SCHIFF Jewish socialization activities in a Jewish Jews to make multiple lingual adjustments Language, Culture and the Jewish Acculturation setting, home visitations, arrangements for throughout their history. To begin with, of Soviet Jewish Emigres* brit milah, bar and bat mitzvah 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 Daniel and Ezra Executive Vice President, Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York and cultural materials, individual tutelage contain an admixture of Hebrew and in home observance of Shabbat and Jewish Aramaic text. By the fourth century 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 Gemara (Talmud), 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. learning 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. culture shock 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 Jewish identity, 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 job 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 Maimonides 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 Torah, 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, Kuzari, 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 Middle Ages, post-medieval to live freely as Jews and pursue Jewish and different types of Jews. The Jewish Multilingualism and the Jews interests 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 Jew" 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 Jewish culture. 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 Yiddish but seem English. However, even the transitionists During the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries, 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 20th century 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 Jewish languages 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 cultural identity. In the Spanish expulsion by Spanish and Those knowledgeable in the Talmud were ness in Jewish literature, Jewish tradition the process of acculturation, the Russian Portuguese exiles who spread to various quadra-lingual as they mastered the and Jewish memories.