Yiddish Civilisation: The Rise and Fall of a Forgotten Nation

Paul Kriwaczek begins his search when Jewish culture first spreads to Europe during the Roman Empire after the end of ancient Jerusalem and the destruction of its Temple at the hands of the Romans in the year 70. We see the burgeoning exile population disperse, moving outward and northward throughout the following centuries, making their mark in more far flung cities under Roman rule. We see these communities settle and coalesce until in 1264 the Statute of Kalisz lays down a general charter of Jewish Liberties, establishing the legal foundation of a separate, self-governing Yiddish world. It is now the treks that begin from the Rhineland and Bavaria to Western Russia and the Ukraine. By its late-medieval heyday, this economically successful, intellectually adventurous, and largely self-ruling Yiddish society stretches from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

Providing a rich portrait of Yiddish civilization, Kriwaczek reflects upon the development of Yiddish language, occupations, social life, art, music, and literature, and introduces us to notable diplomats, artists, and thinkers: from the “Court Jews” of 17th- century Europe to Glikl of Hamelins, who wrote the first great Yiddish autobiography, to Moses Mendelssohn, the 18th-century philosopher and musician, to the great writers of the late 19th and 20th centuries, Sholem Aleichem and I.B. Singer among them. He chronicles the slow decline of Yiddish culture in Europe and Russia, beginning in the 17th century with the Chmielnicki Massacres in the Ukraine and culminating in the Holocaust, but looks further to fresh offshoots in the New World.

Combining intimate family anecdote, travelogue, historical research, and interviews with scholars, Kriwaczek retraces the history of this nearly extinguished civilization to give us a celebration of what remains of Yiddish culture in our own time.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Paul Kriwaczek’s In Search of Zarathustra is available in Vintage paperback.

1. 1. Bist a Yid? --Roots Schmoots! --Nostalgie de la Boue — 2. The Jews of Rome
2. A Basket and a Truss of Hay — 3. From the Mediterranean to the Baltic
3. As Strange as a Circumcised Unicorn
4. Sennan and Zippan — 4. The Remaking of Western Europe
5. Charles's Elephant
6. New Borders, New Allegiances
7. Drang Nach Osten — 5. At the Crossroads
8. In Every Castle a King
9. A Blessing Upon Mieszko, King of Poland — 6. The New Yiddish World
10. The Language
11. The Literature
12. The Religion
13. The Scholarly Tradition — 7. Political Consolidation
14. Landowners, Merchants, Artisans, Servants a the Jewish Inn — 8. The Reformation
15. Hussites
16. Luther
17. Now a Miracle Happened — 9. The Yiddish Renaissance
18. Cracow
19. Prague
20. Dovid Gans — 10. Wide Horizons
21. Wealth and Honour
22. The Great Divide — 11. The Deluge
23. The Cossacks
24. Poverty and Disgrace — 12. Decline . . . --Who Permits the Forbidden
25. The Holy Creed of Edom
26. The Famous Ba'al Shem Tov, May His Light Long Shine
27. Oppose Them Strongly — 13. . . . and Fall
28. The Jewish Problem
29. Words That Fall on Us Like Lashes
30. Shakespearean Tragedy — 14. A Winter Flowering.