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Elective Language Study and Policy in Israel pp 17–64Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Status of the Four Languages in Israel

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Abstract

Over one million of Russian-speaking people immigrated to Israel and became the largest Jewish ethnic group in the country. Immigration from Ethiopia to Israel culminated in a community of approximately 137,000. Most Spanish speakers in Israel, about 100,000, are Latin American immigrants who arrived since the establishment of the state. Israel absorbed over 400,000 Jews from French-speaking countries, and emigration from France is increasing nowadays.

This chapter describes the immigration history from the countries where the four languages in case are spoken, as well as a contemporary picture of these languages in Israel today. This includes language use in the media, theater, cinema, music, literature, and politics, providing a better understanding of the status of these languages in Israel and the influence on their instruction at school.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Aliyah, literally “ascension,” refers to the Jewish immigration to Israel.

  2. 2.

    The Halakha is the collective body of religious Jewish laws.

  3. 3.

    For more details, see: <http://www.article19.org/data/files/pdfs/laws/israel.psb.65.pdf>

  4. 4.

    Reka literary means “background,” but it consists of the acronym reshet klitat aliya [immigration absorption net].

  5. 5.

    Not only has literature undergone a heavy Russian influence, but also the Hebrew language itself. Wexler (1990, 72–98), a prominent Israeli linguist, argues that the underlying structure of Modern Hebrew is Slavic. Though this statement is disputable, it is quite revealing.

  6. 6.

    Abraham B. Yehoshua, Amos Oz, David Grossman, and Joshua Sobol. The letter, dated April 27, 2005, was addressed to the Minister of Education.

  7. 7.

    A lingua franca is a language which is commonly used by people with various mother tongues as a means of communication (Heine 1968, 4).

  8. 8.

    Regarding the use of Amharic, article 5.2 of the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia states: “Amharic shall be the working language of the Democratic Republic of Ethiopia” (Negarit Gazeta, 1994, December 8).

  9. 9.

    For the official list of languages, refer to Anbessa and Hudson (2007, 15–16).

  10. 10.

    Geʻez is an ancient Ethiopian language, used today only in liturgical services.

  11. 11.

    For an extensive history of Ethiopian Jewry, refer to Kaplan (1995), Kessler (1996) and Quirin (1992).

  12. 12.

    The Alliance Israélite Universelle is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 by the French statesman Adolphe Crémieux to safeguard the human rights of Jews around the world.

  13. 13.

    According to Erlich (2014), the emperor did not allow Ethiopian Jews to immigrate to Israel for fear that the Muslim population would then want to leave for Saudi Arabia.

  14. 14.

    Rachamim Elazar, personal communication.

  15. 15.

    The leaks were blamed primarily on a December 6, 1984, article in the Washington Jewish Week and full page advertisements placed by the United Jewish Appeal.

  16. 16.

    Members of the group view the labeling Falash Mura as derogatory. Hence, some Israeli researchers tried to label them as Zera’ Israel (seed of Israel), a term which did not gain currency.

  17. 17.

    Note that there are different spellings for Amharic names, but this is the normative accepted way.

  18. 18.

    Avi Ayeh was the initiator of the program. See: <http://www.ozy.com/true-story/an-unorthodox-israeli-pilgrim/39139>

  19. 19.

    See footnote 6 above.

  20. 20.

    Several years ago, a magazine entitled Fana was occasionally published by the Steering Committee of Ethiopian Jews.

  21. 21.

    On this newspaper, see Baratz et al. (2011).

  22. 22.

    From the Wikipedia page of The Idan Raichel Project.

  23. 23.

    See: <http://www.mercaz-higui.org.il>

  24. 24.

    For more details, see Goldberg and Rozen (1988).

  25. 25.

    Others came from Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken, and many of them settled in Spanish-speaking kibbutzim.

  26. 26.

    This is an allegory to the Hebrew bashana haba’a birushalayim (Next year in Jerusalem), the last sentence recited by Jews when concluding the Passover Seder ceremony.

  27. 27.

    For more details on the immigration conflict reflected in films, see Rein (2010).

  28. 28.

    This is the Spanish expression used in the “Hide and seek” game, parallel to the American expression “Home free.”

  29. 29.

    See Chap. 3 on the motivation for learning Spanish at school.

  30. 30.

    Ladino is actually the name of the literary language used in translations from sacred and liturgical Hebrew texts. The vernacular language is sometimes called Judezmo or Spaniolit. For more details, see the introduction in Chap. 1.

  31. 31.

    The Moroccan variety is called Hakitia, and the Algerian variety Tetuani.

  32. 32.

    For more information on this issue, see: <http://www.dafina.net/lesjuifsenafriquedunord.htm>

  33. 33.

    This is a Paris-based international Jewish organization founded in 1860 by the French statesman Adolphe Crémieux to safeguard the human rights of Jews around the world. The organization promotes the ideals of Jewish self-defense and self-sufficiency through education and professional development. See: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Isra%C3%A9lite_Universelle>

  34. 34.

    See: <http://www.terredisrael.com/mouvement-francophone-israelien.2.php>

  35. 35.

    The ambiguous Hebrew word Alumim means “youth” and “hidden.”

  36. 36.

    For more details, see: <http://www.cnef.org>

  37. 37.

    For more details, see: <http://www.cciif.org>

  38. 38.

    The cultural agenda for Francophones in Israel is published in the following site: <http://www.nikibar.com/news/programme-activites-culturelles-israel.html>

  39. 39.

    This is the reversal of the expression Suite et Fin, which regularly appears at the end of serialized novels, meaning that the end echoes the beginning.

  40. 40.

    This list is obviously not exhaustive. Further information can be found on the website of Israeli writers in French: <http://www.litteraturefrancophone.co.il>

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Malka Muchnik

  2. Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Marina Niznik

  3. Tel Aviv University, Hadera, Israel

    Anbessa Teferra

  4. Tel Aviv University, Givatayim, Israel

    Tania Gluzman

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  1. Malka Muchnik
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  2. Marina Niznik
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  4. Tania Gluzman
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Muchnik, M., Niznik, M., Teferra, A., Gluzman, T. (2016). The Status of the Four Languages in Israel. In: Elective Language Study and Policy in Israel. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-34036-4_2

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