Grapevine December 1, 2024: Yiddish in Japan?

■ WOULD YOU believe that Yiddish is taught at the Tokyo and Kyoto universities in Japan? It’s not because Chabad, whose emissaries include Yiddish speakers, is active in Japan. Nor is it a holdover from the time that Japan gave shelter to students of the Mir Yeshiva during the Second World War.

Just as scholars and researchers are interested in exploring Latin and ancient Greek or the history of any other language, Japanese scholars are interested in Yiddish, which, in recent years, has gained popularity and revivals in several countries. Part of the reason is that Yiddish, like Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Italian, Judeo-Persian, and other languages spoken among Jews in the different countries in which they lived, is a part of Jewish heritage.

David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding prime minister, tried to outlaw Yiddish because he wanted Israeli Jews to shed all vestiges of the European ghettos. However, heritage is often stronger than law, and Yiddish has prevailed and is taught at several Israeli universities as well as at Beth Sholem Aleichem, Beit Leivik, and Yung Yidish, to name a few of the options, not to mention Ashkenazi yeshivot.

Jews and non-Jews who study Yiddish in formal and informal settings do so because they want to read works by Yiddish authors in the original and not in translation – in particular, the works of Nobel Prize laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Yiddish classes are also given via Zoom both in Israel and abroad. Beit Leivik is re-introducing The Yiddish Experience, in which Tova Reshtik Davidson will give lessons in reading, translation, song, anecdotes, colorful Yiddish expressions, and more every two weeks over a ten-month period.

The Zoom sessions will be in the morning between 9.30 and 10.45 a.m. The cost for the whole 10 months is NIS 400. Payments can be made in two installments. For further information, email layvikmail@gmail.com or telephone at 03-5231830.

People who are proficient in reading Yiddish may be interested in a Yiddish book fair taking place on December 29 between 4 and 7 p.m. at Beit Hagimlai, 6 Sirkin Street, Herzliya. The fair is in cooperation with Beit Leivik.

Several bookstores, including Beit Leivik, are now stocking Hebrew-Yiddish and English-Yiddish dictionaries. The most interesting of these to readers of The Jerusalem Post would probably be the Comprehensive English-Yiddish Dictionary, published in hardcover by Indiana University Press, edited by Paul Glasser, and republished in 2016.

Containing nearly 50,000 entries, 33,000 sub-entries, and over 833 pages, this dictionary emphasizes Yiddish as a living language that is spoken in many places around the world. The late Mordkhe Schaechter collected and researched spoken and literary Yiddish in all its varieties, and this landmark dictionary reflects his vision for present-day and future Yiddish usage.

The richness of dialect differences and historical developments are noted in entries ranging from agriculture to “zoology and include words and expressions that can be found in classic and contemporary literature, newspapers, and other sources of the written word and have long been used by professionals, tradesmen, in synagogues, at home, in intimate life, and wherever Yiddish-speaking Jews have lived and worked.

To get an up-to-date picture of what is going on in the Yiddish world today, the best source is YIVO in New York, which is dedicated to preserving and promoting spoken Yiddish, Yiddish literature, and Yiddish drama.

Also, in New York, beginning on December 18 and continuing to January 5, at the Out of the Box Theater off-Broadway, there will be Bashevis Singer’s Demons in the original Yiddish with English subtitles.

Starring is Shane Baker, who has previously appeared in other Yiddish productions off-Broadway and is involved in other Yiddish activities and projects.

Queen of Habima turns 95

■ ONE LAST Yiddish-related item: Veteran actress Leah Koenig, who on November 30 turned 95, is the queen of Habima Theatre and also performs on the Yiddish stage, sometimes performing in three different productions in the same week. Because she is so popular and due to her ongoing theatrical career in which she plays starring roles that are not usually given to aging actors, she has been interviewed several times in recent weeks in print and electronic media.

When asked how she remembers her lines, she replied that she sometimes forgets, but the secret of carrying on with the show without the audience being aware of forgotten lines is to enter into the persona of the character being played. Once you learn about that person and can anticipate what he or she might say, you just improvise when you forget, and no one is any the wiser, she said.

A meeting of minds

■ ACCORDING TO the old adage, misery loves company, and at this time of the year, one of the best places to share woes is Eilat, where the weather is much warmer, rain is infrequent, and the hotel facilities are generally good. So anyone looking for the CEO of their local municipality is likely to find that individual in Eilat, where the Association of CEOs of Local Municipalities is holding its annual meeting. 

There are always gripes at such events, but more so this year due to so many broken promises on the part of the government and severe upheavals in municipalities in the North and South of the country.

In addition to the CEOs and senior administrative staff, the conference, which runs from December 1-4, will also be attended by Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat, who is a former mayor of Jerusalem; Education Minister Yoav Kisch; Interior Minister Moshe Arbel; and Maj.-Gen. Rafi Milo, the head of Home Front Command. Prof. Yaron Zilka, a former accountant-general in the Finance Ministry, will also participate.

Under the heading of War on all Fronts, the discussion will focus on the effects of the October 7 catastrophe on the disruptions in the personal lives of tens of thousands of people and the challenges still confronting them.

Many displaced families and individuals have been living in cramped conditions away from home for a year or more. Of these, a large percentage are required to do reserve duty in the IDF several times a year or for one very long stretch as combat soldiers. This places a severe emotional strain on families and economic strain on employers, employees, and, ultimately, the national economy.

Over the past year, municipalities have used a variety of strategies to be more efficient and effective while coping with broken promises on the part of the government.

A historic anniversary 

■ THE MARKING of a historic anniversary is all the more meaningful when at least one of the participants who was actually present when the event took place is there to commemorate it. Retired Supreme Court justice Elyakim Rubinstein was not only present 30 years ago when the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan was signed, but he also led the Israeli negotiating team and was also present at the 30th-anniversary event.

The commemorative event was held at the Rabin Center in Tel Aviv and co-hosted by the  Friedrich Ebert Institute. Also present was parliamentary opposition leader Yair Lapid, who accused the government of dragging out the present war.

Vered Holzmann

■ THERE ARE very few glass ceilings left for women to break. Women have senior and often top positions in almost every imaginable profession. There was a time when female teachers were, with rare exceptions, relegated to elementary schools. But now, women are high up in the spheres of academia. One of the more recent examples is that of Vered Holzmann, who has been named Dean of the School of Management and Economics at Tel Aviv-Yaffo Academic College.

Women Directors Forum

■ ONE GLASS ceiling that has been cracked in the past, but not completely broken, is that of women in government, senior management positions, and on boards of directors in which they can participate in the decision-making process.

That may soon change with the launch of the Women Directors Forum, which was established at the initiative of the Israeli Directors Association. The new forum inaugurated at a festive event held at EY’s offices in Midtown Towers, Tel Aviv, is led by the association’s CEO, Hadar Zofiof Hacohen, and the forum chair, Regina Ungar, chairwoman of the Hamat Group.

The forum, which already includes 138 women directors, will establish active committees to work towards increasing female representation in decision-making roles. Additionally, it will focus on enhancing the involvement of women on boards of leading companies in Israel’s economy.

“We see this forum as a significant driving force for advancing gender equality in Israel’s business world,” said Zofiof Hacohen. “Through collaboration, empowerment, and inspiration, we will open new doors for talented women and establish the next generation of female leadership.”

Regina Ungar added: “Our goal is to take proactive steps toward ensuring adequate representation of women in decision-making centers and boardrooms. The demand for balanced gender representation on boards should also come from other directors, chairpersons, and shareholders. We will work to bring about a broad awareness shift for gender balance.”

greerfc@gmail.com