There are many questions on how Yiddish — which is the main language of the Jews of Eastern Europe — ended up being spoken by some 2,300 Palestinians in the Palestinian territories. It all began in the early 20th century, when many ultra-Orthodox Jews emigrated from Eastern Europe after the Holocaust to settle in Palestine. Back then, Palestinians and Jews lived in the same neighborhoods and worked together, which explains how some Palestinians acquired Yiddish.  

Yiddish is the dialect of Ashkenazi Jews who hail from Eastern and Central Europe, and it combines Germanic, Hebrew, Aramaic and Slavic elements. Before the Holocaust, there were are about 13 million Yiddish speakers in the world, but their numbers have dwindled, with current estimates standing at between 500,000 and 1 million. 

Mohamed Hawary, professor of religious Jewish thought and comparative religion at Ain Shams University in Egypt, talked to Al-Monitor about the relationship between Yiddish and Palestine. “In Ashkenazi Jewish communities, Hebrew was the language of the Old Testament and prayer. Aramaic was the language of learning, teaching and preaching in the temples, and Yiddish was the language used in daily life.”

He said, “But in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel [1918-1948], Yiddish was marginalized and in some cases banned. In 1951, it was illegal for local theater groups to perform in Yiddish. Later, Hebrew became the national language of the Jews who immigrated and settled in Palestine, and it was considered the only legitimate means of Jewish expression. This was an extension of the policy of forcing Jewish immigrants who settled in Palestine to speak Hebrew among themselves to revive the language, which was also used in prayers and reading religious books.”