English subtitles for clip: File:Project Ben-Yehuda.webm

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Welcome to Project Ben-Yehuda: the Internet
repository of classic Hebrew literature.

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Project-Ben-Yehuda is a free repository of
Hebrew literature in different genres. It

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is a digital library, making the classics
of Hebrew literature accessible to the public

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for free and without advertising. Prose, poetry,
articles and essays, reference works, and

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translations, from the middle ages to this
day.

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Yigal Alon was correct to note that a people
that does not respect its own past is bound

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to have an impoverished present and a dubious
future. Indeed, the main goals of the project

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are preservation, making accessible, and promoting
Hebrew literature to the general public, for

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free.

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The project also has several unique accomplishments,
such as the aggregation of works never before

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collected, and the first publication of works
from literary estates, never before published.

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The project began in 1999, when young Asaf
Bartov was looking for a poem by Haim Nachman

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Bialik on the Internet. Having failed to find
it online, he set out to type the complete

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poetry of Bialik himself, intending to place
it online for the benefit of the public. However,

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he then discovered that Bialik's writings
were still under copyright at the time. Happily,

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he did not give up, and proceed to transcribe
the poetry of Rachel Bluwstein, and those

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were the first works made available online.
He decided to name the project Project Ben-Yehuda,

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inspired by the American Project Gutenberg,
and commemorating the modern Hebrew pioneer,

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Eliezer Ben-Yehuda.

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Today, the project offers around 9000 works,
but about 200 different authors. Among them

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one can find Saul Tchernichowsky, Rachel,
H.N. Bialik, Ahad Haam, A.D. Gordon, Zeev

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Jabotinsky, and many others who have passed
away more than 70 years ago, and whose works

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are thus in the public domain.

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In recent years, we have been uploading works
that are still under copyright, having received

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express permission from the copyright holders
to make them available to the public.

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Thus we can offer the public the writing of
David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Basok, Shoshana Shrira,

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Abraham Regelson, Avigdor Hameiri, and many
others.

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But perhaps the most exciting fact is that
the project is run entirely by volunteers.

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Since Asaf started transcribing works, he
has been joined by volunteers from across

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Israel and even from abroad. Today, there
are around 250 active volunteers in Project

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Ben-Yehuda, who do transcription, proofreading
(including diacritics -- nikkud), scanning,

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as well as special tasks such as seeking permission
from copyright holders to make more works

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accessible before their copyright expires.

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There is a distinct majority of women among
the volunteers; many of the volunteers are

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senior citizens. Others are university students,
professors, high school students, and even

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elementary school pupils.

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As of early 2014, the project is accessed
about one million times per month, by people

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in Israel and around the world. Students and
researchers, linguists, but perhaps no less

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importantly, general readers and members of
the public, who enjoy revisiting old favorites

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and discovering hidden gems they had never
known before.

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The project has been run with very modest
means since its inception: it has no offices,

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no paid staff, and its expenses are minimal,
since most work is carried out by volunteers

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over the Internet.

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Financial donations are generally invested
in developing technological infrastructure

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for the project. You can keep up with us with
our blog, or via our Facebook page, as well

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as through our YouTube channel, which features
short clips of our volunteers sharing their

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experiences, alongside videos of artists and
scholars reading favorite texts from the project's

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repository.

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(video: I am Agi Mishol. I chose to read "Hakukot
Otiyotayich" by Abraham Regelson for Project

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Ben-Yehuda.)

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We welcome questions and request at our e-mail
address.

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To conclude, what Bialik observed more than
80 years ago still obtains today: "All of

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this important work -- the work of education
and literature -- depends on volunteering

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by individuals."

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So join us, and lend a hand to the preservation
and sharing of Hebrew literature on the Internet

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for everyone.

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Project Ben-Yehuda: the public reclaiming
the public domain.