I spent the last week of the International Leadership Seminar in Europe exploring Jewish history in cities around the continent. On the bus to Terezín, a nazi ghetto outside of Prague, our tour guide encouraged us to think about the culture we lost out on because of the holocaust. What books will we never read? What paintings will we never see? What songs will we never listen to? Generations of Jewish artists and their work were erased from history. With the holocaust also came the gradual disappearance of the Yiddish language; centuries of Jewish media are now incomprehensible for most Jews. 

This matters. Understanding the art of the past can build cultural connection and pride. Literature, movies, music, and plays express our shared identities and preserve our culture/traditions. It’s fascinating to see how today’s Jewish teens can still relate to Eastern European Jews who lived centuries ago. The Yiddish language is essential to understanding both ourselves and our heritage.

So, what can we do to preserve the language? It’s unrealistic for us to all become fluent in Yiddish, but we can incorporate Yiddish phrases and terms into our conversations. We can take lessons through apps like Duolingo, check out resources like the National Center for Jewish Film, listen to Yiddish language music, and read translated plays/books. At ILSE, we had a program where we wrote a skit using as many Yiddish phrases as possible. Consider planning a program focused on the Yiddish language, and submit it to the Program Bank! There’s a whole world of Jewish media to discover. Language and culture are profoundly connected–forgetting Yiddish means losing a crucial part of Jewish history.