Revival of the Hebrew language many Jews spoke a related Semitic language, Aramaic.) From the 2nd century CE until the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language "circa" 1880, Hebrew served as a literary and official language and as the Judaic language of prayer. After the spoken usage of Mishnaic Hebrew ended in the 2nd century CE, Hebrew had not been spoken as a mother tongue. Even so, during the Middle Ages, Jews used the language in a wide variety of disciplines. This usage kept alive a substantial portion of the traits characteristic of Hebrew. First and foremost, Classical Hebrew was preserved in full through
The Talmud: The Steinsaltz Edition The Talmud: The Steinsaltz Edition The Steinsaltz Edition is a Hebrew translation of the Babylonian Talmud, that has a literal direct translation of the Talmud along with halacha summaries and commentaries by Torah Scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. The translation started in 1965 and was completed in late 2010. Between 1989 and 1999 Random House published a small number of volumes in English, and a new printing by Koren Publishers Jerusalem began to re-release volumes in 2012, including an edition with full-color illustrations. The Hebrew edition contains the standard text of the Talmud with vowels and punctuation in the middle of