Question for someone who's jewish?

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  • ravdeb
    ravdeb Member Posts: 3,116
    edited December 2007

    I speak English with my dh and the kids and they speak English with me but my dh is Israeli and he speaks Hebrew with the kids. So, we are bilingual. I'm fluent in Hebrew, though.

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  • NoH8
    NoH8 Member Posts: 2,726
    edited December 2007

    Is Hebrew the same as Yiddish? I think my grandparents (the ones who are dead) spoke Yiddish to each other but English with a thick accent to us.

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited December 2007

    Amy,

    They are similar but not the same.  Here's are a couple of explanations:

    http://www.myjewishlearning.com/culture/Languages/Languages_TO_OtherLangs/Languages_Yiddish_Intro/YiddishBasics.htm

    http://www.jewfaq.org/yiddish.htm

    My mother's first language was Yiddish.  I don't speak it, but grew up with some Yiddish words being part of my vocabulary.   There are some wonderful Yiddish words that have a very distinct meaning which simply can't be accurately captured in the English translation.

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  • NoH8
    NoH8 Member Posts: 2,726
    edited December 2007

    Thanks beesie. I don't know many yiddish words except shtook means sex, oy kavalt means OMG and schmuck means jerk.

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  • NoH8
    NoH8 Member Posts: 2,726
    edited December 2007

    OMG_------------- I just found one on EBAY and it's $1500, yikes!

    http://cgi.ebay.com/OLD-Russian-Silver-Enamel-MEZUZAH-BOX-Michael-Perchin_W0QQitemZ260190391040QQihZ016QQcategoryZ1215QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

    It's beautiful...but....I can't afford 1/10th of that.

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  • ravdeb
    ravdeb Member Posts: 3,116
    edited December 2007

    Actually..Yiddish is nothing like Hebrew and resembles German. It's a language without a country and because of that it's a dying language. My mother knew a bit of Yiddish because her grandmother lived with them and her grandmother only spoke Yiddish.

    We do use some words within the Hebrew that are Yiddish but that is like using slang in any language. We mix Arabic into the Hebrew too just because we live with the two languages. But Yiddish is not Hebrew. Hebrew is the holy language. Yiddish is not.

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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited December 2007

    Ravdeb,

    What you said is interesting because growing up, I always considered Yiddish to be slang and Hebrew to be the "proper" language.  But a while back I was reading up on the history of Yiddish, and it's history as a complete spoken language is quite interesting.  As you say, Yiddish is most similar to German but it does use the Hebrew alphabet and it actually picked up words from many different languages (mostly those spoken in western Europe).  Both Yiddish and Hebrew are Jewish languages and in fact at one time, Yiddish was spoken by more Jews than Hebrew.  The connections between Yiddish and Hebrew are all quite strange; although Yiddish is mostly Germanic, some Yiddish words are derived from Hebrew, and Hebrew now borrows some words from Yiddish.  Ultimately though, as you say, Yiddish is dying out, partly because Yiddish was the language of Ashkenazi Jews and that is the group most reduced in number by the Holocaust, and because Hebrew is the holy language, the language of Israel and the language in which Jewish services are held.  It's a shame, really, because Yiddish is a very rich language. 

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  • NoH8
    NoH8 Member Posts: 2,726
    edited December 2007

    I finally bought one. Here's the link  http://item.express.ebay.com/Jewish-Hand-Painted-Wood-Mezuzah-from-Jerusalem-Israel_W0QQitemZ280170904874QQihZ018QQcmdZExpressItem 

    It's one that first caught my eye.

    I was going to leave it as a surprise for my grandmother, but called her yesterday to make sure it is one she would like or if she had a preference. She was so touched she started to cry and said it was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her. Since she's had 98 years of people doing nice things for her, I doubt it was, but I know it means a lot to her which touched me. Maybe I'm her favorite athesist in the family hehe.

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  • Bugs
    Bugs Member Posts: 1,719
    edited December 2007

    This has been a facinating thread to read.  Thanks for sharing part of your culture, Deb.

    Take care,

    Bugs

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  • Fllorik
    Fllorik Member Posts: 1,351
    edited December 2007

    BTW- Women that are Ashkenazi Jews have a very high rate of caring BCRA genes for breast cancer. Also, Ovarian cancer genes.

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  • NoH8
    NoH8 Member Posts: 2,726
    edited December 2007

    From my understanding this is because of marrying relatives (not first or 2nd line relatives) since recessive genes are more likely to be seen in the genetic structures. Traditionally Jews only married Jews so that leaves open a smaller pool of partners. Then there was the holocaust which tore families apart and killed millions so for ashkenazi Jews that made the pool even smaller. I'm not sure if that's the only reason, but it does make sense with respect to the recessive genes.

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  • ravdeb
    ravdeb Member Posts: 3,116
    edited December 2007

    First of all, Amy..nice choice. I LOVE Emanuel. He does lots of art and is famous here. I love his work. It's bright and interesting. Your grandmother will love it!

    And yes..Ashkenazi Jews are high risk for BRACA. I don't carry it though. It was the only high risk I had for genetic mutation and I don't carry it. I was desperately looking for a reason why I got this blasted thing. Can't even blame it on my genes!

    Yiddish is a VERY rich language. I so agree. There are things they can say in Yiddish that just can't be translated. It is a huge shame that we are losing this language and every once in a while there will be Yiddish classes sprouting up in an attempt to spread it around a bit.

    The Hebrew that I speak is not the same as is written in the Torah as it's a new language as far as the way we use it. So, there are other languages, Yiddish is one of them as is Arabic, that get mixed in and are used as an accepted part of spoken Hebrew as opposed to biblical Hebrew. But this is true with English, too...even more so.

    Interestingly, in the ultra-religious communities, they speak Yiddish and not Hebrew because they believe that Hebrew is too holy to speak as an everyday language.

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  • NoH8
    NoH8 Member Posts: 2,726
    edited December 2007

    Thank you Ravedeb! I'm so glad you like the choice.  My gm said she'll love anything I pick out, so I picked out one that I would get for myself that seemed to look like the one she used to have. Lori is sending me the prayer for inside. I can't wait until it comes.

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  • iodine
    iodine Member Posts: 4,289
    edited December 2007

    Absolutely fastinating discussion.  Wish I had a college course available in different religions.

    Thanks to all. 

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  • NoH8
    NoH8 Member Posts: 2,726
    edited December 2007

    Dotti, I went to a catholic college and we had to take 3 philosophy and 3 religion classes. For a catholic college, they had a wide variety of courses on world religious. While I grumbled at the time, I chose electives in world religions in grad school. It's so interesting to me.

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  • NoH8
    NoH8 Member Posts: 2,726
    edited December 2007

    The mezuzah came in the mail today. I'm just waiting for the prayer from Lori and then I'll take it to my grandmother's and put it up. Thanks for all your help.

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