How was the Hebrew language able to exist and function as an instrument of creative self-expression and communication for about 2,000 years, without such an essential ingredient for survival as a state or territory?
Read more
Hebrew
The language of the sacred texts has always had an important role in Judaism.
It's difficult to pinpoint the moment Hebrew emerged as a unique language.
Embraced by proponents of the Jewish enlightenment, then given new life in Palestine.
According to Jewish tradition, Hebrew is the original language of humanity and the language spoken by God.
Hebrew connects Jewish children with a history beyond our insular present.
The Alphabet
Mystics venerated Hebrew letters, considering them paths to the Divine.
A chart showing Hebrew characters, their names, and their sounds.
Some basic Hebrew words for a beginner.
You say "Shabbes," and I say "Shabbat."
The dots, dashes, and other symbols that clarify how to pronounce Hebrew words.
Yiddish
Not just for bubbies, Yiddish is being embraced by hip twenty- and thirty-somethings.
Basics of the language.
A brief glossary of important and commonly used Yiddish words and phrases.
The Yiddish word that means nerve...and a million other things.
Yiddish originated in Germany, but was eventually spoken by Jews all over Europe.
Aramaic and Ladino
The language of the Talmud, Jesus, and today's Jewish Kurds.
Judeo-Spanish mixes 16th-century Spanish, Hebrew, Turkish and other languages.
Is the language of Sephardic Jews undergoing a revival?
Language and land are intricately connected. What happens, then, when a people has no land of its own?
How much do you know about the languages that Jews spoke in the past and continue to speak today?