The Story of Yiddish

The Story of Yiddish
Author :
Publisher : Harper Collins
Total Pages : 444
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780061860119
ISBN-13 : 0061860115
Rating : 4/5 (115 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Story of Yiddish by : Neal Karlen

Download or read book The Story of Yiddish written by Neal Karlen and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Yiddish—an oft-considered "gutter" language—is an unlikely survivor of the ages, much like the Jews themselves. Its survival has been an incredible journey, especially considering how often Jews have tried to kill it themselves. Underlying Neal Karlen's unique, brashly entertaining, yet thoroughly researched telling of the language's story is the notion that Yiddish is a mirror of Jewish history, thought, and practice—for better and worse. Karlen charts the beginning of Yiddish as a minor dialect in medieval Europe that helped peasant Jews live safely apart from the marauders of the First Crusades. Incorporating a large measure of antique German dialects, Yiddish also included little scraps of French, Italian, ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, the Slavic and Romance languages, and a dozen other tongues native to the places where Jews were briefly given shelter. One may speak a dozen languages, all of them Yiddish. By 1939, Yiddish flourished as the lingua franca of 13 million Jews. After the Holocaust, whatever remained of Yiddish, its worldview and vibrant culture, was almost stamped out—by Jews themselves. Yiddish was an old-world embarrassment for Americans anxious to assimilate. In Israel, young, proud Zionists suppressed Yiddish as the symbol of the weak and frightened ghetto-bound Jew—and invented modern Hebrew. Today, a new generation has zealously sought to explore the language and to embrace its soul. This renaissance has spread to millions of non-Jews who now know the subtle difference between a shlemiel and a shlimazel; hundreds of Yiddish words dot the most recent editions of the Oxford English Dictionary. The Story of Yiddish is a delightful tale of a people, their place in the world, and the fascinating language that held them together.


The Story of Yiddish Related Books

The Story of Yiddish
Language: en
Pages: 444
Authors: Neal Karlen
Categories: Language Arts & Disciplines
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-10-13 - Publisher: Harper Collins

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Yiddish—an oft-considered "gutter" language—is an unlikely survivor of the ages, much like the Jews themselves. Its survival has been an incredible journey,
My Yiddish Vacation
Language: en
Pages: 36
Authors: Ione Skye
Categories: Juvenile Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-05-13 - Publisher: Henry Holt and Company (BYR)

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Whenever Ruth and Sammy visit their grandparents, they get to brush up on their Yiddish. This Jewish language, a blend of German and Hebrew, is full of words th
Yiddish in Israel
Language: en
Pages: 338
Authors: Rachel Rojanski
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-01-07 - Publisher: Indiana University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Yiddish in Israel: A History challenges the commonly held view that Yiddish was suppressed or even banned by Israeli authorities for ideological reasons, offeri
Words on Fire
Language: en
Pages: 454
Authors: Dovid Katz
Categories: Religion
Type: BOOK - Published: 2004-09-28 - Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From one of the world's foremost scholars of Yiddish comes a sweeping historyof the language, its culture, and its literature--with a provocative argumentabout
On the Landing
Language: en
Pages: 148
Authors: Yenta Mash
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2018-09-28 - Publisher: Cornell University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In these sixteen stories, available in English for the first time, prize-winning author Yenta Mash traces an arc across continents, across upheavals and regime