Language:
Catalan
Year of publication:
2022
Titel der Quelle:
Tamid
Angaben zur Quelle:
17 (2022) 169-187
Keywords:
Ben-Yehuda, Eliezer,
;
Hebrew language History
;
Hebrew language Revival
;
Social aspects
;
Hebrew language Political aspects
;
Language and culture
Abstract:
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858-1922), considered the ‘father of modern He-brew’, had two countries, that of his birth and France. The latter is not only accord-ing to a bon mot from the end of the 19th century, but also because he spent part of his youth in Paris, including the period from 1879 until 1881, when he left for Isra-el, which he regarded as his country of birth. He is thought to have arrived in Paris in late 1877 or early 1878, in the immediate aftermath of the crisis of 16 may 1877. It was at that time that the basic laws of the Republic were passed in the Senate, fol-lowing heated debates at which he was present as a writer for the Hebrew-language newspaper Ḥavaṣelet. His reports on those debates reflect his deep admiration for the French Republic and the national ideals of its republican government. For in-stance, he depicts Jules Ferry (1832-1893), minister of education, as a national hero opposing republican conspirers, monarchists, the Catholic Church and the Com-munards. It was between 1879 and 1881 that Jules Ferry proposed the education laws that would become the backbone of the French Republic, based on the princi-ples of progress, laicism, national conscience and a single language, French (despite it being spoken by only half the population in 1879). given that the first article in which Ben-Yehuda addressed the role of the Hebrew language in an eventual Jewish state was called ‘The Question of Education’ (Šeʾelat Ha-Ḥinuk), his reports on the Senate’s sessions have to be deemed a key document in the history of language poli-cy in Israel.
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