RE: yiddish language decline?

[Mel Korn <mkorn...>]

I have to jump in here.... When I was in the 3rd grade of UTT in Montreal
(early to mid 60's) Yiddish was no longer taught. Only at Jewish Peoples
School, and later at Bialik was Yiddish taught to Baby Boomers (and now
their children). Or so I thought...who could have known that Wagar High
School was a hotbed of Yiddish! But Montreal was of course the home of such
illustrious Yiddish institutions as The Dora Wasserman Yiddish Theatre Group
(I think that was the correct name).

I learned Yiddish at home, under great protest I might add, as well as being
exposed to Yiddish music and the humour of Dzigan and Szumacher, also under
protest. I railed against this imposition of my parents immigrant roots, and
particularly objected to certain family functions, hosted by relatives
involved in the vibrant Yiddish culture of Montreal, where I was exposed,
again under protest, to speeches, lectures and poetry all delivered in
Yiddish.

How ironic that I take such pride today in my ability to communicate in
Yiddish, and that my personal musical education began in my 40's as a quest
to learn to play Klezmer music, which I grew to love. However I rarely find
contemporaries with whom I can converse in Yiddish, or who share my passion
for Jewish music. My kids and their contemporaries look at me as if I were
an alien when I play any kind of Jewish music, be it the music of my parents
generation, or new Klezmer recordings (we won't even mention the reaction I
got the one time I played one of John Zorn's recordings). Coltrane or Bird
yes...Andy Statman or The Flying Bulgurs no. So for me Yiddish is somewhat
alive...for my kids it will be some cultural relic related to their
heritage.


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org
[mailto:owner-jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org]On Behalf Of Marvin
Sent: March 21, 2002 5:23 PM
To: World music from a Jewish slant
Subject: Re: yiddish language decline?


----- Original Message -----
From: "Shirli Sieb" <sieb (at) sympatico(dot)ca>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2002 2:58 PM
Subject: RE: yiddish language decline?


> Tell that to my neighbours in Cote St Luc, a suburb of Montreal, with the
> largest per-capita population of Jews in North America.
>
> Montreal is a hive of Yiddish and Yiddishkeit, with a thriving Yiddish
> theatre and active Yiddish culture.  I learned Yiddish, not so much from
my
> parents, but from my friends and neighbours.  My "gang" in high-school
spoke
> Yiddish, and used Yiddish xpressions frequently. And this was a secular,
> public high-school!
>
> In fact,  today, it's actively being taught at one Jewish high-school,  in
> Montreal:  "Yiddish at Bialik"
> http://www.bialik.netaxis.qc.ca/yiddish/yiddish.htm
> Gib a keek.
>
> Ed Sieb
And in the US, English includes a number of words, adopted from Yiddish, but
that doesn't make Americans Yiddish speakers.


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