The official languages of Israel are Hebrew and Arabic. English serves are their secondary international language and most people and street signs are tri-lingual. Government and business documents are acceptable in any of these three.

Hebrew as a Living, Business, and Legal Language
(The following section is taken verbatim from Alon Kaplan, "Israel Business Law" p.583-5. Kluwer Law International, 1996. Printed in the Netherlands.)

Israel's three largest cities - Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa - all have major thoroughfares named after Herzel, Weizmann and Ben Yehuda. It is understandable to see the names of Herzel and Weizmann, as they were two of the greatest political leaders of the Zionist movement. And Ben Yehuda? He was a linguist and journalist who lived and worked for the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language from the end of the 19th century until his death in 1922.

Hebrew, known since antiquity along with Greek and Latin, is a classical language. Over the many generations of exile of the people of Israel, it was used as a medium to convey prayers, correspondence, philosophy and literature, mostly by Jews, but sometimes by Christian scholars as well. It was Ben Yehuda, however, who pioneered the use of Hebrew as a living language for daily use. He lived in Jerusalem at the turn of the century and insisted that all members of his family speak Hebrew. This was at a time when the country was part of the Ottoman Empire and Turkish, Arabic, Yiddish, and Ladino were the languages in daily use. It is said that Ben Yehuda's home was the first where Hebrew was spoken as a modern language.

In 1885, Ben Yehuda founded Hazvi, one of the earliest Hebrew newspapers distributed in Europe, and later published the first half of the first modern Hebrew dictionary (the work was completed after his death by his widow and others). By the beginning of the century more than 20 schools were teaching Hebrew as a living language. Thanks to his efforts, Hebrew was recognized in 1922 as an official language of the British Mandate in Palestine along with Arabic and English.

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Since then, the Hebrew-speaking population grew from a few thousand in Palestine to over five million in modern Israel. It is an official language of the country along with Arabic, spoken and used in uniting the vast majority of the population, Jew and non-Jew alike.

The revival of Hebrew as a living language is recognized by scholars worldwide. From being an ancient written language, spoken by very few for almost 2,000 years, it became a language used by millions in their daily lives, incorporating 20th century terms such as computers, buses, railways, and nuclear reactors. Many of these words were coined by Ben Yehuda himself and later by the Hebrew Language Academy, which he founded.

Teaching Hebrew to millions of newcomers (olim) who settled in Israel over the decades was a special task undertaken by the Government of Israel. Two ministries are involved with this continuing project: the Ministry of Absorption and the Ministry of Education.

The Ministry of Absorption has a special Hebrew Language Education Department which establishes and runs Hebrew classes for adults (ulpan in Hebrew) in every town and village where olim settle. This department registers olim who wish to learn Hebrew and administers the system.

The Ministry of Education also has a department for adult education. This department runs units specializing in the teaching of Hebrew for adults and also publishes a weekly paper called Sha'ar La'matchil (Gate for Beginners) and Hed Ha'ulpan (Ulpan Echo) as well as a special publication for Hebrew teachers. The department also recruits Hebrew teachers.

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A few statistics demonstrate the achievements of these ministries in making Hebrew the working language of the citizens of Israel: the population census of June 1983 counted 3.36 million people in Israel. The census of November 1995 showed 5.6 million, an increase of 40%. Almost a million were new immigrants and almost all have learned enough Hebrew to function in daily life.

Hebrew is the language of most of the newspapers in Israel and there are even U.S.-published editions of these newspapers containing Israeli news and special advertising aimed at the large Israeli expatriate community in the U.S. and Canada, estimated at some 500,000 people.

Israel's burgeoning economy uses Hebrew in all aspects and many thousands of words used in modern life have their roots in the Biblical language or were newly invented to cater to the requirements of modern society and the business community.

The extensive revival of this biblical language in official and business life is exemplified by its use in the Knesset (parliament) for legislation, by the government for the enactment of all administrative regulations, and by the court for deliberating and writing its opinions and judgments.

It is important to note that most of the existing business laws which date back to the British Mandate (such as the Companies Ordinance, the Partnership Ordinance, the Trademarks Ordinance) were legally "adopted" and translated into Hebrew by the Knesset as part of the Israeli law bearing the name "New Version" (Nusach Chadash)

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The two primary texts of Judaism, the Bible and the Talmud, contain many legal and economic terms used in ancient times, including terms which were "imported" from Aramaic and Greek. Some of these terms are used today with the same meanings, i.e., mashkanta (mortgage), ribit (interest), while other terms had to be invented or their meanings altered to cope with modern needs.

A modern term familiar to those who studied the Bible in Hebrew is the word shofet (judge). It is the same word used in the biblical Book of Judges, although the role of the biblical "judge" was more akin to that of a community leader than to an adjudicator.

A few legal terms will demonstrate the revival of the language: company (chevra), partnership (shutafut), limited liability (be'eravon mugbal), agency (shlichut), principal (sholeach), agent (shaluach), charitable trust (hekdesh), and trust (ne'emanut).

Other old Jewish legal terms were transformed into modern legislation giving them new meaning. The term for charitable trust - hekdesh - serves as an excellent illustration. Hekdesh, in Biblical times, referred to something consecrated to the Temple for charity. After the destruction of the Temple and in later periods, it was used to identify assets dedicated to charitable and community purposes, such as an old-age home and synagogue.

In 1923, the British Mandate promulgated the Public Trust Ordinance, 1923, which was one of the early pieces of modern legislation in Palestine. The Hebrew translation used the word hekdesh and the Knesset adopted this term for defining charitable trust in its Law of Trust, 1979.

Israel's achievement in the revival of Hebrew and its adaptation to daily usage has not gone unnoticed. Other countries will, no doubt, make use of Israel's experience in the revival of their own languages.

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