Hebrew University Inaugurates Chair of Yiddish Literature

A chair of Yiddish literature was inaugurated at the Hebrew University here this week-end by Prof. Dov Sedan who delivered a lecture on Yiddish in the creative work of Chaim Nachman Bialik, the great Hebrew poet. The lecturer said that Bialik had considered Yiddish to be a potent means of preserving and reviving Hebrew as the national language. He emphasized that the influence of Yiddish was clearly discernable in some of Bialik’s writings.

Prof. Moshe Schwabe, Rector of the University, in introducing the lecture. stressed the importance of research and instruction in Yiddish. He referred to the controversy which had arisen when it had first been proposed to establish a Yiddish chair at the University and said that “now, as Hebrew has struck such deep roots in Israel, Yiddish is no longer feared as a dangerous rival to Hebrew as the national language.” The chair was made possible by the Jewish National Workers Alliance of the United States.