Wednesday, September 17
7:30 pm
Ilan Stavans
Resurrecting Hebrew
$9, Discounted Member Price $6

In this new contribution to Nextbook/Schocken Press’s Jewish Encounters series, Stavans delves into the life of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and the role of language in the building of a nation. He tells the fascinating tale of the man who brought Hebrew back to life. Ben-Yehuda turned his own home into a laboratory in order to raise his son as the world’s first modern Hebrew-speaking child. He did everything in his power to ensure that Hebrew became “a living language” in the synagogue, the school, and the home—thus connecting the holy to the everyday. The difficulties encountered by Ben-Yehuda throughout his life, from the distrust of the Orthodox to the problem of crafting a modern dictionary for an ancient tongue, create a conversation about the role language plays in Jewish life—both in Israel and across the world.

Ilan Stavans is an award-winning author of two short story collections and fifteen works of nonfiction. His previous books include My Mexican Shiva, The Hispanic Condition, Tropical Synagogue and The One-Handed Pianist. He is the Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College and lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Presented by Nextbook DC

Support provided by the Anne S. Reich Fine Arts Endowment in Memory of Daryl Reich Rubenstein, established to support educational events held in conjunction with art exhibitions in the Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery.

Presented in partnership with the 16^th Street J’s Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery Exhibit Hebraica Mirrors

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