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
Sefer (Hebrew) latter with Modern Hebrew pronunciation (SEF-fer). The word sefer contains in it the same root as the one used for Mispar, which means a number. Sefer (Hebrew) Sefer in biblical Hebrew means any kind of "book" or written document (plural s'farim). It is derived from the same Hebrew root as "sofer" ("scribe"), "sifriyah" ("library") and "safrut" ("literature"). Among Orthodox Jews the word is used for books both of the Tanakh, the oral law (Mishnah and Talmud) or any work of Rabbinic literature. Works unrelated to Torah study are rarely called "sefer" by English-speaking Orthodox Jews. Among Hebrew-speaking Ashkenazi Jews, the