Jewish Literature

Abstract

Jewish literature consists of two branches: writings in the Hebrew language, which are merely the most recent developments in a great and ancient literature (familiar to everyone in the Authorized Translation of the Bible); and writings in Yiddish, which began to develop as a literature only about a century ago, and today, regrettably, shows some signs of dying out. The Hebrew language has a history of at least three thousand years, and is one of the most ancient in the world. It fell into decline; but its revival, begun at the end of the last century, has proved successful. Its closest relative is Arabic. Yiddish, named after Jëdische-Deutsch, derives from the Frankish dialect of High German spoken by Jews in medieval Germany; it contains elements of English, Russian, French and Polish as well as of Hebrew. Its surviving form is written in a modified form of the Hebrew alphabet. The Yiddish literature first arose from the lower sectors of the Jewish population; it was rejected by the wealthy as vulgar, except by certain ultra-religious Jews who believe that to speak Hebrew, it being the holy language, is profane - and so speak Yiddish. But, even upon those writers who chose Hebrew, it had an important effect. Thus Mendele (q,v.) is as important for his role in creating a new and viable Hebrew language as he is for his work in Yiddish. Yiddish was spoken by some eight million people before the Second World War. This number must now be very much less.