The War of the Languages
From The Archives of Jewish Education in Israel and the Diaspora

The War of the Languages

In the spring of 1913, a so-called "War of Languages" broke out among the Jewish Yishuv in the Land of Israel. The controversy began after a decision was made by the Technion's Board of Trustees on the 26th of October, 1913, that the language of instruction in the Technion would be German. The Technion was to be the first institute of higher learning in the Yishuv (the Jewish community in the pre-State Land of Israel), with its gates finally opening in Haifa a year later. This decision was also relevant to the high school that was going to be established in partnership with the Technion. The Board of Trustees that made the decision had been appointed by "Ezra" – a German-Jewish organization and the most prominent organization in the field of education in the Yishuv, as well as a champion of Hebrew education.

The members of the Yishuv refused to accept this decision, which they saw as an insult to the Hebrew language and fought for its cancellation. All strata of Yishuv society joined the fight- students in Hebrew schools and their alumni, teachers, writers and other intellectuals, various public figures, Ashkenazim and Sefaradim, city dwellers and farmers, workers and bourgeois, parties and organizations. Writers and Hebrew journalists from Eastern Europe also supported the fight.

The movement began with mass gatherings, and became entrenched via student strikes, protesting for Hebrew only instruction in the Ezra school in Jaffa (with the support of their parents) and in the Seminary for Teachers in Jerusalem, and afterwards in protest of the suspension of students and for the establishment of alternative Hebrew schools. The local Hebrew press supported the struggle with numerous articles and legal reports which were meant to muster public opinion. Many of the people struggling at Ezra were dependent on its support, especially teachers and students in the Jaffa school and at the Seminary for Teachers in Jerusalem- such as, for instance, Eliezer Ben Yehuda who was dependent on such support to publish his dictionary.

The Ezra society fought their battle via the Jewish press in Germany. They presented the opposition from the Yishuv as nonsense stemming from the resistance of the Zionist movement, which was led by Russian immigrants, to German culture. The head of Ezra, Dr. Paul Nathan, arrived in Ottoman Palestine during the height of the crisis and insisted on the implementation of the Board of Trustees' original decision.

The struggle, which originally focused on the Technion, very quickly turned against the high school that was intended to be opened nearby, and represented a much more practical goal- the establishment of an independent high school education system. And indeed in November, 1913, students and teachers, as one, left the Jaffa school and established and alternative independent Hebrew school. Afterwards, in December, after the firing of the teachers in the Seminary in Jerusalem, they established "The Hebrew Seminary for Teachers" in its place. This trend continued immediately afterwards in Haifa, where the Hebrew Reali school was established.

In January, 1914, the Board of Trustees recanted their decision. On the 22nd of February, 1914, came a new decision: the primary language of instruction in the Techinion would be Hebrew. The Board also relented regarding the establishment of another high school, now that the Hebrew Reali school had opened in the meantime. The new decision was not carried out due to the organization's loss of influence in the Yishuv and the start of the First World War the following summer. In place of its schools, independent Hebrew schools supported by the Zionist Histadrut and the Hovevei Zion movement were established.

Everyone was involved, everyone had an opinion

The War of the Languages was the Yishuv's first large-scale organized activity that spread throughout the entire country. The independent identity of the Yishuv cohered around the fight for Hebrew education, a fight that led to other essential battles. The economic support of the Zionist Histadrut was the organization's first foray into issues of education in the Yishuv.

The War of the Languages was waged with words and action. In terms of action, there was the boycott of the "Technikum" (the institution's original name)– which was so successful that the Board of Trustees couldn't even implement its decision that the language of instruction should be German – and the withdrawal of teachers and students from the institutions of "Ezra", the German-Jewish union that established the Technikum and its partner school. The crux of the public controversy was expressed in writing: articles, posters, pamphlets and correspondences between central figures in Hebrew education and culture in both the Land of Israel and the Diaspora.

​Among the most prominent figures active during the War of the Languages was Mordechai ben Hillel Hacohen, a public figure, journalist and Hebrew writer. Hacohen was one of the founders of the Hebrew Writer's Union and even employed Y.H. Brenner as his personal secretary.

Other prominent figures included: Yossef Luria, an educator, journalist and Hebrew and Yiddish editor, as well as a Zionist and Hebrew and Yiddish publisher, who stood at the head of the "Teacher's Center" – the professional teacher's organization – during the days of the War of the Languages", and was one of the leaders in the fight for the status of Hebrew in the education system; David Yellin, a Hebrew scholar, a central figure in the teacher's union and the language committee, a national figure of the highest order, was also a prominent activist during the War of the Languages. He quit the Teacher's Seminary run by Ezra and founded the Seminary for Hebrew Teachers (still in existence today under the name - "The David Yellin Academic College of Education").

Other figures who were active were Ahad Ha'am, a writer and critic and one the heads of the Zionist movement. Ahad Ha'am participated in a lively correspondence during "The War of the Languages" and understood what was demanded of the Hebrew language for it to become a modern language of scientific research and academic activity.

Indeed, even the most prominent pro-Hebrew activists who supported the use of Hebrew as the language of instruction in institutes of higher education were aware that Hebrew was still missing many of the terms needed to become a modern language that could be used to train students in the fields of science and technology on an international level.

As early as the summer of 1913 – before the "War" had actually broken out – when the discussions in the Ezra institutions regarding the language of instruction in the Technikum were taking place, David Yellin wrote to Mordechai Hillel Hacohen: "What do we gain from hiding our eyes from the truth? It is impossible at this time to teach the technical sciences in Hebrew as they should be taught in practice, since it contains neither technical literature nor experts to teach. We are not dealing with general education here, but with the education of experts in a specific profession, who will need to know how to use their knowledge practically and will find work with others as engineers". The famous writer Ahad Ha'am was clear in his opinion: "… under no circumstances can we push aside this goal in the name of the Hebrew ideal." Nonetheless, just a few months later Ahad Ha'am's longsighted approach brought him to understand that what was at stake was a lot more than just a question of technical proficiency.

By the fall of 1913 he was already supporting instruction in Hebrew in technical institutions, and his central concern was to prevent circumstances wherein the Ezra boycott would cause the organization to hire assimilated as opposed to "national" teachers. What started as a battle over the language of instruction became a battle about the nature of institutions of higher education and high schools. It was a battle that led to the formation of an independent Hebrew culture revolving around the Hebrew language, a language passed on by teachers who trained a whole generation in various fields of knowledge and science, a generation that went on to research, create and express themselves in Hebrew.

David Yalin

David Yalin

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Ahad Ha'am

Ahad Ha'am

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Joseph Lurie

Joseph Lurie

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Paul Nathan

Paul Nathan

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The Funny Side of the War: Bava Technika

​The War of the Languages may not have been an actual war, but it was a very serious matter indeed. It placed the Hebrew language at the center of public discourse and was the first time students, intellectuals and public leaders in both the Land of Israel and the Diaspora were recruited to defend the Hebrew language and give it the status that they felt it deserved. The outcry was great, and the argument produced a large amount of writing and an abundance of opinions.

​Humor was also present. Study partners arguing, defending themselves, quibbling, making claims and objecting to opposing opinions has always been the material for fine Jewish humor. The War of the Languages was no exception. When the great national-cultural fight was still fresh in the minds of many in the country, a small pamphlet, just 24 pages long, called "Bava Technika" was published.

The author of the pamphlet was Kadish Yehuda Silman, a teacher, writer, translator, Hebrew scholar, and one of the founders of Tel Aviv. Silman was one of the heads of the Hebrew Committee and was a prominent figure in the War of the Languages. Later, he taught in the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa, the Hebrew incarnation of the high school meant to train prospective Technikum students.

Based the subject matter of the War of the Languages, Silman composed Bava Technika in the Purim tradition of humorous tractates: meaning, he wrote a satirical text impersonating a Talmudic tractate in language, style and page format. Silman depicted a polarized debate in the style of the famous Talmudic argument. He composed a sort of humurous Talmudic text, complete with claims, proofs and counterarguments.