Hebrew language
The Modern Hebrew language is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. What makes it unique, is that the original Bible, the Torah, by Orthodox Jews held to be recorded in the time of Moses 3,300 years ago, was written in Biblical Classical Hebrew. Jews have always called it the Lashon haKodesh ("The Holy Tongue") as many of them believe that it was chosen to convey God's message to humanity. After the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, it became primarily a literary language, used mostly in prayer and to study the Mishnah (part of the Talmud). It was reborn as a spoken language during the late 19th and 20th century as Modern Hebrew, replacing Arabic, Ladino, Yiddish and other languages of the Jewish diaspora as the spoken language of the majority of the Jewish people living in Israel.
Hebrew is the primary official language of the state of Israel, (Arabic also has official language status). The Hebrew name for the language is עברית, or `Ivrit (pronounced eevREET [ivr\\it]).
| Hebrew (עברית [‘Ivrit]) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Israel |
| Region: | Israel and other countries |
| Total speakers: | Over 6 Million, as all Israeli Jewish citizens as well as its Arabs speak it |
| Ranking: | not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central South Canaanite Hebrew |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | Israel |
| Regulated by: | Academy of the Hebrew Language |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | he |
| ISO 639-2 | heb |
| SIL | HBR |