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Hebrew in Exile and the Medieval Language

One day, the soldiers of Titus, a Roman emperor, broke into the Second
Temple, destroyed it and burnt it. It was on the ninth of Av (the year 70

A.D.), some 2,000 years ago.
The destruction of the Temple, the Bar Kochba Revolt, and a series of

harsh wars that befell the people of Israel, destroyed the land of Judea and
brought the tragedy of [the] exile upon the people of Israel.

The People of Israel went [out] on a long exile, from which it did not
return quickly. The prolonged exile – of hundreds of years – scattered the
people of Israel throughout the whole world: throughout [in] Asia,

throughout [in] Europe, and throughout [in] North Africa.

Hebrew is not to Be Spoken
A new and very long period began in the life of the People. The People

had gone [out] on exile and along with it so did Hebrew. As of around the
year 200 A.D. they stopped speaking the language of the Sages, and
along with it they stopped speaking Hebrew in the world. As part of a

natural process, of people who want to be absorbed in a foreign country,
the Jews adopted the local language(s) and spoke it.

Hebrew remained the language of prayer and the language of Torah
study: Jews prayed in it three times a day, and on Shabbat they studied

Torah – in Hebrew. But Hebrew stopped being a spoken language.
Children didn‟t speak Hebrew with their parents, friends didn‟t chat in

Hebrew, and merchants didn‟t bargain in Hebrew.

There were few Jews who were in the habit of speaking Hebrew only on

Shabbats, and from here came the expression “Shabbat Hebrew”, which
means very formal Hebrew. In any case, Hebrew ceased to be the

language of daily affairs.

Writing Hebrew
Indeed, Jews stopped speaking Hebrew, but many continued to write in
Hebrew. Poets wrote poems in Hebrew, rabbis corresponded on matters

of Law in Hebrew, and philosophers wrote their views in Hebrew. In the
long period of exile thousands of books were written in Hebrew in

various fields: science, philosophy, sanctity, poetry, plays, medicine,
mathematics and grammar.
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