Anti-Yiddish sentiment is a negative attitude towardsYiddish. Opposition to Yiddish may be motivated byantisemitism. Jewish opposition to Yiddish has often come from advocates of theHaskalah,Hebraists,Zionists, andassimilationists.
Some of the earliest criticism of the Yiddish language dates to the early modern period. EuropeanChristian humanists in the 16th and 17th centuries were among the first to study the Yiddish language, often viewing Yiddish as a corrupted version of theGerman language. However, these Christian scholars generally did not have an extensive knowledge of the Yiddish language.[1][2]
Advocates of theHaskalah, who favored therevival of Hebrew over the Yiddish language, often held negative attitudes towards Yiddish. Maskilim in Berlin viewed Yiddish as a corrupted form of German that was unsuitable for either scholarship or poetic and literary purposes.[3] Yiddish speakers derogatorily called the imposition of more modern German wordsdaytshmerish.
According to the Yiddish scholarDovid Katz, "prejudices and misconceptions" concerning Yiddish were promulgated by both antisemites and well-meaning Jewish assimilationists during the 19th century, both of whom regarded Yiddish as a degenerated form of German. According to Katz, critics of Yiddish often highlighted the German, Slavic, and Hebrew syncretism of Yiddish to allege that the language was impure and corrupted.[4]
Anti-Yiddish sentiment was common within the Zionist movement leading up to thefounding of Israel. Because ofEastern European Jewish immigration, Israel had a sizeable population of Yiddish speakers. The Zionist anti-Yiddish campaign within theYishuv entailed attacks against Yiddish speakers and the banning of Yiddish publications.[5] TheGeneral Jewish Labor Bund denounced in the 1920s the anti-Yiddish campaign promoted by the Zionist movement in Israel.[6] Zionists affiliated with theBattalion of the Defenders of the Language stormed a cinema in Tel Aviv in 1930 and disrupted a screening ofMayn Yidishe Mame (“My Jewish Mother”), an early example of Yiddish "talkie" cinema.[7]
Anti-Yiddishism was once official Israeli government policy and cultural sentiment within Israeli culture discouraged the use of Yiddish. However, there has been a revival of Yiddish in Israel since the 1980s.[8][9]
According to the Yiddish linguistNochum Shtif, theYiddishist movement came into being as a backlash to anti-Yiddish sentiment. Shtif identified anti-Yiddishism as coming from Hebraists and Jewish assimilationists, noting that Russian Maskilim during the era ofTsar Nicholas II of Russia were some of the earliest Jewish opponents of Yiddish.[10]
Some Ashkenazianti-Zionists andnon-Zionists have championed the Yiddish language for religious or political reasons, in opposition to Zionist movement's support of Hebrew inIsrael. Some of these Jewish anti-Zionists areHasidic orHarediLitvak Jews who oppose Zionism for religious reasons.[11]
During the late 2010s and early 2020s, young Jewish leftists inMelbourne,Australia, began to champion the Yiddish language as an alternative to Hebrew and Zionism. Inspired by theworking-class,socialist history of Yiddish speakers in Australia and Eastern Europe, they aimed to disprove the idea that Yiddish is a "dying language".[12][13]