{{Short description|Ashkenaz Jewish culture and religious practice}} {{other uses}} '''Yiddishkeit''', also spelled '''Yiddishkayt''' ({{langx|yi|ייִדישקייט|Yidishkayt|Jewishness}}, i.e. "a Jewish way of life"),{{efn|Competing ways of [[Phonetic transcription|transcription]] exist for the [[suffix]]: {{Transliteration|yi|-keit}}, based on the orthography of Standard Modern [[German language|German]], and {{Transliteration|yi|-keyt}} using the standardized [[YIVO]] transliteration. In Northeastern (Lithuanian) and Central (Polish) [[dialects of Yiddish]], the suffix is pronounced with the [[diphthong]] [{{IPA|ai}}] (as in English ''kite''), but in Southeastern (Ukrainian) dialects with the diphthong [{{IPA|ei}}] (as in English ''Kate'').<ref>[[Max Weinreich]]: ''Geshikhte fun der yidisher shprakh. Bagrifn, faktn, metodn'', vol. 2. YIVO, New York 1973, p. 356 (English translation by Shlomo Noble from 1980: p. 692–693).</ref> Therefore the spelling '''''Yiddishkayt''''' is often used as well.}}<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-03-23 |title=Reconstructing Yiddishkeit - Evolve |url=https://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org/reconstructing-yiddishkeit/ |access-date=2023-05-31 |language=en-US}}</ref> is a term that can refer broadly to [[Judaism]] or specifically to forms of [[Orthodox Judaism]] when used particularly by religious and Orthodox Ashkenazim. In a more general sense, it has come to mean the "Jewishness" or "Jewish essence" of [[Ashkenazi Jews]] in general and the traditional [[Yiddish|Yiddish-speaking]] Jews of [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]] and [[Central Europe]] in particular.
According to ''[[The Jewish Chronicle]]'', "Yiddishkeit evokes the teeming vitality of the ''[[shtetl]]'', the singsong of [[Talmud]] study emanating from the ''[[cheder]]'' and the ecstatic spirituality of [[Chasidim]]." More so than the word "Judaism," the word 'Yiddishkeit' evokes the Eastern European world and has an authentic ring to it. "Judaism suggests an ideology, a set of definite beliefs like socialism, conservatism or atheism. The suffix ''-keit'' in German, on the other hand, means -ness in English, which connotes ''a way of being.'' ... Not merely a [[creed]] but an organic and all-encompassing, pulsing, breathing way of life."<ref>[https://www.thejc.com/judaism/jewish-words/yiddishkeit-1.8050 Yiddishkeit]. By Rabbi Julian Sinclair. ''The Jewish Chronicle'', July 5, 2018.</ref>
==Culture==
Lack of understanding concepts of the Yiddish way of life have been compared to "kissing through a screen door." <ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |title=A celebration of Yiddishkeit |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-dec-11-wk-culturebright11-story.html |author=Duane Noriyuki |date=December 11, 2003 |access-date=June 9, 2024}}</ref>
From a more secular perspective, it is associated with the [[popular culture]] or [[Folk culture|folk]] practices of Yiddish-speaking Jews, such as popular religious traditions, Eastern European [[Jewish cuisine]], [[Jewish humor#Eastern European Jewish humor|Yiddish humor]], [[shtetl]] life, and [[klezmer]] music, among other things.
==History==
Before the [[Haskalah]] and the [[Jewish emancipation]] in Europe, central to Yiddishkeit were [[Torah study]] and [[Talmud]]ical studies for men, and a family and communal life governed by the observance of ''[[halakha]]'' (Jewish religious laws) for men and women. Among [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]] Jews of Eastern European descent, comprising the majority of Jews who still speak Yiddish in their everyday lives, the word has retained this meaning.<ref>Jewish Unpacked:[https://jewishunpacked.com/what-is-yiddishkeit-unpacked/ What is Yiddishkeit? Unpacked]</ref>
But with [[secularization]], Yiddishkeit has come to encompass not just traditional Jewish religious practice, but a broad range of movements, ideologies, practices, and traditions in which Ashkenazi Jews have participated and retained their sense of "Jewishness." Yiddishkeit has been identified in manners of speech, in styles of humor, in patterns of association, in culture and education.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}} Another quality often associated with Yiddishkeit is an emotional attachment and identification with the [[Jewish people]].<ref>[[Orthodox Union]]: [https://www.ou.org/judaism-101/glossary/yiddishkeit/ Yiddishkeit]</ref>
==See also== {{columns-list|colwidth=15em| * [[Jewish atheism]] * [[Jewish secularism]] * [[Jewish culture]] * [[Jewish life cycle]] *''[[The Joys of Yiddish]]'' * [[Pintele Yid]] * [[Who is a Jew?]] * [[Yiddishkeit (TV series)]] }}
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://yiddishinstitute.org California Institute for Yiddish Culture and Language]
[[Category:Ashkenazi Jews topics]] [[Category:Jewish culture]] [[Category:Yiddish words and phrases]] [[Category:Yiddish culture]]