Re: Chava Alberstein

[Ari Davidow <ari...>]

At 02:47 PM 11/21/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Those of you who know me know that I don't mindlessly rage, but that is
>really offensive.  Is it true that "Yiddish is the most hated languages
>(sic) in Israel" and that "Everybody hates Yiddish, especially those to
>whom Yiddish is close... "?  That is a really sorry attitude.  Who wrote
>this?  I'd like to give this writer a piece of my mind.

The statement sounds a bit extreme at the moment, although I have
heard that some associate Yiddish with the hardeim (ultra Orthodox).

On the other hand, early on during the pre-State period, there were
very bitter cultural wars between those who proposed Yiddish for the
new state, and those who favored reviving Hebrew as a spoken language.
Use of Yiddish in Israel was stigmatized quite severely until recent
years. There is a good account of this in Benjamin Harshav's lucid
"Language in Time of Revolution" that is a wonderful read for anyone
interested in Hebrew, Yiddish, and the language wars in what was then
Palestine. There is also reference in most books about modern Hebrew,
such as David Adler's delightful "Hebrew and Modernity." But Harshav's
book, in addition to shedding considerable light onto the stigmatization
of Yiddish in Israel is simply a delight.

When I first reviewed Alberstein performing songs from "the WELL", I 
noted both her singing of Yiddish and Hebrew on one stage, and on her
performance of her rethought "Khad Gadya", all of which emphasized, I
felt, not only her artistry, but on her efforts to weave together and
to make peace. I also noted the fact that it was extraordinarily rare,
if not unknown, for an Israeli performer to do so. (Even Yafa Yarkoni
recorded a separate album of Yiddish songs, but did not, I believe, 
perform them together in Israel.) It's one of the reason I, like 
many people, am looking forward to her new album, with songs in Hebrew, 
Yiddish, and English.

ari


Ari Davidow
ari (at) ivritype(dot)com
list owner, jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
the klezmer shack: http://www.klezmershack.com/

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