Traditionally used as a low variety (mainly spoken language) in the Jewish diglossia (functional complementary distribution of two language varieties in a speech community) with Hebrew-Aramaic as a high variety (mainly written and liturgical language)
Structural Characteristics of Jewish Languages
Traditionally written in the Hebrew script with some adaptations to accomodate non-Hebrew phonological systems
Fusion languages comprising the Hebrew-Aramaic component and involving phonology, morphology, syntax and lexicon
Major Linguistic Sources of Hebrew and Aramaic in Jewish Languages
Hebrew: Bible, Mishna
Aramaic: Babylonian Talmud
Two Theories about the Origin of the Hebrew-Aramaic Component in Jewish Languages
"Resurrection of the dead" model: the Hebrew-Aramaic component as a superstratum in Jewish languages
Continual transmission model: the Hebrew-Aramaic component as a substratum in Jewish languages
Major Jewish Languages
Hebrew (not a Jewish language in the above linguistic sense of the word)