How old is the Hebrew religion?

Answer 1

Our tradition states that Hebrew was the language with which God created the world (Rashi commentary, Genesis 2:23, quoting the midrash). Since it was considered a holy language and was used for prayer and the teaching of religious tradition, it was not spoken in mundane contexts and wasn't taught to just anyone. It was handed down from individual teachers to disciples as part of the original tradition; and the same goes for the art of writing. Thus, certain Hebrew Psalms (92 and 139) and teachings are attributed to Adam, the first man. The wider public, most of whom descended relatively quickly into idolatry and sin, were not given access to the treasures of the original tradition, since by their actions they implicitly repudiated it.

After the Flood, the Hebrew language had a brief period in which it was generally known, thanks to Noah (see Rashi commentary on Genesis 11:1). This is why many hundreds of Hebrew words have cognates in languages as diverse as German and Japanese. The alphabet, which secular scholars trace back to the Phoenicians, is according to our tradition actually one step older than that: it is from the Hebrew aleph-bet, which those of the Phoenicians and Greeks closely mimic.

After the Flood also, the knowledge of Hebrew eventually declined (see Genesis ch.11) and was preserved only among the Western Semites, the ancestors and cousins of Abraham. Eber, from whom our word "Hebrew" (Ivrit) is named, was a Semitic descendant of Noah and ancestor of Abraham. He was one of the major transmitters of the original traditions. He is credited with having broadened the Hebrew language, and some Hebrew grammatical constructs are attributed to him by certain Jewish researchers.

As time passes, languages grow and adapt. Thus today we can identify words and types of usage that go all the way back (and these are the ones that are most likely to have widespread cognates). And then there are Late Biblical Hebrew; the Hebrew of the Mishna; Medieval Hebrew, and so on. All of these have a broad overlap, but each has introduced its added vocabulary words and usages. Today, Torah-Hebrew includes some words that were borrowed from the Persian, some words taken from ancient Greece, Aramaic words, etc.

Answer 2

Linguistic answer

Even from a modern linguistic point of view, the ancient Israelites were speaking an ancestral form of Hebrew long before the Torah was written down, though it's not truly known how long.

The Hebrew spoken prior to the 10th Century BCE is known today as Proto-Hebrew, and it wasn't distinct from ancient Ugaritic or ancient Canaanite.

All of the Northwest Semitic languages, including Hebrew, started to become differentiated during the Iron Age (1200–540 BCE). Prior to 1200 BCE it could still referred to as Hebrew, particularly when referenced as the dialects of the Jewish ancestors, though it's not known how it differed from the Archaic Biblical Hebrew of the Torah.

Answer 3

It began around 2000 BCE and it's still around today. For the first 2000 years, it was located in Israel. After the year 70 CE, it was more of a portable culture and ethics system.

Answer 4

No one knows for certain, but estimates say it is older than 4000 years.

Answer 5

scholars believe it has been spoken longer than 12,000 years.

Answer 6

close to 6000 years