After four years, the Yiddish language is disappearing from the UvA
Mazzel, mesjogge, jatten and of course Mokum: over the past few years, UvA students have been able to immerse themselves in Yiddish and the influence the Jewish language has had on Dutch and the Amsterdam dialect. But after four years, the fun is already over.
“Yiddish returns to Mokum.” With those words, the UvA announced with great fanfare in 2022 that the university would once again offer courses in the language still spoken by around three million Jewish people worldwide. For four years, students were able to enrol in both a language acquisition course and an advanced course on Yiddish language and culture, but from the coming academic year that will already come to an end.
Rothschild Foundation
According to Irene Zwiep, Professor of Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac Languages and Cultures, there is “regret” within the faculty about the disappearance of Yiddish, but due to “the cuts, which affect the humanities in particular, there really is no possibility of continuing it.”
The situation is as follows: the Yiddish courses were funded for a period of four years through a grant from the London-based Rothschild Foundation. “We received a grant to put the Jewish urban history of Amsterdam on the map. The Yiddish courses were part of that,” says Zwiep.
As of 1 September, the funding the UvA receives from the organisation will come to an end. “The rule is that from that point onwards we have to wait a year before we can submit a new funding application. And then we will have to see what is available at that time.”
No Eurovision Song Contest
Although elements of Jewish culture currently appear to be under broader pressure in society, Zwiep stresses that in this case it is by no means a politically motivated decision. “The faculty is not the Eurovision Song Contest, struggling with Jewish studies, but has entirely different priorities than geopolitics. This is a financial issue, in which we look at how we can maintain the existing offering as well as possible.”
Whether the Germanic-Jewish language will thus disappear from the university for good is not yet certain. According to Zwiep, efforts are being made to find new funding. “So far no wealthy benefactor has come forward, but we hope we will be able to take Yiddish under our wing again.” To continue the courses, a minimum of twenty thousand euros would be needed.
