Booklist (American Library Association)
by Donna Seaman
As fluent in cultural change as he is in etymology, linguist Katz provides
a wholly enjoyable and many-faceted history of Yiddish, an essential chapter
in the story of Judaism. He chronicles the great Jewish exodus from the Near
East north into Europe, where the creators of Yiddish (which simply means Jewish)
settled in German-speaking regions, called their new home Ashkenaz (the name
of Noah's great-grandson), and forged a vibrant new language by fusing Semitic
and Germanic tongues. Ashkenazim became a vibrant trilingual civilization: Yiddish
was spoken, and sacred texts were read in Hebrew and Aramaic. But written Yiddish
also thrived since women weren't taught to read Hebrew or Aramaic. Katz then
follows the Ashkenazi diaspora to Poland and Lithuania, then on to America,
tracking the flourishing of Yiddish letters until Yiddish was condemned as too
Old World and began to die off.