The Yiddish language in Israel is spoken natively by approximately 200,000 Israelis, mostly in Hasidic communities.
In the early 20th century, Zionist activists in the Mandate of Palestine tried to eradicate the use of Yiddish among Jews in preference to Hebrew, and make its use socially unacceptable.[1]
Yiddish saw a decline in its prevalence among the Israeli population in the early statehood of Israel, due to its banning in theatres, movies and other cultural activities in order to promote the usage of the Hebrew language, the official language of Israel.
The banning was lifted in
Today,
History edit
Ban of Yiddish in Israel edit
The British Mandate articles, issued by the Council of the League of Nations in 1922, and the 1922 Palestine Order in Council were the first in modern times to acknowledge Hebrew as an official language of a political entity. Seeking to establish Hebrew as the national language of the Jewish people, the Zionist movement discouraged the use of other Jewish languages, particularly Yiddish,[2]
The debate in Zionist circles over the use of Yiddish in Israel and in the diaspora in preference to Hebrew also reflected the tensions between religious and secular Jewish lifestyles. Many secular Zionists wanted Hebrew as the sole language of Jews, to contribute to a national cohesive identity. Traditionally religious Jews, on the other hand, preferred use of Yiddish, viewing Hebrew as a respected holy language reserved for prayer and religious study.
After Ben Yehuda's immigration to Israel, and due to the impetus of the Second Aliyah (1905–1914), Hebrew prevailed as the single official and spoken language of the Jewish community of Mandatory Palestine. When the State of Israel was formed in 1948, the government viewed Hebrew as the de facto official language and initiated a melting pot policy, where every immigrant was required to study Hebrew and often to adopt a Hebrew surname. Use of Yiddish, which was the main competitor prior to World War II, was discouraged,[3]
As the Second Aliyah began, Hebrew usage began to break out of the family and school framework into the public venue. Motivated by an ideology of rejecting the Diaspora and its Yiddish culture, the members of the Second Aliyah established relatively closed-off social cells of young people with a common world view. In these social cells—mostly in the moshavot—Hebrew was used in all public assemblages. Though not spoken in all homes and private settings yet, Hebrew had secured its place as the exclusive language of assemblies, conferences, and discussions.
In the 1920s and 1930s, גדוד מגיני השפה gdud maginéi hasafá, "Battalion for the Defence of the Language", whose motto was "עברי, דבר עברית ivri, dabér ivrít", that is, "Hebrew [i.e. Jew], speak Hebrew!", used to tear down signs written in "foreign" languages and disturb Yiddish theatre gatherings.[4] However, according to linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann, the members of this group in particular, and the Hebrew revival in general, did not succeed in uprooting Yiddish patterns (as well as the patterns of other European languages Jewish immigrants spoke) within what he calls "Israeli", i.e. Modern Hebrew. Zuckermann believes that "Israeli does include numerous Hebrew elements resulting from a conscious revival but also numerous pervasive linguistic features deriving from a subconscious survival of the revivalists’ mother tongues, e.g. Yiddish."[5]
Hebrew education continued to expand, as more and more Hebrew educational institutions came about. During the first decade of 20th century, Epstein's and Wilkomitz's Hebrew education, which restricted the children from speaking Yiddish not only in school but also at home and on the street, made progress toward wider use of Hebrew.[6]
Hebrew signified for both its proponents and detractors the antithesis of Yiddish. Against the exilic Yiddish language stood revived Hebrew, the language of Zionism, of grassroots pioneers, and above all, of the transformation of the Jews into a Hebrew nation with its own land. Yiddish was degradingly referred to as a jargon, and its speakers encountered harsh opposition, which finally led to a Language War between Yiddish and Hebrew.[7]
Lifting of the ban edit
Despite a past of marginalization and anti-Yiddish government policy, in 1996 the Knesset passed a law founding the "National Authority for Yiddish Culture", with the aim of supporting and promoting contemporary Yiddish art and literature, as well as preservation of Yiddish culture and publication of Yiddish classics, both in Yiddish and in Hebrew translation.[8]
Today edit
There is a growing revival of interest in Yiddish culture among secular Israelis, with the flourishing of new proactive cultural organizations like YUNG YiDiSH, as well as Yiddish theatre (usually with simultaneous translation to Hebrew and Russian) and young people are taking university courses in Yiddish, some achieving considerable fluency.[9][10]
However, despite state-sponsored initiatives for preserving Yiddish culture, the number of Yiddish-speaking Israelis is in decline as older generations of Ashkenazi Jews die. In addition, due to greater integration of Haredim, many families in Yiddish-speaking Haredi communities have switched to using primarily Hebrew at home, which has led to these communities to launch preservation campaigns.[11]
Demographics edit
In a 2013 survey, about 2% of Israelis over the age of 20 recorded Yiddish as their native language.[12]
In religious circles, it is the Ashkenazi Haredi Jews, particularly the Hasidic Jews and the Lithuanian yeshiva world (see Lithuanian Jews), who continue to teach, speak and use Yiddish in Israel. The largest of these centers are in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem.
In the Hasidic communities of Israel, boys speak more Yiddish amongst themselves, while girls use Hebrew more often. This is probably due to the fact that girls tend to learn more secular subjects, thus increasing contact with the Hebrew language, and boys are usually taught religious subjects in Yiddish.[13]
Institutions edit
Media edit
Although Yiddish theatre never truly caught on in the state of Israel, the Yiddishpiel Theatre company (founded in 1987) is still producing and performing new plays in Tel-Aviv. The longest-running Yiddish production in Israel, which was also one of the few commercial Yiddish theatrical successes post Holocaust, was Pesach Burstein's production of Itzik Manger's Songs of the Megillah (Yiddish: Megille Lider). It also released on Broadway in 1968 to favourable reviews as Megilla of Itzik Manger. The career of the Burstein troupe documented in the 2000 documentary film The Komediant.
Israel Shtime newspaper Die Woch newspaper
Lebns Fragn magazine
Di goldene keyt (magazine) literary journal
Ringen oyf der Neshome novel
Gevolt Israeli Yiddish metal band
Shtisel TV series
Yiddish Israeli writers include Tzvi Ayznman (1920-2015), Aleksander Shpiglblat (1927-2013), Rivka Basman Ben-Hayim, Yitzkhok Luden, Mishe Lev (1917-2013), Yente Mash (1922-2013), Tzvi Kanar (1929–2009), Elisheva Kohen-Tsedek (born 1922) and Lev Berinsky (born 1939)
Yiddish writing in Israel can be marked by generations, similar to those in Hebrew literature. The first consisted of writers such as David Pinski and Sholem Asch, who passed their last years in Israel. The second generation, led by Abraham Sutzkever, started its career in Eastern Europe but continued in Israel. The third generation was centered on "Young Israel", a modernist group of poets and prose writers, most of whom are kibbutz members, whose work has been influenced by the avant-garde schools of English and French writing.
Yiddish writing in Israel is concentrated on the European Holocaust (the leading writer on this is Ka-Tzetnik), and life among new immigrants. Yiddish authors in Israel are organized in a Yiddish authors' association.[14]
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Rozovsky, Lorne. "Jewish Language Path to Extinction". Chabad.org. Retrieved December 8, 2013.
- ^ Lerman, Anthony (5 March 2010). "Yiddish is no joke". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
- ^ As described by the Yiddish-speaking actor Nathan Wolfowicz in the Israeli Yiddish newspaper Letzte Naies on 20 July 1951. A Hebrew translation Archived 1 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine of his article by Rachel Rozhenski appeared in Haaretz on 31 March 2004.
- ^ Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2009), Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns. In Journal of Language Contact, Varia 2: 40–67, p. 48.
- ^ Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2009), Hybridity versus Revivability: Multiple Causation, Forms and Patterns. In Journal of Language Contact, Varia 2: 40–67, p. 46.
- ^ Bar-Adon, Aaron (1975). The Rise and Decline of a Dialect: A Study in the Revival of Modern Hebrew. Mouton. ISBN 9783111803661.
- ^ Seidman, Naomi (1997). A Marriage Made in Heaven – The Sexual Politics of Hebrew and Yiddish. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20193-0.
- ^ "חוק הרשות". The National Authority for Yiddish Culture. 1996. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
- ^ Johnson, George (October 29, 1996). "Scholars Debate Roots of Yiddish, Migration of Jews". New York Times. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
- ^ Hollander, Jason (September 15, 2003). "Yiddish Studies Thrives at Columbia After More than Fifty Years". Columbia News. Columbia University. Archived from the original on October 11, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
...there has been a regular, significant increase in enrollment in Columbia's Yiddish language and literature classes over the past few years.
- ^ Rabinowitz, Aaron (23 September 2017). "War on Hebrew - For Some ultra-Orthodox, There Can Be Only One Language". Haaretz.
- ^ Druckman, Yaron (21 January 2013). "CBS: 27% of Israelis struggle with Hebrew". Ynetnews. Ynet News. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
- ^ Rabinowitz, Aaron (September 23, 2017). "War on Hebrew For Some ultra-Orthodox, There Can Be Only One Language". Haaretz. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
- ^ Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 9, p. 1003