Q&A: That They Did Not Change Their Language!
That They Did Not Change Their Language!
Question
Just wondering: does the Rabbi speak Yiddish, and do you see any importance in it (since it’s a language that only Jews speak)?
Answer
I don’t know a word of Yiddish. I also don’t see any importance in it. A language is a language.
Discussion on Answer
Yes. It set them apart from the gentiles.
Well, doesn’t Yiddish also set Jews apart from gentiles?
And in general, does the Rabbi hold that Jews shouldn’t be friends with gentiles?
When people spoke German, then in order to distinguish themselves they spoke Jewish German (which is Yiddish). In Spain they spoke Ladino (that is, Latino—in other words, Jewish Spanish). In North Africa they spoke Jewish Arabic. Today, if you want to distinguish yourself from the heretics and the apostates (stress on the second-to-last syllable), you can speak Jewish Hebrew……
Honorable Rabbi David,
The same applies—that one can speak all the above—but Yiddish also has that advantage, no?
No. Just as in matters of clothing (in areas connected to immodest dress or idolatry) there is no virtue in wearing a particular style from the past by which Jews distinguished themselves from gentiles—rather than today’s clothing. If our ancestors wore dresses, does that make it virtuous? I am astonished!
Do you see importance, though, in the fact that the Jewish people did not change their language in Egypt?