Turn It Over Again

Hebrew-Yiddish Language Wars & Shtisel

In this first episode of Turn It Over Again, Dade and Zoe discuss the racial and gender politics of the "language wars" between Hebrew and Yiddish, the way both languages show up in the popular Netflix show Shtisel, and the idea of the Jews "keeping our language." Dade and Zoe discuss Lex (formerly known as Personals), which is a queer, text-based online dating service. The article of Dade's that Zoe references is "Decolonization Means Being in Process: On Sex and Embodied History." [https://www.tikkun.org/decolonization-means-being-in-process/] Talmudic works mentioned or referenced include Pirkei Avos, Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael and Vayikra Rabbah.  Other pieces and writers we reference in this episode include: Sovetish Heymland In Geveb [https://ingeveb.org/] "They Did Not Change Their Names, Their Language, or their Dress" by Elli Fischer "What's the Truth About...the Jews in Egypt Keeping Their Jewish Names, Language and Dress?" [https://jewishaction.com/religion/jewish-law/whats-the-truth-about-the-jewish-in-egypt-keeping-their-jewish-names-language-and-dress/] by Ari Z. Zivotofsky. Redeeming Relevance by Rabbi Francis Nataf "Uri Zvi Before the Cross [https://ingeveb.org/texts-and-translations/uri-tsvi-before-the-cross]" by Uri Tsevi Grinberg/Uri Zvi Greenberg The Meaning of Yiddish by Benjamin and Barbara Harshav Language in Time of Revolution by Benjamin Harshav "Lawless Attachments, One-Night Stands: The Sexual Politics of the Hebrew-Yiddish Language War" by Naomi Seidman C. Riley Snorton Yiddish: A Nation of Words by Miriam Weinstein Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman "Yidish iz mayn mame" by Moyshe-Mortkhe Shafir Reyzl Zhikhlinski "Queer Yiddishkeit" by Jeffrey Shandler "'So the Kids Won't Understand': Inherited Futures of Jewish Women Writers" by Zohar Eeda Weiman-Kelman Irena Klepfisz Shtisel's Ghosts [https://ingeveb.org/blog/shtisel-s-ghosts-the-politics-of-yiddish-in-israeli-popular-culture] by Shayna Weiss Eddie Portnoy Tough Jews by Rich Cohen