By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

(Copyright, 1958, Seven
Arts Feature Syndicate)

49 -THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS — Friday, Se ptember 12,

Status of Yiddish: A Duty to Preserve Its Literature

commonplace phrases. The fact
that crowds will applaud banali-
ties and abominations attests
to poor taste. But it also indi-
cates a nostalgia in reference
to Yiddish. So, while repudiat-
ing the comic artists who distort
Yiddish, we must acknowledge
that there is a response that is
not utilized properly.
* * *
Only a handful of young peo-
ple understand Yiddish. Its lit-
erature is not read — unless
some portions of it are fortun-
ate enough to be translated into
English.
Not all who had predicted that
this would happen were pleased
with the developments. Many of

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e
• • •

POLLOCK and RICHARD

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HERMAN ABANELLI & SONS

JOHN RAY DUMP TRUCKING

• •
•

MINKIN METALS CO.

FINEGAN & BURGESS, INC.

1958

us are pained by what is tran- propose a movement to make known literature in Ladino with
spiring. It was a lovelier and a Yiddish a compulsory course of even a fraction of the wealth
livelier time when Yiddish had study in all advanced Jewish that is possessed by Yiddish lit-
its influence, when the warmth schools — even in the Jewish erature. Every effort must be
of the language helped to in- high schools, but certainly in made to preserve the Yiddish
spire desires for Jewish learn- the teachers' colleges; in all the- language and its literary wealth.
ing. When Yiddish was in its ological seminaries, not to speak Our proposal may be- extremely
prime, Hebrew, too, had a better of Gratz and Dropsie Colleges minimal. It may satisfy very
in this country and the higher few of the extreme Yiddishists.
chance of survival.
schools of learning in England But we view it as a way of pre-
There was a time when the and in. Canada.
serving a treasure. Action in
language battle in Israel was a
Most Jewish dialects have dis- the direction we propose should
bitter one. It is no longer so appeared. Ladino, while still be taken at once by the pro-
today. Hebrew has taken root spoken in Turkey and a few ponents of Yiddish.
there, and Yiddish, when and communities in the Orient, is
where used, is supplementary. practically unknown among the
Be strong and of a good cour-
Perhaps it is because Yiddish is Spanish Jews in America. We age, fear not, nor bG afraid of
no longer a competitor to He- doubt whether more than a them; for the Lord thy God, he
brew that it is no longer a bel- couple of hundred Jews still un- it is that doth go with thee;
ligerent in Israel. Yet, it is pos- derstand and can read Ladino in he will not fail thee, nor forsake
sible that the survival of Yid- this country. But there is no thee.—Deut. 31:6.
ish will be made possible in
___._ _
rael alone. There are legiti
li ate reasons for it.
Holiday Greet;?; - --
Greetings on the New Year
* * *
ED.
It is possible that the Yiddish
p eriodicals now appearing in
Custom Builder and Designer
in Mobile Homes
T' siael may have a better chance
Office Open Evenings, Saturday and Sunday
.
Financing Service Since 1938
or survival because some vis-
KE. 7-2200 ' ! tors in Israel will better be able
18905 West 7 Mile Rd.
WO. 1-9157
1400 National Bank Bldg.
t o keep contact with the land
a nd its people and the outside
--
—
------ -
w orld in the language they un-
erstand better than Hebrew-
New Year Greetings
ntil they master Hebrew. But
New Year Greetings to Our Friends and Patrons
a n even better reason is the fact
t hat the Hebrew University in
Engineering Service
-
J erusalem has established ad-
Industrial Contractor — 24-Hour Service
v anced courses in Yiddish.
T hrough such courses, and be-
FOrest 6-1800
WO 2-7118
19003 John R
819 Farwell Bldg.
c ause Yiddish thereby will be
p erpetuated as a language • and
l iterature study method, the
language has a chance.
Rosh-Hashanah Greetings
Best Wishes for a Joyous Holiday Season
Wh .at about Yiddish else-
where, especially among the
more than five million Anierican
Jews?
FEDERAL SAVINGS
* a *
We
posed
this
question
upon
DI. 1-2880
KE. 7-3400
18225 Schaefer
20101 West 7 Mile Rd.
reading the splendid "Yuda
Yoffe Buch" (The Judah L. Joffe
Book), a testimonial volume
that was dedicated by VIVO
New Year Greetings
Institute for Jewish Research in
To Our Friends and Patrons
honor of the 80th birthday of
the Yiddish writer and scholar
Extends Its Heartiest Best Wishes
whose name the book bears.
This is an interesting volume,
Detroit License No. 161—Day, Night, Sunday Service
for a Happy New Year
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and a thoroughly enlightening
VI. 2-4115
SOUTHWEST — TE 4-0442
and enjoyable one. Half of it is
13501 SANDERS
NORTHWEST -- WE 5-5961
13948 WASHBURN
devoted to a discussion of Jew-
ish foods, their origins, their
etymological derivations, etc.;
. i ,
the other half to Yiddish lan-
New Year Best Wishes
Holiday Greetings
guage studies.
The former would interest not
only gourmets but also all who
are intrigued by the interna-
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tional manner in which people
LO 7-1600
interchange habits and practices
1256 Meldrum
VE. 8-2420
18600 SCHOOLCRAFT
—in this instance, the adoption
of food .practices of one's neigh-
bors.
-
The latter is a remarkable
Best Wishes for a Happy New Year
Greetings of the Season
study of the birth of a language,
its word structures, its religious
To Our Family, Friends and Customers
connotations. In the instance
of Yiddish, there are interesting
observations on the interchange
E. Baxter
of Hebraist and Aramaic terms,
2222 Woodward
UN. 4-0236
western and other influences.
16874 Linwood
* * *
An entire volume could be
written about the Yoffe Buch
- Happy New Year to Our Friends and Patrons
alone. What concerns us, how-
Greetings on Rosh Hashanah
ever, is: how many people will
read this very scholarly work?
Must it be limited to a hand-
ful of people? Must it be the
Six Stores All Over Metropolitan Detroit
KE 2-1811
18824 West 7 Mile Rd.
symbol of a tragic decline of a
To Serve You
great literature and its in-
triguing language?
If the answers are in the af-
Nseeemoomoftwimeeseo•olosommoue,
• firmative, as we fear they might
Happy New Year
• be, then a way must be found
Greetings on the New Year
6
•
•
• to preserve the literature and
• the language of Yiddish.
41
How?
Phil Minkin
e If the masses won't read Yid-
Cement Contractors
•
•
•
TO. 8-0300
dish and understand it, at least
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Caniff
VE. 7-2827
16719 Winthrop
•
• we must preserve it among
1 scholars. There is the growing
0 **••••*•••••••••••*••*•••••••••••*M••••••
danger that even our rabbis
won't know it; even our spiritual
New Year's Greetings to
leaders will remain ignorant of
Our Friends & Patrons
New Year's Most Cordial Greetings
the facts that have been com-
piled in volumes like the one
issued by YIVO just referred
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to, the poems of Frug, the
METAL
LETTERS — CUSTOM SIGNS
stories of Sholom Aleichem and
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Mendele Mocher Seforim.
TW. 3-6160
704 West 7 Mile Rd.
To avoid these dangers,. we

When, in our concern over a
possible decline in Jewish cul-
tural values, we bemoan a slack-
ening of interest in Jewry's lit-
erary and linguistic tools, many
of us have in view also one of
the most saddening develop-
ments. in Jewish life: the grad-
ual disappearance of Yiddish as
one of our dialects and as the
treasure house of a great litera-
ture. It is no longer denied
that Yiddish is declining. Fewer
people than ever use it today.
Yet, while Yiddish is suffer-
ing a setback, it's idioms and
distortions are being used
abominably by comedians who
are resorting to mass appeal tac-
tics in their utilization of most

