Yiddish: From an endangered language to a cultural boom in Argentina, with courses and an engaging manual

During World War II , with the extermination of a largely Yiddish -speaking population, its use in Eastern European countries was halted . However, for several years now, there has been growing interest in studying the language and its culture , among both Jews and non-Jews. This has led to the creation and offering of numerous language courses and cultural festivals dedicated to Yiddish around the world.

The Yiddish Learning Manual (Libros del zorzal), is a translation by Leopoldo Kulesz of the book written by Annick Prime-Margules and Nadia Déhan-Rotschild , which consists of 85 lessons specially adapted for Spanish speakers and their audios accessible online, to learn to read, write and speak Yiddish, a language born around the year 1000 and recognized in 1908 , in the city of Czernowitz, in Bukovina, which was then a region of Romania, as one of the national languages of the Jewish people.

“The manual is designed for people who want to approach Yiddish from scratch , and also for those who already have knowledge, but who perhaps learned it a long time ago, or use it only as an oral language and have never read or written,” Lucas Fiszman , a graduate in Literature with a focus on Linguistics from the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the UBA, who was in charge of the technical review of the manual , tells Clarín.

“It's appealing even to Yiddish speakers, because it has sections on culture, Yiddish history , introduces modern terms and discusses pronunciation, explains idioms, and more,” he adds.

The specialist adds that several units are based on "stories, legends, or jokes that can be entertaining or novel for those who speak Yiddish on a daily basis," and explains: "For a few years now, I've been incorporating activities from the book—the 2012 French edition—into courses at all levels, from beginners to those with native speakers."

Fiszman also works as a Yiddish teacher at the IWO Foundation (Jewish Research Institute), which will be 100 years old in 2025. In his honor, Libros del Zorzal has released a special edition of the manual , featuring an illustration of an imposing peacock on its cover.

“Yiddish is a language without a state,” says Susana Skura , professor in charge of Linguistic Anthropology and Ethnolinguistics at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Buenos Aires. “It arrived in our country at the end of the 19th century, and during the first half of the 20th century, it was used in everyday and institutional life , education, theater, literature, and print and radio journalism,” she says, adding that, from being an ethnic language of immigration, it became a minority and minoritized language towards the end of the millennium.

" Minority, due to the number of speakers who maintained and continue to use it, understand it, or remember it. Minority , because it established and establishes long-standing asymmetrical relationships with other linguistic and cultural repertoires, in which it is not precisely the one that occupies the prestige," he points out.

This double inequality "not only transformed it into an endangered language: in fact, it impacted the social rights of its speakers . The discredit, which can appeal to various arguments, is not a minor problem, because it affects more than language policies: it intervenes in everyday life, in cultural and educational policies," explains the academic.

And he concludes by pointing out a recent change: "In recent decades, the process of discredit and imminent death has slowed down , new ways of approaching and new conceptions of diversity have been created, which also includes 'small' languages in general and this one in particular."

“Among the people who come to study, the motivations vary ,” Fiszman says. “Some are interested in different artistic forms because it's part of their research; because it's part of their family heritage; or in search of a connection with a less hegemonic Judaism, one more connected to—and representative of—historically marginalized sectors.”

Regarding who these people are who are interested in learning this language, he responds that the universe is very diverse. "Today, there are clearly people who approach it because they seek to connect with the language of their ancestors —often those they never even knew—but for decades, Yiddish teachers, artists, or researchers who don't come from Ashkenazi families have been doing so," he says.

And he adds that there are a large number of speakers "in the Orthodox communities of New York and Belgium, and at the same time, a large number of people who are not religiously connected are coming to learn Yiddish."

Regarding the importance of the language in artistic and cultural representations of the Jewish people throughout its history, Fiszman says: “ It is practically impossible to separate Yiddish from the culture of the Jewish people , at least when we talk about the Jewry of Central and Eastern Europe over several centuries. It was the first language of almost all its speakers, even of the majority of those who shunned Yiddish in favor of writing in Hebrew, German, Polish, or Russian.”

She adds that for centuries, Yiddish books were aimed at female readers. “In the 19th century, with mass migration, the introduction of new ways of life, and the organization of workers, interest in Yiddish began to grow among the male population, and the audience expanded. Within this framework, a modern Yiddish literature began to develop, followed by theater, cinema, painting depicting Yiddish life— perhaps the most prominent exponent is Marc Chagall, but there were others —revue theater, variety shows, comedy, and graphic humor.”

According to the specialist, there was also Yiddish literature and theater production in Argentina , which has only recently begun to be included in the history of Argentine theater. "But something that runs through these productions is that beyond the translation, there is an identity, themes, issues, and characters that are only understandable in their connection with Yiddish."

“I was fortunate enough to be taught one Yiddish song among many Hebrew songs in elementary school, where Jewish education was offered: Oyfn pripetchik—'In the Hearth'—by Mark Varshavsky,” says Yasmin Garfunkel , a graduate in Arts with a focus on Music from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). “It’s one of the most popular Yiddish songs. I was fascinated when I learned it, but at 9 years old, it didn’t occur to me to explore the language and its music further.”

It wasn't until she became an adult, after completing her undergraduate studies, already a musicologist and singer, that she decided to further research the Yiddish musical repertoire with the aim of performing it, as part of a quest for identity and artistry. "To that end, I decided to learn the language and its culture," she says. "In this way, I opened up a path to a wonderful universe and, above all, a symbolic space of belonging."

At the beginning of 2020, she began studying the language at the IWO Foundation, and in turn, she invited Federico Garber as a pianist to form a Yiddish music duo . Since then, they have performed together popular songs, their own original compositions, and songs that were in sheet music but that, perhaps, had never been played until now. The duo was later joined by Julián Brenlle on transverse flute , a klezmer music specialist who also leads the klezmer and Yiddish band Peretz Garcik, of which she is also a member.

Susana Skura, from the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Buenos Aires, quotes sociolinguist Nancy Dorian, who said that “the attachment to an ancestral mother tongue is usually strong, so when there are favorable circumstances its use is maintained, but when discredit falls upon it and its speakers it is very difficult to resist the pressure to abandon it .”

When dealing with languages with a volume of cultural production, as is the case with Yiddish in Argentina, says Skura, these are usually processes "that take place within the ethnic group, in which it is desirable to have specialists who can offer their support and knowledge and who can help raise public awareness about the threats to the survival of the most vulnerable languages."

In closing, he emphasizes: “Institutions like the IWO Foundation and spaces like those offered by the University of Buenos Aires support and encourage the dissemination of this enormous cultural production . Therefore, having books like this new manual favor and feed back into the process of Yiddish revitalization and help connect with it in renewed terms. Today, there are many highly capable people willing to continue and write a new page in the history of Yiddish in Argentina.”

The Yiddish Learning Manual , by Annick Prime-Margules and Nadia Déhan-Rotschild. Translated by Leopoldo Kulesz (Libros del Zorzal).