Search results
- It Is Over 1,000 Years Old. While the exact origins of the Yiddish language are still shrouded in some uncertainty, all agree that it has its roots in the 9th–10th centuries, when the first Jews settled in the Rhineland and the Palatinate (in present-day Germany).
- It Is Distinct From German. Living in the Rhineland, where Germanic languages were developing, the Jews concurrently developed their own unique language, Yiddish.1 This explains why many Yiddish words have similar counterparts in modern German.
- Yiddish and Hebrew Have Different Uses. Jews over the ages generally refrained from using Biblical Hebrew, the “Holy Tongue,” for day-to-day speech. Hebrew was therefore reserved for holy, spiritual speech such as prayer and Torah scholarship, while Yiddish became the language of regular conversation.2.
- It Crossed Borders and Oceans. While Yiddish originated in the Germanic lands, when Jews immigrated to Eastern Europe they brought Yiddish along with them.
- Advice Before You Begin
- Books
- Online Courses
- Semester-Long In-Person Courses
- Immersion Programs
- Apps
- Tools For Enrichment
Before starting, consider what your goals are and how much time and money you can realistically invest. Do you want to be able to converse with Yiddish-speaking family and friends? Are you a student whose most pressing need is to be able to decode texts for a paper or project? Do you want to be able to read family records? Or do you just want the c...
Assimil Yiddish with Ease (Nadia Dehan-Rotschild) The Assimil method is to learn a new language “through the listening of audio cd’s and the reading of an accompanying book, one side native language, one side foreign language…It begins with a long passive phase of only reading and listening, and eventually adds active exercises.” This book teaches ...
Gratz College offers courses in Yiddish language for college credit taught via videoconference, including beginners, advanced beginners, and (in some semesters) intermediate levels. Courses are open to non-matriculated students, and qualified high school juniors and seniors may also enroll for college credit at a discounted rate.
Worker’s Circle is “New York’s leading center for Yiddish language instruction, and the largest provider of Yiddish language classes in the U.S. outside of academic institutions.” They provide Yiddish classes at all levels.
Columbia University in Manhattan offers degree programs in Yiddish Studies. Available classes include Elementary Yiddish I and II, Intermediate Yiddish I and II, Yiddish for Academic Purposes, and Reading-Yiddish Literature. Note that all classes may not be available during all semesters. Non-matriculated students may take one class per semester.
Rutgers offers in-person courses on Yiddish language, culture, and literature at its campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey. There are currently no Yiddish classes planned for the Spring 2018 semester, but keep your eyes open for a class or two in Fall 2018. Courses are open to non-matriculated students, and those over the age of 62 may audit courses.
Salzburg University’s Jewish Cultural History program is unique among Jewish studies programs in Europe because it allows students to focus on secular Jewish cultural history as opposed to having only a religious focus. Three semesters of Yiddish instruction are part of the master’s track program, and students have the chance to work with experts in Yiddish literature. While one may enter the master’s degree program, courses are open to non-matriculated students.
Tel Aviv, Israel
A four-week immersion program held at Israel’s Tel Aviv University. Students attend Yiddish courses and participate in workshops and excursions. Instruction is geared towards both native English and Hebrew speakers, and students of all nationalities are welcome to apply. Program dates for 2018 are June 28-July 25. Students earn four college credits upon completion of program. Full-time students enrolled in degree programs are eligible for a scholarship. Tuition is $1,450, plus a $60 registrat...
New York City
This Manhattan-based six-week summer immersion program is sponsored by the YIVO Institute and Bard College. Courses range from absolute beginner to advanced and include instruction not only in reading, writing and speaking, but also in the history and culture of Yiddish. Sign up for YIVO’s newsletter to keep up to date on upcoming registration dates and deadlines. Tuition is $6,000. Scholarships are available and students needing housing can stay at the International House, where prices range...
Yiddish Book Center Amherst, Massachusetts
The Yiddish Book Center offers both a one-week winter immersion program and a seven-week summer immersion program in Amherst, Massachusetts. The one-week program, YiddishSchool, is geared towards beginner, advanced beginner and intermediate learners, and is open to all age groups. The 2018 YiddishSchool program runs April 22-27. Tuition plus a room shared with one other person is $1,100 ($375 extra for private room.) Tuition for commuters is $750. Registration limited to Yiddish Book Center m...
The apps below are not the only ones on the App Store and Google Play, but we selected them because they were recommended by individual educators. Most cost under $10, and some are free. (Note that prices are subject to change.) If you’ve had a good or bad experience using these apps or recommend other ones, let us know!
Yiddish Music on iTunes
Many Yiddish songs and albums are available for purchase on iTunes. A few notable works include selections by contemporary Montreal-based klezmer band Shtreiml as well as traditional songs such as “Oyfn Pripetshok.”
A free Yiddish-language e-mail newsletter published by the Yiddish Daily Forward. Content is about Jewish news and current global events. The website is navigable in both Yiddish and English, and a print version is also available.
On the Yiddish Book Center’s website, you can browse and read a variety of Yiddish works in the original. The digitized collection includes classics of Yiddish literature, such as S. Ansky’s drama Der Dybbuk, as well as Yiddish translations of English-language literature, such as Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (Dos Bukh Fun Dzshongl). You also can download and print out PDFs free of charge.
Yiddish is the language of the Ashkenazim, central and eastern European Jews and their descendants. Written in the Hebrew alphabet, it became one of the world’s most widespread languages, appearing in most countries with a Jewish population by the 19th century.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Rebbe explained that on the one hand the very reason that Yiddish, as opposed to ancient or biblical Hebrew, became the common spoken language was because Jews generally refrained from using Hebrew, the “holy tongue,” for common, non-holy, everyday speech. 4. Unlike other languages, the very words and letters of biblical Hebrew are holy.
Yiddish-speaking Jews settled in growing numbers in what are now Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, and Rumania, and in the course of time, Eastern Europe became the center of Yiddish, as well as the most populous Jewish settlement in the world. By the 18th century, Yiddish was the language of nearly all the Jews of
Yiddish ( ייִדיש, יידיש or אידיש, yidish or idish, pronounced [ˈ (j)ɪdɪʃ], lit.'Jewish'; ייִדיש-טײַטש, historically also Yidish-Taytsh, lit.'Judeo-German') [9] is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originates from 9th century [10] : 2 Central Europe, providing the ...
Mar 11, 2024 · Locations in the JHU Libraries for language resources. Der Oytser fun der yidisher shprakh. free download of this indispensable thesaurus of 150,000 Yiddish words, idioms, phrases, similes and proverbs. History and Development of Yiddish (Jewish Virtual Library) Verterbukh. Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary.
