Did you know? Hebrew, the language, is a symbol of far-right Israeli militarism. Surprising? You clearly haven’t been reading the New York Times.
That was the assertion of Ilan Stavans, who wrote a rather benign op-ed in the Times titled “Yiddish Is Having a Moment.” Despite the overall message of the article being fine, the characterization of Hebrew as the language of extremists puts a massive stain on the entire article.
For centuries, Yiddish, typically a Germanic language written using Hebrew script, served as the daily language for Jewish communities across Central and Eastern Europe. With the emergence of the Zionist movement in the late 19th century, some Jewish individuals began adopting Hebrew for both spoken and written communication. It certainly had nothing to do with “far-right Israeli militarism,” and those who speak it don’t broadly fit into that category, either.
But this anti-Hebrew sentiment has seen a resurgence in recent years, particularly among left-wing anti-Zionists, asserts Breitbart’s Joel Pollack. He says they view Yiddish as an alternative to what they perceive as the dominant cultural influence of Hebrew within a Jewish community deeply connected to Israel.
Describing Hebrew as a language that “symbolizes far-right Israeli militarism,” even if only in certain contexts, positions The Times within a lesser-known academic and cultural debate, contributing to the perpetuation of a simplistic and unfounded stereotype.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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17 Responses
I thought it was another hit job on Chasidim and language. Now we see the true colors of this anti – semitic rag. They hate jews in general.
NY slimes is a symbol of left wing militarism with little difference to der shpiegel
Like chasidim
Leftists used to say Hebrew is sign of religion.
Yiddish is a high level modern European language, not like Hebrew which is a religious backwards middle eastern language.
This us why the secular leftists called it “Yiddish”. The religious jews NEVER called it Yiddish, rather German (“Ashkenaz”)
“Pine Lake Park September 4, 2023 5:55 pm at 5:55 pm
Like chasidim
Pine Lake Park September 4, 2023 5:59 pm at 5:59 pm
Leftists used to say Hebrew is sign of religion.
Yiddish is a high level modern European language, not like Hebrew which is a religious backwards middle eastern language.
This us why the secular leftists called it “Yiddish”. The religious jews NEVER called it Yiddish, rather German (“Ashkenaz”)”
Of course, NOTHING you babbled about has any basis in reality, whatsoever.
Get off this site and go back to whatever antisemitic you came from.
Mr Wright, get it right.
Pine Lake Park is paraphrasing what the antisemites say, not staying his opinion.
I read the article. It was written by a Jewish professor at Amherst College promoting Yiddish but there was no need to vilify Hebrew along the way. He or the Times were just looking to put some jabs in there, further divide Jews into left and right political groups and feed into antisemitic and anti-Israel sentiment among the left. He probably put that garbage in there to ensure his article got published. Where do I send my letters? To the NYT, Amherst, directly to the professor, or all of the above?
“Honest Reporting” [quoted in the article shown above]
seems to be doing excellent and important work.
Maybe Jews should volunteer to help them?
Bari Weiss, who resigned from The New York Times in year 2020, explained that in the offices of The New York Times, truth “isn’t a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else” in a form “molded to fit the needs of a predetermined narrative.”
SOURCE: The New York Times Nadir by Jerold S. Auerbach for JNS (dot) org
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Jonathan S. Tobin said:
“But the woke mob at the [New York] Times no longer believes in free discourse and tolerance of opponents. They see all contrary opinions as a threat to be abolished, and their advocates to be canceled and shunned.”
SOURCE: The Bullying of Bari Weiss and the End of Classic Journalism
by Jonathan S. Tobin is (editor-in-chief of JNS dot org) 2020 July 14
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Jonathan S. Tobin said:
“If many Americans no longer regard an outlet like the [New York] Times as reliable or objective, it’s not because they are brainwashed by conservative outlets or are racists.
It’s because those now at the [New York] Times aren’t ashamed of their biased coverage and editorial judgment. To the contrary, they pride themselves on their illiberalism and regard tolerance of opposing conservative views as a heresy that must be stamped out.”
SOURCE: The Bullying of Bari Weiss and the End of Classic Journalism
by Jonathan S. Tobin is (editor-in-chief of JNS dot org) 2020 July 14
I read the Times article before this YWN article was published. The YWN article is an unsound, torturous reading of the Times article.
The first paragraph looks like it was written by someone who does Ben Shapiro Yomi.
Apparently many don’t like it, but he has a point.
Just in time when Musk is taking on the ADL, after years of irresponsibly spilling oil on fire. It’s for them to evaporate.
For you Trump/Musk fans, embraced them regardless of extremism, now eat your cake!
huju,
You’re a mah-yafis petzl; how do you like that Yiddish? The NY Times is your daf yomi and you could care less about the constant stream of anti-Semitic screed they’ve been publishing. I’m sure you love the anti-Orthodox crap that your fellow kapo coreligionists excrete best of all.
i don’t suppose the writer even considered the implications of hebrew being kept alive for 3,500 years as the language of the jews, versus yiddish, which is an archaic dialect of low german, using entirely german grammar, mostly german vocabulary, and some hebrew/aramaic thrown in. judeo-german (i.e. yiddish) was a jargon that developed in a german-speaking environment, unlike today, where it is being maintained in a predominantly english (or hebrew) context, like the united snakes, where it forms a barrier, impeding contacts with “outsiders”. if you believe that shtetl life was a good thing…
shloimeboruch
Hope you’re not a self-hating Jew.
Of course, the glory of ancient Hebrew is incompatible, but the Times is about today’s modern Hebrew, for which he has a good point.
The article says,”For some, the language symbolizes far-right Israeli militarism.”
It is not clear who the “for some” is referring to. It might be Satmar. I’m not sure. It probably is not an accurate statement but it is definitely not like the YWN article portrayed it.
When you distort your reporting, it causes us to doubt everything you report.
Modern Hebrew is the fakest language in existence. The accent is not sefardic, but rather an Ashkenazi impression of Sefardic Hebrew. A great example of this is the Israeli reish which infact is of Yiddish origin. Pre-Medina mizrahi Hebrew had a rolled R as the reish. The grammar follows European languages, not Semitic.
The lexicon is becoming increasingly more anglofied by the day. Today they don’t say Matzav, they say Situatzia, they don’t say Talmidim they say Studentim.
Being israeli today is becoming less and less associated with being Jewish. Thousands of years of Jewish culture from so many different backgrounds are melted and destroyed by fake Israeli “culture” if you can even call it that