We've come to the end of our second week! Our daily experiences this week were much like last week - class 9:30-1:45, discussion groups 2:00-3:00, afternoon programs 4:30-6:00, and free evenings. We've been real socialites this week - we went out with people every single day! It's nice not only to be learning a language but to be meeting and making friends with others from around the world who are doing the same.
I was surprised at how many non-Jews are enrolled in this program. Based on the conversations I've had, I'd say that at least half of the students aren't Jewish. I think it's wonderful that there are non-Jews who find Jewish studies so valuable and interesting that they'd travel to Vilnius for a month, and they've certainly enriched my own perspective on what Yiddish is and what its importance is. Yiddish isn't a language accessible by and related to only Jews - it's a cultural key and symbol to a rich and diverse history/sociology/philology/religion/anthropology. Yiddish has personal significance to me as well as significance--personal and otherwise--to many Jews and non-Jews around the world. My time here is teaching me not only about Yiddish itself but also about the people who love Yiddish and who want to incorporate it into their lives. I'm grateful to have met this diverse array of individuals who have shared their passions with me and with the program, and I celebrate the multivocality of the group that we've created here in Vilnius.
Of course, Jewishness cannot be separated from Yiddish (in Yiddish, "yiddish" means "Jewish"). Naturally, then, the cultural programming is focused on Jewish culture, especially Vilna Jewish culture. As such, on Friday, Jessica and I took separate "Ghetto tours," one offered in English and one in Yiddish. On my English tour, Rochel showed us WWI pictures of Vilnius and compared them to the current city. She boldly took us into a hotel, a restaurant, and a conservatory to point out the differences between the 40s and today. She shared stories about the Great Synagogue, about the building where the Judenrat held council, and the intersection from which tens of thousands and thousands of people were transported to Ponar. I've been walking these streets for two weeks and reading about them in From that Place and Time, and going on this tour further brought to life the incredible power of the events that transpired here.
I think American Jews (myself included) think a lot about the Holocaust even though most American Jews have no close family who were in Europe during WWII. Being here, though, makes an amazing difference. I can close my eyes and almost hear the echoes of peddlers crowded into these narrow streets, and I can just barely begin to imagine the fear of the Vilna Jews as their life and lives were robbed from them. (When the war made its way to Vilna, the city was about 50% Jewish (80,000 people). Now, there are only a few thousand Jews remaining - less than 1%.) As I learn more about the rich and prolific history of Vilna and its heroes--including the Vilna Gaon, Jascha Heifetz, Max Weinreich, and Abraham Sutzkever--I feel more weightily the loss in this area and all across Europe. At the same time, I celebrate the accomplishments and culture that eastern European Jews cultivated over a thousand years, focusing not only on their destruction. This mixture of vibrant life and tragic death swirls through the air during my time here and gives complex meaning to the time I'm spending in Vilnius.
I'm delighted and proud to be studying Yiddish in the Jerusalem of Lithuania, and I look forward to carrying what I learn back to America. I have no doubt that this experience will have a significant impact on my personal and communal Jewish identity, and I can't wait to see what the next two weeks have in store!
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