Fascinating. My colleague, recently returned from remote regions, contributed this observation on the Yiddish-German relationship and the question of self-hatred as expressed by choice of language:
The impetus behind Moses Mendelssohn's "Biur," or translation of the bible into "proper" German, though in Hebrew script, was an intense and irrational hatred of Yiddish, his mother tongue. "This jargon contributed no little to the immorality of the common Jews," Mendelssohn wrote. Having internalized the hatred Germans felt for Yiddish, Mendelsohn thought Yiddish was a corrupting factor, even going as far to say that rational thought was not possible in Yiddish. As a result, Mendelssohn's attempts to promote German language among Yiddish-speaking Jews were strongly based on hatred of their language, the main vessel of their culture. --- Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: hasaf...@osu.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
