|  NEXT MEETING
FEBRUARY 26th at 2 PM
HaMakom at St. Bede's
Are you interested in delving into the rich world of Yiddish language and literature, exploring the joy and pathos of Yiddish music and theater, or learning more about other aspects of Yiddish culture and life? HaMakom is starting a new YIDDISHKEIT group that will meet monthly. We invite you and your friends to join us as we create ways to study and enjoy this vibrant culture. Join us Sunday, Feb 26th at 2 PM at HaMakom. If you want to be notified about future meetings or just to chat, contact Rhea Bertelli at (505)-992-2775 or rheabert@yahoo.com.
In the meantime, there are many ways to begin an exploration of the world of Yiddish. For books in Yiddish visit The Yiddish Book Center. For Yiddish music visit the Judaica Sound Archive at Florida Atlantic University. For an archive of Yiddish literature, language & folklore visit YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.
| | A Bit of History Many older and younger Jews have lost, forgotten (or perhaps want to newly explore) a vital link to our tender roots, our street language YIDDISH. For hundreds of years most Jews lived in ghettos, small villages called "shtetls" or confined sections in the big cities. These were largely in the Russian Pale of Settlement, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Rumania, etc. and a host of nearby countries, none of which really accepted us.
Shut out of the local community for so long, a new language developed called YIDDISH, a mixture of Hebrew, German and the "street language" of ancient Israel, Aramaic. Jews living in the geographic area adopted this same private speech. Thus was born the Ashkanazy Jews' special tongue, YIDDISH, using the Hebrew letters for their written script since everyone knew it from Torah study.
Here we Jews are, two thousand years from the fall of Jerusalem when most of us were thrown into the Great Diaspora. To survive we adapted--- "vooh den" ("what else?") Over the centuries many have lost their cultural underpinnings in an eagerness to be accepted in new homes, cultures and professions. But for many there remains a longing to know and find ways to integrate WHO WE ARE and recognize our "pintele Yid".
Perhaps we can now feel sufficiently secure to reach back, to re-connect, to celebrate the special qualities of our values and reconnect with old stories. Can we make our old language and the culture that goes with it once again our own?
Rhea Bertelli | |