New York Times publishes bizarre article claiming Zionism is an “enemy of Yiddish”

The New York Times has been widely denounced for publishing a bizarre essay claiming Zionism is “an enemy of Yiddish”.

The paper, historically no stranger to accusations of antisemitism, printed “Yiddish Is Having a Moment” by guest writer Ilan Stavans, a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Despite claiming to highlight the re-emergence and resilience of Yiddish, he claims the “vast majority of those who speak the language are ultra-Orthodox” and that they “aren’t typically multilingual, as secular Yiddish speakers always were.”

Stavans adds that Yiddish “represents exile – a longing for home”, its survival is an act of ‘stubbornness”, its very will to live “seems inexhaustible”.

Hebrew, he says, “is spoken by about nine million people around the world” and “for some, the language symbolizes far-right Israeli militarism.”

The piece claims “Yiddish was the tongue of women, children and the illiterate” and it “continues to be a language without a homeland, without an army, a flag, a post office or a central bank, the language of a small, dispersed people.”

Joel Friedman JP, director of public affairs at the Pinter Trust, an organisation providing a credible voice for Britain’s strictly-Orthodox Jewish community, told Jewish News:

“The Yiddish language is regarded with great affection by many within the UK’s Jewish community. It is a language that connects Jewish communities worldwide and is an important part of European Jewry’s heritage. Whilst Yiddish is a proud and integral aspect of UK Charedi life and it enables people to maintain their identity and culture, the vast majority of the community speak, write, and read English fluently.”

Ilan Stavans is co-editor of the book “How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish.”