{"id":29948,"date":"2023-12-11T12:39:54","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T17:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=29948"},"modified":"2023-12-12T10:01:31","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T15:01:31","slug":"yiddish-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/yiddish-class\/","title":{"rendered":"In Yiddish Class, Teacher and Students Find Mishpokhe<\/em>\u2014\u2018Family’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Learning the historical language of Ashkenazi Jews connects Cornellians to culture and community<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Joe Wilensky<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students had brought items to class for a show-and-tell session, prompted to learn two new words in Yiddish related to that thing. One brought in a necklace; another showed off a set of erasers shaped like sushi; another a film camera. One student brought a ukulele (in Yiddish, also ukulele<\/em>), prompting a class discussion about the many words that the language has regarding music and instruments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStrune<\/em> is \u2018string,\u2019\u201d noted the instructor, David Forman<\/a>. \u201cAnd does anyone know another word for \u2018instrument\u2019? It\u2019s actually the word that we often use for a Yiddish musician, a klezmer<\/em>. A kley<\/em> is an implement, or vessel, and zemer<\/em> is \u2018song\u2019 in Hebrew.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Forman\u2019s devotion to Yiddish includes translating the work of his grandfather, the author Solomon Simon. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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There have been many mini-lessons like that in this elementary Yiddish class. From one or two new words, a connection is made\u2014not just in Yiddish, but a bridge to another language, to Jewish culture, to tradition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The sushi-shaped erasers posed more of a challenge; the class settled on esnvarg<\/em>\u2014something close to \u201cfoodstuffs.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cornell began offering Yiddish in 2019; in 2022, it became eligible<\/a> to fulfill the College of Arts and Sciences\u2019 language requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the first academic year that the full course progression is being rolled out, with Elementary Yiddish I and II offered in the fall and spring at four credits each, with an intermediate class planned next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, Yiddish became eligible to fulfill the College of Arts and Sciences\u2019 language requirement.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany people think of Yiddish as the language of humor and shtick<\/em>,\u201d Forman observes. \u201cBut students quickly learn that it\u2019s a complete language\u2014able to express the subtlest, most profound things.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current class has just five students. But interest has been strong, and participants have found they are deepening their knowledge not only of the language, but of history and heritage\u2014often on a very personal level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Materials science and engineering student Alice Fried \u201926 never knew her great-grandparents, who passed away when she was very young\u2014but she knows they spoke Yiddish, and thought the course would help her feel a stronger bond to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOther than observing the holidays with my family, I do not find myself regularly connecting with Jewish culture,\u201d she says. \u201cAttending Yiddish class four times a week, and practicing it for much of the rest of the week, has given me the opportunity to connect daily with my culture along with the language.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Detail<\/figure>
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Originating in Europe more than 1,000 years ago, Yiddish is the historical, everyday language of Ashkenazi Jews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It incorporates elements of High German, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Slavic languages, and includes traces of some Romance languages.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s written using a modified version of Hebrew script, though its grammar structure and vocabulary have more in common with German than with Semitic languages like Hebrew or Arabic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Offering a few examples of Yiddish\u2019s tone, humor, and embrace of its source languages, Forman points out that the endearing term boytshikl<\/em> (\u201clittle guy\u201d) takes the English noun \u201cboy\u201d and adds the Slavic tchik<\/em> and Germanic (-l) suffixes to render the word both diminutive and affectionate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yiddish idioms and sayings are often vivid and\/or humorous, Forman says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVi kumt di kats ibern vaser?\u201d<\/em>\u2014which translates literally to \u201cHow does the cat get across the water?\u201d\u2014means the equivalent of \u201cEasier said than done.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cAbi gezunt\u201d<\/em> (\u201cas long as you have your health\u201d) is one of the many possible answers to \u201cHow are you?\u201d that artfully evades the question\u2014redirecting attention, Forman says, to what\u2019s really important. \u201cIt seems philosophical, even stoic\u2014but tone is everything,\u201d he says. \u201cIt can express genuine gratitude or a not-so-thinly veiled complaint.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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A (Brief) Yiddish Glossary<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gut morgn:<\/strong> <\/em>Hello<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tchotchke:<\/strong> <\/em>A knick-knack, collectible<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chutzpah:<\/strong> <\/em>Nerve, extreme confidence<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kvetch:<\/strong> <\/em>To complain, whine, or fret<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Boytshikl:<\/strong> <\/em>Little guy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mishpokhe:<\/strong> <\/em>Family<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Glitshn \/ glitsh:<\/strong> <\/em>To slip or slide; a skating rink<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kvell:<\/strong><\/em> to take great pride (in someone else)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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By the early decades of the 20th century, Yiddish was spoken by more than 10 million Jews, both secular and religious. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After millions of European Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, the establishment of the State of Israel renewed Hebrew as not only the language of prayer but as a spoken tongue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yiddish\u2014seen as an old-world throwback, the language of the Jewish diaspora\u2014fell out of favor. Today, only about 500,000 people speak Yiddish; half of those, many of them ultra-Orthodox Jews, are in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Students quickly learn that it\u2019s a complete language\u2014able to express the subtlest, most profound things.<\/p>\nInstructor David Forman<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

But recent years have brought a growing interest in the language by secular Jews and others who have discovered that Yiddish is a vital part of Jewish heritage\u2014 having thrived on both sides of the Atlantic in art, theater, literature, humor, and elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In classroom settings, studying it can be a rewarding way to examine how Jewish culture has adapted over the generations while also maintaining a distinct identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Americans are already familiar with Yiddish words and phrases that have made their way into English use; the language is the source of numerous food-related terms like \u201cnosh\u201d and \u201cbagel\u201d as well as colorful terms like schmooze<\/em>, putz<\/em>, klutz<\/em>, mensch<\/em>, and \u201cOy vey<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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