As I started to investigate, I came across an article published in The Atlantic by Tanya Basu. She looked into the disappearance of the Yiddish language among modern day Jews. Basu states in the article that while Yiddish is not dead, it definitely has vanished among secular Jews. Nowadays, Yiddish is more prevalent with the orthodox Jews, and “the language has become synonymous with Orthodox Judaism”.
Furthermore, Basu interviewed Joseph Berger, a religion reporter from the NY Times, and asked what the future contains for Yiddish. He states “Yiddish will continue to flourish among the Hasidim*” “[But] Yiddish as a language of writers will not because the Hasidim don’t read those works. They use Yiddish as their lingua franca and to discuss the Torah. They don’t read secular works.” Others disagree and say that many view Yiddish as “cool” and study the language.
My question to you is how will the Jewish identity and culture remain alive with a language that many claim to be disappearing?
*Hasidim is synonymous for Orthodox Jews
Link to article: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/09/yiddish-has-a-problem/379658/
Definition of Yiddish: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yiddish