Yiddish in Jewish Liturgy Urged

The leader of Reform Judaism in America has proposed that Yiddish song and prayer be incorporated into the Jewish liturgy as a way of preserving the Yiddish language “as long as our people lives.” Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler of New York, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, offered the proposal in an address to the recent fourth Congress of the World Federation of Polish Jews meeting here.

Schindler, who is also president of the Federation of Polish Jews of the United States, noted that Yiddish was the language of Polish Jewry, “sacred to us as the tongue of our fathers and our mothers. ” He added: “We must not allow Yiddish to be forgotten and we must always make use of it. It is a precious link at that golden chain which binds us one unto another and the future to the past.”

Toward that end, Schindler urged “that we prevail on those responsible for our liturgy to include Yiddish prayer and song in our siddur (daily book of common prayer) and machzor (prayer book for festivals).” An appropriate place for such Yiddish prayer and song, he said, might be in the Yizkor (memorial) service when we remember the “kedoshim” (holy martyrs). The “Song of the Partisans” — a kind of anthem of Jewish underground fighters in Poland during the Nazi occupation–might be particularly appropriate for inclusion in the Jewish prayer service, Schindler said, adding:

“The Aramaic vernacular which Babylonian Jewry spoke is preserved in our liturgy by the Kaddish (the Jewish prayer for the dead), which is recited during every Jewish worship service. “Why not a prayer in Yiddish as well? It is the language of our people’s heights and our depths, our joys and sorrows. In this manner Yiddish will be spoken so long as our tradition abides and our people lives.