The Memorial Sign to the Letter U-short
The memorial sign to the letter U -short
This sign was created by the artist Igor Kurzhalov and installed in the square on the avenue just opposite the building of the former Jewish School No. 6, which we see across the street, behind the bike path. Let’s take a look at the sign. This small monument reminds of the unique challenges of the Belarusian language, which was banned in the 17th century by the Polish authorities, then in the 19th century by the authorities of the Russian Empire. It has  survived and continues to please the ear with its melodiousness. This brings to mind the name of Eli Perelman, known under the pseudonym Ben - Yehuda Eliezer. The enormous role played by Ben-Yehuda in the revival of an already dead language, Hebrew as a spoken tongue, immortalized him as the “father of modern Hebrew”. Ben Yehuda saw the revival of Hebrew as the language of everyday communication, to be the most important element in the revival of the Jewish people. Ben Yehuda was born on January 7, 1859. in the town of Luzhki, Vilna province, not far from Polotsk. At the age of 13, Ben-Yehuda was sent to the yeshiva in Polotsk (the building has not survived). He then studied at the technical school in Dvinsk. In 1878 Ben Yehuda went to Paris to study medicine. By this time, he had developed strong views on the need to revive Hebrew as the language of everyday communication for Jews around the world. In 1881 Ben-Yehuda left for Palestine. The Ben Yehuda family was the first Jewish family in Palestine at that time to speak Hebrew. Ben-Yehuda's eldest son, Ben Zion, became the first speaker of Hebrew as his mother tongue, over a thousand years after it had died out conversationally. Ben-Yehuda paid great attention to the development and enrichment of the Hebrew language. And in 1910, he began publishing his Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew. The publication of this grandiose work was completed only in 1959, when the last volume, the 18th was published. He died in Jerusalem in 1922. Hebrew was revived as a spoken language after the return of the Jews to their historical homeland at the end of the 19th century. It was thanks to the tireless work of Ben Yehuda that the only case in world history of the revival of a dead language was possible. And this language became the official language of Israel. The State of Israel itself was declared on May 14, 1948 by the UN General Assembly.
As seen on
Jewish streets of Polotsk
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