Lithuania, was once home to more than 200,000 Jews; and now schools and universities are trying to spread the Yiddish language again.
“Yiddish is a key to the rich culture of eastern European Jews, the heritage of European culture,” said Roza Bieliauskiene, a former engineer who teaches at Lithuania’s only Jewish school “I feel a very rich person by knowing this language.”
The school has 260 pupils, between the ages of seven and eight. Children take only one hour of Yiddish a week, starting at age 15, in a small step towards reviving the language.
At the Vilnius Yiddish Institute, founded in 2001 and the only one of its kind in eastern Europe, Professor Dovid Katz is keeping the flame alive with more than talk of matzo balls, gefilte fish and schmaltz.
Estimates vary widely of how many people speak Yiddish worldwide today, ranging between about two to four million. It is mainly the language of everyday use among Orthodox Jews. Otherwise, it is mainly spoken by older people.
(Source: Washington Post)
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8 Responses
Ah, the Washington Post, the source of accurate, unbiased news reporting, especially when it comes to Yidden and Israel.
Shall we teach Yiddish with a strong Germanic accent.
“It is mainly the language of everyday use among Orthodox Jews. Otherwise, it is mainly spoken by older people”. Strong opinion and wrong fact..
It is not the language of everyday use among orthodox Jews. That language, in America, anyways, is known as English.
Yiddish is mainly spoken by older people, and by orthodox Jews who make a point of teaching it to their children, or those who send their children to schools where the teachers make a point of speaking and/or teaching Yiddish.
Unless, of course, by “Orthodox”, the Washington Post was referring to “Ultra-Orthodox”, or, more precisely, Chassidim, who do use Yiddish on a daily basis.
ich farshteis nisht
Please, isn’t it bad enough when goyim refer to all shomrai Torah as “Ultra-Orthodox” … need we use those words too. The phrase “Ultra Orthodox” is used to discredit and make the group seem less believable. It is a phrase of derision. So, let’s US Yidden stop using those words. It marginalizes Torah Yiddishkeit into something antiquated and invalid. It is negative propagada word.
Yes, English is today becoming the number one spoken language by us in the US, even creeping into chassidish / chareidi neighborhoods. But in many of these neighborhoods it is still a very vital language spoken by people of all ages.
It may be a good idea for us to encourage all Yidden who speak Yiddish to speak it more so the rest can learn it. Maybe start some yiddish language clases in many neighborhoods.
No, I am not saying we should not be fluent in English, but we should know Yiddish also.
Hey! Then we could fight over which Havara to teach. (just kidding)
Why need Yiddish? Do we pine for Ladino? How many cling to Laaz? I am not sure, but I think there was a Jewish-Arabic dialect as well. And so on.
Yiddish is a rich and truly lovely language, but it is at heart, an adaption of German (at least Old German)with some Slavic thrown in for good measure. (Some talmidei haGra of the Adas Haperushim in Yerushalayim considerd it sfas Amalek! and tried to stop its use.)
It seems that the modern infatuation with Yiddish is step backwards for Clal Yisrael. Ashkenazim can enjoy it, be thankful that we had it, but let’s move on.
Yiddish is the common denominator amongst many varied Yidden who otherwise speak foreign languages to each other, allowing a common tongue to be spoke and understood by those of varied countries and cultures.
…A common denominator-for Europeans/Ashkenazim. What about edot hamizrach? do we wish to make a dialect of old german (german!) the lingua franca of jews? I don’t see it.