LL-L: "Judaica" (was "Language policies") [D/E] LOWLANDS-L, 14.MAY.1999 (01)

Fri May 14 15:39:10 UTC 1999

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From: "Wittenberg, Amos" <amos.wittenberg at csfp.co.uk>
Subject: Minority languages

Re: Yiddish endangered?
Reinhard/Ron schreef:

>Yes, Yiddish is endangered, and there is a great need of support of
>various types to secure the survival of this fascinating language.
>But things may not be quite as grim as stated in that report.

Ik zou nog verder willen gaan: ik geloof geen moment dat Jiddisj
echt een bedreigde taal is.  Het is ontegenzeggenlijk waar dat de
grote Jiddisj sprekende massa's van Centraal en Oost-Europa, die de
ruggegraad van de seculaire Jiddisje cultuur van voor de Tweede
Wereldoorlog, verdwenen zijn.  Bijna drie miljoen Poolse Jiddisj-
sprekers zijn verdwenen van de aardbodem, idem voor de ettelijke
honderdduizenden in de Baltische staten, en Jiddisj in de Oekraine
heeft het afgelegd tegen de combinatie van massale emgratie,
genocide en Russificatie.

Dat is allemaal waar genoeg.  Maar seculaire (is dit eigenlijk wel
Nederlands?) Jiddisjisten besteden nauwelijks aandacht aan de andere
kant van de medalje: Jiddisj is springlevend als de lingua franca
bij uitstek van de snelst-groeiende groep Joden, namelijk van hen
die in de media meestal schamper als "ultra- orthodox" worden
aangeduid.

Ikzelf, alhoewel opgegroeid in een Duits- en Nederlands-sprekend
milieu, spreek redelijk tot goed Jiddisj, en onze zoon (nu 21) had
op de lagere school hier in London zijn religieuze onderwerpen -
circa 50% van het curriculum - in Jiddisj.  Recentelijk heeft hij
een periode van bijna vier jaar leren in de Jesjiewa van Gateshead
(bij Newcastle in Northumbria) afgerond, in het Jiddisj.

De "Jewish Tribune", wekelijks orgaan van de Union of Orthodox
Hebrew Congregations in het Verenigd Koninkrijk, is tweetalig Engels
en Jiddisj.

Chassidische en vele niet-Chassidische groepen in de hele wereld
zijn meestal tweetalig.  In Antwerpen hoort men Vlaams, Frans en
Hebreeuws gesproken, maar het meest van al Jiddisj.

De echte Jiddisj-sprekers produceren geen literatuur; daarin zijn ze
domweg niet geinteresseerd.  Ze hebben geen behoefte aan leerstoelen
die bekleed worden door door-en-door geseculariseerde Joden.
Jiddisj leeft en ontwikkelt zich zoals het altijd heeft gedaan: op
de tong.

Een voor Laaglanders zeer interessante taal, het West-Jiddisj, *is*
zo goed als uitgestorven.  Deze taal, eens gesproken in Nederland,
Noord-West-Duitsland en de Elzas, heeft het al in de 19de eeuw
afgelegd.  Alleen in sommige Nederlandse (en Duitse?) uitdrukkingen
zijn elementen van deze taal blijven voortbestaan.

Amos Wittenberg

I would go even further: I do not believe for one single moment that
Yiddish is a language under threat.  Indubitably it is true that the
large Yiddish-speaking masses of Central and Eastern Europe, the
backbone of the secular Yiddish culture pre-World War Two, have
disappeared,  Almost three million Polish speakers of Yiddish have
vanished from the face of the earth, the same for some hundreds of
thousands in the Baltics, and Yiddish in the Ukraine has lost it
against a combination of mass emigration, genocide and
Russification.

All that is true enough.  But secular Yiddishists hardly pay any
attention to the other side of the coin: Yiddish is alive and
kicking as the ligua franca par excellence of the fastest-growing
sector of Jewry, namely of those whom the media scathingly call the
"ultra-orthodox".

I myself, although brought up in a German and Dutch speaking
environment, speak Yiddish reasonably well.  At his primary school
here in London, our son (now 21) was taught religious subjects -
approximately 50% of the curriculum -  in Yiddish.  More recently he
has finished a period of almost four years of learning in Gateshead
Yeshiva (near Newcastle in Northumbria), in Yiddish.

The "Jewish Tribune", the weekly of the the Union of Orthodox Hebrew
Congregations in the U.K., is bilingual English and Yiddish.

Chassidic groups and many non-Chassidic groups all over the world
are more often than not bilingual.  In Antwerp one hears Flemish,
French and Hebrew being spoken, but most of all Yiddish.

The real speakers of Yiddish do not produce literature; they are
simply not interested.  They have no need for academic chairs
occupied by thoroughly secularised Jews.  Yiddish lives and develops
as it has always done: on the tongue.

A language with some interest to Lowlanders, namely West-Yiddish,
*is* all but extinct.  This language, once spoken in the
Netherlands, NW Germany and Alsace, already lost it in the 19th
century.  Only in some Dutch (and German?) expressions elements of
this language have survived.

Amos Wittenberg

---------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at geocities.com>
Subject: Judaica

Dear Amos,

Thanks for your response to the exchange between Roger and myself regarding
Yiddish. Too bad you were not around when we discussed the issue of West
Yiddish!  Georg Deutsch and I, at the very least, are very interested in any
possible non-English Lowlands-based Jewish language varieties.  We had also
heard about a special form of Yiddish (West Yiddish?) being used in my native
Hamburg even as recently as in the 19th century.  Might it have been some
form
of Amsterdam Yiddish?  The speakers appeared to have had connections to
Amsterdam.  I wonder if you know anything about this and might be able to
point
to relevant sources.  (I read Yiddish fluently.)

Based on what I hear, read and see, I tend to cautiously share your optimism
with regard to the status of Yiddish.  I am a little more optimistic these
days,
witnessing a considerable revival of interest and activities in Yiddish, not
only among orthodox and elderly people but also in various other circles and
among young people, certainly in North America and reportedly also in
Britain,
and also among gentiles.  Furthermore, it is encouraging to see an increase
in
Yiddish activities in Eastern Europe, such as in Russia, in the Ukraine and
in
Lithuania.  (See e.g.
http://www.cs.engr.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish/programs.html).  This is a far
cry
from the status of Yiddish in Israel, at least in the past, where Yiddish
used
to have a negative image and was anything but encouraged to be used among
young
people.  (I say this on the basis of my personal experiences.)

However, just as in the case of Low Saxon (Low German), optimism is good but
ought not be allowed to lull us into kidding ourselves and becoming
complacent.
Revivalist movements do come with a lot of hoopla and even manage to improve
the
image of a language and increase the number of speakers, at least
temporarily.
Unfortunately, oftentimes it turns out to be a flash in the pan, some
fashionable bandwagon that quite a few people use temporarily to hitch a
ride.
Survival beyond the "chic" period, beyond the klezmer music craze era in the
case of Yiddish, requires sustained efforts and support.  I am very happy to
hear that Yiddish finds these in your family and is being handed down to the
next generation.

Yiddish is listed as "seriously endangered" under "Europe" in the _UNESCO Red
Book of Endangered Languages_.  See e.g.
http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_index.html >
http://www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_report.html#Yiddish:

4. Present state of the language: SERIOUSLY ENDANGERED
          (a) children speakers: a small number of children learn the
language,
but very few of them become active users
          (b) mean age of youngest speakers:
          (c) distribution by sex:
          (d) total number of speakers, members of the ethnic group: more
that
1,000,000 people in North America have knowledge of the language; approx.
200,000 speakers in Israel; 153,385 speakers in the 1989 Soviet census; the
actual users are everywhere quite few
          (e) degree of speakers' competence: varies extremely; fully
competent
speakers are probably all very old

Best regards,

Reinhard/Ron

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