Conventional wisdom may say Yiddish lives on only in Seinfeld reruns and the homes of elderly immigrants. But this year, for the first time, it's jointly offered for credit by the program in Jewish studies and the special languages program. About a half-dozen students enrolled in the four unit course.
Lecturer Harvey Varga, 48, grew up speaking Yiddish in New York's Williamsburg neighborhood. He alerts students to the Yiddish that has sneaked into English (schmooze, kvetch, kibitz) and sprinkles the class with humorous childhood memories. "You almost have to be a corpse to speak Yiddish and not be funny," Varga says.
The class also explores how Yiddish linked Jews as they faced persecution. During one lesson, Varga mentions the word "chaya," for life. One student, Estie Nieman, tells the class that is her middle name.
"I was born around the Holocaust," she says. "They gave me the name Chaya, hoping life would start again."
