Not Everyone Can Be a Scholar

People have laughed and thought, told stories and been educated in Yiddish since the High Middle Ages. On the last pages of scholarly books we find recipes, spells and prayers. Copies of rhymed epics were circulated for communal recital. A bundle of documents from Cairo dating to 1382 testifies to the fact that Jewish people were quite familiar with German literature and adapted it in a humorous way.

In the early 16th century, struggling yet resourceful entrepreneurs began printing Yiddish books in Krakow, Augsburg and Venice. Now women and unlearned men also had access to the Bible and religious precepts. German reformers saw in Yiddish Bibles an opportunity for the mission to the Jews. However, the dissemination of Yiddish books did not fuel the fires of new beginnings but instead strengthened solidarity in the community. It made women more independent and self-confident because they now knew the laws. And on long Sabbath afternoons, they could read about the adventures of Jewish heroes.

Susanne Klingenstein tells the exciting story of early Yiddish literature for the first time: anyone who loves Yiddish literature can now learn about its beginnings.

»In the first volume of her cultural history, Klingenstein expressly does not concentrate on textual exegesis, even though these appear, but devotes herself to the major threads of content and to the people involved. ... She writes […] vividly and fluently ...« Martin Oehlen, Frankfurter Rundschau