Podcast Summary

Podcast: Identity/Crisis
Host: Yehuda Kurtzer
Episode: A Yiddish Renaissance: Language, Memory, and Modern Jewish Life — with Rukhl Schaechter
Guest: Rukhl Schaechter (Editor, The Forverts)
Date: January 20, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode explores the complex revival and renaissance of Yiddish language and culture in the 21st century. Yehuda Kurtzer is joined by Rukhl Schaechter, editor of the Yiddish Forward (Forverts), to discuss Yiddish's journey from immigrant vernacular to post-vernacular symbol, the dynamics of its preservation and reinvention, and the shifting meanings it holds for various Jewish communities today. The conversation also touches on contemporary reasons for learning Yiddish, the cultural roles it plays, tensions around identity politics and Jewish peoplehood, and the future of Yiddish creativity.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Yiddish as Cultural Memory and Invention

• Kurtzer frames the episode by reflecting on the presence of Yiddish in American pop culture, and how it serves as both an insider/outsider marker and a “window into the fragility of Jewish identity.” (02:00)
• He mentions Jeffrey Shandler's description of Yiddish as a "post-vernacular language:"

  “To partake in Yiddish culture is to dance between an act of memory retrieval and an act of creating something entirely new.” (05:15)

2. Rukhl Schaechter’s Yiddish Journey

• Schaechter, a native Yiddish speaker, details her upbringing:
  • Daughter of Mordkhe Schaechter, a renowned Yiddish lexicographer, often referred to as the “Yiddish Ben Yehuda.”
  • Family rule: Only Yiddish at the dinner table; “If we started speaking English, we had to put a penny in a pot. So there were a lot of pennies in that pot.” (08:43, Schaechter)
  • Personal contribution to the language: As a child, invented Yiddish words for "marshmallow" (schnee kishila), "flip-flops" (fingershirch), and "poison ivy" (sam bletlach). (07:50)
• Her father’s vision was to make Yiddish a living, evolving language, not just an object of academic study. He created a comprehensive dictionary, continually updated by the family and colleagues.

3. Yiddish Standardization and Innovation

• Comparison to the modernization of Hebrew: “It’s not just speaking Yiddish; it’s a project of cultural invention or renewal.” (09:14, Kurtzer)
• Schaechter explains:
  • The ongoing linguistic project (e.g., updating terminology for modern concepts).
  • Push for authentic Yiddish words rather than German or English borrowings (e.g., resisting “deitschmittisch”). (10:05)
  • The creation of new words is necessary—especially for things not found in shtetl life (“When you want to talk about space technology or sex, we need to have new words.” 11:12, Schaechter)
  • Use of “international words” when needed (e.g., televizje for “television”). (12:15)

4. Yiddish Today: Hasidic vs. Secular Contexts

• Two primary planes of Yiddish innovation:
  • Top-down standardization (e.g., YIVO, dictionary-makers).
  • Organic, everyday evolution in Hasidic communities (Williamsburg, Kiryas Joel, Mea Shearim).
• Schaechter notes less invention and more code-mixing in Hasidic Yiddish:

  “They just take English words and give it a Yiddish accent... It’s easier. Some have begun using dictionaries.” (14:12–15:27)

• Gender dynamics: Hasidic men more keen to use Yiddish, while women are more eager to assimilate linguistically, partly due to their acculturative roles as breadwinners and workers outside insular Jewish spaces. (16:14–17:56)
• Unique depth of cultural context in Hasidic Yiddish, as shown by their intuitive grasp of idioms and humor that even advanced secular students might not get. (19:19)

5. Forverts: Writing, Audience, and Educational Mission

• History: From Yiddish immigrant newspaper (1897) to educational, cultural resource.
• English captions and subtitles are used to make Yiddish accessible to non-speakers and learners:

  “Is this a newspaper or a teaching tool?” (20:34–21:07, Kurtzer)

• COVID-19 drove a jump in Yiddish learning:
  • Pre-pandemic: 50 students/year at major centers.
  • Post-pandemic: 1,000+ students/year; Duolingo saw 250,000 sign-ups for Yiddish. (21:55–22:47)
• Multimedia outreach: Yiddish cooking shows, “Yiddish Word of the Day” mini-lessons, new podcasts featuring slow readings of Yiddish articles to support learners and nostalgic listeners. (22:47–25:59)

6. Why Learn Yiddish Now?

• Three main audience groups:
  • Children of Holocaust survivors seeking reconnection and nostalgia.
  • Academics for professional/regional studies.
  • Millennials and young adults pursuing a Jewish identity independent of Israel—sometimes inspired by the historical Jewish Labor Bund and leftist politics. (26:45–28:17)
• Different learning motivations and relationships to the language, with younger learners often seeking “Bundist” and left-wing roots rather than Zionist or religious affiliation.

7. Political and Cultural Tensions

• The resurgence of Yiddish is sometimes used to mark identity boundaries:
  • “There are Jews who are searching for Yiddish as a means of effectively demarcating themselves as other from other Jews.” (36:13, Kurtzer)
  • Schaechter describes Forverts’ approach:

    “As the mood of the Forward, I wanted to stick to Yiddish culture... a neutral territory so that we can share.” (38:27)

• Within the Yiddishist world, divides have sharpened post-October 7; pro- and anti-Zionist voices coexist uneasily.

8. Cultural Renaissance and Yiddish Creativity

• Surprises from the contemporary scene:
  • Yiddish-language films—including horror.
  • The film “Shtetl” (“SHTTL”)—“a beautiful film shot completely in Yiddish and Ukrainian, and the Ukrainian is very minor, no English at all.” (40:23, Schaechter)
  • Annual “Yiddish Voch” (Yiddish Week) retreats, a full week of immersive Yiddish-speaking living, sustaining the spoken language community. (41:20)

  “We are in a Yiddish-speaking shtetl… It’s so important… This is one joyful way of maintaining our Yiddishkeit.” (41:34, Schaechter)

• The enduring popularity of traditional foods, songs, and community events both inside and outside the Hasidic world.
  • Notable: Social media and global connectivity help preserve and transform “Yiddishness” in surprising ways.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Yiddish as a living language:

  “He [her father] wanted it to be a living language. And so when we sat at the dinner table, if we started speaking English, we had to put a penny in a pot. So there were a lot of pennies in that pot.”
  — Rukhl Schaechter (08:43)

• On the urge for authenticity and new words:

  “When you want to talk about space technology or sex, we need to have new words. So my father felt very strongly that any word that we have in English or in French or in German, we need to have something like that in Yiddish.”
  — Rukhl Schaechter (11:12)

• On gender and language retention:

  “The men are so eager to speak Yiddish to me. The women are not. They are almost indignant... The women still feel the pressure of speaking Yiddish to the children. But sometimes I have the feeling that if they were given a choice, they would rather speak to them in English.”
  — Schaechter (16:14–17:56)

• On Duolingo’s success:

  “Within two weeks, a quarter of a million people had signed up [for Yiddish].”
  — Schaechter (22:19)

• On political divides in the Yiddishist community:

  “We want to work together, but it’s such a sensitive topic... I wanted to stick to Yiddish culture. That’s something that we can all appreciate. And whatever we do with it is their business.”
  — Schaechter (38:27)

• On the future of Yiddish culture:

  “People all over the world who are studying Yiddish know about the Yiddish Voch. It is an inspiration... and that’s what we need, to inspire people to stick with it. It’s not easy. But you know what, as we say in Yiddish, it’s hard to be a Jew in general. So this is one joyful way of maintaining our Yiddishkeit.”
  — Schaechter (41:34)

Timestamps for Significant Segments

• 00:46–04:00 — Kurtzer’s introduction; Yiddish in American pop culture
• 06:57–12:59 — Schaechter’s Yiddish upbringing; family dictionary stories
• 13:52–17:56 — Hasidic vs. secular Yiddish; gender roles in language use
• 19:19–20:34 — Nuance in Yiddish idiom use; humor and culture
• 21:07–26:02 — The Forverts as teaching tool; COVID-19’s impact on Yiddish learning
• 26:45–30:36 — Who is learning Yiddish and why
• 36:13–38:48 — Yiddish as an identity marker and the politics of Jewish peoplehood
• 39:48–42:32 — New Yiddish films; “Shtetl”; cultural retreats and future surprises

Conclusion

The resurgence of Yiddish is less a simple story of cultural survival and more a remarkably multifaceted phenomenon. It reveals intergenerational memory, communal invention, inter-Jewish divides, and new possibilities for Jewish solidarity and creativity. Schaechter, through her work at the Forverts and her personal story, embodies the complicated joy, nostalgia, and innovation that Yiddish represents in modern Jewish life. The episode closes with optimism for Yiddish’s continued renaissance—one sustained not just by nostalgia or politics, but by the everyday joys of speech, song, humor, film, and even food.