Brit-Am Research Sources
Contents:
1. Notes on Edom
2. The Story of How Hebrew Almost Became the Official U.S. Language
3. Was it ever suggested that German be the official language of the USA?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1. Notes on Edom
Book of Jasher 90:1-9 the Chttim conquered the Children of Edom and the two peoples amalgamated. From this union came the Romans.
Edomites forced to convert to Judaism - Maccabees 5:1-5.
Idomene on the border of Greece and Macedonia.
=========
Brit-Am Note:
The Edomites who were forced to concert to Judaism were inhabitants of "Idumea" - the Land of Edom. Most Edomites did not dwell there but rather in scattered groups throughout the world. Another points is that the inhabitants of idumea by the time the Maccabees conquered it were not necessarily descended from Esau but rather other peoples, even Jews or Israelties. At all events, being a descendant of Edom is not a bad thing in itself the Torah refers to it. Obadiah the prophet was of Edomite origin. There were good Edomites and bad ones..
Deuteronomy (ESV) 23:
7 You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land. 8 Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the LORD.
In the same way as there may be Edomites among Judah so too are there MANY MORE among the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. Edom served as Assyrian agents in re-settling the Israelite Exiles overseas as recalled in Amos 1:6, 9, 11, 2:1, 9:12.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
2. The Story of How Hebrew Almost Became the Official U.S. Language
https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-story-of-how-hebrew-almost-became-the-official-u-s-language/#:
Extracts:
Just after the American Revolution, an English essayist named William Gifford reported that some Americans planned to substitute Hebrew as the official language of the United States.
Gifford got the story from an aide to Comte de Rochambeau, Marquis de Chastellux, who had traveled in America in 1780.
"In the rebellion of the Colonies, a member of that state seriously proposed to Congress the putting down of the English language by law, and decreeing the universal adoption of Hebrew in its stead," Gifford wrote.
There were good reasons to believe his story. For one, some people believed a linguistic separation would follow the political separation of the United States from Great Britain.
For another, the New England Puritans brought with them a prejudice toward the original Hebrew version of the Old Testament.
The New England Puritans identified with the Israelites who escaped Pharoah's oppression by crossing the sea. They viewed the Scriptures as the ultimate authority, and they took their laws from the Old Testament.
William Bradford taught himself Hebrew because he wanted to read the Scriptures in their original language. His gravestone says, in Hebrew, 'The LORD is the help of my life.'
And, of course, the Puritans didn't celebrate Christmas.
Ezra Stiles served as pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Newport before he became president of Yale College. He befriended Rabbi Haim Isaac Carigal, who helped him improve his Hebrew.
Stiles sometimes gets credit for proposing that Hebrew replace English as the official language of the United States of America.
As Yale president, Stiles made a course in Hebrew a freshman requirement. By then, the Hebrew words Urim and Thummim (the oracular will of God) were already on the Yale seal, along with the Latin Lux et Veritas (light and truth).
Harvard also taught Hebrew since the 1720s, and so did William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Columbia College in New York required all teachers to know Hebrew.
Addenda:
"Hebrew, Source of Languages," by Matityahu Glazerson, 2006 (quotes from an article, "Boker Tov America," in the "Mishpacha" magazine), p.5:
#... a book by French linguist Francois Jean de Beauvoir, (published in Paris, 1786) "...a number of people [in America] desired that, in the public interest, Hebrew should take the place of English. It was to be taught in the schools and used in all aspects of public life..."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
3. Was it ever suggested that German be the official language of the USA?
The German myth
https://blog.lingoda.com/en/what-is-the-official-language-of-the-united-states/
According to an urban legend, in 1776, a decision to make German instead of English the official language of the USA hinged on only one vote. This is a myth, but it has various kernels of truth.
Roughly 17% of US-Americans have German forefathers. And there was a vote with a close result, but it didn't happen in 1776, and it wasn't on any official language. In 1795, following Congressional debate, a vote ended 42 to 41 against publishing US laws translated into German or languages other than English.