1/4 of Yiddish students at Bar-Ilan University are Arab. Yusuf Alakili of Kfar Kassem admits, ‘I have always felt a connection to this language,’
By Dudi Goldman
“I find a certain mystery in Yiddish, a refined and enigmatic musical note. I cannot explain it, but I have always felt a connection to this language.”
Contrary to what one might expect, the speaker is not a Polish poet or a German philosopher. He is Yusuf Alakili, 50, of the Arab Israeli town of Kfar Kassem, who is working on his master’s degree at Bar-Ilan University’s Literature of the Jewish People Department, while studying Yiddish for his own pleasure. Continue Reading »