Thanks for looking it up, RabbiofBerlin. I have heard this shittah in the past, and there are indications both ways. So this idea isn’t one he made up. That said, due to my questions on it, and due to my love of ancient history, I’m highly interested in seeing it inside.
Itzik_s, you make a very valid point. Which is why English is just as good as Yiddish. I understood the drasha in Yiddish through a combination of the little I picked up in Yeshiva with my knowledge of lashon hakodesh. My friends who went to Eretz Yisroel to hear shiur from Rav Arieli told me that in a few weeks they understood all the Yiddish they needed to understand the shiur.
The “keep yiddish alive” idea made perfect sense when everyone in America was a first-generation or second-generation Yiddish speaker. English was a sign of assimilation. Those days are long gone. Just like the Chazon Ish allowed Ivrit to kids who spoke it naturally, English is perfectly allowed to kids who speak it naturally. English is not a choice of assimilation- it’s the mother tongue. Today’s kids have a hard enough time with 2 languages, Hebrew and English. Why throw up more barriers to chinuch.
It’s the same thing with shaving and wearing a short jacket. Once upon a time, not having a beard and wearing a short jacket (as opposed to a kapotta) were done for assimilation purposes. It was a statement of prikas ol. Nowadays, a Jew can shave and wear a short jacket without making a statement of prikas ol, which is why it’s permitted. Keeping yiddish alive is a nice idea, but it’s not a haclaha mefursemes. Chinuch habonim is a deorayseh mentioned in Krias Shma. It has to override “nice ideas”. The question is, should one who is already attached to learning learn Yiddish so he can attend shiurim in yiddish? For this the answer seems to be yes, as it allows one to learn more Torah. Should one give up a seder limud for a course in Yiddish? Hard to say. Ask your LOR.