A number of Yiddish symbols have emerged to represent the language and the Yiddishist movement over history. [1] Lacking a central authority, however, they have not had the prominence of those of the Hebrew revival and the Zionist symbols of Israel. Several of the Yiddish symbols are drawn from Yiddish songs in the klezmer tradition.
The Golden Peacock (Yiddish: די גאלדענע פאווע) has historically been a common symbol in Yiddish literature, popularized by "Di Goldene Pave". [2] It has often been a subject of Yiddish poetry, including a collection under that title from Moyshe-Leyb Halpern. Yiddishpiel uses a logo of golden peacock plumage surrounding its theatre building, while The Forward has used gold in its masthead (also recalling Di Goldene Medine) since 2015, [3] A variation of this symbol has been used as the logo of the Yiddish cafe Pink Peacock in Glascow, Scottland. [4]
The traditional Jewish lullaby "Raisins and Almonds" popularized the golden goat as a Yiddish symbol, echoing that in Chad Gadya, a traditional Passover song. [5] The Yiddish Book Center has adopted the golden goat as its logo since 2012, designed by Alexander Isley with lettering from El Lissitzky's lithographs of Chad Gadya. [6] [7] [8]
In the modern era, some have turned to the komets-alef in search of a symbol for the Yiddish language, a letter that "Oyfn Pripetshik" highlights as a distinctive letter in Yiddish orthography in a play on a Yiddish alphabet song. This particular letter (אָ) is also used to represent Yiddish on Duolingo, [1] replacing a "Yiddish flag" on the pattern of the flag of Israel but in black with a menorah, promoted by a user from Wikimedia Commons which was used for a time in the Duolingo Incubator. [9]
There is no historical language or ethnic flag for Yiddish speakers, though in the 21st century there have been some minor proposals for digital use as flag icons for languages.
It appeared on the internet around 2012, when it was published on Wikipedia. Rapidly, it disseminated in the internet, becoming number one result in any google search for “Yiddish flag”. Soon after, Duolingo, a vocabulary learning app, started using it for promoting its Yiddish course. Following the publication of the article "What Flag Should Yiddish Fly?", which criticized the flag for its gloomy appearance and resemblance to the flag of Israel (which was considered inappropriate due to an unfavorable policy towards Yiddish in Israel's early years), Duolingo changed it to the komets alef. [10] Claims that the flag originated in anarchist milieu in the early 20th century are not true. [11]
The flag of Europe or European flag consists of twelve golden stars forming a circle on a blue field. It is the official flag of the European Union. It was designed and adopted in 1955 by the Council of Europe (CoE) as a symbol for the whole of Europe.
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with many elements taken from Hebrew and to some extent Aramaic. Most varieties of Yiddish include elements of Slavic languages and the vocabulary contains traces of Romance languages. Yiddish has traditionally been written using the Hebrew alphabet.
The flag of the State of Israel was adopted on 28 October 1948, five months after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. It consists of a white background with a blue Star of David in the centre and two horizontal blue stripes at the top and bottom, recalling the design of the tallit (טַלִּית). The Israeli flag legislation states that the official measurements are 160 × 220 cm. Therefore, the official proportions are 8:11. Variants can be found at a wide range of proportions, with 2:3 being common.
Yiddishism is a cultural and linguistic movement which began among Jews in Eastern Europe during the latter part of the 19th century. Some of the leading founders of this movement were Mendele Moykher-Sforim (1836–1917), I. L. Peretz (1852–1915), and Sholem Aleichem (1859–1916). The Yiddishist movement gained popularity alongside the growth of the Jewish Labor Bund and other Jewish political movements, particularly in the Russian Empire and United States. The movement also fluctuated throughout the 20th and 21st century because of the revival of the Hebrew language and the negative associations with the Yiddish language.
Abraham Sutzkever was an acclaimed Yiddish poet. The New York Times wrote that Sutzkever was "the greatest poet of the Holocaust."
Aleph is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Arabic ʾalifا, Aramaic ʾālap 𐡀, Hebrew ʾālefא, North Arabian 𐪑, Phoenician ʾālep 𐤀, Syriac ʾālap̄ ܐ. It also appears as South Arabian 𐩱 and Ge'ez ʾälef አ.
Chava Alberstein is an Israeli musician, lyricist, composer, and musical arranger. She moved to Israel in 1950 and started her music career in 1964. Alberstein has released over sixty albums in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish. She is known for her liberal activism and advocacy for human rights and Arab-Israeli unity, which has sometimes stirred controversy, such as the ban of her song "Had Gadya" by Israel State Radio in 1989. Alberstein has received numerous accolades, including the Kinor David Prize, the Itzik Manger Prize, and honorary doctorates from several universities.
Yiddish orthography is the writing system used for the Yiddish language. It includes Yiddish spelling rules and the Hebrew script, which is used as the basis of a full vocalic alphabet. Letters that are silent or represent glottal stops in the Hebrew language are used as vowels in Yiddish. Other letters that can serve as both vowels and consonants are either read as appropriate to the context in which they appear, or are differentiated by diacritical marks derived from Hebrew nikkud, commonly referred to as "nekudot" or "pintalach". Additional phonetic distinctions between letters that share the same base character are also indicated by either pointing or adjacent placement of otherwise silent base characters. Several Yiddish points are not commonly used in any latter-day Hebrew context; others are used in a manner that is specific to Yiddish orthography. There is significant variation in the way this is applied in literary practice. There are also several differing approaches to the disambiguation of characters that can be used as either vowels or consonants.
Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath is a Yiddish-language poet and author.
Chad GadyaorHad Gadya is a playful cumulative song in Aramaic and Hebrew. It is sung at the end of the Passover Seder, the Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The melody may have its roots in Medieval German folk music. It first appeared in a Haggadah printed in Prague in 1590, which makes it the most recent inclusion in the traditional Passover seder liturgy.
Balabusta is a Yiddish expression describing a good homemaker. The transliteration according to YIVO Standard orthography is baleboste. The expression derives from the Hebrew term for "home owner" or "master of the house" – the Hebrew compound noun בַּעַל הַבַּיִת bá'al habáyit was borrowed in its masculine from and was pronounced according to the conventions of Ashkenazi Hebrew as balebos; in its feminine form, it is rendered as בעל-הביתטע balabusta. The term ultimately became more popular than the original Hebrew expression for a (female) home owner, בעלת הבית bá'alat habáyit.
The European Union (EU) uses a number of symbols, including the Flag of Europe, Anthem of Europe, Motto of the European Union and Europe Day.
Duolingo, Inc., is an American educational technology company that produces learning apps and provides language certification. Duolingo offers courses on 43 languages, ranging from English, French, and Spanish to less commonly studied languages such as Welsh, Irish, and Navajo, and even constructed languages such as Klingon. It also offers courses on music and math. The learning method incorporates gamification to motivate users with points, rewards and interactive lessons featuring spaced repetition. The app promotes short, daily lessons for consistent-phased practice.
AlefBase is the second album by the Israeli metal band Gevolt. Released on 25 March 2011, the album was the first full-length metal album in Yiddish language. All tracks are based on Yiddish folk songs such as Tum Balalayke and Zog Nit Keyn Mol.
The Golden Bride is a 1923, Yiddish language musical, or operetta. It was revived in 2015 and again in 2016 by the Folksbiene National Yiddish Theatre in New York. The production received two Drama Desk nominations, one for Best Revival of a Musical and for Best Director for Bryna Wasserman and Motl Didner.
Gevolt is an Israeli metal band, founded in 2001. The band is known as the pioneers of Yiddish metal. They were the first band who combined traditional Yiddish music with metal.
The use of flag icons, particularly national flags, for languages is a common practice. Such icons have long been used on tourist attraction signage, and elsewhere in the tourism space, but have found wider use in website localization where UX limitations have become apparent.
Pink Peacock was a café and infoshop in the Govanhill area of Glasgow. Described by its founders as "anti-Zionist" and "the only queer Yiddish anarchist vegan pay-what-you-can café in the world", it opened physically in 2021, after being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and announced its closure in June 2023.
Rukhl Fishman, also spelled Rokhl Fishman was an Israeli poet who wrote in Yiddish. In 1978, she received the Itzik Manger Prize.
Di Goldene Pave refers to a mythical golden peacock and is a common symbol in Yiddish poetry.