The Hebrew language once brought Jews around the world together. Is it now tearing them apart?

Jeremy Benstein, author of the new book Hebrew Routes, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World discusses this idea as the featured guest on The Promised Podcast.

Click here to listen to the podcast. Begin the podcast at 26:51 for the relevant segment.

Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes explores the significance of Hebrew in the life of Jews and Judaism, and argues that engaging with Hebrew - not with the aim of fluency or solely ritual participation - is a vehicle to enrich our connection to Judaism and its values. "We can try to make Hebrew more accessible as a focus of Jewish literacy not necessarily as a language to be spoken (or not), but as a category of learning, part of the whole range of Jewish knowledge and cultural heritage, just like Bible, Talmud, and Jewish ethics, history, or philosophy," writes the author. "We can learn a little or a lot and become familiar with Jewish values encapsulated in Hebrew terminology, as a part of our identity and connection to Jewishness."

Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes is available on Amazon.com or on the Behrman House online store.