What language did Palestinian Jews speak during the ottoman occupation and up till Israel state?

Question

What language did Palestinian Jews speak during the ottoman occupation and up till Israel state?

Answer 1

Arabew. (combination of arabic and hebrew)

Answer 2

Some Arabic, although they understood Hebrew. The Technion in Haifa was founded in 1924 and it's teaching language was always Hebrew.

Answer 3

Palestinian arabic, they forgot how to speak Hebrew,

Answer 4

Chapter 4  http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=2806...  of "The Languages of Jerusalem" by Prof. Bernard Spolsky and  Robert L. Cooper (Clarendon Press, 1991) answers your question. The Jews of that period spoke 3 main languages; the majority of Sefardim spoke Ladino, Moghrabim spoke an Arabic dialect, and Ashkenazim spoke Yiddish.

Not only Jews, but many residents of Jerusalem, Hebron, Tzfat, and other areas who lived near and traded with the Jewish communities were able to communicate in a mix of languages. (Israeli old-timers can tell you that Arabs in the marketplace once conversed readily in Ladino, Yiddish, and other languages.)    

In 1853, James Finn, the British Consul in Jerusalem noted: "Jerusalem [has] an unequalled field for languages. Venice and Constantinople might produce as great a diversity of tongues… but certainly not the depth of tone and historical value attached to those in Jerusalem."  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_...    

{Hmmm. Why do I have a mysterious feeling that you will elect Hasan's answer despite the fact that he's 100% wrong?! } If there is one language that survived the test of the millenia,  that would be Hebrew !   " . . .  it had retained its place in most Jewish communities as a language to be read and to be written, to be prayed in, and to be studied. While it was the pre-eminent language for religion, it was used in secular domains as well: in the composition of legal, scientific, and philosophical texts, and  . . .  for secular belles-lettres. An immense number of books were in fact written in Hebrew throughout this period, and the language continued to develop and change to meet new demands."  

Welcome to Israel Travel.

Answer 5

Jews spoke the language of the land they lived in.  Jews in the Turkish areas spoke Turkish, Jews in Arab areas spoke Arabic.

Around the early 20th century, Jews before Israel independence spoke Hebrew amongst each other.

Answer 6

If by Palestinian Jews you mean Israeli settlers, then they spoke many different languages because they came from all over the planet. The Palestinians spoke predominately Arabic.

Answer 7

Hello Canchito,

They spoke Ladino primarily amongst themselves, and some Arabic.  Hebrew started to become a language used in Israel again with the coming of the 1800 hundreds when books began being translated into Hebrew so people may start getting used to reading and speaking in Hebrew.  Eliezer Ben Yehuda encouraged the process of turning Hebrew into the official language in Israel.  By the time Israel became a state, Hebrew had already been spoken, particularly in big cities like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

Sincerely,

Ms. Miche ; })

Answer 8

Arabic, but most also learned Hebrew. Sort of the way Jews in other countries speak the language of that country but also know Hebrew.

Answer 9

Excellent question.  I think it would be virtually all languages for that time frame.  If you want to pin me to one, I'll say various versions of Hebrew.  We've always needed one language that we can all speak.

The reason I think this is because diaspora had already occurred to New World and then was making its way back again. We brought our languages with us.

All of the languages were mixed with Judeo (Hebrew) plus "country of diaspora."  Judeo-French, Judeo-Spanish (ladino), Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-German (yiddish) and combinations of these, for example.

People typically come for festival or to migrate back to Eretz Israel before modern times but no mass migration until recently.  The closer to Holy Land, the more frequency you would see for people to come back, with the farthest not making it back until most recently.

Yemenite Jews and Persian Jews have been noted to come back during mid 19th century.  So there is Judeo-Persian and Judeo-Arabic.  Yay Sephardim!!!

Earlier than that time frame, I see Rabbi Isaac Ben Solomon Luria born in Jerusalem from German parents in mid 17th century. So then there is Judeo-Germanic (Yiddish.) He became a heavy kabbahalist in Safed/Tzfat, Israel.  Yay Ashkenazim!!!

He was joined with other Sephardim (yay!!!) mysticists and spiritualists who made it there from Spain and Portugal, hence Judeo-Spanish and Judeo-Portugese,  (Ladino) arrival.  Joseph ben Ephraim Caro made it from Spain to Turkey then Safed/Tzfat where he had a yeshiva of 200 students. He was the first to compile both Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewry laws and customs.  Yay Us!!!

This compilation is called "Shulkhan Arukh," a legal code  which is still consulted today. Rabbi Caro died on March 24, 1575 and his gravesite is open to the public in Safed/Tzfat.

Solomon ben Moses Alkabetz wrote Lecha Dodi (Come my Beloved) which is still sung today to welcome in Shabbat. He travelled to and from Turkey to Safed. So there is arrival of Judeo-Turkish language, but that was probably already present earlier due to Ottoman Rule.

For those solely living on the Holy Land without migration to or from, which is probably your actual question, it would probably be various versions of Hebrew  with Biblical Hebrew only by a select few.

Hebrew has always been first tongue spoken by Samaritans.

The closer we would make aliyah to time of modern era, the less you will see Judeo- and more of the "diaspora country" language, with Hebrew being dropped entirely in some. That is why Modern  Hebrew is taught to those making aliyah today.  Modern Hebrew didn't come into play until the mass migration back to Eretz Israel where a single language is once again needed to be spoken by all.

Answer 10

Arabic, the dominate language in the Middle East

Answer 11

Yiddish , Judeo-Persian , Ladino, Judeo-Aramaic, Arabic.

Answer 12

Arabic and Hebrew

Answer 13

ladino,arabic,yiddish,turkish

Answer 14

I think Arabic

Answer 15

Palestinian?

Answer 16

Arabic.

What language did the French Jews speak?

They lie about languages too to justify their colonial policies in Palestine.