Yiddishkeit

Yiddishkeit (Yiddish: ייִדישקייט — "yidishkeyt" in standard transcription) literally means "Jewishness", i.e. "a Jewish way of life", in the Yiddish language. It can refer to Judaism or forms of Orthodox Judaism when used by religious or Orthodox Jews. 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 and Central Europe in particular.

From a more secular perspective it is associated with the popular culture or folk practices of Yiddish-speaking Jews, such as popular religious traditions, Eastern European Jewish food, Yiddish humour, shtetl life, and klezmer music, among other things.

Before the Haskalah and the emancipation of Jews in Europe, central to "Yiddishkeit" were Torah study and Talmudical studies for men, and a family and communal life governed by the observance of Jewish Law for men and women. Among Haredi Jews of Eastern European descent, who compose the majority of Jews who still speak Yiddish in their every-day lives, the word has retained this meaning. [ [http://www.yiddishkeit.org/ yiddishkeit.org] ]

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". "Yiddishkeit" has been identified in manners of speech, in styles of humor, in patterns of association. Another quality often associated with "Yiddishkeit" is an emotional attachment and identification with the Jewish people. [ [http://www.ou.org/about/judaism/yz.htm#yiddishkeit ou.org:Yiddishkeit] ]

ee also

*Secular Jewish culture
*The Joys of Yiddish
*Yiddishkeit (TV show)

External links

* [http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/ Mendele]
* [http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/98/Apr/yiddishkeit.html The Yiddishkeit Code]

References