Born to a Zoroastrian (or Parsee) family in India, Manekji Limji Hataria (1813-1890) dedicated most of his life to improving the circumstances of his coreligionists in both India and Iran, advocating for their civil rights and trying to ameliorate widespread poverty and illiteracy. But another cause close to his heart was the revival of the pre-Islamic Persian language—a language related to, but very different from, modern Farsi—in which ancient Zoroastrian religious texts, as well as an impressive literary corpus, are written. Hataria’s efforts roughly coincided with those of Eliezer Ben-Yehudah (1858-1922), who contributed more than anyone to the creation of modern Hebrew. Sara Molaie compares their efforts, and contrasts Ben-Yehudah’s success with Hataria’s ultimate failure:

Ben-Yehudah’s and Manekji’s language revival efforts had different goals, as well as different challenges. Manekji’s objective was to remove Arabic elements from the Persian language and to proliferate [knowledge of] ancient Persian literature. By contrast, Ben-Yehudah wished to create a vernacular version of Hebrew that would pave the way for Jewish nationalism, which required creating new words and importing new concepts into the language. Ben-Yehudah not only had to persuade people to speak Hebrew for non-religious purposes but also had to convince Jews to use words that had never existed before. . . .

[Manekji] called on Parsees to fulfill the mission of reviving ancient Iran and “the recovery of pre-Islamic literature,” but he did not lay emphasis on the oral practice of the language. The revival objectives of Persian literary associations were broad, highlighting the writing of pre-Islamic Persian rather than the speaking of it. [Furthermore], because of the lack of people with knowledge of the language, Manekji could not train students [at the network of schools he founded] in speaking or writing it.

By contrast, Ben-Yehudah was able to convince school administrators in Jerusalem to teach in modern Hebrew, and he trained two other teachers to continue the work in his absence. . . . Teaching in modern Hebrew increased the number of speakers and, more significantly, let the language enter homes and streets of Palestine. As these children grew up, they started to become fluent in Hebrew and shape their own Hebrew-speaking families.

Ben-Yehudah, unlike his conservative contemporaries, also realized that language can only thrive with dynamic usage. Adding words from a variety of non-biblical sources—despite opposition from rabbis and other members of the community in Jerusalem—was a crucial linguistic strategy that Ben-Yehudah employed successfully, while Manekji insisted inflexibly on the purification of contemporary Arabic-influenced Persian.

In his inauguration speech, Donald Trump put forth ambitious goals for his first days in office. An additional item that should be on the agenda of his administration, and also that of the 119th Congress, should be defunding, and ideally dismantling, UNRWA. The UN Relief and Works Organization for Palestine Refugees—to give its full name—is deeply enmeshed with Hamas in Gaza, has inculcated generations of young Palestinians with anti-Semitism, and exists primarily to perpetuate the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Robert Satloff explains what must be done.

[T]here is an inherent contradiction in support for UNRWA (given its anti-resettlement posture) and support for a two-state solution (or any negotiated resolution) to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Providing relief to millions of Palestinians based on the argument that their legitimate, rightful home lies inside Israel is deeply counterproductive to the search for peace.

Last October, the Israeli parliament voted overwhelmingly to pass two laws that will come into effect January 30: a ban on UNRWA operations in Israeli sovereign territory and the severing of all Israeli ties with the agency. This includes cancellation of a post-1967 agreement that allowed UNRWA to operate freely in what was then newly occupied territory.

A more ambitious U.S. approach could score a win-win achievement that advances American interests in Middle East peace while saving millions of taxpayer dollars. Namely, Washington could take advantage of Israel’s new laws to create an alternative support mechanism that eases UNRWA out of Gaza. This would entail raising the stakes with other specialized UN agencies operating in the area. Instead of politely asking them if they can assume UNRWA’s job in Gaza, the Trump administration should put them on notice that continued U.S. funding of their own global operations is contingent on their taking over those tasks. Only such a dramatic step is likely to produce results.