How Language You Speak or How You Speak It Can Cause Social Differences In Populations-Yiddish vs Ladino

 Nadene Goldfoot                                  

Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich March 2 [O.S. February 18] 1859 – May 13, 1916), was the icon of Yiddish writing, better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem (Yiddish and Hebrew: שלום עליכם, also spelled שאָלעם־אלייכעם in Soviet Yiddish,  was a Yiddish author and playwright who lived in the Russian Empire and in the United States. 

My husband and I took Yiddish Theater in English to Safed, Israel from 1980-1985 doing "SHE MUST MARRY A DOCTOR".                              

The 1964 musical Fiddler on the Roof, based on Aleichem's stories about Tevye the Dairyman, was the first commercially successful English-language stage production about Jewish life in Eastern Europe.

Neal Karlen is an American journalist, memoirist and author of nine books, currently living in Minneapolis. He is a former Contributing Editor for Rolling Stone, former Associate Editor at Newsweek, longtime contributor to The New York Times; and on-air essayist for several CBS News magazine shows.  Karlen's books, including several national bestsellers, vary in topic ranging from vaudeville ("Take My Life, Please"); religious assimilation ("Shanda"); minor league baseball ("Slouching Toward Fargo"); the intersection between politics and organized crime ("Augie’s Secrets") and linguistics ("The Story of Yiddish").                                     

    

 

Ofra Haza, great singer from Yemen, family made aliyah, was Israeli.  She was my favorite singer when I lived in Israel from 1980-end of 85.  Ofra Haza was an Israeli singer, songwriter, and actress, commonly known in the Western world as "the Madonna of the East", or "the Israeli Madonna". Her voice has been described as a "tender" mezzo-soprano. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Haza at number 186 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. She passed away in February 2000 at age 42.                   

Whether or not Neal Karlen is Jewish or has Jewish roots is debatable. Nothing is recorded about that.  He knows a lot of Yiddish, though, so I think he is.   In his Yiddish book, he mentions that "a loss to Yiddishkeit has been the death of Ladino, the Yiddish-like language used by Jews in countries along the Iberian Peninsula.  Yiddish speakers, if they'd heard of Ladino at all, considered the tongue the little sister of the mamme loshn.  Yiddish was thought by the Ladino speakers to be a vulgar mish-mosh of verbal nothingness." 

Sammy Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician converted to Judaism because of personal reasons that may have included his belonging to Frank Sinatra's rat pack of friends who spoke a lot of Yiddish in their joking around. 

Yes, Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey Bishop, both members of the "Rat Pack," were Jewish. Additionally, while not always considered part of the core group, other Jewish entertainers like Jerry Lewis and Don Rickles were known to associate with the Rat Pack. 

  Following his discharge from the Army, Davis rejoined the family dance act, which played at clubs around Portland, Oregon. He also recorded blues songs for Capitol Records in 1949 under the pseudonyms Shorty Muggins and Charlie Green.  

Eddie Cantor (January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. He is interred in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery in Culver City, California.  This is the only line showing that he was Jewish on his large Wikipedia report.  People in these days were already fearful of letting people know they were Jewish.  

Cantor was one of the prominent entertainers of his era. Some of his hits include "Makin' Whoopee", "Ida", "If You Knew Susie", For several years, Cantor co-starred in an act with pioneer comedian Bert Williams, both appearing in blackface; Cantor played Williams's fresh-talking son.

While in the hospital, Eddie Cantor described to Sammy the similarities between Jewish and Black cultures. Davis, born to a Catholic mother and Baptist father, was raised Catholic and began studying Jewish history as an adult, converting to Judaism several years later in 1960.  Eddie Cantor had given him a mezuzah for his doorway.  Instead of putting it by his door as a traditional blessing, Davis wore it around his neck for good luck; the only time he forgot it was the night of the accident

The name Ashkenazi derives from the biblical figure of Ashkenaz ; The Biblical Ashkenaz is usually derived from Assyrian ; In Jeremiah ; In the 10th-century.  In the Bible, Ashkenaz is first mentioned in Genesis 10:3 as one of Gomer's sons, with Gomer being a grandson of Noah through Japheth. Later, Jeremiah 51:27 mentions a kingdom of Ashkenaz, alongside Ararat and Minni, called upon to attack Babylon. While the exact location of the biblical Ashkenaz is debated, it is linked to the northern regions of Asia Minor and Armenia, and later associated with Germany and the Ashkenazi Jewish community in medieval times. 

"Ladino speakers were Sephardim taken from the word "Sepharad" (Obadiah 9:20) (under Prophets) which means Spain, and "Zarephath," France.   The Shephards'(Sephardim) lives, beliefs, and manner of practicing Judaism, as well as preserving their Iberian Jewish heritage, was not communicated via Yiddish."

"Ladino, like Yiddish, sponged words from Spanish, Portuguese, ancient Hebrew, the Talmud, Greek, Castilian, Arabic, Serbo-Croatian, and English."

"Ladino, like Yiddish, was usually written in scripted Hebrew letters.  As in Yiddish, Ladino had no rules of grammar or sentence structure.  Yiddish was forged out of necessity by the Crusades November 1095;  Ladino was birthed following the Jews' expulsion from Spain in 1492."

Sephardim were here in America first by landing in New York against Peter Stuyvesant's wishes, but working for the Dutch company caused their okay to land in the 1600s.  Ashkenazi Jews arrived much later from Eastern Europe in droves in the late 1800's to early 1900s with the door closing in 1924. Most Ashkenazis were very poor peasants.  

• In September 1654, a group of 23 Sephardic Jewish refugees including men, women, and children, arrived in New Amsterdam, the Dutch colony that would later become New York City.   aboard the ship St. Cathrien (also referred to as the St. Charles or Sainte Catherine). These refugees, fleeing persecution after the Portuguese took control of the former Dutch colony in Brazil, were met with strong opposition from the colony's governor, Peter Stuyvesant". 

Stuyvesant, known for his anti-Semitism, tried to prevent the Jews from settling, describing them as "deceitful," "very repugnant," and "hateful enemies and blasphemers of the name of Christ." He believed their presence would disrupt the colony's religious uniformity and potentially attract other "undesirables"."                       

Now, in Israel, the two groups have come together again, in some cases, marrying each other.  Only in the synagogues are there slight differences;  not in the IDF.  

                         IDF of all types of Israelis;  

The situation is just the opposite;  the Ashkenazis being more well-educated with skills, easily finding jobs,  the Sephardim coming as 2nd class citizens of Arab countries deprived of finances and education. Now Jews are making aliyah from all corners of the world joining those few who aren't Jewish !    

In religion, we have the Babylonian Talmud and the Palestinian Talmud with the Babylonian being the most favorite.  The Palestinian Talmud, also known as the Jerusalem Talmud, was likely completed around the late 4th to early 5th century CE. Most scholars date it to sometime between the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th century. Some suggest it might have been completed as early as 370 CE, while others point to slightly later events as possible markers. 

The Babylonian Talmud was completed around the 5th or 6th century CE. It was the result of a process of compilation and redaction by Jewish scholars in Mesopotamia (Babylonia). The Talmud is a central text of Jewish law and tradition, and its completion marked a significant point in the development of Rabbinic Judaism.    

The Babylonian Talmud was compiled by Jewish scholars in Babylonia, which is now modern-day Iraq, not by Ashkenazi, Sephardic, or Mizrahi Jews as distinct groups with separate origins which is also true about the Palestinian Talmud. While the Babylonian Talmud is studied and revered by all Jewish communities today, its compilation was a project of Jewish scholars in Babylonia between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE. 

What I know is that Sephardim can eat rice during Passover while Ashkenzis do not.  

The Talmud consists of two main parts:

• The Mishnah: A compilation of Jewish laws and teachings, initially oral traditions, which was edited and written down by Judah ha-Nasi around 200 CE. The rabbis whose teachings are included in the Mishnah are called Tannaim.
• The Gemara: Rabbinic commentaries and discussions on the Mishnah. The rabbis who participated in the process that produced these commentaries are known as the Amoraim. 
  
  
  
• Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, 1040–1105): A renowned French commentator on both the Talmud and the Hebrew Bible, known for his ability to present the basic meaning of the text clearly and concisely.
• As for Ashkenazis that were in Germany, we have rabbis who were scholars constantly studying:  German cities with early and significant Jewish communities that became centers of Torah study include:
  • Cologne: Evidence of a Jewish community in Cologne
  •  dates back to 321 CE, making it the oldest documented
  •  Jewish settlement in Germany.
  • Mainz, Speyer, and Worms: These three cities, known as
  •  the ShUM cities (from their Hebrew names), formed a
  •  league and became a major hub of Jewish life and
  •  scholarship during the Middle Ages. A yeshiva was
  •  founded in Mainz in the 10th century by Gershom ben
  •  Judah, who is credited with introducing the Talmud to Western Europe.       
  • • 
      
      
    • Rambam:  Moses ben Maimon born 88 years later than Rashi;   (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides  and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (Hebrew: רמב״ם), was a Sephardic rabbi and philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. In his time, he was also a preeminent astronomer and physician, serving as the personal physician of Saladin. He was born on Passover eve 1138 or 1135, and lived in Córdoba in al-Andalus (now in Spain) within the Almoravid Empire until his family was expelled for refusing to convert to Islam.  

                                   Sephardi Jews

  • 

    Ashkenazi Jews
    
    

Resource:

Book:  "The Story of Yiddish, How a mishs-mosh of languages saved the Jews" by Neal Karlen

https://www.philipsemanorhall.com/blog/jews-in-colonial-new-york#:~:text=Although%20the%20official%20state%20religion,also%20apply%20in%20their%20colonies.