It might be suggested that our want of a common current language would
present difficulties. We cannot converse with one another in Hebrew.
Who amongst us has a sufficient acquaintance with Hebrew to ask for a
railway ticket in that language? Such a thing cannot be done. Yet the
difficulty is very easily circumvented. Every man can preserve the
language in which his thoughts are at home. Switzerland affords a
conclusive proof of the possibility of a federation of tongues. We
shall remain in the new country what we now are here, and we shall
never cease to cherish with sadness the memory of the native land out
of which we have been driven.
We shall give up using those miserable stunted jargons, those Ghetto
languages which we still employ, for these were the stealthy tongues
of prisoners. Our national teachers will give due attention to this
matter; and the language which proves itself to be of greatest utility
for general intercourse will be adopted without compulsion as our
national tongue. Our community of race is peculiar and unique, for we
are bound together only by the faith of our fathers.