In Response to the Yeshivish-ists: Two Samples of Yeshivish

The following two samples lead me to ask: Is it necessary to communicate like this in Yeshivish? Are these people getting their point across?

Sample 1: A Torah Discussion from Shema Yisrael Discussion Forums

1) If a drop of milk falls onto a kli, it is a sofek how far it will spread. 2) A sofek Rabim is a sofek to the whole generation, a sofek yachid is where there are some people who are knolagable about the sofek. 3) We are meikil in a sofek rabim in that it can be combined with a second sofek to make a sofek s'feka thereby permitting something which may have otherwise been forbidden. 4) We are machmir in a sofek yachid because the facts are knowable; we simply haven't ascertained them. 5) We need 60 times 61 minus a bit to mevatel the drop (and not just 60 times 60) because 1. The drop spreads in the wall to osser (a little less than) 60 times itself. That plus the drop make a little less than 61. 2. This 61 ossurs 60 times itself. 3. Thus we need 60 times (a little less than) 61 to mevatel the drop. 6) Because of the sofek yachid, we have to be choshesh for the worst-case scenario when a drop of milk falls onto a meat pot. Thus when the drop falls on the raikan we assume the drop spreads up to 60 times itself in the raikan area -- thereby making the largest issur of ChaNaN in the kli.

Sample 2: The Gettysburg Address in YESHIVISH TRANSLATION:

Be'erech a yoivel and a half ago, the meyasdim shtelled avek on this makom a naiya malchus with thekavana that no one should have bailus over their chaver, and on this yesoid that everyone has the zelba zchusim. We're holding by a geferliche machloikes being machria if this medina, or an andere medina made in the same oifen and with the same machshovos, can have a kiyum. We are all mitztaref on the daled amos where a chalois of that machloikes happened in order to be mechabed the soldiers who dinged zich with each other. We are here to be koiveia chotsh a chelek of that karka as a kever for the bekavodike soldiers who were moiser nefesh and were niftar to give a chiyus to our nation. Yashrus is mechayev us to do this... Lemaise, hagam the velt won't be goires or machshiv what we speak out here, it's zicher not shayach for them to forget what they tued uf here. We are mechuyav to be meshabed ourselves to the melocha in which these soldiers made a haschala--that vibalt they were moiser nefesh for this eisek, we must be mamash torud in it--that we are all mekabel on ourselves to be moisif on their peula so that their maisim should not be a bracha levatulla-- that Hashem should give the gantze oilam a naiya bren for cheirus-- that a nation that shtams by the oilam, by the oilam, by the oilam, will blaib fest ahd oilam.

Weiser, Chaim M. 1995. The First Dictionary of Yeshivish. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, P. xxxiii.

Rambam on Yiddish, Yeshivish and Other Jewish Languages

When the Jewish people were exiled in the days of wicked Nevuchadnezzar, they mixed with Persians, Greeks and other nationalities. Children were born to them in foreign lands. The language of these children was confused, a mixture of many languages. They were unable to express themselves adequately and accurately in any one language, as it is written: “Their children spoke half in the tongue of Ashdod; they could not speak Hebrew, nor any foreign tongue” (Nechemiah 13:24). When anyone of them prayed, his Hebrew vocabulary was too limited to express his needs or to praise God without mixing Hebrew with other languages. When Ezra and his Beis Din took notice of this they instituted the Shemonah Esreh in their present order: the first contain praise to God; the last three thanksgiving; the intermediate blessings contain petitions for the most essential needs of the individual and the community. They were to be set on everyone’s lips and learned… (Tefillah 1:4).

The development of Jewish languages as a result of galus is a very interesting topic that sheds light on different levels of assimilation and acculturation in various places at different times.

The Gemara in Jewish Aramaic is probably the best example of a Jewish language that comes close to Hebrew in lasting importance for all time.

Judeo-Arabic probably comes next in holiness because of the many classic works of the Geonim and Rishonim that were written by R. Saadia Gaon, and classics like Chovos ha’Levavos, Kuzari, Moreh Nevukhim and Rambam’s Commentary on the Mishnah, Sefer ha’Mitzvos and many Teshuvos and letters.

Ladino was used to write Me’am Lo’ez. Yiddish, on the other hand, was not used as the language for any classic seforim.

What distinguishes all of these Jewish languages from Yeshivish is the fact that they were all written in Hebrew letters. Until modern times -- and the level of acculturation to non-Jewish culture that came with it -- Jews did not think of writing in a goyish alphabet. Other alphabets were foreign to them and not for Jews even when they used the vernacular of the country in which they lived for speech. This tells something about the acculturated nature of Yeshivish that I think many would like to ignore or deny.

The Rambam’s remarks are a sad commentary on our times: “The language of these children is confused, a mixture of many languages. They are unable to express themselves adequately and accurately in any one language.”

In ancient times this produced something positive: The Shemonah Esreh. In modern times we have yet to see what hasgacha pratis will bring about that is positive from the current cultural environment.