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Language and Literature
Hebrew, which had not been used outside of Jewish
liturgy for two thousand years, was revived as a spoken
language at the end of the 19th century by the Jewish
linguist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda. Hebrew unified Jews from
diverse countries who arrived in the Land of Israel
speaking many different languages. Hebrew has become
the primary language of Jews in Israel and replaced
a score of languages spoken by Jews, such as Ladino,
Yiddish, Russian,German and many others. In 1948,
Hebrew and Arabic became the official languages of
the State of Israel.
The exodus of one million Jews from the former Soviet
Union to Israel in the 1990s led Russian to become
a prevalent language in Israel. There is also a growing
revival of Yiddish in Israeli society, with Yiddish
theater and Yiddish language university courses flourishing.
Israel has the world's second highest production
of new books per capita. Israeli authors, such as
A.B. Yehoshua and Amos Oz, have received international
critical acclaim. Their work, among that of hundreds
of others, has given readers around the globe a taste
of Israeli society. In 1966, Israeli author Shmuel
Yosef Agnon received the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Literature in Israel is now also translated into
a variety of languages and exported around the world.
The Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature
compiles Israeli anthologies, publishes an English-language
journal dedicated to Hebrew literature and represents
Israel at international book fairs.
In their respective Hebrew translations, many American
works quickly become popular in Israel. For example,
novels by popular American authors such as Dan Brown
and John Grisham are bestsellers in Israel.
Above:
Israeli Nobel Prize Laureate S.Y. Agnon.
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