Margarita A. Gorbacheva

The history of modern Hebrew started in the 19th century, when Eliezer Ben-Yehuda set out to bring back the sleeping since the third century Hebrew language. This process was called the “revival of Hebrew”. Some innovations characteristic of the Slavic and Germanic language groups were added to the basis, that was preserved in traditional literature. However, we have not yet had to talk about the final design of the literary norm. Hebrew continued develop during the first waves of Jewish migrations from Europe to Eretz Israel, absorbing the regional characteristics of the settlers. Changes are still taking place in it. Modernization processes in Israeli society are leaving their mark on Hebrew. Language revises norms that are not relevant to modern discourse, acquires neologisms and slang, discards hopelessly outdated elements. Special institutions have been established to stabilize and codify continuous development. It would seem that they should become an aid in teaching modern Hebrew, because all educational and methodological literature is focused on their rulings. However, the role of such organizations is highly controversial. In practice, they often do not solve the controversial issues of comparing literary norms and conversational status, but leave them open. This puts the teacher of modern Hebrew in front of a moral choice: to adhere to the study of dry rules or sometimes to the detriment of them to give preference to a lively informal language. For Hebrew, this problem has the character of an existential question, laid down during the first waves of Jewish migrations at the turn of the XIX–XX centuries, and does not have an unambiguous answer. The choice depends on the preferences and views of the teacher.