Most Jewish children in North America have a Yiddish heritage — i.e., many branches of their family came from Eastern Europe — but are barely aware of the richness of this historic culture stretching back over 1,000 years. Much of North American family and community Jewish culture is, in fact, Yiddish culture: religious customs at home and at synagogue, folk melodies, food, humor, and more.
Yiddish culture offers a novel connection to Jewish life for today’s young Jews through which they can enrich and expand their Jewish identities, building on the yerusha (inheritance) of most North American Jews. Accessible to Jews and non-Jews alike, Yiddish culture provides something for everyone in interfaith families and for non-Jews who find Yiddish culture compelling (e.g., some of this generation’s best klezmer musicians are not Jewish). While Yiddish culture used to be “old,” it is new again, now seen as counter-cultural, something that would have astonished our grandparents.