Should Abdulla Ibn Hussieni and Charlotte Clinton-Mezinsky Grow up Speaking Hebrew?
based on a book review by Philologos at the Forward
Norman Berdichevsky’s “Modern Hebrew: The Past and Future of a Revitalized Language,” has a chapter called “From Jewish State Toward a Hebrew Republic?” Berdichevsky argues that the best hope of creating identity that unites all Israelis is Israelis is to adopt Hebrew as the language of an Israeli people just as France uses French and the US uses English. In Berdichevsky’s world, the citizens of Israel would share their common first n language regardless of ethnic, religious or political differences.
Though utopian, the idea is interesting. What is a Frenchman? To be French can not mean descent from a Gallic ancestor .. unless Sarkozy is not longer a Frenchman. Today nearly all Israeli Arabs and a high percentage of West Bank Palestinians speak Hebrew. Indigenous Americans switched to English or Spanish even though today there is an effort to preserve their local language as a second language. Of course Apache or Kwakwawalla survive because of reservations and there is no outside Apache world to strengthen the role of Apache as a minority language. Moreover Arabic is noy a minority language in the world beyond Israel (or France). I suppose Berdichevsky might argue that immigrants from Spain and China can preserve their languages even while becoming Americanized but few Italian Americans or Italian Argentinians today speak Italian.
Berdichevsky’s idea, however, may have an i8mlication for another group .. Jews themselves.
What does it mean to be a Jew in America? Chelsea Clinton is married to an Jew. ABC Newswebsite noted that Chelsea Clinton serves on an interfaith leadership board, and posited that Charlotte “could likely grow up, as they say, ‘both.'” For Jews living outside of Israel, a culturally Jewish identity often means little more than some vague memory of a grandparent.Interestingly daughter Charlotte was not given a Jewish name even though Jewish tradition would mean naming the young lady after a deceased Jewish ancestor, Perhaps Charlotte, like many Jews also has a Hebrew name? I also suspect, however, like the children of most intermarries people, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky will grow up without any strong identification with the Jewish religion. She will become a “cultural Jew.”
While the great majority of Israeli Arabs are not going to adopt Hebrew as their mother tongue, it does seem to me that Hebrew could be a great way to build a Jewish identity and affinity for Israel among the growing majority of Jewish children who are not tied to the people by their religion even if Israeli law gives then the right to become an Israeli citizen.