Yiddish Is Making a Comeback on American College Campuses
- Posted on December 21, 2011 at 6:43am by
Billy Hallowell
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Elizabeth Friedman, 18, holds her textbook while singing along during a Yiddish class at Emory University Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
ATLANTA (AP) — A group of American college students stands in a semicircle, clapping and hopping on one foot as they sing in Yiddish: “Az der rebe zingt, Zingen ale khsidim!”
“When the rebbe dances, so do all the Hasidim,” the lyrics go.
This isn’t music appreciation or even a class at a synagogue. It’s the first semester of Yiddish at Emory University in Atlanta – one of just a handful of college programs across the country studying the Germanic-based language of Eastern European Jews.
The language came close to dying out after the Holocaust as millions of Yiddish speakers either perished in Nazi concentration camps or fled to other countries where their native tongue was not welcome. Emory and other universities like Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and McGill University in Canada are working to bring the language back, and with it, an appreciation for the rich history of European Jewish culture and art.
“If we want to preserve this, we need to do so actively and consciously,” said Miriam Udel, a Yiddish professor at Emory who uses song to teach the language. “The generation that passively knows Yiddish is dying out. There are treasures that need to be preserved because we’ll lose access to them if we let Yiddish die.”
Experts estimate there are between 1 million and 2 million native Yiddish speakers in the world, but only about 500,000 speak it in the home – mostly orthodox Jews. When YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City began offering summer programs in Yiddish in 1968, they were the only such program in the world.
Now, they compete with summer intensive Yiddish programs in Tel Aviv, Israel; Ottawa, Canada; Indiana and Arizona, said YIVO’s dean, Paul Glasser. About 20 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada now offer some Yiddish courses, though just a few of them have degrees in the language.
The interest has grown because of the younger Jewish generation, which doesn‘t feel their parents’ embarrassment that their family spoke Yiddish rather than English, Glasser said.
“Eighteen-year-olds today don’t have that,” he said. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. No one can question their American-ness.”
Emory student Matthew Birnbaum, a junior, said he took Udel’s Yiddish class because he feels a personal connection to the language – his grandparents still speak it.
“It’s taught me a lot about my own roots and where my people have come from,” he said. “It’s been a really interesting learning experience, not just from the language perspective but also from the historical perspective.”
It’s not just college classes where the interest in Yiddish has grown.
Klezmer music has made a comeback with young musicians like Canadian Yiddish hip-hop artist Socalled – whose real name is Josh Dolgin – and Daniel Kahn, a New York-based folk singer who is recording with some of the most popular Yiddish performers in the world.
At the Folkspiene national Yiddish theater and the New Yiddish Rep theater company, both in New York City, young actors flood auditions for “Gimpl Tam” and “The Learning Play of Rabbi Levi-Yitzhok, Son of Sara, of Berditchev.” The Congress for Jewish Culture holds coffee houses monthly where young Yiddish musicians perform and bring in guest speakers like graphic novel artist Ben Katchor, hoping to appeal to a younger audience.
Yiddish teacher Miriam Udel, left, leads a class in singing a song to teach Yiddish at Emory University Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 in Atlanta. This isn't music appreciation or even a class at a synagogue. (Photo: David Goldman / AP)
A search for Yiddish on Facebook produces dozens of links to groups like “Di Kats der Payats (The Cat in the Hat in Yiddish)“ and ”Yiddish Slang Dictionary.”
“This is what everyone in Yiddish is trying to do: to get to the younger generations and show people what’s out there,” said Shane Baker, president of the congress and a non-Jewish actor who appears in Yiddish productions at Folkspiene and New Yiddish Rep. “They used to say in the family: `Speak Yiddish so the children don‘t understand if you’re talking about something serious or arguing.’ Now a hook is: `Speak Yiddish so your parents won‘t know what you’re saying.’”
At Emory, Udel‘s students spend a semester learning Yiddish grammar through songs and reading before performing the music a cappella at Atlanta nursing homes and Emory’s Jewish student center. The performances give them more confidence in their language abilities and help them connect with older Yiddish speakers, she said.
All the students in this semester’s class are Jewish, Udel said, but she’s had non-Jews – or goyim – in past years.
The class had only a handful of students when upperclassmen registered for courses over the summer, but the class filled up during freshman registration, Udel said.
Emory freshman Elizabeth Friedman, 18, said she signed up because she was unsure what to take during her first semester at college. She said the class, which has become like a family, is a fun respite from her “dense” pre-business coursework.
“That is why I love this class – there’s so much interaction, so much teamwork and much talking, it‘s like you’re learning so much without feeling the stress,” the Los Angeles native said. “In the final, I realized how much I learned from the beginning because I was never naturally good at languages.”
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Jennifer_D
Posted on December 22, 2011 at 9:08pmThere is nothing wrong with learning a new language; especially one that connects you with your ancestors. If I were Jewish I’d think this would be an obligation and so much fun.
Those who are keeping tally of all of the “Jewish” postings here need to get over it. News is news. If you don‘t like a story don’t read it and don’t respond with stupid Jew hate comments.
Report Post »NYHuguenot
Posted on December 22, 2011 at 12:37amI lovestock, you need to go back and look at your bible again. God indeed says he chose Israel though they were the smallest of peoples. Try these? Isa. 14:1 and 43:10, Zech.. 1:17,1 Chron. 16:13, Ps. 89:3 and 83:12, Rom. 9:11 and 27, Rom. 11:1-5. Look at your Concordance for more. Foreknew is another search word as well since it also involves choosing and love.
Report Post »Mr_Meaner
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:01pmWhy don’t they learn Hebrew? That would be reviving an actual language that would serve to unite the jewish community.
This just re-affirms that there is still a long-standing separation between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews.
I mean, learn what you want, I suppose, but Yiddish isn’t a real language, as much as it is a combination of Hebrew and German.
Yiddish has no practical use in researching theology, history, or evolutionary liguistics.
This is no different that if a group of Sephardic Jews wanted to revive Ladino or Judesmo.
It might make you feel nostalgic, but it has no meaning to anyone else, and seems a bit exclusionary to the rest of us
Why not just learn Hebrew?
Report Post »It’s a beautiful, almost magical language.
tzion
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:21pmMost Jews already know Hebrew fairly well. As for your point about Ashkenazim-Sephardi divide, why can’t they celebrate the differences as well as the similarities. As long as their not fighting each other or dominating one another, what’s wrong with learning Yiddish.
Oh and one more thing, isn’t English a conglomeration of Germanic and Romance languages.
Report Post »NYHuguenot
Posted on December 22, 2011 at 12:12amMnay of us are from Italy and speak Ladino which came from Spain. It has a lot of added words like Yiddish.
Report Post »piper60
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 4:49pmI see nothing wrong in learning a new language. If it helps them connect with their grandparents’ generation, even better. I have enough problems with english, myself.
Report Post »Waterlylys
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 1:31pmWow I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but again bigotry is rearing its ugly head. Unlike Ebonics, Yiddish is a centuries old language that has died out from fear. Apparently with good reason.
I am a political conservative, but I have to say, the racist comments I keep seeing make me shake my head in utter disappointment. You all do of course realize that your comments lend fuel to the left’s argument that we are all racist pigs?
Report Post »tzion
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 6:48pmBelieve me your not alone. How many of these people criticizing this would advocate the end of Latin as a secondary language for high school studies? Even fewer people still use that language outside of church.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 12:23pmCome on… this is America and English is the Language… which most kids do not speak any way! What’s next: Pig Latino?
Report Post »tzion
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 6:45pmJust because they learn Yiddish doesn‘t mean they won’t stop speaking English. Don’t Catholics still pray in Latin? Don’t people study a second language in high school? Most practicing Jews can read and speak broken Hebrew. Are you going to advocate that Muslims stop praying in Arabic? English isn’t being attacked here.
Report Post »Teapartier70
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 11:57amAs a fan of studying languages, I think its great. It will help a new generation connect with their grand parents.
Report Post »smackdown33
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 12:15pmAs will Ebonics.
Report Post »smackdown33
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 11:23amWhat’s next? Ebonics?
Report Post »tzion
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:29pmWhy not? As long as they don’t expect the rest of us to learn it what harm can it do?
Report Post »smackdown33
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 11:22amCan’t have a day without something Jewish. This tells us all we need to know about the asymmetrical media influence of a 1.7% group.
Report Post »JRook
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 12:26pmGood point.
Report Post »ilovestock
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 2:58pmDoes that include the Jew on the wall you pray to on Sundays?
Report Post »Watchyer6
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 5:34pmYou are a total putz.
Report Post »dudeman4
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 6:17pmJudaism is really close to Christianity.
Report Post »tzion
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:26pmThis site has a category for faith Smack. Judaism is a faith therefore it fits that it should be reported on, especially when you consider how many people like yourself have so many misconceptions about Judaism that you try and preach to others.
Report Post »lynnissmart
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 10:40amYiddish is a great language and I’m happy to see it making a comeback…..!!!!!
Report Post »arbky
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 10:06amI’m not going to SCHMOOIE-foot around with this. I think this is GREAT! Now when I tell people that Obummer is a SCHMUCK they will know what I am saying. BTW, I’m Catholic.
Report Post »ColoradoMaverick
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 9:32amI heard that Jibberish is making a huge comeback with the liberal professors.
Report Post »tzion
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:26pmDidn’t that already happen?
Report Post »NYHuguenot
Posted on December 22, 2011 at 12:20amI almost plotzed when I read this. You have to be meshugas to want to put all this work into a language with such few speakers. I learned Yiddish working as a telephone company employee and working in the shmatte district. Fun dos Du machen men a lieben? The famous Yiddish curses like:
Report Post »“Every tooth should fall out of your mouth but one and in that one you should have a toothache!”
IAMABLAZE
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:44amThis is really wonderful. It is right to preserve history. It is right to understand where one comes from. Wonderful.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:57amIndeed this is excellent.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:25amPeople don‘t understand God at all because they don’t even understand their own life here on earth. A Doctor may have a child who is a car salesman, and that car salesman grows into a young man, having his own home. Then one day he has plumbing problems, and he remembers as a child, his doctor father fixing pipes. He calls his dad to see if he can come over to repair the pipes, but the dad says he can not because he isn’t a plumber, and but behold, I will send over your brother who is a plumber to help you with your plumbing.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 9:01amPutting it in layman’s terms: you’re missing the rose because you are focused on the leaves and thorns, but you don’t see the stem leading to the rose (and to think there are dozens of songs like that people miss the understanding of). Then, because you don’t see the rose, you are missing the bed of roses. Like that, you are missing the stone, and therefore are not getting taken up where you see the stone in the mountain in a mountain of stones.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 9:03amAnd Glenn Beck is another Shepard in the mountain, and he’s walking around striking stones with his staff to make water come out of them.
Report Post »JLGunner
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:23amAwesome! now can we get away from ebonics?!?!?!
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:02amOh goody, Yiddish is making a comeback. Maybe in a decade or so we can all be forced to speak Yiddish, and believe that God talked to Moses through a burning shrub, rather than the Liveliness of the Hebrews in the distance as in a “Spiritual burning bush.” And then we can all worship the planet, and Mt. Sinai, rather than spiritual mountains not carved by hands. Explain to me again why Jews think they are still God’s chosen? I think you are setting yourself up for a great fall.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:05amYou think that because we are living in the age of Satan, and Satan stands up in everyone to mislead their understanding with a hardness of heart.
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:08amI know, I know, I might as well be saying “Rib-bit, rib-bit.”
Report Post »Eliasim
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 8:16amIt’s as I have stated before: if I think my father is a plumber when he actually is a Doctor, then do I really know my father, and how is it all my water will flow when I have broken the apparatus, thinking my father can fix the plumbing?
Report Post »ilovestock
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 3:05pmHere it is and I will try to write real slow so you can understand…no where does it say that Jews were chosen by God. That is something fabricated by Gentiles because they simply do not understand. Jews are called the chosen people because when (according to tradition) God revealed Himself – the Jews chose God over idol worship while the rest of you were still throwing virgins down volcanos. Besides, considering what the Jews have dealt with for the last 2,000 years – were it true, it would have been better if God had cosen some other group. We didn’t get such a great deal.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on December 21, 2011 at 7:50amGreat, now somebody can understand what the Federal Reserve Chairmen are saying to us.
Report Post »