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The language of a thousand years of European Jewish civilization that was decimated in the Nazi Holocaust, Yiddish has emerged as a vehicle for young people to engage with their heritage and identity. Although widely considered an endangered language, Yiddish has evolved as a site for creative renewal in the Jewish world and beyond in addition to being used daily within Hasidic communities.
Yiddish Lives On explores the continuity of the language in the hands of a diverse group of native, heritage, and new speakers. The book tells stories of communities in Canada and abroad that have resisted the decline of Yiddish over a period of seventy years, spotlighting strategies that facilitate continuity through family transmission, theatre, activism, publishing, song, cinema, and other new media. Rebecca Margolis uses a multidisciplinary approach that draws on methodologies from history, sociolinguistics, ethnography, digital humanities, and screen studies to examine the ways in which engagement with Yiddish has evolved across multiple planes.
Investigating the products of an abiding dedication to cultural continuity among successive generations, Yiddish Lives On offers innovative approaches to the preservation, promotion, and revitalization of minority, heritage, and lesser-taught languages.
"Each generation under discussion corresponds to a particular form of Yiddish transmission, and Margolis’ multidisciplinary approach emerges with a rich, multifaceted, and hopeful vision for Yiddish continuity in the hands of those to come. Ultimately, this book shows that the language that, as the saying goes, redt zikh, truly only does so not when looking backward, to the past, but when looking ahead to the future." In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies
"An original, engaging, and lively take on the history of Yiddish. Rebecca Margolis knows her ‘linguistic landscape’ inside out, and has much to contribute to the general debate on language revitalization. Her passion and energy for the subject comes through on every page.” Aidan Doyle, author of A History of the Irish Language: From the Norman Invasion to Independence
“A beautifully written account of the rise of postwar Yiddishism, its contemporary developments, and its promises for the future. As a book about the ongoing vitality of Yiddish as a living language for native speakers, heritage engagers and new language learners, the book deploys an impressive variety of scholarly tools to make sense of Yiddish today: history, ethnography, journalism, oral testimony, film, and cultural and new media studies. It makes the powerful case that contemporary Yiddish is best understood not in answer to the question “Is Yiddish living or dying?”, but as something worthy of careful attention in its own dynamic, continuous, and expanding right – and in the strategies that its users employ to ensure its perpetuation, transmission, and reimagination.” Canadian Jewish Literary Awards jury
“Highly recommended to academic libraries interested in the Yiddish language and Canadian secular Yiddishists.” Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter