In a conversation with Karen Mock regarding her recent book From Sacred Language to Mother Tongue, hosted at USC, we explored the proposition that Hebrew cannot be reduced to a neutral instrument of communication. Rather, it functions as a historically layered and symbolically charged vehicle that carries collective memory, cultural desire, and ideological formation. In this sense, Hebrew can be understood, following Kramsch (2009), as a symbolic system through which speakers construct meaning and position themselves within cultural and historical worlds. The book’s title gestures toward a process of transition—indeed, a form of linguistic and cultural movement—from sacred language to mother tongue. Within the context of modern Hebrew literature, this shift is neither linear nor unidirectional; instead, it reflects an ongoing negotiation between continuity and tension, preservation and reinvention.

Historically, Hebrew functioned primarily within prayer, scripture, and ritual. It carried authority, tradition, and continuity, yet its use remained largely confined to religious and scholarly contexts, accessed and preserved through study. From this perspective, sacrality is not solely an inherent property of the language but is produced through cultural practices and interpretive traditions. As a mother tongue, however, Hebrew became the language of everyday life—of home, childhood, discourse, memory, and public conversation. The language thus evolved into a dynamic and........

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