Opinion & Comment
One Language -- Loshon Kodesh

In a small house in Bnei Brak sat R' Yaakov Yehuda Silberberg [zt'l], lashing out against "Academia," the Academy of the Hebrew Language, the official authority of the State. He sought to prove, linguistically, that the `one language' mentioned in this week's parsha refers to the most ancient language in the world. "It was not man who established the foundations of the Hebrew language, nor did people determine its grammatical structure. But rather it was the Creator, Who formed an amazingly intricate mosaic reflecting a vast wisdom."

The essays of Rabbi Silberberg which appear in his three works are based upon the verse in this week's parsha, "And all the land was of one language" (Bereishis 11:1). What is "One language"? Writes Rashi: Loshon kodesh. Baal Haturim notes that the numerical value of "sofoh achas" is identical to "loshon kodesh." Ralbag takes this one step further and says, "And it seems that this is the language that was spoken to begin with: loshon kodesh, for Odom spoke this language, as is explained in Bereishis Rabbah."

The Midrash says: "R' Pinchos and R' Chilkiya said in the name of R' Shimon that just as the Torah was given in loshon kodesh, so was the world created in loshon kodesh" (Bereishis Rabba 18:4).

Before we present Rabbi Silberberg's words, we will preface with the idea that the languages of the world are products of collective consensus, that is, a group of people agreed to have a certain word represent a given concept or definition. Based on that arbitrary agreement, the noun (or verb etc.) took on the meaning it did.

According to ancient sources, loshon kodesh is definitely not a collectively agreed-upon language but an essential, original or primordial language. According to Biyur Halochoh (200:62), it is, "A language in and of its own." This is how Maran R' Gustman zt'l also defines it in his Kuntresei Shiurim Nedorim (Shiur 1:7): "No one disputes that there is an essential difference between the language of the Torah and all other languages, and that the Torah's language qualitatively embodies the very subject [of each word]. For example, the word for heaven, shomayim, or earth, actually incorporates the meaning of the word [and is not only a symbolically arbitrary sound. For example: shom-mayim, there is the (upper) water, or so-mayim, that is, heavens bearing the rainwaters] and so on with every word of ancient Hebrew, each actually embodying its meaning.

"The wording of the Torah is the verbal vehicle, the very expression and representation of the object/subject that is lacking in all other languages, which are only arbitrary symbols collectively agreed-upon to represent a certain word or concept. But there is nothing intrinsic about the word itself that conveys its meaning."

He writes, based on the Ramak, "Everything in loshon kodesh reflects marvelous intent and a deep significance; everything is based on mystic secrets and profound reasons, and the names of things indicate their essential natures and differences, properties and origins . . . Hashem taught Odom Horishon that language, that is, the underlying essence of all creations in entirety, so that he was able to designate names for all animals, beasts, plants and inanimate things."

There is a common opinion which perhaps stems from an event that actually took place, that if a human child were to grow up in the wild, without any contact with other people, he would naturally begin speaking Hebrew, since this is the only language inherently based on the creation of Hashem; loshon kodesh represents and reflects the world.

Rabbi Silberberg seeks to point to the key of loshon kodesh as being structurally the simplest and most compact of languages, composed merely of 22 letters, each of which has only one representation, strictly preserved in every word but, together with its vowels and hundreds of possible combinations, describes all the possible motions and causes in nature and all the infinite effects to the minutest details. In this way, it is similar to the language of mathematics which also expresses every possible number by the combination of only ten ciphers. This is "one language and one speech," a language "whose roots are few but its branches many."

Each of the twenty-two letters has a unique function and meaning which differs from that of the others. From these letters are comprised one hundred and twenty-two two-letter roots, from which thousands of three-letter roots are derived and which constitute the marvel of the Hebrew language and its construction. Since this is a relatively small number of roots, the language is further built from groups of interrelated words.

For example: the letter sin indicates supremacy, and therefore it appears in the word for language, sofoh, or lip, just as the lip is high on the body and high on a vessel. Safam, mustache, is above the lip and covers it. Simchah also indicates an uplifting or buoyancy. Se'or, sour [Tr. note: the English word, probably derived from loshon kodesh, is identical in sound!] dough is leavened dough that has risen. Sechiyoh, swimming, is also a buoyancy in water.

This language was the only one extant in the world "until the secrets of the combination of letters were forgotten in the Dor Haflogoh." At that time, the seventy representational languages came into use; these employ a network of symbols, sounds and forms that are completely arbitrary and incidental and which a group of people agreed would be used to represent the world, and which differed from place to place.

The Academy did not agree with his thesis and Rabbi Silberberg exposes the roots of the opinions of the Hebrew philologists: "In ancient generations, there were some gentile linguists who maintained that human language is of Divine Source, and that the Hebrew language was taught to Odom by Hashem Himself. But others were opposed to this view and their opinion held sway.

"While the first secular camp could not uphold its view by any concrete proofs, neither could the opposing camp refute it by scientific arguments. It, however, sought to do so from a strong desire to disqualify the Divine Origin of the language and the truth of the Torah. How painful it is that the Maskilim of our own nation, who similarly wished to deny the Torah, accepted the unfounded suppositions as firm data and based the foundations of their heresy upon them. And today, these opinions are being taught as axiomatic in schools throughout Israel."

Not only is Hebrew not a conventionally symbolic language, but it does not even have a place for such representational words, words that came about through common consent, for these "destroy the uniformity of the structure, the marvelous individuality that has no comparison in any other language. This language was not `invented' or even planned by man [like Esperanto], for man is incapable of planning, constructing or creating something so perfect, not even with the most brilliant inspiration. Man did not establish and determine the grammatical laws of loshon kodesh structure and the rules that so perfectly parallel the nature of things in this whole world."

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The Hebrew language does not differ only in this way from other languages. Rabbi Silberberg maintains that `sound' is also the most essential component of a language, and he points to the direct connection between the representational name of a word and the sound that its name produces when uttered verbally. Every one of the 22 letters "allude to the nature [of any given word], both through written and spoken speech. It rings true. Combined with the other natural consonants, there is created a concept or `exhibit' whose meaning is directly connected to its linguistic formation through the organs of speech. There is always an inseparable connection between every utterance and the idea it is meant to represent. All the words of the language step upon the natural reality of things in this world. All of its definitions are true, its nouns compatible to the objects they represent."

One linguist claimed that words based on a natural sound, like tziftzuf, whistle, came about normally and naturally, but Rabbi Silberberg countered that "all the roots of the Hebrew language are virtual phonetic imitations of sounds and emotional roots ingrained in the very sounds of nature."

In order to concretize this notion, he spread out before us grammatical tables with examples of hundreds of sounds and their roots, for which this article has no space, nor the reader the background to appreciate. Perhaps some grammarian will examine them and "create ears for the Torah" therefrom.

We shall suffice with the language of the Abarbanel: "Hashem created language and limited its organization to comply with the nature of things and the Divine knowledge which they encompass. When He created man in His Image, he infused him with Divine knowledge to utilize language [as do all babies] without learning, studying and researching its intricacies whatsoever. The fundamentals of each respective representational language are ingrained in man's soul which correlate to the real Divine bases of language in nature and their correlating representations."

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In a letter of approbation to the book, The Nature of Loshon Kodesh, HaRav Shmuel Halevi Wosner writes, among other things, "In this last period, they have destroyed, despised and mutilated [loshon kodesh] through the invention of the modern Hebrew language. The author has succeeded in differentiating between kodesh lechol in his work, and all with great clarity, good taste and good sense. It is known what Chazal said that whoever dwells in Eretz Yisroel and speaks Loshon Hakodesh is guaranteed a portion in Olom Habo. This, of course, does not refer to Modern Hebrew."

The Chasam Sofer notes that while Chazal used many words and phrases borrowed from the Greeks and Romans, they never coined a new word as is being done today, for in their holy opinion it was preferable to use other languages rather than create even a single new word that did not have its like, its example, in the Torah, since it could not be rooted in sanctity.

A small advertisement in a newspaper once invited the public to buy the three books, Leshoneinu Hakedoshoh, Tiv Loshon Hakodesh, Hasofoh HaElokis from author, R' Yaakov Yehuda Silberberg.

The author passed away last year, on Erev Succos 5763, at the age of 87. May his soul be bound up in life. It will be up to someone else to continue his life's battle: "The one language -- that is Loshon Hakodesh!"

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