January 9, 2026
(Imagine Otherwise) — As a fifth-grade Chinese school dropout, I can still recall the feeling of embarrassment when aunties at church would ask my parents about my heritage language loss: “He doesn’t know how to speak Chinese?” They would say this in front of me, of course, and the fact that I could still understand what they were saying made their veiled criticism sting even more.
Nehemiah makes a similar observation when he returns to Jerusalem for his second term as governor. Among the men of Judah who had married local women, Nehemiah notes that “[h]alf of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language of Judah.” (Nehemiah 13:24). His response to their heritage language loss isn’t to recommend remedial Hebrew lessons or encourage them to start speaking more Hebrew at home. Rather, he calls down curses on them, beats some of them, and pulls out their hair (Nehemiah 13:25). My church aunties’ side eye was nothing compared to Nehemiah’s rage.
Read Dr. Chen’s full article here.