- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804781930
- eISBN:
- 9780804782821
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804781930.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
During the Renaissance and until the Reformation, Christian scholars became increasingly preoccupied with the interrelationship between language and religion on one hand, and philology and theology ...
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During the Renaissance and until the Reformation, Christian scholars became increasingly preoccupied with the interrelationship between language and religion on one hand, and philology and theology on the other hand. This focus gave birth to a branch of Christian scholarship known as Christian Hebraism, which dealt with Hebraica and Judaica from the late fifteenth century onwards. Some of the most renowned and influential Hebraists and Orientalists in early modern Germany, from Paulus Fagius and Sebastian Münster to Johann Buxtorf, August Pfeiffer, and Johann Heinrich Callenberg, devoted their time to the study of Yiddish literature and language. The result was a phenomenon called “Christian Yiddishism.” Christians, especially theologians, were encouraged to become proficient in the Yiddish language in order for them to missionize among the Jews, to read Jewish literature in Yiddish, and to use the language in the study of Hebrew and the biblical text.Less
During the Renaissance and until the Reformation, Christian scholars became increasingly preoccupied with the interrelationship between language and religion on one hand, and philology and theology on the other hand. This focus gave birth to a branch of Christian scholarship known as Christian Hebraism, which dealt with Hebraica and Judaica from the late fifteenth century onwards. Some of the most renowned and influential Hebraists and Orientalists in early modern Germany, from Paulus Fagius and Sebastian Münster to Johann Buxtorf, August Pfeiffer, and Johann Heinrich Callenberg, devoted their time to the study of Yiddish literature and language. The result was a phenomenon called “Christian Yiddishism.” Christians, especially theologians, were encouraged to become proficient in the Yiddish language in order for them to missionize among the Jews, to read Jewish literature in Yiddish, and to use the language in the study of Hebrew and the biblical text.
Aya Elyada
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804781930
- eISBN:
- 9780804782821
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804781930.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This book explores the unique phenomenon of Christian engagement with Yiddish language and literature from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the late eighteenth century. By analyzing the ...
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This book explores the unique phenomenon of Christian engagement with Yiddish language and literature from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the late eighteenth century. By analyzing the motivations for Christian interest in Yiddish, and the differing ways in which Yiddish was discussed and treated in Christian texts, it addresses a wide array of issues, most notably Christian Hebraism, Protestant theology, early modern Yiddish culture, and the social and cultural history of language in early modern Europe. The analysis of a wide range of philological and theological works, as well as textbooks, dictionaries, ethnographical writings, and translations, demonstrates that Christian Yiddishism had implications beyond its purely linguistic and philological dimensions. Indeed, Christian texts on Yiddish reveal not only the ways in which Christians perceived and defined Jews and Judaism, but also, in a contrasting vein, how they viewed their own language, religion, and culture.Less
This book explores the unique phenomenon of Christian engagement with Yiddish language and literature from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the late eighteenth century. By analyzing the motivations for Christian interest in Yiddish, and the differing ways in which Yiddish was discussed and treated in Christian texts, it addresses a wide array of issues, most notably Christian Hebraism, Protestant theology, early modern Yiddish culture, and the social and cultural history of language in early modern Europe. The analysis of a wide range of philological and theological works, as well as textbooks, dictionaries, ethnographical writings, and translations, demonstrates that Christian Yiddishism had implications beyond its purely linguistic and philological dimensions. Indeed, Christian texts on Yiddish reveal not only the ways in which Christians perceived and defined Jews and Judaism, but also, in a contrasting vein, how they viewed their own language, religion, and culture.
Jess Olson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804778732
- eISBN:
- 9780804785006
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804778732.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This book explores the life and thought of one of the most important but least known figures in early Zionism, Nathan Birnbaum. Now remembered mainly for his coinage of the word “Zionism,” Birnbaum ...
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This book explores the life and thought of one of the most important but least known figures in early Zionism, Nathan Birnbaum. Now remembered mainly for his coinage of the word “Zionism,” Birnbaum was a towering figure in early Jewish nationalism. Because of his unusual intellectual trajectory, however, he has been written out of Jewish history. In the middle of his life, in the depth of World War I, Birnbaum left his venerable position as a secular Jewish nationalist for religious Orthodoxy, an unheard of decision in his time. To the dismay of his former colleagues, he adopted a life of strict religiosity and was embraced as a leader in the young, growing world of Orthodox political activism in the interwar period, one of the most successful and powerful movements in interwar central and eastern Europe. This book brings to light documents from one of the most complete archives of Jewish nationalism, the Nathan and Solomon Birnbaum Family Archives, including materials previously unknown in the study of Zionism, Yiddish-based Jewish nationalism, and the history of Orthodoxy. This book is an important meditation on the complexities of Jewish political and intellectual life in the most tumultuous period of European Jewish history, especially of the interplay of national, political, and religious identity in the life of one of its most fascinating figures.Less
This book explores the life and thought of one of the most important but least known figures in early Zionism, Nathan Birnbaum. Now remembered mainly for his coinage of the word “Zionism,” Birnbaum was a towering figure in early Jewish nationalism. Because of his unusual intellectual trajectory, however, he has been written out of Jewish history. In the middle of his life, in the depth of World War I, Birnbaum left his venerable position as a secular Jewish nationalist for religious Orthodoxy, an unheard of decision in his time. To the dismay of his former colleagues, he adopted a life of strict religiosity and was embraced as a leader in the young, growing world of Orthodox political activism in the interwar period, one of the most successful and powerful movements in interwar central and eastern Europe. This book brings to light documents from one of the most complete archives of Jewish nationalism, the Nathan and Solomon Birnbaum Family Archives, including materials previously unknown in the study of Zionism, Yiddish-based Jewish nationalism, and the history of Orthodoxy. This book is an important meditation on the complexities of Jewish political and intellectual life in the most tumultuous period of European Jewish history, especially of the interplay of national, political, and religious identity in the life of one of its most fascinating figures.
Daniel Katz
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814748367
- eISBN:
- 9780814763674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814748367.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter discusses the peculiarities of European Jewish nationalisms—both Yiddishism and Zionism—that influenced dominant and subordinate currents of Jewish American thinking in the twentieth ...
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This chapter discusses the peculiarities of European Jewish nationalisms—both Yiddishism and Zionism—that influenced dominant and subordinate currents of Jewish American thinking in the twentieth century. It follows the immigration of Russian Jews who came to New York in the 1880s and 1890s, and founded mutually supporting institutions on Yiddishist principles. Due to their experience living as cultural foreigners in Russia, Russian Jewish immigrants to America were generally better prepared for the difficulties of living in a foreign culture compared to other groups coming from countries in which they spoke the majority language and worshiped in the dominant religion's churches. The movement to elevate Yiddish as the medium of Jewish national culture emerged in Russia just in time to arm a generation of radical Jews with revolutionary thought before they immigrated and confronted the tenements and sweatshops of America. The 1905 generation of revolutionary Jews brought with them a clear sense of the links between capitalist exploitation, national cultural repression, control over education, and the meaning of citizenship.Less
This chapter discusses the peculiarities of European Jewish nationalisms—both Yiddishism and Zionism—that influenced dominant and subordinate currents of Jewish American thinking in the twentieth century. It follows the immigration of Russian Jews who came to New York in the 1880s and 1890s, and founded mutually supporting institutions on Yiddishist principles. Due to their experience living as cultural foreigners in Russia, Russian Jewish immigrants to America were generally better prepared for the difficulties of living in a foreign culture compared to other groups coming from countries in which they spoke the majority language and worshiped in the dominant religion's churches. The movement to elevate Yiddish as the medium of Jewish national culture emerged in Russia just in time to arm a generation of radical Jews with revolutionary thought before they immigrated and confronted the tenements and sweatshops of America. The 1905 generation of revolutionary Jews brought with them a clear sense of the links between capitalist exploitation, national cultural repression, control over education, and the meaning of citizenship.
Daniel Katz
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814748367
- eISBN:
- 9780814763674
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814748367.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This chapter explores the elements of Yiddishism that underpinned the ideology of Jewish radicalism through World War I and survived the crisis on the Left that was precipitated by the Russian ...
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This chapter explores the elements of Yiddishism that underpinned the ideology of Jewish radicalism through World War I and survived the crisis on the Left that was precipitated by the Russian Revolution. It places the educational programs of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) in the context of the rivalry between radical groups and discusses the significance of women and non-Jews, especially Italians and Blacks, in the battles that took place through the 1920s. It argues that marginalized women and sympathetic men sought a political voice at all levels of union authority, including education. The efforts to control the content of courses and the operation of institutions such as Unity House were contests over union citizenship: who belonged and who deserved a voice. Just as in czarist Russia, where Jews developed educational and cultural forms to resist Russian domination, Fannia Cohn and others clung to their faith that education would serve to build a more democratic, inclusive union.Less
This chapter explores the elements of Yiddishism that underpinned the ideology of Jewish radicalism through World War I and survived the crisis on the Left that was precipitated by the Russian Revolution. It places the educational programs of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU) in the context of the rivalry between radical groups and discusses the significance of women and non-Jews, especially Italians and Blacks, in the battles that took place through the 1920s. It argues that marginalized women and sympathetic men sought a political voice at all levels of union authority, including education. The efforts to control the content of courses and the operation of institutions such as Unity House were contests over union citizenship: who belonged and who deserved a voice. Just as in czarist Russia, where Jews developed educational and cultural forms to resist Russian domination, Fannia Cohn and others clung to their faith that education would serve to build a more democratic, inclusive union.
Jeffrey Shandler
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190651961
- eISBN:
- 9780190651992
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190651961.003.0013
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Sociolinguistics / Anthropological Linguistics
This chapter examines the role that Yiddish played, beginning in the late nineteenth century, in many Jews’ participation in progressive politics, including trade unionism, socialism, anarchism, ...
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This chapter examines the role that Yiddish played, beginning in the late nineteenth century, in many Jews’ participation in progressive politics, including trade unionism, socialism, anarchism, labor Zionism, and communism. The Yiddishism engendered by various political movements became, for some Jews, an ideological end in itself. Their commitment to maintaining and transforming the language has served as a definitional practice of Jewish solidarity. In the post–World War II era, Yiddish has been implicated in new political uses by Hasidim, by new generations of progressive Jews, and by non-Jews in Europe engaged in coming to terms with the destruction of European Jewry.Less
This chapter examines the role that Yiddish played, beginning in the late nineteenth century, in many Jews’ participation in progressive politics, including trade unionism, socialism, anarchism, labor Zionism, and communism. The Yiddishism engendered by various political movements became, for some Jews, an ideological end in itself. Their commitment to maintaining and transforming the language has served as a definitional practice of Jewish solidarity. In the post–World War II era, Yiddish has been implicated in new political uses by Hasidim, by new generations of progressive Jews, and by non-Jews in Europe engaged in coming to terms with the destruction of European Jewry.
