Will knowledge of Yiddish be useful traveling in Israel?

3/6/2013 3:18:03 AM

Yiddish is spoken by older Russian immigrants (50+) all over. However it is not clear and has to be searched for. Since it is identified with old Ashkenazi and religious Haredi, outside certain neighbourhoods (some mentioned above) and cities (Bnei-Brak, parts of Jerusalem) it is not obvious.
Anyway it will not hurt to use Yiddish, which Israelis see as a dead language.
There is a goodsearched Yiddish theatre in Tel Aviv.

5/25/2012 12:42:03 AM

As long as you are dressed modestly, meaning long skirt and long sleeves, you can go into some of the Chareidi stores and the men will talk to you, as long as you have some purpose for being there, i.e. buying something. I have done this on multiple occasions.

5/18/2012 5:53:13 PM

You’d be most likely to find people speaking Yiddish in Chareidi neighborhoods.

One exercise that might be interesting to you would be to walk into a shop in Meah Shearim, in Jerusalem, an strike up a conversation in Yiddish with the shopkeeper.

5/18/2012 5:51:30 PM

Yiddish is only spoken in very specific neighborhoods by very specific people. Usually you would identify them by being rather old (middle-aged+) and very religious (you can see by their clothing). You would probably encounter them in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak.

Some younger members of the certain Ashkenazi religious communities speak Yiddish, as well as some older secular Israelis (mostly of Soviet/Polish descent).

General population won’t know it, and won’t understand you.

Bottom line is that Yiddish would be much more useful in Germany than in Israel.

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Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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