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Why is Arabic an official language in Israel?

Why didn't Israel have Yiddish be the Language of the new Israeli state?

  • Why Hebrew?

  • Answer:

    Jews are generally divided into two categories: The Ashkinazim and the Sefardim. Hebrew is the original language of the Jewish people. The Ashkinazim, often called European Jews, mixed Hebrew with other languages, primarily German, and thus Yiddish was born. The Sefardim, or African/Middle-Eastern Jews, mixed it primarily with Spanish (remember the Muslims used to rule Spain) and created Ladino. Hebrew is still the official language of the Jewish people, though.

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Consider this: You are a Jew who previously lived in Yemen (or Libya/Egypt/Morocco/Iraq/Iran/Tunisia/et… and you come to the homeland of the Jews. They tell you to speak a language, whose alphabet you recognize, but the tongue is almost completely foreign. It isn't the Hebrew that you chant in your community even by a longshot. The reason Yiddish was overlooked is because it doesn't represent all the Jews. There are Judeo-Arabic variants and Ladino - a hybrid Hebrew/Spanish tongue - that correspond with Yiddish, a Germanic-Hebrew creole. Hebrew represents all the Jews. ALL of them. Thus, since more than 50% of Israel's population doesn't have a single Yiddish speaker in their bloodline, they chose Hebrew. A linker tongue. One that the German Jew and the Libyan Jew can both speak and not complain about.

Dean

Because Hebrew is the native language of the jews yiddish is a mix of hebrew, german and other languages that was developed in europe by european jews

AD

@Marian: (1) Netiva wasn't Eliezer's daughter. (2) Ben-Yehuda wasn't "responsible for creating modern Hebrew". That's a myth created and nurtured for some purpose of which I'm not sure.

Merc

It was to give legitimacy to their "ancient claim". People seem to forget that Hebrew was only spoken and read by rabbis- the vast majority of Jews did not speak it, but spoke the language of their host country- with the exception of Yiddish. It would be like assuming Catholics in Mexico all spoke Latin. Even now in the occupied territories, there are areas where you'll hear more Russian than Hebrew.

It is because Hebrew is the original language of the Jewish people. Yiddish came later in history and is only the language of Ashkenazim Jews

Kevin7

Can't say it better than it has already been said, except that later on, I will try to add a link to Ben Yehuda, lexicographer responsible for creating modern Hebrew. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Ben-Yehuda And hs daughter, who wrote the first dictionary of Hebrew slang. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netiva_Ben-Yehuda

Marian

It is, too many Yiddishers docked their boats in Palestine for illegal colonization purposes.

trancinguy

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