by Cynthia Benedict
Yiddish: A language derived from Middle High German, spoken by East European countries. It is written in the Hebrew alphabet and contains vocabulary borrowing from Hebrew, Russian, Slavic, Polish, English, etc.
—Webster, 1988
Yiddish, is far more than a language; it is an entire culture. Although it eventually reached out to incorporate Jews in major European and American cities, it has its roots in the shtetls, the small rural villages inhabited almost exclusively by Jews, most of whom were very poor. Tucked away in Russia, Poland and the Gallic states, these people lived, for several centuries, cut off from the mainstream of society. They were devoutly religious and derived spiritual and intellectual sustenance from the study of the Bible and the Talmud. From these shetetls came an enormous drive for knowledge and wisdom, a powerful humanism and a sense of beauty of even the simplest aspects of life.
Despite hardships, Yiddish culture flourished in an atmosphere of hope and optimism until 1933 and the advent of the holocaust. The world may never understand how, between 1933 and 1945, one madman and those who followed him actively and passively, could destroy much of the best that had taken thousands of years to develop.
While Yiddish as a language is now spoken (and written) primarily by those of the older generation, the culture itself has endured. Yiddish expressions and phrases have become integrated into many languages and, by now, nearly everyone in the Western world knows what a yenta is and has tasted a bagel.
In the past the Yiddish language was passed on by oral tradition; now the Yiddish culture has become a part of tradition.
No tradition other than love of Torah was more important to the Yiddish home or village than those that centered about the preparation and consumption of food. It is reliably reported that even shtetl Jews told jokes about Jewish food, Jewish mothers and kosher chickens.
In most homes the cuisine was strictly bound by the kosher laws. Yiddish food evolved into a highly original and variegated cuisine that prized everything and wasted nothing. From a single chicken came soup, stock, fat (shmaltz) for further cooking, griebens (the Jewish caviar), stuffed crepes and a meal of leftovers as well.
Linguists still debate whether Yiddish is a full-blown language or simply a dialect. The argument is unimportant, however, for Yiddish is more than either of these: Yiddish is a way of life, a culture, and a way of perceiving the universe that incorporates Judaism and its principles as well as making and later describing the lives of those people who were and are involved with it.
Yiddish is a polyglot tongue with an enormously rich vocabulary and a grammar loose enough to allow for multiple meanings. Yiddish may allude to joy or despair, quiet humor and even the most pragmatic daily considerations. It is sophisticated enough to contain each of these levels within a single statement.
One of the remarkable aspects of Yiddish, a language full of pathos and humor, is that is seems to affect even those who have no concept of the language. A host of Jewish comedians sprinkle their speech with Yiddishisms and everyone laughs, even if they don't have the foggiest notion of what a particular word really means. It's not just the words but a way of saying them that fills Yiddish with humor.
Some words in Yiddish are distinctly untranslatable except with the use of other Yiddish words. The various person abilities implied by the terms shnook, shmendrek, shlemiel and shlemazel can be explained well only by use in context and are hard to define specifically because of their complex nuances.
The use of Yiddish is on the wane. Jews who left Europe between the 1920s and the mid-century still use the language but tend more and more toward that of their adopted countries. The most obvious leftover of Yiddish is the accent. The children and grandchildren of these refugees may have some understanding, but rarely speak it. Only in areas in and around Russia, several Middle-European nations and in Israel will one hear Yiddish spoken regularly.
What does continue to survive, are those parts of the Yiddish culture and vocabulary that have to do with food, eating habits and the traits, qualities and behavior of people. Chicken soup is known as the "Jewish penicillin" and is still seen as the best cure for an infinite number of disorders. Conversational Yiddish is rarely spoken these days but the words and phrases are remembered and used frequently to "spice-up" the English language, can be found in ever increasing numbers in dictionaries and have become, through repeated use, the vocabulary of choice when certain situations or circumstances can only be expressed adequately by the use of Yiddish.
See the Yiddish Dictionary.