Jewish Languages, Exhibition

Jews everywhere, wherever they live, speak and write differently from their neighbours. Sometimes their language is different because of a few extra Hebrew words, other times they speak a completely different language. In the centuries around the beginning of our era, Jews spoke Judeo-Aramaic instead of Hebrew, and a few centuries later, Judeo-Greek. As they emigrated from Israel and then created new communities in other lands, they continued to learn the local languages, speaking and writing them in their own unique, Jewish way. Over the next few centuries, quite a few languages emerged in Europe and the Middle East. With the exhibition Jewish Languages, organised in 2016 by the National Library of Israel, we offer you a small glimpse into the vast world of Jewish languages.