Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going. - Rita Mae Brown
This question was posed on Quora, a social media site like X, to Dulci Duarte, Master's in Social Work; B.A: Legal Studies & Communication.
If "Jewish" people were the real Jews (Tribe of Judah), why then do they speak Yiddish, which is a mixture of German, Dutch, English, Hebrew, Scottish, etc., and not maintain the original Hebrew?
Dulci Duarte, Master's in Social Work; B.A: Legal Studies & Communication
Fascinating question. Thanks so much to the Asker for acknowledging (the historical reality) that “the real Jews" INDEED comprise the singular nation that successfully passed down the Hebrew language, generation to generation, for thousands of years. Yes!
[Before answering, allow me to pose a personal question or two to the Asker. In what language(s) did your ancestors pray, presumably on a daily basis? In what language(s) did your family members read literature and write books, for example, at the very beginning of the 20th century over one hundred years ago? ]
The Jews , indigenous to the Land of Israel in the Levant, amazingly maintained much of their native culture throughout the long Diaspora.* Hebrew is part of our culture. Think about this: Three times a day Jews still pray in our original language, plus reciting additional blessings over food as well as a prayer following meals that include bread. All in Hebrew, multiple times a day, every day , in all situations.
In what languages did the Asker's grandmothers/ great-grandmothers learn to read?
My grandmother, may she rest in peace, was multilingual, including speaking /reading/writing Yiddish. She was taught to read Hebrew in childhood by her own grandfather, a Torah scholar in the early 1900s in the town of Mogilev. (In that era, local non-Jewish girls probably did not read at all in any language.) If my grandmother could not answer her grandfather's quiz about a Hebrew book, she had to reread the book.
Her multilingual great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren are Jerusalem-born, mother-tongue Hebrew speakers.
Regards from Jerusalem, Eternal Capital of the Jewish People. 1
My own mother and father emigrated to the United States. They left Lithuania and Latvia on the Baltic Sea. The languages they knew in Europe were Hebrew, Yiddish, Polish, Russian, and the languages of their country. Upon coming to America, they had to learn English so they could communicate at work and in American life. They also became American citizens, requiring them to pass an English test.
Hebrew was only necessary in the synagogue or while praying. English became the primary language and was spoken for the most part in our home. Mother and Dad insisted that we be fluent in American English.
Diaspora -The Jewish state comes to an end in 70 AD, when the Romans begin to actively drive Jews from the home they had lived in for over a millennium. But the Jewish Diaspora ("diaspora" ="dispersion, scattering") had begun long before the Romans had even dreamed of Judaea. When the Assyrians conquered Israel in 722, the Hebrew inhabitants were scattered all over the Middle East; these early victims of the dispersion disappeared utterly from the pages of history. However, when Nebuchadnezzar deported the Judaeans in 597 and 586 BC, he allowed them to remain in a unified community in Babylon. Another group of Judaeans fled to Egypt, where they settled in the Nile delta. So from 597 onwards, there were three distinct groups of Hebrews: a group in Babylon and other parts of the Middle East, a group in Judaea, and another group in Egypt. Thus, 597 is considered the beginning date of the Jewish Diaspora. While Cyrus the Persian allowed the Judaeans to return to their homeland in 538 BC, most chose to remain in Babylon. A large number of Jews in Egypt became mercenaries in Upper Egypt on an island called the Elephantine. All of these Jews retained their religion, identity, and social customs; both under the Persians and the Greeks, they were allowed to run their lives under their own laws. Some converted to other religions; still others combined the Yahweh cult with local cults, but the majority clung to the Hebraic religion and its new-found core document, the Torah.
In 63 BC, Judaea became a protectorate of Rome. Coming under the administration of a governor, Judaea was allowed a king; the governor's business was to regulate trade and maximize tax revenue. While the Jews despised the Greeks, the Romans were a nightmare. Governorships were bought at high prices; the governors would attempt to squeeze as much revenue as possible from their regions and pocket as much as they could. Even with a Jewish king, the Judaeans revolted in 70 AD, a desperate revolt that ended tragically. In 73 AD, the last of the revolutionaries were holed up in a mountain fort called Masada; the Romans had besieged the fort for two years, and the 1,000 men, women, and children inside were beginning to starve. In desperation, the Jewish revolutionaries killed themselves rather than surrender to the Romans. The Romans then destroyed Jerusalem, annexed Judaea as a Roman province, and systematically drove the Jews from Palestine. After 73 AD, Hebrew history would only be the history of the Diaspora as the Jews and their world view spread over Africa, Asia, and Europe.
Sources: The Hebrews: A Learning Module from Washington State University, ©Richard Hooker, reprinted by permission.
References
Duarte, Dulci, Master's in Social Work; B.A: Legal Studies & Communication, If "Jewish" people were the real Jews (Tribe of Judah), why then do they speak Yiddish, which is a mixture of German, Dutch, English, Hebrew, Scottish, etc., and not maintain the original Hebrew?, Quara, July 2, 2023, https://www.quora.com/If-Jewish-people-were-the-real-Jews-Tribe-of-Judah-why-then-do-they-speak-Yiddish-which-is-a-mixture-of-German-Dutch-English-Hebrew-Scottish-etc-and-not-maintain-the-original-Hebrew/answer/Dulci-Duarte
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