Why was Hebrew revived?

Answer 1

The Hebrew language died because it was gradually replaced by Aramaic. But it continued to be the language of prayer and learning among Jews.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Eliezer Ben Yehuda worked his whole life on bringing it back, by making the first Hebrew dictionary and opening the first schools that taught children entirely in Hebrew.

Answer 2

The answer is that it never went "extinct" exactly. That is, there have always been many Jews who studied Hebrew texts and prayed in Hebrew.

A factoid that has always especially fascinated me is that during the debates that led to the formal U.S. Declaration of Independence, when the structure of the newly independent nation was under discussion, it was Benjamin Franklin who allegedly suggested Hebrew as the official language after independence.

Answer 3

The answer is that it never went "extinct". That is, there have always been some

who studied Hebrew texts and prayed in Hebrew, no matter how few they may have

been at any particular time.

A factoid that has always especially fascinated me is that during the debates that led

to the formal Declaration of Independence, when the structure of the newly independent

nation was under discussion, it was Benjamin Franklin who allegedly suggested Hebrew

as the official language after independence.

Answer 4

Hebrew ceased to be a spoken language around 200 BCE, due to the increase in popularity of Aramaic.

But even after it was no longer a spoken language, it continued to be regarded by Jews as holy, and was studied and used regularly through the ages, until the 19th Century, when a man named Eliezar ben-Yehuda created the first modern Hebrew dictionary and opened schools for children taught exclusively in Hebrew.

Answer 5

the revival of Hebrew was the vision of one man, Eliezer ben Yehuda. He felt that the Jews needed a national language in Israel.

He was right.

Answer 6

yes, Modern Hebrew is a revived language.