Reviving Hebrew

Podcast: Today In History with The Retrospectors · The Retrospectors

Opublikowano: 2026-10-13

On October 13th, 1881, the linguist and grammarian Eliezer Ben-Yehuda held what is thought to have been the first modern conversation in Hebrew with two friends at a Paris café. The conversation would have had some serious stumbling blocks, given that the language was still missing numerous modern words including bicycle, towel, and – crucially for being in a cafe – a word for coffee. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly discuss the connection between Hebrew's revival and growing Jewish nationalism; look at the personal lengths Ben-Yehuda was willing to go to make the language take off, inclu...