Babel in Zion: Jews, Nationalism, and Language Diversity in Palestine, 1920-1948

328 Pages·2014·3.316 MB·

by  Liora R. Halperin

BABEL IN ZION
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B A B E L
I N Z I O N
JEWS, NATIONALISM, AND
LANGUAGE DIVERSITY
1920 1948
IN PALESTINE, –
Liora R. Halperin
New Haven & London
Published with assistance from the Louis Stern Memorial Fund.
Copyright © 2015 by Yale University.
All rights reserved.
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Set in Baskerville type by IDS Infotech Ltd., Chandigarh, India.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Halperin, Liora.
Babel in Zion : Jews, nationalism, and language diversity in Palestine,
1920–1948 / Liora R. Halperin.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-300-19748-8 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Multilingualism—Palestine—History—20th century. 2. Jews—
Palestine—Languages—History—20th century. 3. Hebrew language—
Palestine—History—20th century. 4. Jews—Identity. I. Title.
P115.5.I75H35 2014
404’.20956940904—dc23
2014016767
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992
(Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Sasha,
my partner on this journey
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CONTENTS
Note on Transliteration and Translation, ix
Acknowledgments, xi
INTRODUCTION
Babel in Zion, 1
CHAPTER ONE
Languages of Leisure in the Home,
the Coffeehouse, and the Cinema, 26
CHAPTER TWO
Peddlers, Traders, and the Languages of Commerce, 62
CHAPTER THREE
Clerks, Translators, and
the Languages of Bureaucracy, 99
CONTENTS
CHAPTER FOUR
Zion in Babel: The Yishuv in
Its Arabic-Speaking Context, 142
CHAPTER FIVE
Hebrew Education between East and West:
Foreign-Language Instruction in Zionist Schools, 181
CONCLUSION
The Persistence of Babel, 222
Notes, 231
Bibliography, 275
Index, 303
viii
NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION AND
TRANSLATION
Throughout this book I have followed the Library of Congress transliter-
ation system for Hebrew, with a few modifi cations. I use “tz” rather than
“ts” for tzadi, and I omit most diacritical marks and dots. On occasion,
an additional apostrophe is used to remove ambiguity (e.g., mis’har rather
than mishar). In cases where a person’s name is conventionally spelled dif-
ferently from how my transliteration would suggest, I retain the conven-
tional spelling. I use English terms for Zionist institutions such as the
Jewish Agency (Ha- sokhnut ha- Yehudit), the Jewish National Council
(Ha-Va‘ad Ha-L e’umi), and the Central Council for the Enforcement of
Hebrew (Ha- mo‘atzah ha- merkazit le- hashlatat ha- ‘Ivrit). In a few cases,
institutions that have well- known Hebrew names, such as the Histadrut,
are referred to by that name. When transliterating words that came to
Hebrew from English, I often maintain spellings closer to English even
when the standard transliteration system would indicate otherwise (e.g.,
Briti rather than Beriti).
During the British mandate period, Jews, Arabs, and foreigners all used
the term “Palestine” when they were writing in English about the politi-
cal unit they were living in. When Jews prepared Hebrew and English
iixx