![\"Corporate](\"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/hebrew.jpg\")
<\/a>Corporate Logo’s in Modern Hebrew<\/p><\/div>
\nThe promise began with Abraham. When Almighty God introduced Himself to a man from the land of Ur. And pledged that the land where God was to lead Abraham \u2013 a land that would later be called Israel \u2013 would belong to Abraham\u2019s children. And their children. And then their children\u2019s children. You get the picture. It\u2019s the land that God promised to the generations of Abraham\u2019s sons. Which is why Israel became known as the Promised Land. But you knew that already. <\/p>\n
Yet the Promised Land is about much more than just a geographical portion of earth. Don\u2019t get me wrong. The Land of Israel was and is and will forever continue to be the promised homeland of the Jewish people. But the promise goes beyond just land. Because to me, the Promised Land is also the land of promises fulfilled, of promises still awaiting fulfilment. But above all, it\u2019s the land of the Promise Maker. And then also, of the Promise Keeper. <\/p>\n
On what do I base these claims? Simple really. I\u2019ve walked the streets of Jerusalem. The Promise Maker said that the Jewish people would return to the Promised Land. And they have. Check! The Promise Maker said that when the Jewish people returned, the desert would blossom and yield abundantly (Isaiah 35:1-2). And it has. Check! Oh yes, I\u2019ve seen the promises fulfilled. <\/p>\n
But I\u2019ve also heard it. In every staccato sentence, in every guttural words that flows together into Modern Hebrew. I hear the Promise Maker being true and faithful to His word, to the promises He\u2019s made. Because the rebirth of Hebrew was one of them, one of His promises. Another piece slotting into the final picture. Another bit of proof. That the God of Israel is Who He says He is. And that what He says, goes.<\/p>\n
We find the promise twice in the Bible. First Jeremiah prophesied that once God returned the Jewish people to the Promised Land (Jeremiah 31:8-17), He would also restore to them the ancient language of generations past (Jeremiah 31:23). Then came Zephaniah, who prophesied that God would restore the pure Hebrew language to His people (Zephaniah 3:9). And true to His word, He did.<\/p>\n
The fulfilment of the promise didn\u2019t seem all that likely though. Then again, that seems to be God\u2019s speciality right? But let\u2019s think about it logically for a second. Throughout the course of history, languages have come and gone. Often linked to the society that breathed life into them. But once a language fell from use, once it was no longer used in schools, in houses, in everyday life\u2026 It simply died. Never again to be taken from the shelve, dusted off and given a second go. Sure, academics and religious leaders keep some of them alive to a certain degree. But there\u2019s no vitality, no growth, no heartbeat. Because a dead language doesn\u2019t come alive again. It doesn\u2019t happen. It\u2019s never happened before. Until the case of Hebrew came along. <\/p>\n
I often forget just how long ago Hebrew fell from everyday use. Because it happened way before
\nGod scattered the people from the land. Hebrew was the language of Israel, of the Jewish people since 2 000BC. But then came Israel\u2019s captivity in Babylon in 587BC. And Hebrew disappeared from homes, schools, market places and street corners. For the next few hundred years, the Jewish people spoke Aramaic. And the use of Hebrew became restricted to mainly religious purposes. Yet God had a plan. Because after the Second Temple was torn down and God scattered the Jewish people, it was in fact its religious use that ensured Hebrew\u2019s survival in the Diaspora.<\/p>\n
The promises that the Jewish prophets Jeremiah and Zephaniah made lay dormant for thousands of years. Until God\u2019s appointed time. In the late 1800s, a steady trickle of Jews began making their way back to the Promised Land. They came from nearly every country in the world. And brought with them a multitude of languages. Although the majority of European Jews spoke Yiddish, there was also languages hailing from Europe, Africa and Russia. It was this fact that piqued the interest of lexicographer Eliezer Ben Yehuda. Known today as the Father of Modern Hebrew, he believed that Hebrew would be a unifying force that would draw the Jews from an array of cultural backgrounds together. So he set out to revive it. <\/p>\n
The task must have been daunting, a long-term effort. But someone had to take responsibility. And it had to start somewhere. Ben Yehuda was that someone. And he started out in 1886 by encouraging parents to teach their children Hebrew at home. He also got schools and universities to teach Hebrew classes. Drawing from Ancient Hebrew, Ben Yehuda and those working with him breathed new life into the words and phrases of a language that had lain dormant for thousands of years. New words were coined. And old ones adapted for use in modern society. <\/p>\n
Their efforts paid off. Thirty-six years later, in 1922, the British Mandate Authority of Palestine recognised Hebrew as the official language of Jewish Palestine. And Ben Yehuda was right. Over the following decades, the steady trickle of Jews returning to the land of their promise continued to grow. From all over the world, from every country, culture and background the Jews returned. And the language of their forefathers, Hebrew, served as a unifying force. <\/p>\n
Today, more than 9 million people worldwide speak Modern Hebrew. That\u2019s 9 million voices. And with every staccato sentence, with every guttural word that flows together to form Modern Hebrew, these 9 million voices stand as evidence. They bear witness that the Promise Maker of Israel still remains faithful and true to His promises. Because what He says, goes. Even if it takes thousands of years. <\/p>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Lilly Cohen The promise began with Abraham. When Almighty God introduced Himself to a man from the land of Ur. And pledged that the land where God was to lead Abraham \u2013 a land that would later be called Israel \u2013 would belong to Abraham\u2019s children. And their children. And then their children\u2019s children. more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[524],"tags":[474,135,473,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-2534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-just-thought","8":"tag-ancient-hebrew","9":"tag-israel-news","10":"tag-modern-hebrew","11":"tag-news-from-jerusalem","12":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2536,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534\/revisions\/2536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}