Israeli Sign Language

Israeli Sign Language is a natural language in a visual-gestural medium, not a manual transcription of Hebrew or another spoken language.[1] The Israeli Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities described it in 2019 as an independent language recognized as a mother tongue: a person whose mother tongue is ISL thinks, communicates, and learns in it, and may regard other languages as second languages.[6] Hebrew may influence ISL, but it is not based on Hebrew syntax; ISL is also used by people whose first language is Arabic.[2]

Sign languages are not universal. They have developed independently in Deaf communities, although contact between signed and spoken languages can occur.[4] ISL is distinct from other national sign languages, even where similarities may permit basic communication in some circumstances; one account, for example, distinguishes it from Greek Sign Language.[3][7] Israel also has other sign languages and varieties: the Al-Sayyid Bedouin community's sign language is described as separate from ISL, not as an ISL dialect.[3]

The language matters both as a means of communication and as a part of linguistic and cultural identity for many Deaf Israelis.[1] Researchers have treated its development as a case for investigating how language structure forms in a community and how communication works through a visual rather than spoken channel.[8]

Accounts date the emergence of the main Israeli sign language to encounters among Deaf immigrants who arrived during immigration waves in the 1930s. Some had used home signs with hearing relatives; a group from Berlin knew German Sign Language. Because the Berlin immigrants were regarded within the Deaf community as educated, many signs in ISL came from German Sign Language.[3]

A separate account traces the language's early development to teachers from a Jewish institute for the Deaf in Berlin who established a school in Jerusalem in the 1930s. Teachers and students initially used German Sign Language, while communities arriving from Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Arab world contributed to the development of a language specific to Israel over subsequent years and decades.[2] The sources characterize ISL as a young language, roughly 90 to 100 years old, rather than assigning it a precise founding date; sign languages can be difficult to document historically because they do not leave a written record.[3]

Deaf immigrants from Morocco and Algeria later brought sign languages that had developed in Jewish communities there, and some older people in Israel still use those languages.[3] Research has specifically addressed the survival of Algerian Jewish Sign Language alongside ISL, although the cited bibliography does not provide findings about the relationship between them.[4] A 1977 World Congress of Jewish Deaf, sponsored by the Association of the Deaf in Israel and held in Tel Aviv, formed part of a wider discussion of the status of Deaf people in Jewish law.[9]

In 1977, two sign-language dictionaries appeared. One, intended for academics, used the Eshkol-Wachmann Movement Notation system; another, written in Hebrew for field workers, was based on the earlier work and included signs for about 1,200 Hebrew words.[9] A later National Library of Israel catalog record describes an Israeli Sign Language Dictionary edited by Sarah Zandberg and Yael Kakun, with Freddy Ziskrot as project director and Sara Lansman, Doron Levy, and Yifat Ben-Zev as language editors; the catalog lists it as a CD-ROM with sound and color.[10] A Hebrew fingerspelling system published in 1968 is documented separately and should not be conflated with ISL itself.[11]

Academic research has examined ISL as a language with its own grammar and discourse. A bibliography of sign-language scholarship indexes work on its argument structure, noun–verb distinction, grammar of space, prosody, and the role of community in shaping young sign languages.[4] These entries establish the subjects researchers studied, but do not by themselves report the studies' detailed results. A 2008 doctoral thesis at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev also focused specifically on ISL, though its catalog record supplies no abstract or findings.[12]

One research area concerns visual intonation and the contribution of facial expression. The bibliography lists comparative work on ISL and American Sign Language, including a study of facial expression as intonation in neutral and counterfactual conditionals; the bibliography identifies the topic but does not summarize the results.[4] Another listed line of work considers gradient and categorical dimensions of handshape in ISL discourse.[4] A 2002 academic volume says ISL “appears to have a derivational prefix,” while noting that prefixes and suffixes are rare in signed languages generally; the statement is hedged and does not specify the prefix's form or meaning.[13]

A comparative typological study drew on data from 33 sign languages, but its ISL contribution consisted only of questionnaire data on numerals. In that comparison, ISL used numeral incorporation for time and money, but not for school grades.[5] The study also noted a distinctive sign for zero: ISL uses an S handshape, whereas most languages in its comparison use an O or F handshape.[5]

The language's development has also informed broader linguistic research. Mark Aronoff compared the structures of Israeli and American sign languages; an account of the work says it contributed to greater awareness in the Israeli Deaf community of ISL's distinctiveness, while not specifying the particular grammatical differences found.[14] Linguist Wendy Sandler has described ISL as a valuable subject for studying language structure, the effects of visual communication, language development within a community, and children's language acquisition.[8]

ISL developed organically before the Academy of the Hebrew Language established its Department of Israeli Sign Language in 2022. Local signs could differ: a 2020 Bar-Ilan University corpus project found, for example, that people in Tel Aviv and Haifa used different signs for “hospital” and “chocolate.”[2] The Academy's department develops signs for projects and to keep pace with changes in language and current events.[2]

A Tower of David Museum accessibility project encountered historical terms without established equivalents, including “Christian pilgrim,” “Byzantine period,” and “Hasmonean.” The department consulted historians and archaeologists to develop signs for them; one culturally specific sign for “Hasmoneans” draws on a wreath depicted on some Hasmonean coins.[2] The Academy also planned an expanded, searchable ISL–Hebrew dictionary.[2]

Counts of ISL users vary and refer to different dates and populations. A 2019 government position paper relayed Ministry of Welfare figures of about 4,100 known ISL speakers among roughly 8,600 known Deaf and hard-of-hearing people, while noting that additional people might not be known to the ministry.[6] A 2012 report gave an estimate of 15,000–20,000 speakers, while a 2021 account reported interviewees' estimates of about 200,000 people who knew or used the language to some degree and about 15,000 first-language users.[7][1] A 2022 report described about 10,000 Deaf people for whom sign language was preferred, while a 2025 estimate of 10,000–20,000 people who speak ISL included Deaf people, relatives, educators, and other professionals.[8][2] These figures are not directly comparable: they differ in date, scope, and what counts as speaking or using the language.[6][2]

Community perspectives also shape how ISL is understood. One account describes disagreement over whether Deafness should be framed primarily as a disability or as a linguistic and cultural identity, rather than treating either position as universal.[1] A 2021 paper on signed languages generally—not ISL alone—argues that language-processing research should account for their linguistic organization and calls for local signed-language communities to have an active, leading role.[15]

Sign-language interpretation can enable participation in spoken instruction and discussion, including asking questions, responding, and conversing with multiple participants. In a 2019 position paper, the Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities argued that transcription alone may not meet ISL users' needs: Hebrew proficiency varies, transcription does not convey some qualities of speech such as sarcasm or enthusiasm, and it does not itself provide a channel for active discussion.[6]

The same paper described sign-language translation as an accessibility accommodation in oral training or instruction under regulation 69(b)(2) of the 2013 service-accessibility regulations, subject to conditions. It said the provision also applied to higher education through regulation 6(a)(4) of the 2016 higher-education accessibility regulations, and to vocational training through regulation 10(7) of the 2014 vocational-training accessibility regulations.[6]

Reports have also described practical barriers. In 2012, a shortage of interpreters was said to leave Deaf and hard-of-hearing people managing communication themselves; arranging an interpreter for a medical appointment could involve delays affecting access to basic care. Online dictionaries, video resources, and in-person courses were described as ways to learn ISL.[7] A 2026 study surveyed 86 Deaf and hard-of-hearing students and received responses from 41 of 61 higher-education institutions. It identified access to education and communication independence as accessibility indicators and noted that online classes and recorded lessons often lacked captions or sign-language interpretation; its findings concern Deaf and hard-of-hearing students generally, not ISL users specifically.[16]

Recognition has developed through distinct academic, administrative, and legislative steps. A 2020 government decision, reported in 2021, concerned establishing an Israeli Sign Language academy initially as a unit under the Academy of the Hebrew Language. The report said the decision was not fully funded and that the Culture and Sports Ministry had transferred NIS 100,000 to define the proposed unit.[1] Deaf-community advocate Boaz Ehad Ha’am argued for an independent academy with authority, while Culture and Sports Minister Hili Tropper described the decision as a first step and said Deaf people would retain autonomy.[1]

In 2022, a report described state and academic recognition and noted that an international Academy of the Hebrew Language conference had devoted an entire session to ISL for the first time. That account did not provide the text of a law or government resolution.[8] A 2025 report, by contrast, said ISL still lacked official status.[2] On December 31, 2025, a bill to recognize the language passed a preliminary Knesset reading by 34 votes, with none against; its proposed aims included documenting, preserving, and developing ISL as a cultural asset and establishing development and professional-training mechanisms.[17] In January 2026, the Knesset Education Committee approved the bill for a first reading despite objections raised by government ministries.[18]

The Jerusalem Post reported that the bill passed its second and third readings in June 2026, with six votes in support and none against or abstaining. The report described the measure as recognizing ISL as the natural language of Deaf people in Israel, assigning implementation to the Culture and Sports Minister, and giving the Academy of the Hebrew Language responsibility to preserve, develop, and promote the language.[19] The different accounts of recognition refer to different points in this chronology: academic or administrative recognition is not the same as completion of the later legislative process.[8][19]

Public estimates of the number of ISL users differ substantially, but the figures count different groups, levels of fluency, and periods; they should not be read as competing measurements of a single fixed population.[6][7] The sources also use “recognition” in different contexts, from academic and administrative initiatives to reports that official status was still absent in 2025.[8][2] The state-recognition bill later completed its final Knesset readings in June 2026.[19]

Debate has concerned the institutional form of language development as well as the framing of Deaf identity. The reported proposal for an academy drew an argument for an independent institution with authority, alongside a minister's description of the government initiative as a first step that would preserve community autonomy.[1] Accounts also document differing views on whether Deafness is understood chiefly as disability, linguistic-cultural identity, or both.[1]