There has long been need for a book on the origin of the Hebrew language, its struggle for survival in the face of almost nsurmountable obstacles, and its survival as a spoken vernacuar in our own day. I confess to having for many years chershed the hope that it would some day be given me to write thistory. At the same time, I shrank from undertaking a task so vast and important, so basic to the Jewish cultural heritage, and nvolving so many aspects of Jewish life and history. When, herefore, the Zionist Organization of America approached me everal years ago with the request that I prepare a pamphlet on he subject, Hebrew, The Story of a Living Language, I allowed myself to be persuaded for the very reason that the discussion would be brief and tentative. Yet some of my friends at once began urging me to expand that pamphlet into a full-sized book, and this is the result.

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