The Advantages of Hebrew

Dear Sirs,

The Supreme Institute of Technical Sciences, which the Board is working to establish, is a joy to all those concerned with the development of our Yishuv and with strengthening our standing in the Land of Israel. This institution seeks to fill the shortage in technical cohorts that is strongly felt in the Orient and will enable many of our young people to find a place in life and to use their knowledge and capabilities to aid in the development of productive industry in the Land. It will also provide an opportunity for the graduates of our Hebrew schools to complete their education without being required to travel abroad. The Technikum [Technion] will undoubtedly be a blessing for the Yishuv, producing useful citizens and enhancing the value of Jews as an economic and cultural body within the Ottoman Empire. However, precisely because of the great value of this institution, we feel obliged to draw to the attention of the honorable Board the question of the language of study at the Technikum, which has already caused a commotion among the Jews who live in the Land, and to explain the reasons and grounds why we—the teachers in the Land of Israel, along with all Jews of our Land—believe that the Technikum must be entirely Hebrew.

The strength and the cultural and political influence of the Jews [in the Yishuv] depends on the fusion of the different communities and groups that comprise the Yishuv. The good of the Jews in our Land requires that an end be put to the multiplicity of languages that divides the Jews into Ashkenazic, Sephardic, Maghrebi, Bukharian, Georgian, Yemenite, and so forth. The only bond that can unify them all is the Hebrew language, which is understood by all Oriental Jews. The education system should consider the conditions of our lives in the land and employ the Hebrew language in order to unite all of the different groups into a single body and a unified public, both internally and externally. The Technikum is intended in particular for graduates of schools in the land of Israel and Eastern Europe, and accordingly, it must consider the preparation of the students in their education and their knowledge. All the primary and secondary education in the Land of Israel is based on the Hebrew language, and the first post-secondary school established in our land should not oppose all of the foundations of our education and the conditions of our life. The Hebrew language is also more or less widely disseminated among the Jews in Russia, which will also send a large proportion of their students to the Technikum in the Land of Israel.

A foreign language as the language of study at the Technikum will be a disaster for our national education, which has cost so much labor and so many sacrifices. As the highest institution, the Technikum will surely have a major influence over the lives of the Jews in our land, and if the language of study therein is not Hebrew, its authority will destroy our Hebrew schools and undermine the foundations of all our cultural work based on the Hebrew language. We believe that the purpose of any educational and cultural institution is to strengthen the existing foundations. A foreign language of study will break the bond between the Technikum and all that exists in our land, and will make it harder for the graduates of the local schools, for whom it was created, to enter the institution and make progress in their studies.

A foreign language of study presents an even greater danger to our entire Yishuv and to all our work in the Land. Language is one of the means that can serve various countries in increasing their political influence in Syria and the Land of Israel, and we in the Land of Israel aspire to be only Jews and Ottomans.

Regarding the possibility of study in Hebrew, it is vital to note that physics, chemistry, mathematics, and the natural sciences are already being studied in secondary schools in the cities in the Land of Israel. On the basis of experience, we can state that students who studied these subjects in Hebrew, even if without textbooks, are not inferior, in their knowledge, to students from European schools. The aforementioned curriculum for the Technikum is not much broader than that in the upper sections of the secondary schools in the Land of Israel. The lack of textbooks should not be a barrier to study in Hebrew. Textbooks are already being prepared for the secondary schools, while textbooks for the Technikum cannot be prepared until studies there commence. The need for books will lead to their production.

It is obvious to us that in the Land of Israel only a Hebrew Technikum has the right to exist. If a postsecondary school is being founded in the Land of Israel, it must be adapted to the conditions of life of the Jews for whom it is created, and must consider the inner recognition of the Hebrew public that Hebrew is its national language. We cannot imagine that this institute will be able to fulfill its function if it is not Hebrew. We fear that a foreign language of study will be an obstacle to the calm and orderly work of this educational institution. A Jewish Technikum that is not Hebrew in its language will cause constant and ceaseless uproar among the students and among all the inhabitants of the land. All of the studies at the Technikum should be solely in Hebrew. Only if teachers cannot be immediately found for all subjects to be taught in Hebrew, then it will be possible, for the moment, to teach a few studies in other languages. But all the teachers who teach in foreign languages at the outset must undertake to learn Hebrew in under three years to the point at which they can teach in it. In any case, the Technikum should not be developed without teaching a number of principal and compulsory studies in Hebrew. This is required for a perfect education, the good of the Yishuv, and the honor of the Jewish community in the Land of Israel.¹

Head of the Teachers Union Dr. Y. Luria
Deputy Chairman Dr. M. Mossinson
Secretary Y. Yeḥieli