Eliezer Ben-Yehuda was a Jewish linguist and journalist born in 1858 in what is now Belarus. He is best known for his role in the revival of the Hebrew language as a spoken language in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Ben-Yehuda believed that a common language was essential for the Jewish people to unite and establish a national identity. In 1881, he moved to Palestine, where he began promoting Hebrew in schools and daily life. He published the first modern Hebrew dictionary and founded the first Hebrew-language newspaper, contributing significantly to the cultural renaissance of the Jewish community.