Ashkenazi Settlement in Rhineland and its Movement Eastwards Yiddish as the vernacular language of Ashkenazi Jews

Yiddish Do you speak yiddish? What yiddish words do you use? What yiddish words do you know?

Yiddish Do you speak yiddish? What yiddish words do you know? – Cholent – from the Latin calentem (kept warm) – developed from the Mediterranean cassoulet

Yiddish Do you speak yiddish? What yiddish words do you know? – Cholent – from the Latin calentem (kept warm) – developed from the Mediterranean cassoulet – Jarmulka – from the Arameic yira malkhah – fear of the king

Yiddish Do you speak yiddish? What yiddish words do you know? – Cholent – from the Latin calentem (kept warm) – developed from the Mediterranean cassoulet – Jarmulka – from the Arameic yira malkhah – fear of the king – Pamelech – slowly – from Slavic pomalu

Yiddish Do you speak yiddish? What yiddish words do you know? – Cholent – from the Latin calentem (kept warm) – developed from the Mediterranean cassoulet – Jarmulka – from the Arameic yira malkhah – fear of the king – Pamelech – slowly – from Slavic pomalu – Shlimazel – schelcht (bad in German) mazel (luck in hebrew)

Yiddish Do you speak yiddish? What yiddish words do you know? – Cholent – from the Latin calentem (kept warm) – developed from the Mediterranean cassoulet – Jarmulka – from the Arameic yira malkhah – fear of the king – Pamelech – slowly – from Slavic pomalu – Shlimazel – shelcht („bad“ in German) mazel Diminutive suffixes – from Slavic langugages : – Shtetl – Städt (town in German) – Shtetl - Shtetle

Slavic Languages Western Slavic Languages: Polish, Slovak, Czech, Sorbian (Lusatian Serbian) Eastern Slavic L.: Russian, Belarussian, Ukrainian Southern Slavic: Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian

Languages in Europe Indoeuropean Roman German Slavic Baltic Celtic Ural Ugrofinnic

Languages in Europe Indoeuropean Roman : Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, Catalan, Corsican, Lombard, Occitan, Gascon, Sardinian, Sicilian, Venetian, Neapolitan German Slavic Baltic Celtic Ural Ugrofinnic

Languages in Europe Indoeuropean Roman German: English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, Faroese, Yiddish Slavic Baltic Celtic Ural Ugrofinnic

Languages in Europe Indoeuropean Roman German Slavic Baltic Celtic: Welsh, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Breton Ural Ugrofinnic

Languages in Europe Indoeuropean Roman German Slavic Baltic Celtic Ural Ugrofinnic: Hungarian, Estonian, Finish

Hamito - Semitic Languages Berber Spoken in parts of Morocco, Algeria, etc. Semitic Arabic Hebrew Arameic

National Composition of the Austro- Hungarian Empire Multilingualism – rule of cultivated families that were naturally polyglot Ten recognized national languages: German, Italian, Magyar, Czech, Polish, Ruthenian, Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian, Romanian – e.g. in Galicia the classroom instruction was conducted in as many as four languages including yiddish – Various mixtures esp. in the border zones A journalist Charles Rappaport : "I speak ten languages -- all of them in Yiddish."

Yiddish Yiddish – West German language, spoken by 4 million people; According to some linguists developped from Cerfati (based on medieval French) spoken by 4 million people Independent litterature in yiddish mainly since the 19th C André Ochodlo – Polish singer, sings contemporary yiddish poetry Western Germanic language Some linguists claim its similarities with Lusatian (Western Slavic language)

Ashkenazi Jews Jews in Italy, Northern France (southern France more Sefardi), England, Germany, Bohemia, Poland, Russia etc. Ashkenaz = Germany / Central Europe In the Middle Ages less developped culture that in islamic Sefarad where Jews were much more tolerated than in Christian areas. Jews came to Central Europe as free merchants, mainly through Italy Northern France London Germany – Rhineland – Mainz, Worms, Speyer General litteracy (men and women, boys since the age of four) in an age when almost everyone was illiterate + knowledge in mathematics, multilingualism

Ashkenazi Jews Rhineland – 9th and 10th C. – Jewish merchants from Italy, France, Spain imported luxury goods from the Oriental countries, Iberian penninsule, Sicily, North Africa spices, incense, silk and brocade Mainz (Rhineland) – the oldest Jewish settlement, since 903 – On a crossroad of important trade routes – Jews expulsed in 1084 but were alowed to come back – the oldest synagogue documented in 1093

Ashkenazi Jews Speyer (Rhineland) – Preserved parts of a medieval synagogue from 1104 – the oldest on the north of the Alps – Preserved romanesque mikvah from 1128 – Medieval cemetery with 45 tumbs from 12th - 15th C

Ashkenazi Jews Worms (Rhineland) – A synagogue documented in 1034, renewed in 1174 Double nave Part for women added in the 13th c Model for the synagogues in Regensburg and in Prague (Alteneueshul) Destroyed by Nazis in 1938 and 1942 Renewed in – The oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe – 60 tumbs from 11th and 12th centuries – Mikvah – 1185 – modeled after the mikvah in Speyer – Rashi from Troyes studied here in Ashkenaz Language = German

Ashkenazi Jews 11th and 12th c. – crusades  bloody pogroms (Worms, Mainz, Speyer) 13th c. – Jews became dependent on the royal power and were gradually isolated from their neighbourhood – „servi camerae regiae“ 1215 – IV. Lateran Council – Jews have to carry a special sign – Consistent separation of Jews and Christians – Jews are not allowed to own or rent any land – Limited in crafts – Merchants, money lenders

Ashkenazi Jews Since the 13th c. Jews expulsed from England (1290), since the 14th c. From France (1306) and from Germany (1348 – bulbonic plague – practically only the community in Worms renewed)  moved Eastward Ashkenazi culture is less varied than the Sefardi one – on constant escape they focused rather on Torah = Law than on poetry or philosophy

Prague, Cracow Both towns first mentioned by a Jewish merchant Ibrahim Ibn Jakub in the 10th c. (965) On important trade routes Prague – First Jewish settlement around the Maltese Sq. (synagogue burned in 1142) – First Jewish cemetery around Míšeňská St. – Settlement around the present day Spanish synagogue since 11th/12th c. (smaller part) – Larger Jewish settlement around the Alteneueshul since 12th/13th c. – Ghetto since 1215, separated with walls and gates – Old-New synagogue (Alteneueshul) – the oldest surviving and functioning synagogue on the North of the Alps – 13th c.

Prague Otakar II of Bohemia – 1253 – servi camerae regiae Charles IV – Prague became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire in the mid 14 th c. – Nuremberg – pogrom and destruction of the Jewish houses to make place to the church of Our Lady 1389 – large pogrom reported by Avigdor Kara Hussites – Jan Hus was interested in hebrew and in Rashi Reformation in Germany – Luther - antisemitic Bohemian Brethern – Czech reformation – sympathised with Jews, took care of Jewish cemeteries, etc. Around 1600 – Maharal, David Gans In 1729 the Prague Jewish community with its inhabitants was the second largest one in Europe after Istanbul

Prague Cheb Bible (Eger) Czech words in hebrew caracters > Jews here spoke Czech and currently had Czech names useum.org/?page_id=149 useum.org/?page_id=149 Rivka Tiktiner – The first yiddish writer (mameloshn) – Menekhet Rivka (Rivka´s Nurse) Ethical treatise for women Published shortly after 1600 in Prague and in Cracow First book by a Jewish woman Ideal of a religious woman a vivid picture of the domestic life of middle-class Ashkenazi Jewish women in the Renaissance The book is addressed to “young, inexperienced women” – Preached to women, daughter of a rabbi – exceptional education – Simkhes toyre lid – From polish town Tykocin near Bilalystok – Died in 1550, buried at the Prague old Jewish cemetery

Cracow 14th c. : Golden age under Casimir the Great (in Prague Charles IV) – last ruler from the Piast dynasty – Charles IV and Casimir the Great made a peace covenant : the Czech king rennounced formally on the Polish crown and Silesia was added to the Bohemian lands since – Casimir the Great welcomed Jews from the Western Europe 1364 founded university (in Prague 1348) – second oldest in the Central Europe Kazimierz – Jewish quarter established after the expulsion of Jews from the town – right behind the town walls – oldest surviving synagogue dates from the 15th c. – Jews worked in salt industry – important mines in Wieliczka (in Germany in Halle) – Jews traditionally worked in wine making (e.g. Rashi) and newly in vodka making – Jews were musicians, tailors etc. – Jews worked in finance

Old Synagogue in Kazimierz