Yiddishkeit, also spelledYiddishkayt (Yiddish:ייִדישקייט,romanized: Yidishkayt,lit. 'Jewishness', i.e. "a Jewish way of life"),[a][2] is a term that can refer broadly toJudaism or specifically to forms ofOrthodox Judaism when used particularly by religious and Orthodox Ashkenazim. In a more general sense, it has come to mean the "Jewishness" or "Jewish essence" ofAshkenazi Jews in general and the traditionalYiddish-speaking Jews ofEastern andCentral Europe in particular.
According toThe Jewish Chronicle, "Yiddishkeit evokes the teeming vitality of theshtetl, the singsong ofTalmud study emanating from thecheder and the ecstatic spirituality ofChasidim." More so than the word "Judaism," the word 'Yiddishkeit' evokes the Eastern European world and has an authentic ring to it. "Judaism suggests an ideology, a set of definite beliefs like socialism, conservatism or atheism. The suffix-keit in German, on the other hand, means -ness in English, which connotesa way of being. ... Not merely acreed but an organic and all-encompassing, pulsing, breathing way of life."[3]
Lack of understanding concepts of the Yiddish way of life have been compared to "kissing through a screen door."[4]
From a more secular perspective, it is associated with thepopular culture orfolk practices of Yiddish-speaking Jews, such as popular religious traditions, Eastern EuropeanJewish cuisine,Yiddish humor,shtetl life, andklezmer music, among other things.
Before theHaskalah and theJewish emancipation in Europe, central to Yiddishkeit wereTorah study andTalmudical studies for men, and a family and communal life governed by the observance ofhalakha (Jewish religious laws) for men and women. AmongHaredi Jews of Eastern European descent, comprising the majority of Jews who still speak Yiddish in their everyday lives, the word has retained this meaning.[5]
But withsecularization, Yiddishkeit has come to encompass not just traditional Jewish religious practice, but a broad range of movements, ideologies, practices, and traditions in which Ashkenazi Jews have participated and retained their sense of "Jewishness." Yiddishkeit has been identified in manners of speech, in styles of humor, in patterns of association, in culture and education.[citation needed] Another quality often associated with Yiddishkeit is an emotional attachment and identification with theJewish people.[6]