The success story

Hebrew, Revivalists often look to the successful revivification of Hebrew from a liturgical written language to a spoken one as a sign that such movements have promise. But Israel was a unique circumstance: it was a new land entirely; its immigrants spoke several languages and needed a lingua franca; the language had been richly preserved in writing; and the use of Hebrew was associated with a powerful religious impulse. These things are not true of any other situation where there are revival movements.