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Language, Culture and the Jewish Acculturation Of

Language, Culture and the Jewish Acculturation Of

SCHIFF

Jewish activities in a Jewish to make multiple lingual adjustments Language, and the Jewish setting, home visitations, arrangements for throughout their history. To begin with, of Soviet Jewish Emigres* , bar and bat prepara­ the Aramaic vernacular was known to Jews tions, distribution of an experience with in Babylonian exile over 2,500 years ago. Alvin I. Schiff, Ph.D. Jewish ritual objects and Jewish religious The Biblical books of and Executive Vice President, Board of of Greater New York and cultural materials, individual tutelage contain an admixture of Hebrew and in home observance of and Jewish Aramaic text. By the fourth BCE, A vital objective of bilingual-bicultural education for Soviet Jews is to foster a positive holidays, and participation in Jewish com­ the Jews had, in fact, become bilingual. Jewish self-concept while developing Jewish cognition, Jewish language expression and munal programs. The Aramaic language has had a pro­ Jewish life skills. People who view themselves as being accepted, respected and loved are The single most important task for all found influence on Hebrew. The word, prone to develop a positive self-concept. Providing a receptive, respectful and loving Jewish immigrants, regardless of age and ulpan, the method for teaching Hebrew as environment must be the first goal of Judaic instruction. background, is to learn the English lan­ a second language, is an Aramaic word. guage. Teaching English as a Second The term, shiddur, radio broadcast, also The Challenge into the American society with all that this Language (ESL) can also be a useful derives from an Aramaic root. The extent strategy for acculturating Russian Jews to The American Jewish community is called process implies. They must learn to com­ of the use of Aramaic is demonstrated by Jewishness and Jewish living. This is es­ upon from time to time to develop response municate in English, they must find housing, the fact that the (), the pecially important since all Russian immi­ post-Biblical magnum opus of Jewish life, mechanisms to meet new needs. These make vocational readjustments and obtain grants, young and old, participate in ESL is written largely in this medium. The mechanisms often require massive funding, suitable jobs. programs shortly after arrival, either as Hebrew manuscript letter was also sub­ significant restructuring of programs and For the immigrants being Jewish means part of their elementary or high school stantially influenced by Aramaic. the development of new major services. to live as Jews. This requires that curriculum or as part of their adult orienta­ The recent influx of Soviet-Jewish immi­ they be socialized into the Jewish way of Since the initial Babylonian exilic ex­ tion program. grants to the U.S. necessitates such a life. They must acquire the skills of Jewish perience, new language shock and new response. During the last five years 66,480 living—learn about the Jewish community, For adults the ESL time frame is crucial. requiring multiple lingual Russian Jews migrated to this country. Of become familiar with the Jewish calendar, As long as the Soviet emigres are finan­ and multiple cultural adjustments became these, almost half (28,277) have settled in develop a sense of , and cially dependent upon the Jewish com­ a part of Jewish diasporic existence. The New York. Other relatively large concen­ learn to participate in Jewish religious and munity, they participate regularly in ESL Jews were at home in Arabic, for example, trations of Russian Jews have settled in Jewish communal activities. classes. During this time, they are actually before the rise of Islam. In the eighth a captive audience. Once they find a century many Jews in Moslem countries Chicago (4,895), Los Angeles (4,260), and To accomplish all this simultaneously in and permanent housing, there is no guaran­ adopted Arabic as their mother tongue. Philadelphia (3,016). One hundred and a relatively short period of time is a tall tee that the Jewish community will be able The timeless contributions of fifty-four other Jewish communities each order. Here is where the American Jewish to gain their attention for any length of were written in both Arabic and Hebrew. have received between a handful and several community has a unique opportunity to time. Experience has shown that attrition Moreh Nevukhim (Guide to the Perplexed) hundred immigrants. The largest annual demonstrate its resourcefulness. Unfor­ in ESL programs occurs after families are was penned in Arabic so that all Jews could influx occurred in 1979 when almost 29,000 tunately, we did not prepare adequately for settled and are no longer financially de­ readily understand it. His voluminous com­ Russian immigrants were resettled in the this large task. Nevertheless, several sig­ pendent upon the organized Jewish com­ pendium of Jewish law, the Mishneh , United States and Canada. nificant efforts have been made in various munity. It is for this reason that I feel it was written in Hebrew. Yehudah Halevi's The challenge that these immigrants hold communities to acculturate the new immi­ absolutely essential to exploit ESL for philosophical treatise, , is in Arabic. out for the American Jewish community is grants. It is too early, yet, to assess the inculcating Jewish attitudes and values On the other hand, his poetry was written obvious. Denied their right to practice the long-range effect of these efforts. from the very beginning of the ESL accul­ in Hebrew. Jewish religion, the immigrants have The Jewish responses must be provided turation process. ostensibly left the Soviet Union to be able in different ways for different age groups In addition to Arabic, the wandering Jews in the , post-medieval to live freely as Jews and pursue Jewish and different types of Jews. The Jewish Multilingualism and the Jews without being oppressed. attitudes and Jewish backgrounds of the and contemporary periods, have been at This means that Russian-Jewish immi­ immigrants will vary, sometimes greatly, In addressing this challenge, it seems home in Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, grants have to make multiple adjustments. according to their family history and areas appropriate, at first, to provide an historical Greek, Italian, French, German, Hun­ In the first place, they have to be socialized of residence. The responses necessarily frame of reference for our discussion. Bi- garian, Polish, Russian, and English. lingualism and multilingualism are synono- How did Jews make linguistic and cul­ * Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Con­ embrace a variety oi cognitive and affective mous with Jewish tradition. The "wandering tural adjustments to the various lands of ference of Jewish Communal Service, Denver, activities: Judaic instruction and informal " syndrome has made it imperative for their dispersion? One method of adjustment Colorado, May 27, 1980. education for children and adults, Russian-

45 44 JOURNAL OF JEWISH COMMUNAL SERVICE SCHIFF has been the co-opting of other languages acquisition of the ability to speak in the over, almost all of them have no knowledge should be weaned from use of the mother into . Judeo-Arabic, is a lingua franca of the adopted country. This of a Jewish language. Some of the elderly language as the learners become adept in prime example of this type of adjustment. was motivated by the immigrants' need to immigrants understand but seem English. However, even the transitionists During the 9th, 10th and 11th , the use the new language in pursuit of a ashamed to use it. The openness of U.S. agree that instruction in the mother tongue Jews in North Africa, the Near East and livelihood. They learned to speak the society, on the other hand, is significantly and culture should not be totally discon­ Spain spoke Arabic, but did not read this language by using it, without any formal different than the social milieu of the other tinued. In addition to the maintenance and language. As time wore on, they added a training. Some emigres learned to read the countries of Jewish dispersions. Moreover, transition approaches, the practice of en­ goodly number of Hebrew words and ex­ new language. Fewer still learned to write the previous 19th and Jewish richment introduces new cultural and edu­ pressions to the Arabic dialect and began in it. immigrant experiences in America estab­ cational elements in the native language of to write it in Hebrew script. Thus, Judeo- In medieval and contemporary times, lished patterns for new immigrant Ameri­ the learners. Arabic was born. Judeo-Arabic was popu­ Jews were generally trilingual. They used canization not conducive to the develop­ In this context, Russian-Jewish immi­ lar among Jews until the end of the 13th Ladino or Yiddish to converse among ment of a new Jewish jargon. grants pose a special challenge. Cultural century. themselves and to communicate in writing. The or jargons of pre­ linguistic education of Russian-Jewish They used the lingua franca to do business Ladino is another example of co-opting vious eras—Judeo-Arabic, Ladino and immigrants in the United States must ac­ with their non-Jewish neighbors. Hebrew a foreign language into Jewish culture. Yiddish—helped the Jewish immigrants complish two separate goals—acculturation was their language of study and prayer. This Spanish-Jewish language, written in maintain their Jewish connection in the to the American society and the develop­ The learned Jews also wrote in Hebrew. Hebrew characters, was developed after new countries of residence via their rooted- ment of a sub-group . In the Spanish expulsion by Spanish and Those knowledgeable in the Talmud were ness in , Jewish tradition the process of acculturation, the Russian Portuguese exiles who spread to various quadra-lingual as they mastered the and Jewish memories. The current Russian immigrants need to divorce themselves Balkan, European, North African and Asian Aramaic legal discussions and rabbinic immigrant experience provides no such from the values and belief system of a cities and took with them the knowledge of narratives in Talmudic and Midrashic potential for the transplanting of the totalitarian society which they either con­ 15th century Castilian Spanish. Once these literature. Russian language to the American shores. sciously or subconsciously may have emigres were severed from this linguistic Linguistic Adjustment Russian Jews must make separate Jewish absorbed during the past five decades. source, they added to it a mixture of and general societal adjustments simul­ They must free themselves also from the and Talmudic Aramaic Viewed against this historical background taneously, a situation much different from feelings of stigmatized Jewishness often terms. Several important works were pro­ of acculturation to new lands, the linguistic and more challenging than any Jewish punctuated by denial of Jewish roots, self- duced in Ladino, chief among them, the adjustment of modern Russian-Jewish immi­ immigrant group adjustment before. contempt and self-ridicule, and even by Meam Loez commentary on the . grants is significantly different from that of The first and most important order of attitudes of anti-Semitism. To quote one Today, there are about 200,000 Jews in the Jewish emigres of earlier periods of business for all Russians is to learn to Russian-Jewish emigre; they must lose who still speak Ladino. . Given the size of the Jewish communicate in English. Learning a second mother Russia while they search for father from the Soviet Union (over Finally, as we are well aware, Yiddish is a language is most readily achieved through . prime example of co-opting another lan­ 200,000 Jews have left the Soviet Union a combination of immersion in an English The acculturation dimension of the guage into Jewish culture. Starting approxi­ since 1970), a new Jewish jargon could be speaking environment and bilingual-bi- bilingual-bicultural adjustment of Soviet mately in 1350, Jews from and Italy produced as the Russian Jews settle in cultural education. This teaching strategy Jews in America makes the ESL component settled in Germany and began speaking America. This jargon would be rooted asserts that instruction in the mother tongue of their bilingual education different from high German. From there, during the next naturally in the Russian language. Had the of the learners should not be discontinued ESL for all other immigrants. several centuries, Jews migrated to Eastern Russian-Jewish immigrants been steeped during the process of learning English. In addition to the American acculturation Europe, where the source of their mother in Jewish tradition, this jargon would in­ Bilingual-bicultural education of children and Russian deculturation processes, the German was cut off. Gradually, Hebraic, corporate Hebraic, Aramaic, and Yiddish uses the native language and culture for Russian-Jewish immigrant must make Aramaic and Slavic words entered the expressions, and would be written in learning most subjects, until the second Jewish cultural and Hebraic language German dialect spoken by Jews who began Hebrew characters like the other jargons language skills have been developed suf­ adjustments. Restated in other terms, writing it in Hebrew characters. Thus, used by Jews. ficiently to use it for general instruction. Jewish education (broadly defined) is an Yiddish evolved, and became the mother However, developing a Russian-based Basically, there are two bilingual ap­ intrinsic part of the acculturation process tongue of millions of Jews throughout Jewish jargon is virtually impossible. Al­ proaches: maintenance and transition. In to the American way of life. . most none of them speaks, reads or writes the maintenance approach, instruction in The second mode of linguistic adjust­ Hebrew. Almost none of them brings any the mother tongue and the native culture ESL and Jewish Acculturation ment, sometimes limited to a minority of a substantial "Jewish baggage" with them. continues indefinitely. The transitional In order to effectuate a Jewish education given Jewish immigrant population, was Their life-style is basically Judenrein. More- approach posits that children and adults experience for Russian immigrants several

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curricular imperatives loom large. First, veloping Jewish cognition, Jewish language schools of language teaching, each of which objective via ESL. Judaic concepts and Jewish values should expression and Jewish life skills. People has much to contribute to our under­ Achieving the Jewish objective requires be introduced in the Russian language at who view themselves as being accepted, standing of how best to teach language to the extension of the theory and practice of the very onset of the ESL acculturation respected and loved are prone to develop a Russian-Jewish immigrants. ESP (English for Special Purposes) for process. This instruction must be additive positive self-concept. Providing a receptive, A question is currently asked by teachers teaching Russian-Jewish emigres. ESP is to the basic ESL program. To maximize respectful and loving environment must be of English to those who speak other basically the development of special cate­ the potential of this instruction, relevant the first goal of Judaic instruction. languages: "What makes teaching English gories of language nuance. This approach Judaic realia in modern Russian must be A positive Jewish self-concept, no matter as a Second Language unique from teaching has had a significant effect upon developing provided to the immigrant. The recent how fledgling, will motivate Jewish learning. English per se, or teaching life skills, or materials for the ESL classroom. For bibliography of Russian language print The immigrants will approach their learning teaching other foreign languages?" To this, example, there now exist materials called materials published jointly by the Council with optimism and with confidence in their those of us involved in ESL for Russian- "English for Science and Technology," of Jewish Federations and the World ability to exercise their new roles as Jews. Jewish immigrants must add still another "English for Business," even "English for Zionist Organization is a step in the right They will view their new life situation with question: "What makes teaching English as Custodians." The ESP concept must be direction. In connection with this additional openness and will be able to make the a Second Language to Russian-Jewish extended to include "English for Living in a component of ESL, opportunities for parti­ fullest possible use of their new Jewish immigrants unique from teaching English Sub-Culture." In our terms, this would be cipation in Jewish life experiences should experiences. to speakers of other languages?" The trans­ "English for ." be made easily available. Where appropriate The ability to identify with others is an formational grammarians posit that there This means developing special vocabu­ and possible, these experiences would important factor in developing self-concept. are many similarities in learning all lan­ laries, terminologies and learning materials include activities like the fixing of a The socialization process for new immi­ guages, and similarities between learning a about the Jewish community and about mezzuzah, making tzizit for a tallit, baking grants must, therefore, facilitate identifi­ first native language and a second language. Jewish heritage. hallah, involvement in Jewish calendar cation with new Jewish people models. Therefore, for second language learning, To sum up, this paper has attempted to events, and weekly participation as guests Identifying positively with Israel is re­ we need not put great emphasis on struc­ demonstrate in a historical, cultural per­ of Jewish families for Friday evening meals lated to this challenge. Israel can serve as a tured pattern practice and careful grading spective the role of ESL in Judaizing and Sabbath services. In this regard, major source for the development of posi­ according to linguistic difficulty. Rather Russian immigrants. This process requires establishing one-to-one relationships with tive self-concept. Witness the pride en­ "we need to be more concerned with ex­ the introduction of Jewish content in ESL immigrants is important. gendered in so many Soviet Jews by the posing learners to natural communication instruction and additive teaching about Secondly, the English language content Six-Day War. For obvious reasons, this situations, since this is sufficient to activate Jewish life. The initial Jewish orientation of the ESL program must be Judaically challenge needs to be addressed with much their language learning processes." This through ESL must be reinforced by simul­ oriented. This requires the development of understanding and sensitivity. school of thought underscores the im­ taneous group and individualized Jewish special Jewish curricular materials in While the controversy between transi­ portance of concentration on content and life experiences and by subsequent Jewish English, the engagement of Jewishly know­ tional and maintenance approaches in bi­ message in second language instruction. I learning and living. ledgeable teachers and Judaic training of lingual education is strong, our goal in ESL believe that this is the key to effective ESL These are large challenges for the Jewish ESL teachers without Jewish backgrounds. is clearly to mainstream children and adults teaching for Russian immigrants. The community. Insuring the continuity of Utilizing cultural content in teaching a into the general and Jewish societies. For Jewish content and the Jewish message are Soviet Jews in America is well worth all the second language is fundamental to the children, this means mainstreaming them crucial to the achievement of the Jewish investment of time, effort and money. philosophy of bilingual-bicultural educa­ into their general and class­ tion which stresses historical, literary and rooms and into their English language cultural traditions for the purpose of classes and studies as strengthening identity and sense of soon as possible. For adults this means belonging. ESL for Russian immigrants mainstreaming them into active Jewish life should maximize the use of Jewish content. as quickly as possible. Since the Russian immigrants do not have To achieve these purposes, there are Jewish cultural traditions which can be several methodological considerations we reinforced, these traditions must be intro­ must keep in mind. There is no single best duced through various confluent strategies. method for teaching English as a Second A vital objective of bilingual-bicultural Language. It is up to the teacher to choose education for Soviet Jews is to foster a the most suitable approach. There is much positive Jewish self-concept while de­ we can adopt and learn from the various

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