The transition of the Hebrew language from reading and writing to religious needs - into living and spoken language.
The Language That Fell Asleep and Woke Up
Since When Has Hebrew Been Spoken?
Hebrew ceased to exist as a spoken language in the early centuries of the first millennium. It was read and written solely for religious purposes and was defined as a holy language.
Nevertheless, even prior to the advent of Zionism, Hebrew experienced some periods of resurgence. In the Middle Ages, monumental Hebrew poetry was composed in Sepharad and the foundations for Hebrew prose were also laid. In later years, Hebrew literature was produced in Italy and Provence as well. The Jewish Enlightenment movement made a significant contribution to the regeneration of the language – but even then Hebrew was not yet a living language.
The turning point came at the beginning of the 20th century. After two thousand years during which Hebrew had not been used as a spoken language, it managed to become a dynamic and creative language within a period of about 25 years! This is an unprecedented phenomenon in human history.