Hebrew had not been a spoken language for some 1,500 years.
This does not deter Eliezer Ben Yehuda, who makes Aliyah in 1881 with the goal of reviving Hebrew. He works as a Hebrew teacher, adopting an immersion method of language instruction, teaching Hebrew in Hebrew.
He raises his own child to speak only Hebrew from birth.
Ben-Yehuda then embarks on a monumental task of producing a Hebrew dictionary, creating words as needed. It will comprise 17 volumes when finally completed.
Photo credit: Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Institute