Jewish Languages: What’s Trending?

“Yeshivish” is a normal form of discourse for many Orthodox Jews in America–but could it become a new language? (Forward)

Daven is the Yiddish word meaning to pray, and there’s no end of theories on where the word came from. (On the Main Line)

Says Rabbi Shlomo Riskin: “When I speak to God, I speak to him in Yiddish, because that’s how I heard God-talk from my grandmother.” (Jerusalem Post)

A look at “Zubi!: The Real Hebrew You Were Never Taught in School,” the new phrase book of Israeli slang for English speakers. (Forward)

Israel’s Hebrew Language Academy is looking for Hebrew words for terms like “compost” and “composter” and other environmental terminology. (Ha’aretz)

Type designer Scott-Martin Kosofsky explains the creation of Le Bé, his new digitization of a beautiful 16th-century Hebrew typeface. (Tablet)

Do Israelis Speak Hebrew or Israeli? (New English Review)

Discover More

The Hebrew Language

-When and why did the “v” become “b,” so that the Hebrew, “Ivrit,” became the English “Hebrew”? (Haaretz) -Why have ...

How Many Jewish Languages Can You Name?

Here on MJL we cover the basics—Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, Aramaic–but there are others. This week I learned about Juhuri, the ...

What’s in a Jewish Name?

Jewish traditions for selecting a child's name.