Red-Tinted Yiddish

Jews who hate Yiddish and Yiddish culture—a considerable number since the 18th century, most of them native speakers—are often at pains to point out that the use of this purely tribal language forms a barrier between the Jews and their gentile neighbours, a hurdle to mutual understanding that often contributes to the growth of anti-Semitism and virtually always gets in the way of Jewish integration. Apologists for Yiddish and Yiddish culture—some of the most influential of whom have not been native speakers—are at similar pains to point out that the use of this proudly national language helps to maintain the boundary between the Jews and their far more numerous gentile neighbours, thereby reducing the danger of assimilation and safeguarding Jewish cultural independence in the face of anti-Semitism and minority status. Yiddish, in other words, is the CRTC of the Ashkenazi Jewish soul, but with livelier public hearings.

The roots of modern Yiddish secular culture lie...