Ben Yehuda, Eliezer

(formerly Perlman)

(1857-1922).

   Ben Yehuda, the pioneer of the restoration of Hebrew as a living, spoken language. He is generally considered the "father of the Hebrew language." He was born in Lushky, Lithuania, and died in Jerusalem. Ben Yehuda became interested in the restoration of the Jews to their ancient homeland and in the revival of the Jewish language. In 1881, he settled in Palestine with his wife and began editing and publishing dailies, weeklies, and periodicals in Hebrew. In 1889, together with several others, he established the Vaad Halashon Haivrit, the Hebrew Language Council, whose main task was the coining of new Hebrew words. Ben Yehuda developed a comprehensive dictionary of the Hebrew language containing words ranging from those found in the Bible to those in modern Hebrew literature. On 1 November 2007, the general assembly of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced that Ben Yehuda was worthy of international recognition and commemoration for his unique contribution to humanity. Ben Yehuda will join a list of intellectuals, scientists, and artists honored by UNESCO for having influenced world culture, including author Nikolai Gogol, composer Josef Haydn, French playwright Eugene Ionesco, and scientists Galileo Galilei and Charles Darwin.