[Avodah] Did the Jews Really Speak Hebrew When They Were in Mitzraim?

[Professor L. Levine]

One often hears the assertion that one of the things the kept the Jews from assimilating in Egypt is that they spoke Hebrew and not Egyptian.  Indeed,  this is one of the justifications given by those who want their children to speak Yiddish rather than say English. (For the record,  as far as I know, Yiddish is essentially Middle Deutsch, and hence to my mind has no inherent "Jewish" quality.)


However,  there are opinions that say that the Jews spoke Egyptian while in Egypt.  I have posted some selections from the Sefer Lashon HaKodesh, History, Holiness, & Hebrew by Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein at


http://personal.stevens.edu/~llevine/jews_egypt_hebrew.pdf


While it is true that according to one Medrash the Jews did speak Hebrew while in Egypt,  there is another Medrash that contradicts this.


>From the above reference:


GOD SPEAKS TO THE JEWS IN EGYPTIAN

While the above sources point to the notion that the Jews in Egypt
did not speak Egyptian, there is another Midrash that implies otherwise.
This Midrash likens the Jews in Egypt to a prince who was kidnapped
for an extended period of time. Finally, his father the king decided to
exact his revenge on the kidnappers and release his son. Upon saving his
son, the king conversed with the child in the language spoken to him by
the kidnappers. Similarly, explains the Midrash, after God redeemed the
Jews from exile in Egypt, He spoke to them in Egyptian.221
The Midrash explains that the Jews had been in Egypt for many
years, where they had learned the Egyptian language.222 Therefore, when
God wanted to give them the Torah, He began to speak with them in
the Egyptian language with which they were already familiar. He began
by proclaiming, "I (anochi, ) am Hashem, your God ... !"223 According
to this Midrash, the word "anochi" in this context does not denote the
Hebrew word for "I"; rather, it refers to the Egyptian224 word anoch (11:ix),
which means "love" and "endearment."225 One Midrashic source even
explains that the Jews forgot Lashon HaKodesh, which is why God had to
speak to them in Egyptian.

>From page 99

THEY SPOKE LASHON HAKODESH, BUT TOOK ORDERS IN EGYPTIAN
Similarly, we can posit that even when exiled to Egypt, the Jews indeed
continued to speak Lashon HaKodesh. However, they were not accustomed
to accepting orders in Lashon HaKodesh; their Egyptian taskmasters
spoke to them only in Egyptian. Therefore, at Mount Sinai, when
God was giving the Jews the Decalogue, He spoke to them in Egyptian,
the language in which they were accustomed to "taking orders."

THEY MAINTAINED THE ESSENCE OF LASHON HAKODESH, IF NOT
THE ACTUAL LANGUAGE

Even if we assume that the Jews completely forgot Lashon HaKodesh,
we can still reconcile the contradiction based on a previously mentioned
concept set forth by Rambam. Rambam, as we already mentioned, writes
that Lashon HaKodesh is called so because it lacks the explicitness found in
other languages, making it a chaste and holy language. Therefore, one can
explain that although the Jews in Egypt spoke the Egyptian language, they
did not deviate from the moral standards manifested by Lashon HaKodesh.
God had to speak to them in Egyptian since that was the only language
with which they were familiar. However, they did not change their manner
of speaking; that is, they internalized the refined and moral linguistic style
of Lashon HaKodesh, which they maintained even when speaking Egyptian.

And from the Chapter Summary

After discussing Joseph's personal exile to Egypt, we segued into discussing
the Jews' collective exile to Egypt. A well-known Midrash states
that the Jews in Egypt did not change their language, meaning that they
continued to speak Lashon HaKodesh. However, another Midrash states
that God began presenting the Torah to them in Egyptian, because that
was the language that they spoke in Egypt. While these two Midrashim
seem at odds with each other, we presented several approaches to reconcile
them and give a more concrete answer as to whether the Jews in
Egypt spoke Lashon HaKodesh or Egyptian:

• Radak explains that there were some Jews who were not enslaved,
and they spoke Lashon HaKodesh exclusively. Their not-so-fortunate
brethren spoke Lashon HaKodesh between themselves, and
Egyptian with their Egyptian overlords.
• Alternatively, it is possible that all the Jews spoke Lashon
HaKodesh, yet God presented them the Torah in Egyptian
because they were acclimated to accepting orders in that
language.
• A third possibility is that since the hallmark of Lashon HaKodesh
is its embodiment of holiness and purity, even if the Jews forgot
the literal language, they could still be said to speak Lashon
HaKodesh- The Holy Language-if their manner of speech remained
holy.

After the Jews exited Egypt and eventually arrived in the Land of
Israel, establishing their own rule, it is clear that Lashon HaKodesh alone
served as their spoken language. This arrangement lasted for several
centuries until the language began receding under Babylonian influence,
toward the end of the First Temple period.

Thus oft made assertion that the Jews spoke Hebrew while in Mitzraim may not be true.

YL







<http://personal.stevens.edu/~llevine/jews_egypt_hebrew.pdf>



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