Is the language of
Sephardic Jews, undergoing a revival?
By Aviya Kushner
Judeo-Spanish, or Ladino, is one of many
"Judeo" languages which mix Hebrew with the language (or languages)
of the host culture in which Jews live creating a unique Jewish language,
specific to Jews of a particular region.
One example of this phenomenon is Yiddish, the language of European
Jews. Just as European Jews have their own language--Yiddish--Jews of
Mediterranean origin have a language as well, Ladino. While Ladino may not be
as well-known among North American Jews as its Yiddish cousin, the two
languages have many similarities. They are both endangered Jewish hybrid
languages. Now they are both undergoing revival.
Like Yiddish, Ladino is viewed as a personal language of the
Jewish people. It's sometimes called "el espanol maestro"--"our
Spanish"--and everything about it is tied to the ideas of home and
identity. When Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, they carried
"their" Spanish with them, and so the Judeo-Spanish language moved
throughout the Ottoman Empire, binding Sephardic Jews to their heritage and
their original home in Spain.
In time, Judeo-Spanish sponged up some of the vocabulary of
the new home countries of Spanish Jews, with Turkish, Greek, and Hebrew making
their way into the language. That's why today, there are many different
dialects within Ladino, with each area of the world putting its own stamp on
the language.
As the language changed addresses, what it was called
changed, too. In Turkey and the Balkans, Judeo-Spanish was called "Ladino,"
derived from the word Latin, so no one would confuse it with Turkish. In
Morocco it was called "Haquitiya," and sometimes spoken Ladino
is called "Djudesmo."
Ladino's History
Ladino has always been the language of the multilingual.
"Ladino," or latinus in Latin, refers to a person who could
speak a few languages in addition to his mother tongue, which was the case for
most Ladino speakers. Ladino has its roots in the Latin spoken by the Romans
who occupied the Iberian Peninsula from 200 B.C.E. to 425 B.C.E., but today's
Ladino is closer to modern Spanish plus a mix of whatever other languages
Ladino speakers knew.
Just as Yiddish became the cultural underpinning of the
entire European-Jewish, or Ashkenazi world, with its own folklore, music, and
literature, so Ladino has a rich tradition of literature, theater, folk tales
and music. Ladino stories even have their own recurring character, Jocha, or
Ejoha, who is alternately a fool, a wise fool, and a wily trickster, just as
the Yiddish stories have the recurring foolish men of Chelm and the hapless
Herschel.
The Ladino World
How many people speak Ladino? That's a controversial issue,
because the definition of "Ladino speaker" varies depending on whom
you ask. Most estimates say that between 160,000 to 300,000 Sephardim (Jews
of Middle Eastern or Spanish origin) worldwide have some knowledge of Ladino.
In Israel, many estimate that 50,000 to 80,000 people are somewhat familiar
with Ladino. A few scholars are working on surveys of Ladino speakers and other
efforts to get a solid number. If a recent flurry of conferences, study
centers, book-collection efforts and teacher-training programs are any
indication, Ladino may be in for a revival.
"I definitely think interest in Ladino is
growing," says Trudy Balch, a translator of Ladino, who has worked on many
Ladino folk tales. For the past seven years, Balch has been part of a theater
group in New York called "The Ladino Players," which puts on plays in
Ladino. "One year we did three one-acts, one a translation of a one-act play
by Sholom Aleichem," she says. She's seen both Sephardic Jews and non-Jews
attend performances, and she's observed some interest in Ladino from non-Jewish
Latinos who happen to live in New York.
Where to Learn Ladino
For those who are intrigued by Ladino, classes are available
at a few universities, and some Sephardi synagogues offer adult-education
Ladino. The Spanish-Portuguese synagogue in New York has been offering Ladino
classes for years, and The Center for Jewish History in New York offers Ladino
as well.
Many local Sephardic federations offer courses in Ladino. In
Israel, Spain, and Paris, Ladino programs are readily available. The online
discussion group Ladinokomunita has correspondents from all over the world, and
is a great resource for more Ladino information; the catch is that you must
write in Ladino.
Ladino Treasures
The rewards for the student of Ladino include the ability to
read the classic Me'am Loez in the original. Me'am Loez, the
18th- and 19th-century commentary on the Bible, is the major work of Ladino
writing. The Ladino reader can also enjoy the many collections of proverbs and
folk tales that are wise, funny, and very Jewish. Efforts to collect these
treasures are making them more widely available than ever, and English translations
are also being prepared.
Apart from Me'am Loez, there was a flowering of
newspaper writing, translation, and pamphlets in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. There were several Ladino newspapers in Istanbul, Turkey, and
Salonika, Greece.
For centuries, Ladino was written in Hebrew characters,
using either the special alphabet employed by the medieval commentator Rashi or
a cursive script called solitreo. Most Ladino literature is written in
the Rashi alphabet. Today, Ladino is written in Latin alphabet, but in phonetic
transcription instead of the spelling system of today's Spanish. Ladino
speakers emphasize that they are not writing incorrect Spanish, but rather
phonetic Ladino.
Today, a few dozen American, Israeli, and European
universities offer courses in Ladino. In Istanbul, a Ladino newspaper is
published, but it's the only Ladino newspaper in the world. There is an
all-Ladino journal called Aki Yerushalayim, published in Jerusalem, and
a Ladino-French journal called La Lettre Sepharade is published in
France. Israel Radio still broadcasts in Ladino, and Radio Exterior de Espana
in Spain also has a Ladino broadcast.
Ladino's Revival
The Israeli government and private foundations are making
efforts to rescue and promote Ladino. Israel has declared both Yiddish and
Ladino to be endangered languages, and it has established the National
Authority for Ladino and its culture. Israeli government programs include
training for dozens of high-school teachers in Ladino.
Private groups have begun to move, too. The Ma'ale Adumim
Institute for Ladino, located a short drive from Jerusalem, is trying to
collect and catalog all Ladino books in order to preserve Judeo-Spanish
heritage. It has added 300 volumes over the past three years, and its director
is actively trying to locate more Ladino books. In 2002, the United Nations got
involved. UNESCO, or the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization sponsored an international conference on Judeo-Spanish language
and culture, held in Paris in June 2002.
Although Yiddish suffered greatly in the Holocaust, the blow
to Ladino was even stronger, says Balch, the Ladino translator. The communities
of Salonika and other centers of Ladino were completely destroyed, and since
there have always been fewer Ladino speakers than Yiddish speakers, the
surviving Ladino-speaker pool was much smaller.
Ladino scholars and activists are passionate about
preserving the music and humor of Ladino language and literature, and as the
Israeli government puts its muscle into language preservation, there is renewed
hope that "our Spanish" will indeed remain ours.
Aviya Kushner is a writer and a poet currently pursuing
an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa. She can be reached at AviyaK@aol.com .
