean on their way to Palestine Ottoman. They stop in Bucharest and Constantinople. The Russian friend of Yehuda, Tchashnikov, joined them along the way and they landed all three at the port of Jaffa (now Tel Aviv ) in October 1881.

Heading into this port city, Yehuda discomfort, a deep anguish, "he says in his autobiography. He even speaks of a feeling of depression at the sight of reality: the land of his ancestors were already inhabited by people who felt at home, were citizens and had political rights, while he was a foreigner no rights. At the time of treading on holy ground, he feels a strong sense of fear .

The three travelers are invited in a Jewish hostel. Only once visited this place and in contact with its owners, he quietly managed to free himself from his grief.

Jerusalem

Arrived in Jerusalem, Israel Dov offered to work for his newspaper Havazelet. He became deputy editor and was offered a salary of twenty francs a month. He uses this privileged position to promote the revival of language and Hebrew culture in Jerusalem. His first article, published September 12, 1881, denounced the policy decisions of the IAU and invites Jews to do without it:

At that time, many people won over by the Jewish nationalist project. Following the first episodes of pogroms in Imperial Russia, no longer feeling safe in their country because of their origin and religion, having virtually nothing to lose and have lost so much already, some 10,000 people leave the territory of the Russian empire to settle in Eretz Israel. This is the first Aliyah , which covers the period from 1881 to 1903. Some organizations such as The Lovers of Zion under the leadership of Moses Lilienblum and Leon Pinsker well as Bilou of Israel Belkind sympathize with the cause of Hebrew as the national language.

Despite this context, the major project of the revival of Hebrew by Yehuda promoted remains very marginal and its members must overcome several obstacles. They come up against, inter alia, several interest groups that prefer the French or German or English, three strong European languages, play the unifying role that Yehuda plans for Hebrew in Israel.

Aware that he will deal with the presence of various communities in Jerusalem and beliefs of individuals who are devout religious, he began to forge friendships with all the influential people of Jerusalem. During his first week in the city, he met among others Jehiel Michael Pines , the Delegate of the Foundation Moses Montefiore and the Russian consul M. Kouzibnikov .

Although disheartened to learn that only 30,000 Jews (about 16,000 others in Jerusalem and dispersed in Jaffa, Hebron , Safed , Tiberias , Haifa , Saint Jean d'Acre and Sidon ) live in Eretz-Israel and that 'they have almost nothing in fact institutions and land, he is comforted to see that the Jews constitute the majority of the population of the holy city, outnumber Muslims and Christians together .

On the third day of the Feast of Tabernacles , he accompanied Israel Dov who visits the Hakham Bachi , Rabbi Meir Raphael Panigel stationed for a year. Very little impressed by the qualities of mind Meir, however it is by its appearance. It is marked by the appearance and clothing solemn, majestic and luxurious character that contrasts with the widespread poverty among Jews in the holy city.

On the last day of the Souccout ( Hoshanna Rabba ), he sealed a pact with Pines, both pledging to make exclusive use of Hebrew among themselves, within their homes and in all situations where their partners understand the language. This monolingualism voluntary part of the strategy of spreading of Hebrew as a common public language of the Jews of all nationalities in order to cement their union by a revived Hebrew nationality .

He decides to comply with all rules and adopt Jewish religious Sephardic customs, including Middle Eastern clothing that is very elegant. He eats food hiding , grew a beard and wearing a fez. In his autobiography, he admits that he found very difficult to comply with religious law because he felt hypocritical, he who was an unbeliever since adolescence. He even renounces his status as a Russian national and is a Turkish citizen .

In 1882, Nissim Behar School of the Alliance Israelite Universelle , he proposes to become a teacher in Jerusalem, offers they accept only if we give him the freedom to teach courses in Hebrew. Nissim Behar does not need to be convinced and accept the condition, even if it contravenes the policy of the IAU .

It was then that the pioneers of the "Lovers of Zion" that are Joseph Feinberg, ZJ Levontin Moshe Lilienblum elect the area of Jaffa as the capital of Jewish settlement. Yehuda Pines and oppose and favor instead Jerusalem a Jewish city is already recognized as such by the Arabs. They are convinced that the establishment of Jews in a city predominantly Arab Jaffa as dangerous to the project of national revival .

25 July 1882 (9 Av 5642), a decree of the Sultan forbade Jews from Russia to settle in Palestine and to buy land. The order was not lifted until 35 years later . All colonization efforts had to be at the cost of the corruption of officials of the Turkish government.

It is July 31, 1882 (15 Av 5642) as her first born son, Ben-Zion Ben-Yehuda (better known by his pen name Ithamar Ben-Avi ), who became the first child of the modern era to grow in a family speaking only Hebrew. It is also the founding date of the main Jewish settlement Rishon le Zion.

In 1885 he published a book entitled Geography Land of Israel.

In 1888, he founded his own newspaper called it Ha-Zvi (The deer).

In 1890, with David Yellin , he founded the Wa'ad HaLaschon (Committee of the Hebrew Language), which later became an Academy of the Hebrew language.

In 1891 his wife died of tuberculosis after seeing several of his children died in infancy. Hemda he married the young sister of his wife, six months later.

In 1894, he was imprisoned by the Turkish government, which accuses him of sedition. He was freed on the intervention of Baron de Rothschild after one year imprisonment.

In 1897, he founded the Hashkafah (Vision), which becomes a weekly bi-weekly thereafter.

From 1901 he starts a major pioneering work in developing his language dictionary of ancient and modern Hebrew (Milo Halashon Ha'ivrit ha'yshana vehakhadasha). He not only made an inventory of all existing resources of the Hebrew language, but it creates much of neologisms to describe the realities of his time. He works at this work until the end of his life. The first volumes were published in 1910. His second wife and his son Ehud continue its work and completed in 1959.

In 1914, he left Jerusalem for the United States, fleeing political persecution.

Exile in the U.S.

Arrived in New York in 1914, he published a book entitled Until what time Hebrew was spoken?

In 1918, he published his autobiography entitled The dream crossed.

He returned to Jerusalem in 1919.

Return home

He fought to be recognized as the Hebrew language in Palestine.

He founded Sefatenou (Our Language), a society for the dissemination of Hebrew.

It is part of the preparatory committee for the creation of a Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

He died in Jerusalem December 16, 1922.

Chronology

• 1858 - January 7, Eliezer Yitzhak Perelman was born in Russia Lujki.
• 1862 - Moses Hess is published Rome and Jerusalem.
• 1863 - His father dies.
• 1877 - He graduated from high school.
• 1878 - He left Russia for France to study medicine.
• 1879 - His famous article "A Hot Topic (She'elah Lohatah) appears in the newspaper Ha-Shakhar.
• 1880 - He married Deborah Yonas in Cairo, Egypt.
• 1881 - In October, he moved to Jerusalem in Palestine with his wife.
• 1881 - Mass Pogroms in Imperial Russia followed the founding of the movement of Lovers of Zion.
• 1881 - He founded, with Fine YM, D. Yellin, Y. Meyuhas, and A. Mazie, society Tekhiyat Israel.
• 1882 - Foundation of the Bilu movement (Beit Yaakov Lhou Vnelha) by Israel Belkind Ukraine.
• 1882 - On July 31 birth of her first son, Ben-Zion Ben-Yehuda, who pronounced his first words in Hebrew.
• 1888 - He founded a Hebrew language newspaper he named Zvi Ha (The deer).
• 1891 - He is co-founder of the Hebrew Language Committee (Vaad ha-lashon), which became the Academy of the Hebrew Language (HaAkademia LaLashon HaIvrit) in 1953.
• 1891 - His wife Deborah died. She had contracted terberculose of her husband.
• 1891 - He marries Hemda's sister, Deborah.
• 1894 - December 22, Captain Alfred Dreyfus was sentenced to military degradation and deportation to the penal colony of Devil's Island in French Guiana after (following an anti-Semitic conspiracy within the army) found guilty of high treason by a French military court.
• 1894 - He is accused of sedition by the Turkish government and thrown to jail. He was released a year later.
• 1896 - Publication of the book The Jewish State (Der Judenstaat) of Theodore Herzl.
• 1897 - On 3 September, the World Zionist Organization is created when the first Zionist Congress held in Basel, Switzerland.
• 1898 - January 13, following the Dreyfus affair, Emile Zola published an open letter to the President of the Republic in The Dawn entitled "J'accuse ...! .
• 1898 - He set up the first primary schools and kindergartens for young Hebrew speakers.
• 1909 - Creation of the Union for the Hebrew language and culture (Brit Ivrit Olami).
• 1910 - He published the first volume of his Dictionary of the Hebrew language, ancient and modern.
• 1914 - He fled Jerusalem under the ambit of persecution by the Ottoman authorities and moved to New York with his family.
• 1914 - He published a book entitled Until what time Hebrew was spoken?
• 1917 - On November 2, Balfour Declaration.
• 1918 - Publication of his autobiography, Dreams crossed.
• 1919 - He returned to Jerusalem Ala end of the first world war.
• 1919 - Birth of first daily Hebrew, ha Haddashot Haarets.
• 1922 - On 21 December he died in Jerusalem.
• 1948 - The Hebrew became an official language of the State of Israel alongside English and Arabic.
• 1953 - Foundation of the Academy of the Hebrew language.

Books

• Land of Israel, Jerusalem, 1885 (geography book)
• Ha Zvi (The deer), Jerusalem 1888 (Hebrew weekly newspaper into a daily called Ha Or (Light) in 1908)
• Hashkafah (Vision), Jerusalem, 1897 (weekly)
• Thesaurus of the Hebrew language, ancient and modern Jerusalem, 1901 (five volumes on Seventeen)
• Until what time Hebrew was spoken?, New York, 1914
• The dream through, New York, 1918 (autobiography)

Notes

Bibliography

Books

• Gerard Haddad. The Renaissance of Hebrew. The dream crossed by Eliezer Ben Yehuda. Memories of their first child in Hebrew Ithamar Ben-Avi. Psychosis reversed by Grard Haddad, Bruges: Editions Descle de Brouwer, 1998, 425 p. ( ISBN 2-220-04096-8 )
• Maurice Adad. Eliezer Ben Yehuda. The dream and its realization and other texts. The revival of spoken Hebrew. Introduction and notes by Reuven Sivan. Translated from Hebrew by Maurice Adad, Paris: L'Harmattan, 2004, 278 p. ( ISBN 2-7475-6750-8 ) ( preview )

Websites

• " Eliezer Ben Yehuda , "the website of the Jewish Agency for Israel, 1998
• Jacques Leclerc. " Israel: Historical , "in Language Planning in the world, updated December 31, 2006
• Mireille Hadas-Lebel. " The revival of Hebrew ", in L'Arche, No. 518, April 2001
• Serge Frydman. " Why Hebrew? "in the website Hebreu.org
• Serge Frydman. " Ben Yehuda (1858-1922) , "the website Hebreu.org (PDF)
• " Eliezer Ben Yehuda "in the Land of Israel, site of the Union of French volunteers in Israel

Documentary

• Eli Cohen. The WordMaker , Israel, 1991, 90 minutes, color (16mm/vido) Hebrew, English, French and Russian with English subtitles

See also

• in Hebrew
• Hebrew
• Hebrew Grammar
• Yiddish
• Judeo-Arabic
• Judeo-Spanish
• Judeo-Persian
• Jewish Diaspora
• Israel
• Palestine

• Portal of Jewish culture and Judaism
• Israel portal

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