The Israeli population is a linguistically and culturally diverse community with 35 languages and dialects spoken in local communities. Hebrew is the country's official language. Its standard form, known as Modern Hebrew, is the main medium of life in Israel. Arabic, used mainly by Israel's Arab people, which comprises about one-fifth of the population. English, spoken as a second language by the majority of the Israeli population, Russian, spoken by the immigrant population from the former Soviet Union, is also heavily used.

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Modern Hebrew emerged as a result of the revival of the Hebrew language that began the late 19th century, and is based on different dialects of ancient Hebrew and somewhat influenced by many languages. The movement for the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language was particularly popular among new Jewish Zionist immigrants in the 1880. Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and his followers created the first Hebrew-speaking schools, newspapers, and other Hebrew-language institutions.  After Ben Yehuda's immigration to Israel, and due to the impetus of the Second Aliyah (1905–1914), Hebrew prevailed as the single official and spoken language of the Jewish community. When the State of Israel was formed in 1948, the government viewed Hebrew as the de facto official language. Yiddish is still often used in Ashkenazi Haredi communities worldwide, and is sometimes the first language for the members of the Hasidic branches of such communities.as their native language.

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Many other languages are used by large sectors of the Israeli population, including:

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• Arabic is the native language among Israeli-Arabs. Today, the figure stands at about 1.6 million, and although most are proficient in Hebrew, Arabic remains their primary native language. In addition, a significant number of Israeli Jews know spoken Arabic. Arabic is the native language of older generations of Mizrahi Jews who immigrated from Arabic-speaking countries. Arabic lessons are widespread in Hebrew-speaking schools from the seventh through ninth grades. 

• Russian Over 20% of Israelis are fluent in Russian after mass Jewish immigration from Russia. Some Israeli schools  offer Russian language courses. As of 2017 there are up to 1.5 million Russian-speaking Israelis.

• French is spoken by many Moroccan, Algerian, and Tunisian Jews, either as a native or second language, French is also spoken by the increasing number of new immigrants from France. The French embassy's Institut Français supports French studies in Israeli schools. Tel Aviv University is a member of the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF).

• Romanian: It is estimated that 82,300 first generation and 126,200 second generation Romanian Jews lived in Israel by 2012.

• Yiddish: The language of Ashkenazi Jews in Eastern Europe and the second most widely spoken Jewish language, Yiddish is a Germanic language, but incorporates elements of Hebrew. 

• German is spoken natively by around 100,000 Israelis.

• Amharic: Spoken by most of Israel's 130,000 Ethiopian Jews

• Georgian/Judaeo-Georgian: Although most Georgian Jewish immigrants speak Russian, they converse among themselves in Georgian.

• Ladino: The Sephardi Jewish language and the third most widely spoken Jewish language, Ladino is a variant of medieval Spanish, intermixed with Hebrew and with vocabulary from various other languages where Jews emigrated after being expelled from Spain. It is spoken by many Sephardi Jews. Today there is a state-supported authority for preserving the Ladino culture.

• Polish: Polish was spoken by the large number of immigrants from Poland. Today, most were born and raised in Poland, speak the language fluently amongst themselves, and have made attempts to impart the language to their children.

• Kurdish Jews from the region known as Kurdistan in northern Mesopotamia, roughly covering parts of northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey. Until their immigration to Israel in the 1940s and early 1950s, the Jews of Kurdistan lived as closed ethnic communities. The Jews of Kurdistan largely spoke Aramaic and Kurdish dialects, in particular the Kurmanji dialect in Iraqi Kurdistan.

• Yemenite Hebrew  In the Yemenite dialect, quite all Hebrew letters have a distinct sound. Yemenite Jews spoke in regional Judeo-Arabic.

• Ukrainian: While most Ukrainian Jews speak Russian, there is still a segment of Ukrainian speakers.

• Spanish: Spanish is spoken by Jews from Argentina and other olim from other Spanish-speaking countries, as well as by some Sephardi groups. The popularity of operas from Argentina and Venezuela, broadcast in Spanish with Hebrew subtitles by Viva in the 1990s, has extended the understanding of the language.

• Italian/Judaeo-Italian: In addition to being spoken by Italian Jews, Italian is also spoken by many Jews from Libya and immigrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia as a primary or second language. 

• Hungarian: Hungarian is spoken by approximately 70,000 Hungarian Jews in Israel.

• Turkish: Turkish is spoken by some of the 77,000 Turkish Jews and their families. Many of the Turkish speakers in Israel also speak Ladino.

• Persian: Persian is spoken by some of the 135,000 Iranian Jews who immigrated from Iran.

• Kayla and Qwara: These languages are spoken by Ethiopian Jews in addition to Amharic. 

• Chinese, Filipino, and Thai: Spoken by a few Israeli Jews and non-Jewish immigrants from China, the Philippines, and Thailand. It is estimated that there are 180,000 

• Marathi: Marathi is the language of Bene Israel – Indian Jews from the Konkan coast of India. They migrated to Israel beginning in 1948. In 1977 they numbered  about 20,000. Concentrations of Marathi speakers are found in the towns of Dimona and Beersheba.

• Malayalam: Judeo-Malayalam is the traditional language of the Jews from Kerala, in South India.

• Bukhori: Bukhori is spoken by the Bukharian Jews who immigrated from Central Asia.

• Jewish Neo-Aramaic: Jewish Neo-Aramaic language is the native language spoken by Kurdish Jews that immigrated to Israel from Iraq, Turkey, and Iran during the 1940s and 1950s.

• Greek: Greek is spoken by Greek-Orthodox church and by a number of Greek Jews.

• Adyghe language: spoken by the Adyghe people in two villages in the north of Israel.

• Abzakh dialect (Adyghe): spoken by Circassians in the village of Rehaniya in Israel 

• Israeli Sign Language is the main language amongst deaf Israelis. It comes from Jewish educators of the Deaf from Germany who relocated to start the first school for the deaf in Israel.

• Ghardaia Sign Language

• Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language