Episode 92: Beyond the Binary: Making Hebrew More Gender-Inclusive

Hebrew is a very gendered language; every noun in Hebrew is either feminine or masculine. So are pronouns, including “I” and “you.” This makes it nearly impossible to utter a sentence in Hebrew without using gender. So as a Hebrew speaker, how do you refer to a mixed-gender group? What about nonbinary people? In this episode of Can We Talk?, we speak with Michal Shomer, Dafna Eisenreich, and Tal Jenner-Klausner, three activists who are taking Hebrew beyond the gender binary and promoting a Hebrew language that includes people of all genders.

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Released May 9, 2023

Clockwise from top left: Michal Shomer, creator of Multi-Gender Hebrew; an example of Multi-Gender Hebrew; Dafna Eisenreich, founder of Dabru Eleynu; Tal Jenner-Klausner, Hebrew educator at This is Not An Ulpan and collaborator on the Nonbinary Hebrew Project.
Michal Shomer, creator of Multi-Gender Hebrew. Credit: Alon Sarid.
Dafna Eisenreich, founder of Dabru Eleynu. Photo courtesy of Dafna Eisenreich.
Tal Jenner-Klausner, Hebrew educator at This Is Not An Ulpan and collaborator on the Nonbinary Hebrew Project.
Example of Multi-Gender Hebrew: This phrase can be read as bruchim ha'baim, which means "welcome" in the masculine plural form; or bruchot ha'baot, "welcome" in the feminine plural form. It can also simply be read as a multi-gender phrase, as denoted by the marks above each of the words in the phrase.