Article

Name: Hebrew-Yiddish Bilingualism in European Educational Poetry in Eastern Europe

Authors: A. L. Polyan

Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences

Abstract: The subject of the paper is Haskalah – Jewish Enlightenment, which emerged in Prussia in the middle XVIII century and reached Eastern Europe about a century later. The maskilim called for learning official languages of the countries the Jews lived in (German, French, English, etc.) and wrote in them. Of the Jewish languages, Hebrew was the only language regarded adjusted for creating literature. Yiddish was perceived as the language of Jewish isolation, as a distorted and deformed language, and, therefore, was to have been eradicated. In Eastern Europe, however, the maskilim used it as a vehicle for literary creativity. The paper focuses on two bilingual poets – Avrom (Avraham) Ber Gotlober (1811–1899) and Yehuda Leib Gordon (1830–1892). Their poetry in Hebrew and Yiddish can be juxtaposed: they have entirely different contents, metrics and language. Creating poetry in Hebrew was regarded as erecting a protecting wall around the sacred language (“may it not resemble acity which walls have been breached”) and, therefore, is regulated by strict rules. It is deeply rooted in the strong old tradition. Yiddish poetry is created as naïve.

Keywords: bilingualism, Hebrew, Yiddish, sacred language, naïve poetry

Bibliography:

Archevolti Sh. Sefer ‘arugat ha-bosem. Amsterdam, 1734.

Birnbaum S.A. Yiddish. A Survey and a Grammar. University of Toronto Press, 1979.

Frieden K. The Suppression of Yiddish by the Early Hasidim and Their Opponents // Between Yiddish and Hebrew. Ed. by Shlomo Berger. Amsterdam Yiddish Symposium 7. Amsterdam 2012, Menasseh ben Israel Institute, 2012. P. 37–54.

Gordon I. L. Sikhes khulin. Varshe, 1889.

Gordon I. L. Kol širey Yehudo Leyb Gordon, Yešonim gom xodošim. Vilna, 1898.

Gotlober A. B. Igeres biqoyres: peles u-moyzne-mišqal ha-širo ha-ivris beartsoys ha-germanim ve-ha-slavim. Vilna, 1876.

Gotlober A. B. A. B. Gotlobers yidiše verk. Vilne, 1927.

Miron D. A Traveler Disguised: The Rise of Modern Yiddish Fiction in the Nineteenth Century. N. Y., 1973.

Perets Y. L. Di verk fun Yitskhok Leybush Perets. N. Y., 1920. Vol. 1: Lider.

Shavit Y. A Duty too Heavy to Bear: Hebrew in the Berlin Haskalah, 1783- 1819: Between Classic, Modern, and Romantic // Hebrew in Ashkenaz: A Language in Exile. Ed. by Lewish Glinert. NY-Oxford, 1993. P. 111–128.