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Title: Yiddish: A Nation of Words by Miriam Weinstein ISBN: 0-345-44730-1 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 27 August, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Part History, Memoir and Phrasebook of a Glorious Tongue
Comment: I admit to being surprised by this book, knowing that it was the first effort from a former journalist. (I have found that most writers coming from the worlds of journalism or academia lack the ability to communicate on the same level as those of us outside of the twin ivory towers.) But here is an utterly delightful, at times moving, history of one of the most unique languages on the planet. Part history, part memoir, part dictionary and phrasebook, this book could not have been put together with greater love and craft. I especially loved the frequent garnishment of Yiddish proverbs and "Sprichworte" throughout the narrative.
Some additional thoughts:
1. Especially moving to me are the chapters on the early history of Yiddish in Germany and the nations of Eastern Europe. One of the great tragedies of history is the unique and fateful relationship between the German people and the Jews. Born linguistically from German, Yiddish took on a life of its own in the kitchens and shtetls of the Jews. The author's account of the manner in which moderate Jews turned their backs on Yiddish in Germany in the 18th and 19th centuries is an ironic chapter in the history of Germano-Judaic relations. (I have in my possession a German translation of the Tanakh published in Berlin in 1876, which I read now with a more wiser understanding.)
2. Having both lived in Germany for two years and studied Hebrew on the University level, I can understand much of written and spoken Yiddish.
3. For those who believe in the literal fulfillment of prophetic statements in the Tanakh, the gradual disappearance of Yiddish as a primary spoken language makes absolute sense, as the Jews are restored to their ancient homelands accompanied by the simultaneos "restoration of all things." Though it may fade as a spoken tongue, I for one hope that the rich literary tradition of Yiddish never fades.
Rating: 5
Summary: The best ever history of Yiddish for the general reader
Comment: Yiddish: A Nation of Words is the kind of book you don't want to put down once you've started. Weinstein has the perfect touch for getting across the facts about this almost lost language, neither weighing the reader down with the terrible sadness of the story nor degrading the story with humorous cliches. The research the book is based on is thorough and trustworthy. You will learn a lot about the Jewish diaspora, about Europe and the Middle East, about America in the last century--and enjoy doing it. Anyone from an immigrant family is going to resonate to the pressures that eventually saw the end of American Yiddish--and to the wisdom that is still preserved in the words.
Jeanne Guillemin
Cambridge
Rating: 5
Summary: A cultural survival story, a great read--
Comment: A wonderful book, engaging, humorous, warm, and moving, that tells the compelling story of a culture's survival against all odds. The Jewish people, living at the edge of other cultures and nations, kept itself alive through a shared language full of wit, wisdom, irony, compassion, and spiritual resonance. Yiddish: A Nation of Words is less about a religion than it is about the way any group or ethnic culture finds its deep identity, and its common strength, in the bond of words. The book is full of proverbs and bits of poetry--you get a real feel for the language, its sly shrug of humorous resignation, and its emotional pathos. The book also has portraits of unforgettable characters--people like Eliezer Perlman, who turned himself into Ben Yehuda, the architect of modern Hebrew; Esther Frumkin, a Yiddish activist who tangled with Communist Russia; Peretz Markish, the 'heartthrob Yiddish poet'; and Isaac Bashevis Singer, Nobel laureate. Even the Holocaust is dealt with in a way that salvages meaning and hope from the ashes. Weinstein tells her stories with heart and humor -- a great read, that makes you laugh and cry at the same time, and teaches ways of living in a world of threat and change.
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Title: Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Yiddish by Rabbi Benjamin Blech ISBN: 0028633873 Publisher: Alpha Books Pub. Date: 19 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Modern English-Yiddish, Yiddish-English Dictionary by Uriel. Weinreich ISBN: 0805205756 Publisher: Schocken Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 1978 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Say It in Yiddish by U. Weinreich ISBN: 048620815X Publisher: Dover Publications Pub. Date: 01 June, 1957 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: Meshuggenary: Celebrating the World of Yiddish by Payson R. Stevens, Charles M. Levine, Sol Steinmetz ISBN: 0743227425 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: How to Talk Jewish by Jackie Mason, Ira Berkow ISBN: 0312072368 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 1992 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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