Is Hebrew a second language or a foreign language?
December 17, 2007
This was a question posed at this year’s Boston Area Reform Temple Educators (BARTE) conference, which I attended in early November along with most of our Temple Emanu-El Religious School faculty. Sitting in the atrium-like social hall of the congregation that hosted the conference, we discussed the possibilities with teachers and educators from across the region.
A foreign language is learned primarily in the classroom, someone ventured; a second language is practiced on the street. Mastery of a foreign language is a useful skill, another suggested; mastery of a second language is a passport to a whole new way of life. Familiarity with a foreign language might change your external experience of the world - say, when you’re interacting with others who speak the language - but a second language changes you on the inside, altering the contour of your thoughts, your dreams, your identity.
Everyone seemed to agree that Hebrew must not be relegated to “foreign language” status in our schools or among our congregants. Hebrew is the language of the Jewish people, isn’t it? If not our sfat eim(mother tongue), then certainly our sfat am (national language)?
Mira Angrist, Hebrew Specialist for the Union for Reform Judaism and our speaker for the morning, unveiled the next slide in her Power Point presentation: A foreign language is studied in a classroom environment and is not used in the surrounding culture. A second language is studied in a classroom environment and is also used in the surrounding culture. Our relationship with Hebrew, for synagogue educators and for our students, lies somewhere in between, she explained.
Since the BARTE conference, I’ve found myself thinking about my use of Hebrew in a whole new way. We live in an English-speaking world. Relatively few American Jews will ever be fluent enough in Hebrew to comfortably navigate a supermarket or successfully dispute a cab fare in Hebrew. It is a reality of American life that, barring special circumstances at home, school, or work, our exposure to Hebrew comprises a very small part of our daily experience.
At the same time, at Temple Emanu-El and in the lives of our students, Hebrew is not just another foreign language, confined to the classroom. It lives in our worship services, our music, and even our household vocabulary (Shabbat, shofar, Hanukkah, mitzvah and mazal tov, for example). It finds its way into voice mail messages (“Shalom! You have reached the office of Temple Emanu-El…”). To the extent that our synagogue and religious school community can cultivate a comfort with Hebrew sounds, terms, and expressions, we and our children will feel ever more connected to a larger Jewish world, more at home with the diversity of klal Yisrael (the whole assembly of the Jewish people).
So, we’re not all bilingual. But we are a community of two languages. And so, let us not forget to use both. Let us not be afraid to use both. Without shame, without judgment, and always in celebration of our rich, multiple identities.
Lechayyim! (To life!)
