At the beginning of the 20th century, a language war raged in Palestine. The contenders: Yiddish, Russian, French, German, English, and Hebrew, a language barely spoken for 2000 years. This feature film tells the dramatic life story of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda who championed the cause of modern Hebrew.—National Center for Jewish Film

At the beginning of the 20th century, a language war raged in Palestine. The contenders were Yiddish, Russian, French, German, English - and Hebrew, a language barely spoken for two thousand years. At stake was the national language of the Jewish homeland-in-the-making. This is the dramatic life story of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who championed the cause of modern Hebrew. He was zealous and stubborn and had one driving passion - breathing life into the ancient biblical tongue. Denounced as a heretic, dismissed as a dreamer, this brilliant man pressed on tirely, often at the expense of family and health.—Fiona Kelleghan <[email protected]>