Congratulations! On May 21, 2014, at 4:46 AM, Norman Berdichevsky <[email protected]> wrote:
> To the Radical Centrists > > I am looking forward to publication of my book. Few subjects have commanded > the attention and provoked, fascinated, excited, and enchanted so many > readers as the saga of the Zionist rebirth of Israel. Yet in this monumental > literature, relatively little space has been devoted to the epic > transformation of the classical language of the Bible into Modern "Ivrit", > the national language of the State of Israel, its everyday vernacular spoken > by seven million people. It was grafted successfully onto an older literature > and longer historical continuity than Latin or Greek and is the official > language of business, research, the law, and government of the dynamic State > of Israel. > > Also discussed are the dilemmas facing the language arising from the fact > that Israelis and Jews in the Diaspora "don't speak the same language," while > Israeli Arabs and Jews do. Israeli Arabs are reluctant to give up the > advantages they enjoy as a result of their knowledge of Hebrew for the much > greater educational opportunity and career advancement this affords them > compared to Arabs elsewhere. As the day draws nearer for any final border > revision, more and more of them will undoubtedly express their preference to > remain as Israeli citizens no matter what lip service they have given to the > Palestinian cause in the past. This is already apparent in the most recent > polls demonstrating a moderation trend. > > The lack of a common language is an obvious but overlooked factor in > explaining why so many American Jews are insensitive or unappreciative of the > creation of a modern nation, national literature and spoken idiom that makes > Hebrew quite distinct from the language of ritual prayers recited in the > synagogue. Many American Jews, in spite of numerous trips to Israel, are > wholly unaware of much of "what makes Israeli society tick" and that all > laws, debates in the Knesset, the legal cases in court, and applications for > patents, are in Hebrew. Their view of Israeli affairs is often considerably > biased because it is based on highly selected and fragmentary extracts of > published material translated from Hebrew by the media. > > The book is designed as an informative guide designed to fascinate those with > no previous knowledge of the language and those who may be superficially > familiar with the Hebrew used in synagogue services and at holiday > celebration of festivals but little else. Few of the students beginning > introductory course at either the high school level, at universities or in > courses offered by Jewish community centers are aware of the enormous role > played by Hebrew in western civilization nor how crucial a role the > modernized development of an Israeli consciousness and the Rejection of the > Golah (Diaspora) that permeated Zionism in its formative period. Several > chapters deal with the Hebrew-Yiddish rivalry. > > > with warmest best wishes Norman Berdichevsky > p.s. my website is nberdichevsky.com > > > Norman Berdichevsky. > > Modern Hebrew, The Past and Future of a Revitalized Language > ISBN 978-0-7864-9492-7. McFarland Publishing. Spring 2014. Discounts for bulk > orders > > <image001.jpg> > Dr. Norman Berdichevsky > > Dr. Norman Berdichevsky > > Book Prospectus - Modern Hebrew, The Past and Future of a Revitalized Language > McFarland Publishing Company. > > > The instruction of no other language has historically been regarded as so > "dangerous" and the subject of such active persecution. Three generations of > Hebrew teachers and students risked imprisonment and the loss of their > livelihoods in the USSR for carrying on the "underground" Hebrew movement to > learn the language - something that is taken so much for granted by many > Diaspora Jews who commonly associate it with a tedious preparation for their > bar-mitzvah confirmation. I explore the historical background, past and > current controversies, challenges and dilemmas facing the Israeli people that > stem from the choice made four generations ago to create a renewed nation of > Jews in the Land of Israel with Hebrew as their national language. It is a > brief study in the politics, linguistics and sociology of language exploring > the relationship of the Israelis with the Jewish Diaspora as well as their > fellow citizen Hebrew-speaking Arab population. > > The 17 chapters examine how Hebrew came to function as a role model for other > national revivals, how it overcame the many obstacles to revival as a spoken > vernacular and its growing prestige and importance. It also analyzes the > importance of the language for mutual understanding between Israelis and > Diaspora Jews and between Jewish and non-Jewish Israelis. It is a book > dealing primarily with the social and political use of the language and does > not cover literature nor is it another biography of the pioneer founder of > the movement to make Hebrew into a modern spoken vernacular, Eliezer > Ben-Yehuda. It is the story of his vision and how it animated a large part of > the Jewish world, gave new confidence and pride to Jewish youth during the > most difficult period of modern Jewish history and infused Zionism with a > dynamic cultural content. > > > 1 Hebrew in American Popular Culture > 2 The Magnificent Heritage of Biblical Hebrew Prior to the Modern Language > 3 Modern Hebrew's Influence on "Minor Language Revivals and Esperanto" > 4 The Three Thousand Year Old Treasury > 5 How Hebrew Became a Modern Language > 6 Do the Israelis Speak Hebrew or Israeli? > 7 The Great Yiddish-Hebrew Rivalry > 8 Negation of the Golah (Exile); Hebraization > 9 Baltic Training Grounds for a Hebrew State > 10 The First Modern Hebrew Textbook With Real National-Cultural Content > 11 Soviet Persecution of Hebrew > 12 Israeli Arab Use of Hebrew > 13 Towards a Hebrew Republic? > 14 Slang and Profanity > 15 The Current Assault on Hebrew at Home; Competition from English > 16 Outlook for Hebrew in the U.K. & U.S. > 17 Epilogue > Back Issues of New English Review explaining I wrote the book... > > > From Albert to Arik: There Has Been None Like Einstein (December 2013) > > Zohar Argov and the Hebrew Language Gap (May 2013) > > > -- > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > <cvnb2.docx> -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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