Yiddishkeit: Difference between revisions

'''Yiddishkeit''' ({{lang-yi|ייִדישקייט}} '''{{transl|yi|yidishkeyt}}'''{{refn|group=N|Competing ways of [[Phonetic transcription|transcription]] exist for the [[suffix]]: {{transl|yi|-keit}}, based on the orthography of Standard Modern [[German language|German]], and {{transl|yi|-keyt}} using the standardized [[YIVO]] transliteration. In Northeastern ("Lithuanian") and Central ("Polish") [[dialects of Yiddish]], the suffix is pronounced with the [[diphthong]] [{{IPA|ai}}] (as in English ''kite''), but in Southeastern ("Ukrainian") dialects with the diphthong [{{IPA|ei}}] (as in English ''Kate'').<ref>[[Max Weinreich]]: ''Geshikhte fun der yidisher shprakh. Bagrifn, faktn, metodn'', vol. 2. YIVO, New York 1973, p. 356 (English translation by Shlomo Noble from 1980: p. 692–693).</ref> Therefore the spelling '''{{transl|yi|yiddishkayt}}''' is often used as well.}}) literally means "Jewishness", (i.e. "a Jewish way of life").<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-23 |title=Reconstructing Yiddishkeit - Evolve |url=https://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org/reconstructing-yiddishkeit/ |access-date=2023-05-31 |language=en-US}}</ref> It can refer broadly to [[Judaism]] or specifically to forms of [[Orthodox Judaism]] when used particularly by religious orand Orthodox JewsAshkenazi. In a more general sense, it has come to mean the "Jewishness" or "Jewish essence" of [[Ashkenazi Jews]] in general and the traditional Yiddish-speaking Jews of [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]] and [[Central Europe]] in particular.

According to ''[[The JCJewish Chronicle]]'', "'Yiddishkeit' evokes the teeming vitality of the ''[[shtetl]]'', the singsong of [[Talmud]] study emanating from the ''[[cheder]]'' and the ecstatic spirituality of [[Chasidim]]." MoresoMore 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 connotes ''a way of being.'' ... Not merely a [[creed]] but an organic and all-encompassing, pulsing, breathing way of life".<ref>The JC: "Yiddishkeit" [https://www.thejc.com/judaism/jewish-words/yiddishkeit-1.8050 Yiddishkeit]</ref>. By Rabbi Julian Sinclair.

From a more secular perspective, it is associated with the [[popular culture]] or [[folkFolk culture|folk]] practices of Yiddish-speaking Jews, such as popular religious traditions, Eastern European [[Jewish cuisine]], [[Jewish humor#Eastern European Jewish humor|Yiddish humourhumor]], [[shtetl]] life, and [[klezmer]] music, among other things.

Before the [[Haskalah]] and the [[Jewish emancipation]] in Europe, central to Yiddishkeit were [[Torah study]] and [[Talmud]]ical studies for men, and a family and communal life governed by the observance of ''[[halakha]]'' (Jewish religious laws) for men and women. Among [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]] Jews of Eastern European descent, who composecomprising the majority of Jews who still speak Yiddish in their everyday lives, the word has retained this meaning.{{cn|date=March<ref>Jewish Unpacked:[https://jewishunpacked.com/what-is-yiddishkeit-unpacked/ What is Yiddishkeit? 2022}}Unpacked]</ref>

But with [[secularization]], 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.". (See: [[Jewish secularism]] & [[Jewish atheism]].) Yiddishkeit has been identified in manners of speech, in styles of humor, in patterns of association, in culture and education.{{cn|date=March 2022}} Another quality often associated with Yiddishkeit is an emotional attachment and identification with the [[Jewish people]].<ref>[[Orthodox Union]]: [https://www.ou.org/judaism-101/glossary/yiddishkeit/ Yiddishkeit]</ref>

==See also==

* [[Jewish cultureatheism]]

* [[Who is aPintele Jew?Yid]]

* [[YiddishWho is a LiteratureJew?]]

* [[YiddishYiddishkeit (TV Theatreseries)]]