So Why Yiddish?- Barbara Henry

Prof. Barbara Henry of the University of Washington's Stroum Jewish Studies and Slavic Languages & Literature Department examines the connection between personal identity and academic pursuit of an endangered language. She gives a passionate explanation for her work with Yiddish, a language that "chose her," and concludes with a powerful reading and interpretation of a Yiddish poem.
Comment Policy:
The Stroum Center for Jewish Studies believes that comments are a valuable source of dialogue and wants to include your thoughts as part of the conversation. To create a welcoming space for all, we won't publish comments that are profane, irrelevant, self-promotional or that make personal attacks.

[@motek1818]

Barbara Henry is an inspiration. What a beautiful talk and what a beautiful neshoma she has. Thank you Barbara for this.

[@SuperHartline]

Growing up with a paternal grandmother who spoke to me almost exclusively in Yiddish, telling me about the two shtetels in the Ukraine she grew up in (Nova Labun (Lubeen) and Slavuta, I never knew until recently how special this was. She spoke slowly, so today when I hear a young person racing along in the language at 80 mph, I don't kick myself if I can't get it all. A sheynem dank bubbeh far dayne mayses and Yiddishkeit.

[@AskAbigailProductions]

Barbara, I watched this three years ago and i just watched it again and was again so moved by your passion, wisdom, and grace. Yesher koach! May your light only increase!

[@GBaack1]

So lovely to be validated of my Jewish soul by an acquired Jewish soul. The validation comes for me from the acknowledgement of the relentless pain I feel of losing so much, and since the passing of my parents, losing the space for speaking, hearing and laughing in Yiddish. As Prof Henry, said, Yiddish was what it meant to be in the world. I am not me without Yiddish, I am unknown. I stand as a memorial and as a mourner, but not as a Yiddish speaker, proudly speaking the Litvish/Litcak dialect. Prof Henry as inspired me to at least continue filling that blank space any way that I can. Gratefully, Dr. Gita Arian Baack, "The Inheritors: Moving Forward from Generational Trauma".

[@luisgrinhauz7183]

It is so very heartwarming to see the respect and love Barbara holds for such a beautiful, colorful, rich and descriptive language as Yiddish is. Thanks for your effort and for defending it so warmly. Berta

[@davidlaloum7565]

Thank you Barbara for expressing so eloquently what many of us feel...

[@rrsolo]

some of the words you use as "yiddish" are actually hebrew words. the future of yiddish will stay because half the jews in the world spoke it. but we have adapted hebrew to fit our modern culture and that is our ancient language.-, hebrew. to really understand yiddish you must know hebrew as well. it all boils down to one thing: we are the people of israel. and israel is the people of the torah.

[@mustafagoksel1839]

Barbara you are an amazing person and because of you I will read Peretz.

[@shainazion4073]

My grandfather was a Yiddish author, he wrote over 60 books in Yiddish. It is an amazing language, it just doesn't have a word for ceiling.

[@jordisod]

This brought a tear to my eye. Thank you for your inspiring words. They apply not only to honoring Yiddish but to all our endeavors in the ever increasing darkness we inhabit.

[@AskAbigailProductions]

Thank you Barbara Henry for expressing yourself so beautifully on this subject for the benefit of Jews and non-Jews alike. There is little appreciation among Jews 2 and 3 generations removed from the Yiddish vernacular of the full European/Jewish civilization that was expressed in the Yiddish language. I counted myself among these Jews until I attended the Montreal International Yiddish Theater Festival and was inspired to create the documentary film: Yiddish: A tale of survival.

[@shevetlevi2821]

Despite having the most loving memories of all 4 grandparents who all spoke Yiddish, I was absolutely captivated by Zionism in my teens and came to think of Yiddish as a victim's language and Hebrew as that of a redeemed victorious people. And I didn't even like the sound of Yiddish. I'm in my late 60s now and in recent years I miss both my grandparents and my parents and the sound of occasional Yiddish in our home (my parents spoke Yiddish not regularly but when they didn't want my sister and I to understand what they were saying.). And I've rekindled an affection for the language and realize how close we are to losing it. Barbara's love for it is obvious and inspiring and I'm grateful for her.

[@Mark-im6pm]

Professor, the beauty of your words are exquisite and with great depth. Try me accept my gratitude for what you say and how it said.

[@abewronsky2255]

I am a fluent Yiddish speaker, also read and write. What I knew but didn’t fully realize was that the Jewish “world” functioned entirely in Yiddish for ONE THOUSAND years. This fact helps to underscore the loss we Jews underwent.

[@roslynbelle2104]

Eloquent. I felt, Barbara, that you were speaking to my soul

[@christianbernardsinger1216]

Moving and powerful - thank you Professor !!

[@danube660]

So beautiful Barbara.... both my parets passed away 3 years ago....they both spoke yiddish..... your talk about life and death brought a tear to my eye....

[@HenryTen]

What a powerful video. Congratulations. You will carry this a long way.

[@AnnaMishel]

You speak yiddish beautifully.

[@donaldbarrett4454]

My Grandmother and her sisters were stars of the Yiddish Theater. First as a sister act (they were known as "Die Zwerling Zwillege" (The Zwerling Twins). Then my Grandmother left the act when she married my Grandfather and sister Yetta went on to become a star on her own. Yetta was a comedian. The only place you can experience this very funny woman is on KZbin in a clip from the play "Kol Nidre". She sings a funny songs and yes there are English subtitles. My wife who isn't Jewish, learned Yiddish from me and speaks quite well. As she pointed out, "There is no good English for 'Oy Veh is Mir' - yes you can translate the words, but not the emotion.

[@jeffwarschauer]

Yetta is very well known among lovers of Yiddish theater!

[@moshedayan9049]

Great ! Thank you !

[@RabbiT-qh8pd]

I'm just starting my own Yiddish studies and this video is a nice laying out of why's, though some different than my own

[@putzgadol]

Forget Yiddish, the language of the ghetto. Learn ivrit, the language of our ancestors and modern Israel. Ok

[@jeffwarschauer]

As the late actor, singer and mentsh Theodore Bikel, who was ardent about both Hebrew and Yiddish (and whom I was honored to count as a friend) used to say, "Why not both?"

[@yevgenydodzin9849]

ben gurion yiddish stopped being the language of the ghetto when it spread throughout the world. Ladino (Judeo Spanish), Yiddish, and hebrew should all be spoken together

[@bell1095]

You are totaly convincing. Yiddish is close to German too, since some thousand years or more. Yiddish was/is the carrier for any talmud thora teaching, on behalf of avoiding the use of loschon kojdesch /hebrew.

[@MikJFr]

The point made, that there is nothing very special about falling for a language and culture that form no part of your personal background, is absolutely correct. Why, then, does it seem so special that a non-Jew should fall for Yiddish? I have no answer.

[@TheBestUsEver1]

thank you~

[@danube660]

Btw i also grew up in northern nj in the 70s...was bar mitzvahed in bergenfield.....

[@georgi9514]

@Donald Barrett Thank you for sharing. Would you please post the link to the play on youtube

[@__dissident__]

My grandma talked to me and my mom in Yiddish but no one else did. I never spoke it but could understand until forgot. After 60 years I'm trying to learn it again using Duolingo(what a terrible dialect is there). Are there any volunteers here to talk to me in Yiddish? A dank.

[@mzk1489]

I thank her for not ignoring, as many elites (anti-semites of Jewish parentage, really) do, the people who today speak Yiddish as their first language. One complication is that Yiddish, in many ways, is - in spite of basically being German - right out of the Talmud; both in the way of speaking, the adaptation and spelling of Hebrew, and many of the expressions. Yet, in Eastern Europe, Yiddish became a symbol of Secularism, a Judaism divorced from the religion upon which Jewish life was entirely based.

[@YiddishkaytInitiative]

Bravo! A mekhaye!

[@marciajacobs1105]

So..With my 21/2 brother on his knee, my zada was showing him the text of the Jewish Daily Forward, his favorite socialist newspaper. " I want to see".I begged. No you can't. "Why not? I queried. "You are a girl.",He replied.

[@chicagofineart9546]

Not a very progressive socialist I guess.....

[@dixonsusa]

Very nice.

[@henrycharles3003]

I like that very nice and good History Osiem

[@LazlosPlane]

So why not, already??

[@gregnhomes]

Geshmack, Adank Barbara

[@ghenulo]

Hat sie guten Geschmack?

[@leslieackerman4189]

Looking so much like the stereotype of a wasp lady makes more poignant the speech. Lovely presentation full of eye openers.

[@ghenulo]

Why not? Yiddish as a Germanic language is obviously easier than Russian.

[@amelierenoncule]

I don't know from Yiddish, BUT to me it does seem that the majority if the words I have knowledge of, all begin with ze letters "SCH-". And why thusly am I prompted to use, often, ze word 'Schmuck!'...with a smile, of course!? Onomatopoeia, oui?

[@argonwheatbelly637]

Her "oy" should be more "uy -- u as in duh, but tighter". And her Jersey accent has been....neutered. I'm not saying Bayway or Sleezeside Heights, but a Morris County accent, perhaps. Especially if she's speaking Yiddish.

[@mzk1489]

In any case, Oy (and Vey, or rather Vai) are Semitic words, that appear in the Biible (in one place it is actually chanted o-o-o-y). So, in fact, Abraham could have said "Oy vai". (But Az Mir is German.)

[@dimetronome]

Maybe it’s because, as an academic, she has a lot more experience reading rather than speaking it.

[@chaimsilver2561]

yiddish is according to the country you live in. in lithuania, is germanic, in poland it i galitzyanner pollak in argen tina is ladino. the only common denominator is that they use hebrew lettering. yiddish started to die out, because the parents spoke yiddish that the kids should not understand what they were saying. heartbreaking but true.

[@dimetronome]

Didn’t the Holocaust and anti-semitism play the largest role in its decline though?

[@adamchurvis1]

Why Yiddish? Why NOT Yiddish? What, you got something better than Yiddish, maybe?

[@putzgadol]

Both of my parents spoke fluent Yiddish. They asked me if I wanted to learn. I said," absolutely, NO ". I am not a shtetl Jew. Ani yehudi ! Hebrew is the Jewish language

[@jeffwarschauer]

Please see my comment above

[@crackerackadingdong]

cool story bro

[@dianewolfthal1738]

No, Hebrew is one of many languages that Jews speak. What a shame that the founding of Yiddish was accompanied by an attempt to wipe out Yiddish, a beautiful and rich language.

[@AskAbigailProductions]

@@dianewolfthal1738 As Isaac Bashevis Singer used to say even before the war, "Yiddish has been dying for 100 years but somehow continues to be alive!". Isaac was born into Yiddish in Eastern Europe, lived in NYC, wrote all of his novels in Yiddish, and won the Nobel prize for literature! I believe he gave his acceptance speech in Yiddish as well.