Ashkenazi Settlement in Rhineland and its Movement Eastwards

1. Ashkenazi Settlement in Rhineland and its Movement Eastwards Yiddish as the vernacular language of Ashkenazi Jews

2. Hamito - Semitic Languages Berber Semitic Arabic Hebrew Arameic the language of Talmud; a language spoken in entire Middle East 2000 years ago • Spoken in parts of Morocco, Algeria, etc.

3. Languages in Europe Indoeuropean Ural Ugrofinnic • Roman • German • Slavic • Baltic • Celtic

4. Slavic Languages Western Slavic Languages: Polish, Slovak, Czech, Sorbian (Lusatian Serbian) Eastern Slavic L.: Russian, Belarussian, Ukrainian Southern Slavic: Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian

5. Languages in Europe Indoeuropean Ural Ugrofinnic • Roman • German: English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, Faroese, Yiddish • Slavic • Baltic • Celtic

6. Yiddish • spoken by 4 million people • Independent litterature in yiddish mainly since the 19th C • Western Germanic language, shaped before 1150

7. Origins of Yiddish • Laaz/ Loetz • N – based on French (Cerfati) • S – based on Italian • Knaan • Lishon Knaan – based on old Czech • Western Slavic language • Extinct due to the expansion of yiddish – last traced in the 16th c. • Used in the Czech lands, Poland and Lusatia • Slavic influences in yiddish through Knaanic

8. Yiddish • Do you speak yiddish? • What yiddish words do you use? • What yiddish words do you know?

9. Yiddish • Do you speak yiddish? • What yiddish words do you know? • Cholent (Tsholnt) – Northern Loez (Laaz) - from the Latin calentem (kept warm) • Spelled CLNT in the 13th c. by a Jew from Knaan

10. Yiddish • Do you speak yiddish? • What yiddish words do you know? • Cholent (Tsholnt) – Northern Loez (Laaz) - from the Latin calentem (kept warm) • Jarmulka – from the Arameic yira malkhah – fear of the king

11. Yiddish • Do you speak yiddish? • What yiddish words do you know? • Cholent – from the Latin calentem (kept warm) – developed from the Mediterranean cassoulet • Jarmulka – from the Arameic yira malkhah – fear of the king • Pamelech – slowly – from Knaanic (Slavic) pomalu • Diminutive suffixes – from Slavic langugages : • Shtetl – Städt („town“ in German) – Shtetl - Shtetle

12. Geography • Zarfat/ Carfat – N France • Loter/ Ashkenaz - Germany • Knaan – Slavic Lands • Rus - Eastern Slavic Lands • Hypothetical Khazar Empire – 8th- 12th c. – between Black and Caspian Sea

14. Ashkenazi Jews • Rhineland – 9th and 10th C. • Oldest communities • Trier • Aachen • Cologne • שום • Speyer • Worms • Mainz

15. Ashkenazi Jews • Mainz (Rhineland) • the oldest Jewish settlement, since 903 • On a crossroad of important trade routes • Jews expulsed in 1084 but were alowed to come back – the oldest synagogue documented in 1093 • Speyer (Rhineland) • Preserved parts of a medieval synagogue from 1104 – the oldest on the north of the Alps • Preserved romanesque mikvah from 1128 • Medieval cemetery with 45 tumbs from 12th -15th C

16. Ashkenazi Jews • Worms (Rhineland) • A synagogue documented in 1034, renewed in 1174 • Model for the synagogues in Regensburg and in Prague • The oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Europe – 60 tumbs from 11th and 12th centuries • Mikvah – 1185 • Rashi from Troyes studied here in 1060-1065

17. 11th (since 1095) and 12th c. – crusades to free God´s tumb from muslims – on the way massacred Jews bloody pogroms (Worms, Mainz, Speyer) • 13th c. – Jews became dependent on the royal power and were gradually isolated from their neighbourhood • „servi camerae regiae“

18. 1215 – IV. Lateran Council • Jews have to wear a distinctive garb • Consistent separation of Jews and Christians • Jews are not allowed to own or rent any land • Limited in crafts • Merchants, money lenders - medieval antisemitism often inspired by economy reasons

19. Ashkenazi Jews • Since the 13th c. Jews expulsed from England (1290), since the 14th c. From France (1306) and from Germany (1348 – bulbonic plague – practically only the community in Worms renewed) moved Eastward • Ashkenazi culture is less varied than the Sefardi one – on constant escape they focused rather on Torah = Law than on poetry or philosophy