Israel and Jews take a lot of space in popular media and thinking. They are one of the oldest nations in the world as well as one of the youngest counties. They can trace back their origins to the second millennia BC. Their current national state was formed in 1948.

The state of Israel is a very diverse one. According to official data there are more than 33 languages and dialects that are spoken in the territories of modern Israel. The main language of the state is Modern Hebrew. Nonetheless, there are two official languages in Israel- Hebrew and Arabic.

Hebrew

Modern Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic group. It was created in the late 19^th century by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda in the Zionist attempt to revive Hebrew as a spoken language. The language had a short struggle against the Yiddish language for dominance over the Israeli state after the independence of 1948. Nowadays, every immigrant is required to study Hebrew as well as all Arab and other foreign nationals residing on the territory of the country. It is the official language of the administration, education, legislation, commerce, and court.

The language is based on the Classical Hebrew which has been used for study and prayer in Jewish communities for the last 2000 years. The Classical Hebrew as in the sacred book Torah is supposed to have originated around the 6 century BC with the Babylonian Exodus of the Jewish people.

Yiddish

Yiddish is a High German language of the Ashkenazi Jews that was spoken around the world. It is a fusion of German dialects with Slavic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Romance languages, and written in Hebrew alphabet. The language originated in the 10^th century in the Rhine region and then spread in Central and Eastern Europe. It later separated in Western and Eastern Yiddish which adopted many words from Western and Slavic languages.

Arabic

Arabic is the other official language in Israel. It is spoken by Arab citizens of Israel and Jews that came from Arabic-speaking countries. Roughly a fifth of the Israeli population has Arabic origins. Initially, the Jewish government was very reluctant about the use of Arabic in state matters. Then, in 200 a decision was made about the more extensive use of the language.

Other

Among the other commonly spoken languages are English, Russian, Romanian, Amharic, Ladino, Polish, Ukrainian and Spanish.

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