Liora R. Halperin

Fascinating study of the political, cultural and social issues surrounding language policies in the Yishuv, the Jewish community that existed in Palestine before the founding of Israel. Halperin's well-reasoned arguments, backed up by lots of research, reveals that no matter how much various groups wanted Hebrew to be the only language used in offices, theaters, farms and elsewhere, the reality was much more complex, and the study of other languages (most notably English and Arabic) were even promoted to serve Jewish nationalist aims. It would've been interesting if the book had gone beyond 1948 and discussed how the myth of a solely-Hebrew-speaking Yishuv came to pass, but that could be the focus of a follow-up study.… (mehr)