It is also not quite accurate to say that EBY “revived” Hebrew as a spoken language. There is ample evidence that Hebrew was spoken in Jerusalem throughout the 19C and probably previously (see work by Tudor Parfitt and others). EBY systematized Ivrit; modernized it; gave it a grammar and a dictionary, and was certainly a fierce and effective campaigner for its widespread adoption. Ben Zion Yadler, the Magid of Jerusalem, writes that the Haredim of Jerusalem spoke Hebrew, but abandoned it in favour of Yiddish when a Bezalel art student walked through Jerusalem selling “sarsparilla” (= soda!) on a Shabbat afternoon, calling out “hatzi grush l’bakbuk!” (‘Half a grush per bottle’). They realized that Ivrit was not just secular, but secularizing, and therefore had the potential to harm their way of life.
Separately, one may bemoan the appalling ignorance of Hebrew in the frum community - even at basic reading levels. Part of this is due to resistance to systematic teaching (esp of grammar), in the affectation that this is somehow heretical. Many Yeshivah students cannot explain singular/plural, masculine/feminine etc - and hence cannot translate the simplest psukim, except by rote.
I was just talking about this topic to someone - but I learned a lot more about it from your post!
Great column! Correction: s/b Lewis Glinert
It is also not quite accurate to say that EBY “revived” Hebrew as a spoken language. There is ample evidence that Hebrew was spoken in Jerusalem throughout the 19C and probably previously (see work by Tudor Parfitt and others). EBY systematized Ivrit; modernized it; gave it a grammar and a dictionary, and was certainly a fierce and effective campaigner for its widespread adoption. Ben Zion Yadler, the Magid of Jerusalem, writes that the Haredim of Jerusalem spoke Hebrew, but abandoned it in favour of Yiddish when a Bezalel art student walked through Jerusalem selling “sarsparilla” (= soda!) on a Shabbat afternoon, calling out “hatzi grush l’bakbuk!” (‘Half a grush per bottle’). They realized that Ivrit was not just secular, but secularizing, and therefore had the potential to harm their way of life.
Separately, one may bemoan the appalling ignorance of Hebrew in the frum community - even at basic reading levels. Part of this is due to resistance to systematic teaching (esp of grammar), in the affectation that this is somehow heretical. Many Yeshivah students cannot explain singular/plural, masculine/feminine etc - and hence cannot translate the simplest psukim, except by rote.