The promotion of Modern Hebrew as a vernacular was one of the major cultural achievements of the Zionist movement in pre-1948 Palestine. But for all Hebrew's successes, Jewish promoters of the language did not stop speaking, using, and discussing the importance of Arabic, English, German, Yiddish, and many other tongues. Questions about the place of other languages within a nominally all-Hebrew society were ultimately questions about the Zionist movement's shifting, and often uncertain, relationship to its Arab neighbors in Palestine and the region, the British mandatory powers, the European states, and the diverse Jewish diaspora.

Prior to the talk, the Jewish Studies Program will honor Professor Carol Padden, Dean, UC San Diego Division of Social Sciences, for the honorary Degree of Doctor of Philosophy bestowed on her by the University of Haifa on June 4, 2015 for her pioneering work in language and culture among the deaf.