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Shma Koleinu: A Jewish People's Commentary on the Siddur
by Rabbi Steven Schwarzman

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Encyclopedia Judaica, Second Edition (21 Volume Set)

Hebrew

Looking for a good Hebrew book?

Not only the language of the Jews (though over the centuries Jews have spoken nearly every other language, and developed other Jewish languages, too - Yiddish, Ladino, and more), Hebrew is also a synonym for Jew, though that's less a common usage in America than it once was. Hebrew is part of our very essence - Abraham was the first Hebrew.

Hebrew - the language of business?

Even as Jews spoke other languages in the lands of the Diaspora, the prayers of all Jews were - until very recently - always in Hebrew. Jews writing to Jews in other countries would write in Hebrew, whether for rabbinic or mercantile correspondence. This had practical implications in the development of halacha, because local rabbis who faced difficult halachic questions could write to rabbinic authorities in other lands. And they in turn could consult the responsa of the rabbinic decisors who had come before them in various times and places - all because of the common use of Hebrew.

Not only is the liturgy in Hebrew, but so are most rabbinic commentaries and other works. (The Talmud is mostly Aramaic, yet later commentaries stick to Hebrew.)

Modern Hebrew

Modern Hebrew was revived as a language through the legendary efforts of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and those who followed him in adding new words for modern things and concepts. If you know modern Hebrew as spoken in Israel today, you can read the Bible in Hebrew, with less difficulty than a modern English reader has with Shakespeare. It's very much the same language, just modernized. Well, the grammar is a bit changed, so you'll note below that there are separate books on Biblical and modern Hebrew grammar. But really, it's the same language, and certainly Biblical and modern Hebrew are a lot closer than, say English of today with whatever people spoke in the British Isles 2000 years ago!