Yiddish
The Biography of a Language
Will be published approx. on 14. April 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-1-58642-428-2 (ISBN)
Description
The history, tragedies, and bitter controversies that characterized a language once spoken by 11 million people brought vividly to life
For a people of exile, the language took the place of a nation. . .
In a time of rising antisemitism, some see greater awareness of Yiddish language and history as a way to foster understanding ** 25th Anniversary Edition **
** Winner of the National Jewish Book Award **
This 1st ever popular history of Yiddish is so full of life that it reads like a biography of the language. Once upon a time Yiddish was the glue that held a people together. Impoverished and disenfranchised in the eyes of the world, Yiddish speakers created their own reality—wealthy in appreciation of the varieties of human behavior, spendthrift in their humor, brilliantly inventive in maintaining and strengthening community. The written and spoken word formed the Yiddishland that never came to be. Words were army, university, city-state, territory. They were a people's home.
The tale of the language and its people ranges far beyond Europe, from North America to Israel to the Russian-Chinese border, and from the end of the first millennium to the present day.
For a people of exile, the language took the place of a nation. . .
In a time of rising antisemitism, some see greater awareness of Yiddish language and history as a way to foster understanding ** 25th Anniversary Edition **
** Winner of the National Jewish Book Award **
This 1st ever popular history of Yiddish is so full of life that it reads like a biography of the language. Once upon a time Yiddish was the glue that held a people together. Impoverished and disenfranchised in the eyes of the world, Yiddish speakers created their own reality—wealthy in appreciation of the varieties of human behavior, spendthrift in their humor, brilliantly inventive in maintaining and strengthening community. The written and spoken word formed the Yiddishland that never came to be. Words were army, university, city-state, territory. They were a people's home.
The tale of the language and its people ranges far beyond Europe, from North America to Israel to the Russian-Chinese border, and from the end of the first millennium to the present day.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
South Royalton
United States
Dimensions
Height: 215 mm
Width: 141 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
318 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-58642-428-2 (9781586424282)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
08/2012
Steerforth
€24.49
Available for download
Person
Miriam Weinstein
Content
Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Cast of Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
A Note on Yiddish Spelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Map of Yiddish Lands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv-xv
Introduction: Talking Jewish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Part 1. Birth and Growth
Chapter 1. Long as the Jewish Exile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 2. Poland: Rest Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter 3. Shtetl: A Separate World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Chapter 4. Enlightenment and Hasidism:
The Head and the Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Part 2. The Modern Era
Chapter 5. Eastern Europe: Opening the Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Chapter 6. The Road to Czernowitz:
The Politics of Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 7. Russia: Kissed by a Thief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Chapter 8. The Soviet Union:
Marching and Singing to Birobidzhan . . . . . . . . . 100
Chapter 9. Israel: Language Wars in the Holy Land . . . . . . . 112
Chapter 10. America: The Golden Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Chapter 11. Poland: Drinking in the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Chapter 12. Eastern Europe: Language as History . . . . . . . . 160
Part 3. Annihilation
Chapter 13. Singing in the Face of Death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Part 4. Aftermath
Chapter 14. Europe: Life from the Ashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Chapter 15. America: Golden Land, Goyish Land . . . . . . . . . 202
Chapter 16. Russia: The Heartthrob Yiddish Poet . . . . . . . . . 217
Chapter 17. Israel: A New Nation, a New Tongue . . . . . . . . 229
Part 5. Present and Future
Chapter 18. Europe and Israel: Bulletins from Now . . . . . . . 241
Chapter 19. America: Preserving Tomorrow’s Song. . . . . . . . 257
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Cast of Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
A Note on Yiddish Spelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Map of Yiddish Lands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv-xv
Introduction: Talking Jewish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Part 1. Birth and Growth
Chapter 1. Long as the Jewish Exile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 2. Poland: Rest Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Chapter 3. Shtetl: A Separate World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Chapter 4. Enlightenment and Hasidism:
The Head and the Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Part 2. The Modern Era
Chapter 5. Eastern Europe: Opening the Gates . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Chapter 6. The Road to Czernowitz:
The Politics of Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 7. Russia: Kissed by a Thief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Chapter 8. The Soviet Union:
Marching and Singing to Birobidzhan . . . . . . . . . 100
Chapter 9. Israel: Language Wars in the Holy Land . . . . . . . 112
Chapter 10. America: The Golden Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Chapter 11. Poland: Drinking in the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Chapter 12. Eastern Europe: Language as History . . . . . . . . 160
Part 3. Annihilation
Chapter 13. Singing in the Face of Death. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Part 4. Aftermath
Chapter 14. Europe: Life from the Ashes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Chapter 15. America: Golden Land, Goyish Land . . . . . . . . . 202
Chapter 16. Russia: The Heartthrob Yiddish Poet . . . . . . . . . 217
Chapter 17. Israel: A New Nation, a New Tongue . . . . . . . . 229
Part 5. Present and Future
Chapter 18. Europe and Israel: Bulletins from Now . . . . . . . 241
Chapter 19. America: Preserving Tomorrow’s Song. . . . . . . . 257
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293