Abraham Geiger was a German rabbi and scholar who is considered the founding father of Reform Judaism. Emphasizing Judaism's constant development through its history and universalist traits, Geiger sought to re-formulate received forms and design what he regarded as a religion compliant with modern times.

Hebrew is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language until after 200 CE and as the liturgical language of Judaism and Samaritanism. The language was revived as a spoken language in the 19th century, and is the only successful large-scale example of linguistic revival. It is the only Canaanite language, as well as one of only two Northwest Semitic languages, with the other being Aramaic, still spoken today.