A number of Yiddish symbols have emerged to represent the language and the Yiddishist movement over history. Lacking a central authority, however, they have not had the prominence of those of the Hebrew revival and the Zionist symbols of Israel. Several of the Yiddish symbols are drawn from Yiddish songs in the

klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

tradition. " Di Goldene Pave" popularized the symbol of the golden

peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

, and "

Raisins and Almonds "Raisins and Almonds" ( yi, ראָזשינקעס מיט מאַנדלען, translit=Rozhinkes mit Mandlen) is a traditional Jewish lullaby popularized in the arrangement by Abraham Goldfaden (1840-1908) for his 1880 Yiddish musical, "Shulamis". It h ...

" that of a goat, echoing that in

Chad Gadya Chad Gadya ''or'' Had Gadya (Aramaic: חַד גַדְיָא ''chad gadya'', "one little goat, or "one kid"; Hebrew: "גדי אחד ''gedi echad''") is a playful cumulative song in Aramaic and Hebrew. It is sung at the end of the Passover Seder, ...

. The golden peacock has been a subject of

Yiddish poetry Yiddish literature encompasses all those belles-lettres written in Yiddish, the language of Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to Middle High German. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in central Europe and locus for centuries in Eastern Euro ...

, including a collection under that title from

Moyshe-Leyb Halpern Moyshe-Leyb Halpern (January 2, 1886 – August 31, 1932) was a Yiddish-language modernist poet. He was born and raised in a traditional Jewish household in Zlotshev, Galicia and brought to Vienna at the age of 12 in 1898 to study commerc ...

Yiddishpiel Yiddishpiel (combination of "Yiddish" and "spiel" - "play"), is a Yiddish theatre in Tel Aviv, Israel. The theatre was established in 1987 at the initiative of former Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat, Chairman of Mercantile Discount Bank Moshe Noiderfe ...

uses a logo of golden peacock plumage surrounding its theatre building. ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ' ...

'' has used gold in its masthead (also recalling Di Goldene Medine) since 2015, and the Yiddish Book Center has used a golden goat since 2012, designed by

Alexander Isley Alexander Isley (born ) is an American graphic designer and educator. Early life and education Alexander Isley was born in Durham, North Carolina and studied at Durham Academy, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (high school visu ...

with lettering from

El Lissitzky Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Ла́зарь Ма́ркович Лиси́цкий, ; – 30 December 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Эль Лиси́цкий; yi, על ליסיצקי), was a Russian artist ...

's lithographs of Chad Gadya. Kamats

Oyfn Pripetshik "Oyfn Pripetshik" ( yi, אויפן פריפעטשיק, also spelled "Oyfn Pripetchik", "Oyfn Pripetchek", etc.; en, "On the Hearth") is a Yiddish song by M.M. Warshawsky (1848–1907). The song is about a rabbi teaching his young students the ale ...

" highlights komets-

alef Aleph (or alef or alif, transliterated ʾ) is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Hebrew , Aramaic , Syriac , Arabic ʾ and North Arabian 𐪑. It also appears as South Arabian 𐩱 and Ge'ez . These letter ...

as a distinctive letter in

Yiddish orthography Yiddish orthography is the writing system used for the Yiddish language. It includes Yiddish spelling rules and the Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew script, which is used as the basis of a full vocalic alphabet. Letters that are silent or represent glott ...

, in a play on a Yiddish alphabet song. This particular letter () is also used to represent Yiddish on

Duolingo Duolingo ( ) is an American educational technology company which produces learning apps and provides language certification. On its main app, users can practice vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and listening skills using spaced repetition. D ...

, replacing a "Yiddish flag" on the pattern of the flag of Israel but in black with a menorah, promoted by a user from

Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons (or simply Commons) is a media repository of free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used across all of the Wikimedia projects in ...

which was used for a time in the Duolingo Incubator.

Flags

There is no historical language or

ethnic flag An ethnic flag is a flag that symbolizes a certain ethnic group. Ethnic flags are often introduced to the ethnic community through the respective cultural or political ethnic movements. They are popular among diasporas, ethnic minorities, and some ...

for Yiddish speakers, though in the 21st century there have been a couple of minor proposals for digital use as flag icons for languages. Yiddish kometz aleph flag.svg, The komets alef flag, now used for the Duolingo Yiddish course. Proposed Yiddish flag.svg, Proposed Yiddish flag, that was temporarily used for the Duolingo Yiddish course. Yiddish flag.jpg, The Yiddish flag in front of a

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

Flag with a menorah

It appeared on the internet around 2012, when it was published on Wikipedia. Rapidly, it disseminated in the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, becoming number one result in any google search for “Yiddish flag”. Soon after,

, a vocabulary learning app, started using it for promoting its Yiddish course. Following the publication of the article ''"What Flag Should Yiddish Fly?"'', that criticized the flag for its gloomy appearance and resemblance to the flag of Israel (which was considered inappropriate due to an unfavorable policy towards Yiddish in Israel's early years), Duolingo changed it to the komets alef. Despite criticism, the flag remains popular. The claims that the flag originated in anarchist milieu in the early 20th century is not true.

References

{{reflist Jewish symbols Lists of symbols Yiddish

Flags

Flag with a menorah

See also

References