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As Israel divides Jewish communities, Yiddish draws a new generation

July 10, 2026 · 1 min read

(RNS and NPR) — Lindsey Bloom, a senior at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, grew up going to Hebrew school and attending a synagogue with an Israeli flag hanging near the front of the sanctuary. However, as she has sought to distance herself from Israel’s government in recent years, she said she didn’t know of other ways to engage with Jewish culture — until she learned about Yiddish.

“I’ve definitely talked to quite a few people that just stopped engaging with their Judaism because they didn’t know where to go,” Bloom told RNS and NPR. “That was the case for me. And then I got into Yiddish, and I was, like, oh, this is actually a lot better. I actually align with this a lot more.”

Bloom isn’t alone. The language app Duolingo reported that as of this year, roughly 296,000 people around the world are studying the language with 10th-century European roots. An estimated 60% of them are under 25 years old.

Mindl Cohen, the academic director of the Yiddish Book Center, an Amherst, Massachusetts-based organization that promotes Yiddish culture and literature, said the young people she teaches are engaging with the culture and language in myriad ways. They…

Source: Religion News Service · Read the full story →

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Nicolae Stoica

Interestingly, I did not know that so many young people under 25 (60% of the 296,000 on Duolingo) choose Yiddish precisely to distance themselves from the Israeli flag in the synagogue. Lindsey Bloom says she felt lost until she came across it - sounds logical, this language is related to an old European Jewish culture, not today's politics. However, as an Orthodox Christian, I wonder how Hasidic elders who have been speaking Yiddish for generations feel when they see it becoming a trend among progressive students.

Elena Lungu

Yes, Nicolae, I also thought of the Hasidic elders - for them Yiddish is everyday life, not a Duolingo trend. Lindsey Bloom clearly mentions the Israeli flag in the synagogue and the loss of connection with tradition; I think these young people are looking for older roots, but I wonder if they will go beyond the app or stay on the surface. What do you think, will any of them end up reading real Yiddish literature?

Maria Ionescu

Yes, Nicolae, that's exactly what made me smile too - I remembered Mrs. Rivka from the market in Chisinau who was selling pretzels and speaking Yiddish with her niece, not to be fashionable, but because that's how they understood each other. I wonder if these young people from Mount Holyoke ever get to taste real chicken soup made according to the recipe of their Hasidic grandparents, not just tick off lessons on Duolingo.

Ilie Ionescu

Yes, Nicolae, I wondered the same thing – for the Hasidic in Brooklyn or Mea Shearim, Yiddish is like air, not an option to disconnect from a flag. Lindsey Bloom makes it clear that she was looking for a "better" way after feeling lost, but I wonder if a language learned on Duolingo can also give those old people the daily life of prayers, jokes and chicken soup. What do you think, would any of them end up going to a real Hasidic shul?