The Denver Jewish news., 1925-10-08
OUR NATIONAL LANGUAGE
by ARTHUR j. KIRscnsTEIN

hhculhra Inc iuct tilai tue Blblc was
written in Hebrew, leads him TO believe |
thai. Hebrew IL GoI's language The !
fact OF The matter, is that Hebrew. |
while n sacred Language OF the Bible. |
IL Just one Of the Semitic languages
that flourishcd In Western Asia, at a !
very early period in history We arc'l
not the only people who spoke Hebrew
in ancient times. Many other Semitic
people used It a. their vcrrihtller ana
before there Was a 1gw in this world
Hebrew was alreadyfn developed ian
guage. 1t is safe to say that Hebrew
has a history OF 1000 years, il not
more When our ancestors conquered
Palestine for the first time under the
guidance of Joshua, they found in the
country many peoples and most Of
these peoples spoke II Hebrew dialect.
But nevertheless Hebrew Is our ma.
uoial tongue for as Hebrew has been
for the last 1000 years a driving pow
er in the history, it is because We.
who have only acquired Hebrew as our
vernacular, have made ii the power
that 1t is today and tiiat it has been
for 2,OOO years. We have not invented
or developed the Hebrew vocabulary
mar The other peoples OF Western
Asia who have used Hebrew as their
vernncular have disappeared without
leaving any literary document or
literary creations In Hebrew. deserv-
ing of perpetuation We have a few
Hebrew inscriptions from the Hoabites.
We have few Hebrew inscriptions
from the Phocnicians. But only the
Jewish people have produced an i'm
mortal Hebrew literature and only the
Jewish people have raised Hebrew to
the rank Of a universal language and
n world literature II is for these
reasons that Hebrew is our national
. tongue and not for the reason that we
have created The Hebrew language. We,
! did not taF
! Not only is Hebrew. AS language,
older than the Jewish people, but Pal
estine is older than the Jewish people
and the cities in Palestine are older
than the Jewish people. Therefore, it
/ is only right to assume that we have
| not named The cities In Palestine. The
I City. of Jerusalem too is older than
4 the Jewish people and therefore the
name Jerusalem is not a Hebrew name
and, to he more correct, not Il Jewish
name. Nor are the names "Jerlcho,"
Hebron "Jaffa.'' Hebrew names
They are Cannaantic or perhaps
! Semrric rames.
The Hebrew language can supply the
! elcniaut OF unity that Is fast disappear
ling frum Jewish life. Until the Emanci-
| pati5n, all Jews thought and acted
alike. Such uniformity cannot he re
/ established and perhaps would no
| l0rger be desirable IL we could
Modern Hebrew has succeeded where
Jewish law and ritual have failed. 1t
has demonstrated the possibility of jew
/ isli life remaining identical and con
tinuons while assimilaiing the hest
that there is in modern thought and
] civilization. out Of the Oriental
| threads modern Hebrew has woven new
textures Of truth and idealisn adopted
to the Intellectual and spiritual needs
Of the most progressive men and
women of the present day.
No one who has the right instinct
about the needs of Judaism at the
present time can fall to note that the
knowledge of Hebrew has become in
/ iisPensible to being Jew. The rab.
hinic precept that parent must teach
his child to speak Hebrew from early
1 infancy must hencefOrth he the under
lying principle of Jewish education
There is something about the Hebrew
language which gives the Jew n
"Nesliamah yethcra" an over soul for
in that lnnguIgc are stirred the joys
and sorraws he trl'Hnnha and tho. dc
feais, thc groplng after truth. and
the struggle for the light experienced
iy The Jewish people ip The course Of
! thirty centuries. j."
Onr problem is to n large extent how
10 get the feel Of the Jewish people ;
how TO visualize lis reality. Ordinarily
! it is n land that imprcsSes ms with the
reality of people. In the past we
/ succadcd alive this-scnsc of our peo-
| pies reality by living segregated from
| the rest of the world. Mon and women
of the older generation still remember
\ the Jewish Ghettos in which they were
/ raised. That contact with the Jews
in the mass will keep them Jewish mere
. thnn all abstract teachings and prcach-
I ing. But what can we do to give Our
children whom we bring mp in neigh
/ burhoods whore one secs little of Jew
! ish life, Il sense of intimacy of tls