ייִדישלאַנד איז אַ טיש

Not sure why I waited so long to post this...

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On the 23rd of December 2007 I attended my first “Call to the Youth” meeting.
The entire proceedings of the meeting, which included 10 people, was held in Yiddish. It was the first time in my life where I was immersed in a completely Yiddish environment. Yankl had warned me before hand that the meeting would be in Yiddish and I might not understand it all, but I decided to go anyway because I need to see for myself a room full of young Jews discussing the workings of a Yiddish organization in Yiddish.
I was overwhelmed with joy listening to my peers talk back and forth in rapid Yiddish. While I did not comprehend them completely, I did understand a lot more than I thought I was, and I followed their conversation from topic to topic. It was great to here Yiddish being sprinkled with the occasional English word, rather than the other way around.
Among other things, they were trying to come up with a mission statement for “Call to the Youth”. Leah distributed small squares of pink index cards to everyone at the table and instructed us to all write a one sentence statement. My was short and sweet, translating to “The future is with the youth”. After writing we all placed our cards into a hat, and then picked from the hat one to read. Many of them were lengthy, and when it came time for Yankl to read mine, they group gave a laugh of approval at its short nature and straightforwardness.
We had to leave the building around what I think was 4:00pm, and so our meeting ended at 4:00pm. Standing in the rain outside of the Workman’s Circle building, I was surprised (although I soon realized I shouldn't be) that the group was still speaking Yiddish. Listening-in the best I could, I figured we were going someplace to eat.
The entire group (minus one who had left) migrated 2 blocks North to Mendls(sp?) kosher deli. The nine of us took a table in the main room and went up for our orders. Slowly returning to our seats with out hot dogs, French fries, sandwiches, and soups the conversation picked up, once again in Yiddish. I tried the best listening as intently to the conversations which ranged from Wedding dates, to organizational planning, Godfather impressions to blogs and facebook. I even got the opportunity to speak about my blog and about my shirt design as well as bring up Rafoel Finkl when a discussion about computer programming and Yiddish came up. It was great just being a part of this table.
Our unique table, made up of all kinds of Jews speaking our common mother tongue, drew some attention from the deli’s patrons. First, a semi-Hassidic looking man from Melbourne by way of Brooklyn came over to our table with a smile on his face looking to find out more about us. He was very impressed. Later, three high school girls from the local Stern Jewish Day school came in. Two sat at a table across from us, looking on as we bantered along. One had a promising smile on her face, as surely what she was witnessing something she had never seen before (at least among “normal” looking, non-Hassidic Jews). She eventually stood up, exclaiming to our table, “You guys are really cool.” And you know what, we were. Yankl began to tell her and her friends about the “Call to the Youth” organization, and my Hungarian counterpart Ariel called out, “Come join the Revolution!” It was great to see that our presence in this deli was helping to inspire a love for Yiddish.
After writing their names and emails down so as they could receive the “Call to the Youth” newsletter, Yankl noticed the semi-Polish spelling of one of the girls names. The whole table bursted into debate about the meaning of her last name. Some had thought it translated to ‘wheatman’ but others were not sure. Eventually the girl said her father and grandparents speak Yiddish, and proceeded to call her dad. Ariel got on the phone and speaking in an excited and fast Yiddish began a conversation about the meaning of this last name. Eventually it was discovered that it was not ‘wheatman’, but ‘jokeman’. Eventually the girls left, and the table’s conversation continued.
The entire 4 hours I spent with my new comrades from “call to the youth” was one of the greatest experiences of my life. It revitalized my faith in the rebirth of the Yiddish language and provided me with the opportunity to meet and speak with some very interesting people.