Ashkenazi Settlement in Rhineland and its Movement Eastwards

Yiddish as the vernacular language of Ashkenazi Jews

Hamito - Semitic Languages

Berber• Spoken in parts of Morocco,

Algeria, etc.

Semitic• Arabic• Hebrew• Arameic

– the language of Talmud; a language spoken in entire Middle East 2000 years ago

Languages in Europe

Indoeuropean• Roman• German• Slavic• Baltic• Celtic

Ural• Ugrofinnic

Slavic Languages

• Western Slavic Languages: Polish, Slovak, Czech, Sorbian (Lusatian Serbian)

• Eastern Slavic L.: Russian, Belarussian, Ukrainian

• Southern Slavic: Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian

Languages in Europe

Indoeuropean• Roman• German: English, German,

Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, Faroese, Yiddish

• Slavic• Baltic• Celtic

Ural• Ugrofinnic

Yiddish

• spoken by 4 million people• Independent litterature in

yiddish mainly since the 19th C

• Western Germanic language, shaped before 1150

Origins of Yiddish

• Laaz/ Loetz– N – based on French

(Cerfati)– S – based on Italian

• Knaan– Lishon Knaan – based on

old Czech– Western Slavic language– Extinct due to the

expansion of yiddish – last traced in the 16th c.

– Used in the Czech lands, Poland and Lusatia

– Slavic influences in yiddish through Knaanic

Yiddish

• Do you speak yiddish?• What yiddish words do you use?• What yiddish words do you know?

Yiddish

• Do you speak yiddish?• What yiddish words do you know?– Cholent (Tsholnt) – Northern Loez (Laaz) - from

the Latin calentem (kept warm)• Spelled CLNT in the 13th c. by a Jew from Knaan

Yiddish

• Do you speak yiddish?• What yiddish words do you know?– Cholent (Tsholnt) – Northern Loez (Laaz) - from

the Latin calentem (kept warm)– Jarmulka – from the Arameic yira malkhah – fear

of the king

Yiddish

• Do you speak yiddish?• What yiddish words do you know?– Cholent – from the Latin calentem (kept warm) –

developed from the Mediterranean cassoulet– Jarmulka – from the Arameic yira malkhah – fear

of the king– Pamelech – slowly – from Knaanic (Slavic) pomalu

• Diminutive suffixes – from Slavic langugages : – Shtetl – Städt („town“ in German) – Shtetl - Shtetle

Geography

• Zarfat/ Carfat – N France• Loter/ Ashkenaz - Germany• Knaan – Slavic Lands

• Rus - Eastern Slavic Lands

– Hypothetical Khazar Empire – 8th- 12th c. – between Black and Caspian Sea

Ashkenazi Jews

• Rhineland – 9th and 10th C.

• Oldest communities– Trier– Aachen– Cologne– שום

• Speyer• Worms• Mainz

Ashkenazi Jews

• Mainz (Rhineland) – the oldest Jewish

settlement, since 903– On a crossroad of

important trade routes

– Jews expulsed in 1084 but were alowed to come back – the oldest synagogue documented in 1093

• Speyer (Rhineland)– Preserved parts of a

medieval synagogue from 1104 – the oldest on the north of the Alps

– Preserved romanesque mikvah from 1128

– Medieval cemetery with 45 tumbs from 12th -15th C

Ashkenazi Jews

• Worms (Rhineland)– A synagogue documented

in 1034, renewed in 1174• Model for the synagogues in

Regensburg and in Prague – The oldest surviving Jewish

cemetery in Europe – 60 tumbs from 11th and 12th centuries

– Mikvah – 1185– Rashi from Troyes studied

here in 1060-1065

• 11th (since 1095) and 12th c. – crusades to free God´s tumb from muslims – on the way massacred Jews bloody pogroms (Worms, Mainz, Speyer)

• 13th c. – Jews became dependent on the royal power and were gradually isolated from their neighbourhood– „servi camerae regiae“

– Jews have to wear a distinctive garb– Consistent separation of Jews and Christians– Jews are not allowed to own or rent any land– Limited in crafts– Merchants, money lenders - medieval antisemitism often

inspired by economy reasons

1215

– IV

. Lat

eran

Cou

ncil

Ashkenazi Jews

• Since the 13th c. Jews expulsed from England (1290), since the 14th c. From France (1306) and from Germany (1348 – bulbonic plague – practically only the community in Worms renewed) moved Eastward

• Ashkenazi culture is less varied than the Sefardi one – on constant escape they focused rather on Torah = Law than on poetry or philosophy