Yiddish Revival in Israel

By John Ballard

My first exposure to Yiddish was in Miami Beach about 1960 when the high school band was in the Orange Bowl parade. We saw and heard talking and singing in the parkway along the beach in a foreign language we were told was Yiddish.

For a provincial Southern boy who had never seen an ocean it was all very exotic and I loved it. I had many Jewish friends in high school and came from a well-bred family and had been shielded from the antisemitism that should have been my birthright. I learned later that Yiddish was not considered "proper" by more polished Jews. It is easy to look down your nose at those who cling to language and customs reminiscent of past suffering. I can relate. My family with roots in Kentucky had the same snooty attitude about "Hillbillies."

Today is Yom Kippur and last night Jewish services welcoming the Sabbath observed this solemn occasion with three repetitions of Kol Nidrei.

Before sunset on the eve of Yom Kippur ("Day of Atonement"), the congregation gathers in the synagogue. The Ark is opened and two people take from it two Torah scrolls. Then they take their places, one on each side of the cantor, and the three (symbolizing a Beth Din or rabbinical court.) recite:

In the tribunal of Heaven and the tribunal of earth, by the permission of God � praised be He � and by the permission of this holy congregation, we hold it lawful to pray with transgressors."

The cantor then chants the passage beginning with the words Kol Nidrei with its touching melodic phrases, and, in varying intensities from pianissimo (quiet) to fortissimo (loud), repeats twice (for a total of three iterations) (lest a latecomer not hear them) the following words (Nusach Ashkenaz):

"All personal vows we are likely to make, all personal oaths and pledges we are likely to take between this Yom Kippur and the next Yom Kippur, we publicly renounce. Let them all be relinquished and abandoned, null and void, neither firm nor established. Let our personal vows, pledges and oaths be considered neither vows nor pledges nor oaths."

The leader and the congregation then say together three times "May all the people of Israel be forgiven, including all the strangers who live in their midst, for all the people are in fault." The Torah scrolls are then replaced, and the customary evening service begins.

One need not be Jewish to appreciate those hopes and aspirations.