And he said. We saw the success in the United States of assimilation from people all over the world coming into the United States and being accepted as Americans. We recognized that we were bringing refugees from all over the world. mostly Jews. to come live in Israel. reaching out to them. and they spoke languages from dozens of different countries and we didnt have a common language in Israel. We needed a language that bound us all together and identified us as Israelis and so we chose Hebrew. And I asked again. but why Hebrew? Hebrew had been the language that was used primarily and almost exclusively in prayer for the last 2.000 years. The Israelis resurrected basically a dead language as far as street communication. business communication. commerce was concerned. and they brought Hebrew back up again and established it as the official language of their country and taught the Hebrew language to all Israelis. And today. as someone immigrates into Israel. they go to an assimilation center. I will call it. they have a different name which I dont recall. where they are taught in 6 months to learn the Hebrew language and to go out and function and perform within the broader society of Israel. So Israelis that learned Hebrew have that unique identifying quality.
Keywords matched
immigrates refugees