Page 22 - Ebook hey-vav part 2 140118 HTML

22

A Shortage of Words

(Throughout) all the long period of exile, and the Medieval Era

[period] in it, Hebrew was a language that (people) didn’t speak

[in]. Indeed, many books and magnificent pieces were written in

Hebrew, but Hebrew stopped living in the mouths of the people.

Even Rabbi Judah HaLevi and Rashi who wrote their pieces in
Hebrew did not speak Hebrew.

A language that is not spoken over a long period is forgotten,

freezes and stops to develop. In a living language, (people)

invent an adequate new word for every new tool and for every
new concept. But in a language that none speak, this [the] thing

doesn’t happen. For example, when they invented the printing

press, the eye glasses and later steam and the motorcar, adequate

words were invented for them in the various languages. But in
Hebrew these words did not exist. Thus, over time a severe

problem was created in Hebrew: a shortage of words.

Linguistics [language] researchers term a language that none

speak ‘a dead language’ [language]. When a language ‘dies’, it
cannot be brought back to speaking. People are short of words,

and they cannot express themselves.

Latin and Aramaic, for example, were in the past international

languages, and (people) spoke them in many countries in the
world. But as they stopped speaking them, they ‘died’ and

vanished from the world.

A similar danger also hovered over the life of Hebrew, since for

1,700 years people didn’t speak Hebrew. It is possible that in

Hebrew as well (people) would have no longer spoken, and it's
sounds would have no longer been heard, unless the incredible

miracle had happened: The revival of the Hebrew Language.

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