Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-09-25
Questions answered
nPure Hebrew"

To the Editor Of tho Evening Public hcd0"r'
Slr--I um writing 4" correct Il m.safpr".
henslun TINT may hri'" IN III" minus %
your RAIDERS rs - result "I an answer ~
Tho Io,,cr iruui,.irg whnth"r ll"brcw IL nov
a spoken r,"suage IN any part "' th"NN"rid
or not YOU answer that pure flehfc" ~
now an Gcad"ni" lansdag" round ohE IN
books 1t Is not cnrlnH"d IN speech
Iuv moro thru 10 tho nECi.!.t tr ok.
A,though this answer is qu!t" correct as
far ne Il Coer It. ~ not very exact. llobrcw
s iiscd today ~ a SPOKEN ana written IAN
Suas". In Tniastin" all official communlqu"s
must b. worried IN ErElsh Hebrew and
Arabic. Insiness between jews is conducted
in lInbr.,v. Tho schools in re uso ll"breV
~ tho medium cf Instruction. There al" TWO
Hebrew n",vsr apcrs in Jerusalem anu
number OF magazines hesid"s.
HIRE In America there are man! orShNlH7-
lions whnrc HGbTHw IL .loK"n "xcirHiN"iy.
Tntl quite recently w- had tn" Ha-doHr. a
Hebrew daily. published IN Now NorN. II
will rcsum" publication in IN" near future.
II lIn -Dirnnn" f. theatrical organization
giving performances in Hebrew
n Hebrews that ~ used - not Biblical
lIrbrcw. it that Is what y"u mean by pure
Hebrew hut to say thnt Hebrew Is not en-.
royel as speech any longer ~ n mIsslate-
mcnt.
presume thcro mual b" som" error IN ;ho
printing OF thN latter part Of n" .oaraEraph
vhcr" son Iay 'th" Jews wrote
I, GI"br"IN quit" correctly. although th"y
cmr!",cd I'"l row letters" iIca"s- make
YOU: meaning cica" as 10 what yoa meant
there.
To conrludc. Hebrew is a modern wolf
az an ancient language. win modern 1T
-atUrr which uu lnr"'"rt It's rhnaeC enCo quite
recently. PHILIP $ RESNIkOV.
Philadelphia. September 81 1922.
Tho Forum acknowledges with thanks !ts
correspondents UNplanatiDl of tho usN Of
lfeIr"w as rroll"u language. 1t ~ true
enough, aF h" declares, that modern li"-
Ir.,r il w
rud c.s"whnr" md that Il has vogue III Ger
tcjn Jewish c!rc."V IN J Nm'rGd. CnfUr-
,unatcy, II" Forum III !t9 urSw"r 10 It's
uucrlst did not lndiraic more clearly what
Il meant h% tho expression "uure licbrew,"
which !, Ynid raS an rradorl'r tongue. fallen
Into d.susc as spoken Language, II was tho
tongue IN which tho hulk Of III" Ola Testn-
,ncnt is written that til" Forum had In
mind when It used tho term This lar.
g,aRc had long s,rcr ceased 10 be the cur-
rent speech OF the Jews at the time OF tho
cod Ncati"n OF IN" rabbinical la~s. thoss IN
Palestine adopting the Aramaic. and else
I whara tho languages ~ the countries in
which thay wcr" s"ttlcd. CThis will indi-
cate what III" Forum intended 80 convey
when Il sI"ko ~ tho Jews in Germany many
centuries ago Speaking and writing correctly
= nc"-fIrbrnN. using tn" Hebrew Chnra"t"rS.l }
H.br""'. h"wcr"r. mainil,nel itS sway ~ the
iuHNue ~ s'Cr'L writ ana az the official Lam
suaKc "i tho synogOBuo.
Tho ii"brcr "f the Middle Ages and the
/ New Hebrew arc modelled Il 81 true. VI n
Jhc bihical style. but sine" It is arti1cially
cultivated and nowhere used the solo
language OF Interchange, Il can only 10 a
limited extent 10 designated as ono OF the
living semitic languages. And even then
1t Is no: the "puro Hebrew which the
Forum classified as not used except nca-
lcmically.
1t should b. added that in ancient times
there wero various dialects, the ArsInsiC
FOR example. ns preserved in portions OF Ezra
and Daniel rno"irE that even as long ago as
that the ''pure li.hrew" hnd undergone
| nh.Lmcr.