Every year, on the birthday of Eliezer Ben Yehuda we celebrate the revival of the Hebrew language. It is of course the Hebrew date of his birthday - 21st of Tevet.
I will leave the politics of the reincarnation of modern Hebrew aside today, as it is a festive day.
The Academy of the Hebrew language leads several events every year to shine a light on different corners of how Hebrew is used these days and its heritage. This year, things have taken a different tone. The academy, along with Israel’s Zionist council has asked groups of people to choose a word that represents Hebrew to them. These people come from different aspects of Israeli society but all have one thing in common - 7.10 changed the cores of their lives dramatically.
70% of all Israeli dairy farms are located by the borders, On October 7th many dairy farmers in the Kibutzim around Gaza were murdered or kidnapped. Volunteers came to take their place, to save the cows. Yosi Mallul is one of them, He is a Kibutznik from the north and his choice of word is simply - dairy farm/cow shed.
It is a simple but meaningful choice, it is part of the journey that Zionism in Israel is undergoing right now, a return to the values of Jewish labor.
Kibbutz Be’eri has been in our thoughts these past 90 days. its name is simply - my well, it is named so after Berl Katznelson, who’s Hebrew name was Be’eri.
This word is the choice of the Tamar Ben Tzvi, the Kibbutz Archivist. she is describing her kibbutz as a dry well, waiting for the water of life to return.
Other words that were chosen are home, friendship, Israeliness and more. All very optimistic, positive words. you can find them all in this link
creations of new words:
The academy might sound like a strange concept to English speakers but less so to French or Icelandic speakers, these languages also have councils that keep their linguistics needs met. Why would a language need a council? To keep the language ever growing, to create words that will serve the needs of growing fields of work in a modern technological society but also to answer questions regarding the correct spelling or use of words. Since we have at least three millennia worth of grammar from every corner of the earth there are times in which a word has several grammatical options or the same word could be meaning several things. the academy is the high court of language. Just do not ask the members of said academy to explain why the have a distinctively non Hebrew name.
This years list of new words include new names of corals, smoking apparatus and affects, advertising, archiving and more. We now have a word for serendipity, re-wilding, cookie cutters, buzz words and tandem bikes, lets hope these are all the words we will need in 2024.
Happy Hebrew day and New year to you all!
Thank you, Esther. Strange how in the times we live in, a simple word like "Be'er" can suddenly have such emotional connotations... Your post also sent me to take a look at the Academia's list of new words, and I was really happy to find a word for "windy" there! It always bothered me that there's no word in Hebrew for such a common condition...