HUC-JIR Faculty Conducting Survey of Hebrew and Yiddish Influence in the United States

Yiddish. Ladino. Judeo-Arabic. Jews throughout history have spoken distinctively Jewish languages. What about American Jews? Two researchers from Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion want to find out. Linguist Sarah Bunin Benor [http://www.huc.edu/faculty/faculty/benor.shtml] and Sociologist Steven M. Cohen [http://www.huc.edu/faculty/faculty/SteveCohen.shtml] are conducting a large-scale survey of Jews and non-Jews in the United States to determine just who uses Hebrew and Yiddish words and other distinctive language.

"This study has been several years in the making," says Dr. Benor, who has published several papers on the Yiddish-influenced English speech of Orthodox Jews. "Some people say that the only American Jews who speak distinctly are Orthodox, but among non-Orthodox Jews I know who are highly engaged in religious life, I've heard sentences that have more Hebrew and Yiddish words than English ones." An example she gives is:

"At my /shul/, /balabatim/ /daven/ /musaf/ on /Yom Kippur/." "We want to know how widespread this phenomenon is."

Benor adds, "Three, four, and even five generations after their Yiddish-speaking ancestors immigrated to the U.S., some Ashkenazic American Jews still use Yiddishisms, like 'I need that like I need a hole in the head' and 'Money, shmoney.' Do Jews use these more than non-Jews? Do they use them only in certain situations? This survey will help us answer questions like these." They are also curious to what extent Americans of Sephardi and Mizrahi background have incorporated Yiddishisms into their speech and how they pronounce Hebrew words. They even include a few words common in Judeo-Arabic and Ladino.

Another issue the study addresses is regional accent. Past research has suggested that some Jews in the Midwest, West, and South use elements of Northeast - and especially New York - pronunciation. "While the best way to understand accent is through analysis of recorded speech," Benor says, "this survey might give us some clues about what is going on."

Finally, they are also investigating how widespread Yiddishisms are among non-Jews and how their use relates to individuals' social networks with Jews and time spent in New York.

Results should be ready by the end of the calendar year. To participate, go to this url.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=9eQwWyblG_2b8ixLqbt6QFhg_3d_3d

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Founded in 1875, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the nation's oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual, and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR educates men and women for service to American and world Jewry as rabbis, cantors, educators, and communal service professionals, and offers graduate and post-graduate programs to scholars of all faiths. With centers of learning in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York, HUC-JIR's scholarly resources comprise renowned library and museum collections, the American Jewish Archives, biblical archaeology excavations, research institutes and centers, and academic publications. HUC-JIR invites the community to an array of cultural and educational programs which illuminate Jewish history, identity, and contemporary creativity and which foster interfaith and multiethnic understanding.
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Sarah Bunin Benor, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies

Dr. Benor is Assistant Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies at the Los Angeles campus. She teaches about the social science of American Jews, as well as about language and culture. She mentors students in the School of Jewish Communal Services and serves as Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Linguistics Department at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include Jewish languages, American Jewish identity and culture, sociolinguistic variation, the linguistic construction of identity, language contact, ethnography, and Orthodox Jews. She is the founder, producer, and editor of the Jewish Language Research Website, and she is the founder and moderator of the Jewish Languages Mailing List.

Steven M. Cohen, Ph.D.
Dr. Steven M. Cohen, a sociologist of American Jewry, was appointed Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy at HUC-JIR/New York. Dr. Cohen, who has published widely since earning his Ph.D. in Sociology at Columbia University in 1974, divides his time between New York and Jerusalem, where he has served as Professor at The Melton Centre for Jewish Education at The Hebrew University since 1992. Prior to that he taught at Queens College, CUNY, and held visiting professorships at Yale University and The Jewish Theological Seminary. Dr. Cohen is well known for his 2000 book, The Jew Within: Self, Family, and Community in the United States, co-authored with Arnold Eisen.

He has authored and edited more than a dozen books and countless articles exploring patterns of Jewish identity and community in the U.S. and elsewhere. Some titles include: "Two Worlds of Judaism: The Israeli and American Experiences" (with Charles Liebman), "Religious Stability and Ethnic Decline: Emerging Patterns of Jewish Identity in the United States," and "De- Constructing the Outreach-Inreach Debate." His research has a strong policy orientation. He serves as the Research Director of the Florence G. Heller/JCCA Research Center, and Consultant to the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies. His current research on behalf of the College-Institute's Strategic Planning Committee illuminates the lives and impact of HUC-JIR students and alumni, through a survey assessing their views on their experiences at HUC-JIR, as well as a survey of over 5,000 Reform Movement lay leaders and their views of HUC-JIR alumni.