Yiddish in Israel in 1957

Louis (Leyb) Waller, law scholar, professor at Monash University, and native Yiddish speaker, compares Yiddish in Israel in 1957 to Yiddish in Israel in 2017. He saw it go from being an ignored language to being used regularly in plays and performances.
To see the full interview and learn more about the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project, visit: www.yiddishboo...

[@anhpam9205]

Glad to be living here in Israel, where yes indeed, Yiddish is alive and well, all across the board.

[@DeYiZhiMusilin]

In my humble opinion, this gentleman’s Yiddish is comparatively close to German. Is it possible to know in which part of Eastern Europe he was born and raised? I don’t think he is a Yekke though, because I understood German Jews had stopped speaking Yiddish in the first half of the 20th century. Only those migrated from central and eastern Europe still spoke it. Is that true?

[@pklosow]

He was born in Siedlce, Poland. There is another video where he talks about emigrating from Poland to Australia.

[@DeYiZhiMusilin]

@@pklosow Thank you for giving me the information

[@westhoboken8167]

I guessed that he was from Poland,he certainly did not talk Litvak Yiddish which my grandparents talked and which I became used to hearing.

[@Lagolop]

Yiddish is based on Medieval High German with Aramaic and Hebrew borrow words. As Jews migrated into Slavic areas, Slavic borrow words were also incorporated.

[@jameshudson169]

"Finf" is a favorite word of mine.