Ancient Hebrew writings the Tannaim (rabbis cited in the Mishnah), the spoken vernacular of Jews in Judaea was a late form of Hebrew known as Rabbinic or Mishnaic Hebrew, whereas during the period of the Amoraim (rabbis cited in the Gemara), which began around 200 CE, the spoken vernacular was Aramaic. Hebrew continued to be used for the writing of religious texts, poetry, and so forth. There are significant differences between the two Talmud compilations. The language of the Jerusalem Talmud is a Western Aramaic dialect, which differs from the form of Aramaic in the Babylonian Talmud. The Jerusalem Talmud is often fragmentary
Revival of the Hebrew language Declaration of 1917 and the Second Aliyah. As a greater number of children passed through Hebrew language schools, the number of people who spoke Hebrew as their first language grew. As the number of people whose primary language was Hebrew increased, so did demand for Hebrew reading materials and entertainment such as books, newspapers, and plays. By 1916-1918, about 34,000 Jews in Palestine recorded Hebrew as their native language. After World War I, it was legislated by the Mandate over Palestine that English, Hebrew, and Arabic would be the official spoken language of Palestine. As the Jewish community in Palestine,