Amidst the political changes in the U.S. and Israel, one important shift went largely unnoticed. Last week the Knesset took an unprecedented step, one which reflected a gradual shift that has occurred over the last several decades. In its first-ever Yiddish Language and Culture Day, last Tuesday the Knesset went out of its way to pay its respects to the Eastern European Jewish civilization and its language.
Knowledge of the Yiddish language was quite common in Mandatory Palestine and in Israel in its first days of independence. But even in those days – especially in those days – there was a decided effort to replace the cultures and languages of the Diaspora with the archetype of the modern Israeli. As Eliezer Ben-Yehuda’s vision of a Jewish culture based on the Hebrew language came to fruition, Israeli society was taught to value the history and culture of the Jews in Israel above those of the Diaspora. Accordingly, the Talmud and other rabbinic writings took a backseat to the Biblical narratives that were centered on the Land of Israel.
For the most part, this was not a question of right or left, religious or secular. There had been multiple Jewish cultures and languages in the Diaspora, and the formation of an Israeli society that valued the Hebrew language more than Yiddish or Ladino – one that saw the Diaspora experience as a temporary setback within the long history of the Jewish people – could serve as a unifying factor amongst all sectors of Israeli society. The memory of Jewish suffering in Europe and the Middle East helped fuel the emphatic rejection of the Diaspora experience, and this rejection combined with the traditional and modern yearnings for a return to the best aspects of pre-exilic Jewish life. Israel became a sort of melting pot for Jews from every corner of the Diaspora, and the Hebrew language was a central aspect of the unification of Israeli society and the conception of a return to the ancestral home.
But there was a price to be paid for the emphasis on the Hebrew language and the Jewish experience within the Land of Israel. The Diaspora experience is a fundamental aspect of Jewish civilization. Without the forced transition from a religious life focused on sacrifices to one centered around study and prayer, Judaism would not be the religion that we know. Without the experience of being a minority, Jewish culture would not be the culture that we know. Without the interactions with the Christian and Muslim worlds – and the influence of the Enlightenment in particular – Jewish thought would not be what it is. Zionism itself was a movement shaped by European modes of thinking, most importantly nationalism. And yet, for all the significance of the European experience in shaping Jewish civilization, the only Israeli holiday that pays homage to the experience of European Jewry is Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Memorial Day).
I see Yiddish Language and Culture Day as an attempt to come to terms with the complexity of the Diaspora Jewish experience and the depth of its influence on Jewish civilization. In the early years of the State, it made historical sense for Israelis to avoid embracing the Yiddish language. With the memory of the Holocaust fresh in the collective consciousness of Israeli society, the entire experience of Eastern European Jewry – the Yiddish language included – was associated with suffering and weakness. But the Diaspora experience still shapes Israeli society today, and it will inevitably continue to do so. To deny this influence would be historically inaccurate. I, for one, am glad to see the Knesset officially recognize that there is more to the Diaspora experience than the Holocaust.
