Ames, I didn’t read through the whole thread because I don’t have time too. Your long post caught my eye so I read that. You probably don’t know me because I don’t post much here, but I do read the threads when I have time to. From what I’ve read, you seem like a really sincere person (woman, I’d assume)and I would hate for you to be hurt by things people say here. Don’t take things so personally please. I don’t know what was said to you as I did not read it all but I’ll assume you were attacked for your question here. I totally understand your question and I’ve thought about that many times too. As I age, (almost ***DELETED***!) I’ve learned that people like to protect where they came from. They like to protect their traditions and they like to protect the way they were brought up. To a Jew who originates from Europe, Yiddish was one of the things that set his ancestors apart from the Goyim around them. I am a mixture of Eastern and Western Jewery and one of my parents come from a Muslim country where the Jews had their own dialect of the language spoken there. It helped to keep them different. It kept them special and separated from the Goyim. True, they did not come to America or Israel and claim that their language was the holy one but it was a special language to them. I think that as Sephardic Jews we are still the minority in the religious world so the language that was special to the Jews of Europe is still considered special to many Jews today. I guess it makes some people feel secure in their Jewishness – they have a special language that was only for Jews for so many years. Is it “holier”? Of course not. The language of the Torah is the only holy language as that is God’s language. Did it help keep Jews holy throughout history? Absolutely yes. Maybe THAT is what some Jews find holy about Yiddish.
Ames, don’t cry and don’t be sad. You love all Jews and God loves you for that.