Aren’t observant Jews required to learn and write the Hebrew language? Like the Orientals their language is closer to drawing than writing. The method of reading and writing these characters seem to me to be the reason for high intelligence.
22 standard letters, four of which have a different form at the end of a word than at the beginning and middle. There is a calligraphy, and in fact I write that calligraphy for a living (Torah scrolls, mezuzot, etc.). But there is also a calligraphic way of writing Latin lettering as well. Nothing at all like Oriental languages. Arabic writing is more complex and ornate than Hebrew.
Hebrew is not a pictographic language.
Structurally it is very similar to any western language most of whose alphabets are based in some part iin Hebrew.
In fact, the first two letters of the Hebrew alphabet are “aleph” and “bet”.
Sorry for any typos . Using an iPhone without my readers.
Orthodox Jews traditionally are expected to be somewhat literate in Hebrew and also Aramaic, which is quite a bit different than Hebrew. Those would be in addition to local languages and Jewish hybrid languages like Yiddish and Ladino.