Video at the Vilna: The Wordmaker

Thu 24 Apr. One Financial Center, 40th Floor, Boston, 02111. Steven Greenberg, Director, 617-523-2324, steven@bcjh.org. Boston Center for Jewish Heritage - [events]

Thursday, April 24, 2008 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm Location: 18 Phillips Street Boston, MA 02114 Contact: 617-523-2324 or steven Suggested Donation: $10/person or $18/family At the beginning of the twentieth century, a language war raged in Palestine. The contenders: Yiddish, Russian, French, German, English and Hebrew, a language barely spoken for 2000 years. At stake: the national language of the Jewish homeland-in-the-making. The Wordmaker tells the dramatic life story of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda who championed the cause of modern Hebrew. He was zealous and stubborn and had one driving passion--breathing life into the ancient biblical tongue. Denounced as a heretic, dismissed as a dreamer, this brilliant man pressed on tirelessly, often at the expense of family and