Mynok
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Joined: 11/30/2002
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ORIGINAL: Onime No Kyo
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ORIGINAL: Mynok
Did some more reading and agree. Found a curious bit about Stalin trying to setup a Soviet 'Zion' in the Far East. It hinted at there being something of a debate about which language should be the lingua franca of a new Israel: Yiddish or Hebrew.
That was quite an eye-catcher since I happen to be studying Hebrew right now.....and due to my basic German skills, I can actually pick up a decent amount of Yiddish.  
Birobidjan?
Thats a good one.
Birobijan was a colonial state. The intent of its creation was the settlement of immigrant Jews (from the Americas, Europe and the Middle East) in the region to further development and Europeanization of an otherwise rather undeveloped region. But Russian Jews were neither forced nor even encouraged to go. As the subject is not one I have ever focused on, I can only surmise the reasons and details behind the "experiment", but economic development certainly stands right up there. Whereas previously, Siberia had mostly been the destination of convicts, from the Staroveri in the 1600s to the Decembrists and Stalins politicals, a willing group of settlers was rather new. One thing it certainly was not, was a racially motivated "quarantine zone", if that's where you were going with it. In fact, Stalin had set up quite a few of these "racial havens" in undeveloped regions. The Karello-Finnish Autonomy jumps to mind (there is a yiddish joke that goes with that but its rather hard to translate well) as well as several in the Caucasus region.
As for Hebrew vs Yiddish in Israel, the debate is ongoing. Startlingly, Yiddish is not a recognized language in Israel, despite the fact that a dazzling number of Israel's "big names" (Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, Ben-Gurion, etc) were from Russia or Eastern Europe and communicated primarily in Yiddish. Yiddish was, and I think to this day still is, banned in many social settings. I find this startling, first of all because I hate to think what Sholom Aleichem sounds like in Hebrew vs Yiddish, and second, because its tantamount to banning the use of French in Quebec (ok, not the best analogy, but you know what I mean).
Wasn't really going anywhere with it. Have little enough knowledge to do so, bro. Thanks for the info.
Would you believe I've heard Shalom Alechem in Hebrew? I believe it sounds pretty much the same as Yiddish. Perhaps with a softer ch sound. I don't believe Yiddish will die as long as the orthodox sect remains. Invariably, what I can't understand of Yiddish ends up being what comes from the Hebrew. It is truly an interesting mishmash tongue.
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"Measure civilization by the ability of citizens to mock government with impunity" -- Unknown
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