tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3586565064372847590.post1939159283913747983..comments2024-01-01T15:26:04.383-05:00Comments on Rootless Cosmopolitan: Why 'Ashkenormativity' Isn't a Thingrokhlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15442447160759343139noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3586565064372847590.post-81795227597277361242015-04-09T04:10:40.810-04:002015-04-09T04:10:40.810-04:00"If you think the 19th century obsession with..."If you think the 19th century obsession with an imaginary Sephardic ideal has no political or cultural implications today, try speaking Ashkenazi Hebrew in the 90% of the Jewish world where the havara sefardit is normative. I’m always amazed at the strong emotions – anger, disgust, pity—aroused by the mere sound of a final sof. Forget about arguing for the inherent value of Yiddish. Disgust at the mere sound of Ashkenaz is itself bound up with the history of Zionism, also a product, in large part, of an ideological repudiation of Eastern Europe."<br />....<br />I love Ashkenazi Hebrew and Yiddish. A great deal. When Jews who are hostile to one or (usually) both ask me why I love them, it is usually with a tone of mystification. "I understand why those backward shtetl-ites might be attached to their backward language and pronunciation" they seem to wonder "but what value could such things have that even a non-Jew might care about them?"A. Z. Foremanhttp://poemsintranslation.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3586565064372847590.post-85830663278434128812015-04-08T19:57:45.969-04:002015-04-08T19:57:45.969-04:00Very interesting. Quick note: tiny typo. Silha sho...Very interesting. Quick note: tiny typo. Silha should be Siha.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3586565064372847590.post-33771345642042975912015-04-08T12:55:29.163-04:002015-04-08T12:55:29.163-04:00As I believe you have discussed elsewhere, the pro...As I believe you have discussed elsewhere, the problem is not only about racism, it's about various power structures supporting a de-historicized cultural and linguistic hegemony that systematically undermines the local, the particular, and the "ethnic" aspects of Jewish communal life. As you said above, the solution lies in delving into Jewish cultural particularism and linguistic maximalism. Like Steven Lowenstein in book, "The Jewish Cultural Tapestry: International Jewish Folk Traditions," suggests, we need to pay attention not only to the "big tradition" (i.e. the universalizing aspects of the religion) but also to all of the "little traditions," local and particular Jewish cultural practices and languages that have served as a mechanism of communal distinction for thousands of years. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3586565064372847590.post-18639692775275833892015-04-08T12:31:39.700-04:002015-04-08T12:31:39.700-04:00Well said.
Only as a teenager in Israel did I fi...Well said. <br /><br />Only as a teenager in Israel did I first notice the full extent of interethnic animosity amongst Jews. Israeli society is a multi-faceted clusterfuck of racisms. I most poignantly remember a particularly heated argument between fellow sephardi and ashkenazi students in the oysvorf yeshiva about "authenticity" of pronunciation, which was amicably resolved by changing the topic to the myriad flaws of Yemenites, who, the sephardi quickly pointed out, were not sephardic, because Yemen is in Africa! I was particularly shocked by the quality and quantity of animosity directed at Bukharians.<br /><br />I guess I sort of chalked the whole thing up to the yeshiva environment, so I was shocked anew when I went there a few years later and hung about secular society. In the urban parts of the US, racists have some sense that their opinions are generally unwelcome, and they keep their racism light at first, until they can ensure that their audience is receptive. This sensibility is for some reason completely lacking in the public environment there.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00614392677947691863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3586565064372847590.post-79493925697110987872015-04-08T06:41:25.725-04:002015-04-08T06:41:25.725-04:00The Schorsch stuff was fascinating, and I'd ne...The Schorsch stuff was fascinating, and I'd never heard about it before. <br /><br />ElizabethAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3586565064372847590.post-48515764908750389082015-04-07T22:02:03.212-04:002015-04-07T22:02:03.212-04:00Yes, yup, exactly, thank you, more please.Yes, yup, exactly, thank you, more please.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com