Mandate Palestine was the nexus of four language clusters; the language of the home (German, Polish, Yiddish, etc.), the language of power (English), the language of the land (Arabic), and the language of ideology (Hebrew). These four language clusters bounce off one another in interesting ways during the Mandate period when Jews were simultaneously trying to build a country, create a culture, and figure out who they wanted to be in the world.
Shaul Magid, “The Little Language That Could”, Moment (January/February 2015), 72.