Editing Hebrew (section)

==== Use of the Language ====
<blockquote>"A certain part of the wicked of Israel who gathered in the Land of Israel seek to defile Jewish souls, to defile the holiness of the Land, to defile Lashon HaKodesh. And the strengthening of the kelipah [negative spiritual force] is so great that they seek to draw from holiness through names from Lashon HaKodesh, which they call their evil institutions in which they convert Jewish children, they want to eradicate the Jewish spark in the children of Israel. In Lashon HaKodesh with which Hashem created His world and gave us the Torah, they speak secular and forbidden matters, with one advantage that they added many new words until it is no longer Lashon HaKodesh, and if only they would add even more words, until no words of Lashon HaKodesh remain in their language, then the kelipah would have no nourishment from holiness".

– The Frierdiker Rebbe </blockquote>The Tzemach Tzedek once expressed: Since the destruction of the Holy Temple - the common Lashon HaKodesh is not correct.

With the beginning of speaking this language, the Charedi communities came out against the sweeping use of Lashon HaKodesh for secular needs and even lower. Our Rebbeim also protested against using the holy language for secular matters and permitted using this language only for holy purposes. In addition, the Rebbe Rashab warned that teaching Hebrew to children causes coldness toward their holy studies and harms their reverence for books written in Lashon HaKodesh, which becomes a language like all languages, and in 5678 (1918) he sent an article to Rabbi Eliezer Moshe Madesky explaining the severity of turning Lashon HaKodesh into the spoken language of the people.

However, the Frierdiker Rebbe wrote that since foreign words were introduced into the Hebrew language, it is found that it is not Lashon HaKodesh, and the prohibition of speaking secular matters in Lashon HaKodesh does not apply to it. In another place he expressed about the language: "I do not call it Lashon HaKodesh because it has become utterly secular, through speaking in it also matters of disgust, abomination and abhorrence." On a certain occasion the Rebbe quoted this, but added that "nevertheless there are many words whose roots are from Lashon HaKodesh," and therefore it can be regarded as "a language related and close to Lashon HaKodesh."

There were also those who opposed the use of holy words, or words with halachic significance, for secular matters - such as the word "chashmal" (electricity), which according to one opinion is a name for one of the heavenly angels, which became a term for electronic power. Some argued that for this reason one should avoid using the word "chashmal" in this sense, but the Rebbe does not refrain from doing so.

Once when the weekly compilation was written in modern Hebrew, the Rebbe wrote that this is "strange Lashon HaKodesh."

In a holy talk on 19 Kislev 5734 [1973], the Rebbe spoke about how army personnel (this was during the Yom Kippur War) demand that they be given spirituality, but they call it by the name "morale." The Rebbe said: "I don't know how this 'epidemic' broke out. Usually they are particular there [in the Land of Israel] to use names that are specifically Lashon HaKodesh. But recently an 'epidemic' broke out that regarding several 'terms' - as they are called there - one must choose specifically a name from the languages of the gentiles, and therefore they call it by the name 'morale.' What is the need for a name from the languages of the gentiles?! - One could say 'mood,' 'strength of spirit,' 'faith in Hashem,' 'trust'; but they gave it a name, 'morale.' And since 'the common people' say 'morale,' therefore I also say 'morale.'"

When R' Yisrael Haber entered with his son for a private audience (yechidus) with the Rebbe and said something in English, the Rebbe was surprised that a child growing up in the Holy Land speaks not in Hebrew.