מה דיברו הילדים העברים? על פרויקט העבריות ובניית חברה לאומית בארץ ישראל

The article examines Hebrew’s image as the exclusive language of the children of Palestine-Eretz-Israel during the Yishuv period. Because Hebrew was seen as a vital component of the ‘Hebraization’ project, projecting a persuasive image of children’s mastery of the language was considered integral to the Zionist narrative of the time.To what extent, however, did this image mesh with reality? The article grapples with the unreliability of official assessments of Hebrew’s exclusivity and examines a broad variety of less-politicized sources to reveal a more complete – and more complex – portrait of the linguistic reality of the time. I maintain that contrary to the image created by the political and cultural leadership, most children in Eretz-Israel experienced a bilingual and sometimes multilingual reality.Despite this, the research tells a story of great success. In no more than three generations, a once-niche language would grow to serve the people of a new nation in all aspects of their lives.