Yekke
Encyclopedia
The term Yekke (alt: Jecke or Yecke) is a generally jovial, mildly derogatory term primarily used by Jews to refer to their coreligionists from Germany
or who adhere to the Western-European minhag
.
Today, very few original Yekkes are still German residents, but they remain in regions such as Switzerland, Eastern France (Alsace and Lorraine), and Luxembourg
. A significant community managed to escape Frankfurt after Kristallnacht
, and relocated to the Washington Heights
region of New York City, where they still have a synagogue, K'hal Adass Jeshurun, which punctiliously adheres to the Yekkish liturgical text, rituals, and melodies. Most of the 200,000 Jews living in Germany today emigrated from the former USSR after 1990 and only 105,000 are registered members of Jewish communities.
A group of Yekkes established kibbutz
Chofetz Chaim
in the Gedarim region of Israel
just south of Tel Aviv
. Recently a few new Yekkish communities have been started in Israel by "Machon Moreshet Ashkenaz," and one of the leading communities is K'hal Adas Yeshurun of Jerusalem, which is running a "Nusach Project", a project of preserving the special Yekkish melodies.
an Jews who wore shorter "jackets" ("yekke", cf. German Jacke with an initial y-sound instead of the English j-sound) from the traditional longer coats while the outer clothing worn by the Eastern Europe
an Jews was typically longer.
, German sources occasionally note that Yiddish yekk(e) is largely homophone
with jeck(e), the Rhenish dialectal form of Standard German
Geck of uncertain origin but in contexts relating German jeck(e) to Yiddish yekk(e) attributed to patriarch Jacob
in the Bible as does above-mentioned Yekkef theory.
Rhenish Jeck(e) as a noun denotes a "fool", "jester", or "crazy person" (both in a general sense, and in particular in association with the Rhenish carnival where the term describes a traditional folkloric stage figure akin to the Italian harlequin
as well as merely a reveler celebrating the carnival season in a "foolish" manner due to ebriety) and as an adjective means "crazy", "mad", "insane", whereas the dated High German word Geck originally meant a "fool" as well but later transformed to particularly signify a "dandy" or "fop".
However, the broader usage of the Rhenish noun Jeck(e) in the Rhineland area has even given the term a general meaning resembling "person", "(mere) mortal", or "humble sinner" with a particularly (self-)ironic connotation, such as in the common saying Jeder Jeck is anders (lit. "Every fool is different", with an idiomatic meaning of "Different strokes for different folks" or "Live and let live"). From there, a transformation into an ethnonym
such as for Jewish people would be akin to the fate of similar terms such as Germanic
man (word)
and *þiuda-, and the equivalent words for "person" or "human being" in many other languages around the world.
im (religious customs, especially when pertaining to the synagogue service
). Oberlander
s—Jews originating from parts of Austria
, the Czech Republic
, and Slovakia
—are often confused with yekkes due to similar minhag
im.
A classic example of how exacting and detailed oriented Yekkes can be, is in the following parable: A Yekke says to his wife on the evening of 4 December, "I'll be home from synagogue
services a little late tonight." Explanation: at the evening prayer on the 4th of December, the words "V'seyn Tal Umotor" (Give us dew and rain) are added to the prayer
s for the upcoming winter
season. The addition of these few words causes the Yekke to be "late" coming back home.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
or who adhere to the Western-European minhag
Minhag
Minhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, Nusach , refers to the traditional order and form of the prayers...
.
Today, very few original Yekkes are still German residents, but they remain in regions such as Switzerland, Eastern France (Alsace and Lorraine), and Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
. A significant community managed to escape Frankfurt after Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
, and relocated to the Washington Heights
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights is a New York City neighborhood in the northern reaches of the borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest point on Manhattan island by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, to defend the area from the...
region of New York City, where they still have a synagogue, K'hal Adass Jeshurun, which punctiliously adheres to the Yekkish liturgical text, rituals, and melodies. Most of the 200,000 Jews living in Germany today emigrated from the former USSR after 1990 and only 105,000 are registered members of Jewish communities.
A group of Yekkes established kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
Chofetz Chaim
Hafetz Haim
Hafetz Haim is a religious kibbutz in central Israel. Located in the Shephelah, it falls under the jurisdiction of Nahal Sorek Regional Council. In 2006, it had a population of 450....
in the Gedarim region of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
just south of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
. Recently a few new Yekkish communities have been started in Israel by "Machon Moreshet Ashkenaz," and one of the leading communities is K'hal Adas Yeshurun of Jerusalem, which is running a "Nusach Project", a project of preserving the special Yekkish melodies.
"Jackets"
There are a number of theories regarding the etymology of the word. The best known is that it originates from the cultural differences in dress that developed between the more westernized Western EuropeWestern Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
an Jews who wore shorter "jackets" ("yekke", cf. German Jacke with an initial y-sound instead of the English j-sound) from the traditional longer coats while the outer clothing worn by the Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an Jews was typically longer.
Jacob
Another theory is that the word derives from "Yekkef", the Western European pronunciation of the name "Jacob" or "Jack", which differs from the Eastern European pronunciation, "Yankef" or "Yankev" (also see German Jäckel, pronounced "yekkel", the German diminutive form of Jakob).German jeck(e)
Furthermore, since Yiddish is derived from GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, German sources occasionally note that Yiddish yekk(e) is largely homophone
Homophone
A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose and rose , or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too. Homophones that are spelled the same are also both homographs and homonyms...
with jeck(e), the Rhenish dialectal form of Standard German
Standard German
Standard German is the standard variety of the German language used as a written language, in formal contexts, and for communication between different dialect areas...
Geck of uncertain origin but in contexts relating German jeck(e) to Yiddish yekk(e) attributed to patriarch Jacob
Jacob
Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
in the Bible as does above-mentioned Yekkef theory.
Rhenish Jeck(e) as a noun denotes a "fool", "jester", or "crazy person" (both in a general sense, and in particular in association with the Rhenish carnival where the term describes a traditional folkloric stage figure akin to the Italian harlequin
Harlequin
Harlequin or Arlecchino in Italian, Arlequin in French, and Arlequín in Spanish is the most popularly known of the zanni or comic servant characters from the Italian Commedia dell'arte and its descendant, the Harlequinade.-Origins:...
as well as merely a reveler celebrating the carnival season in a "foolish" manner due to ebriety) and as an adjective means "crazy", "mad", "insane", whereas the dated High German word Geck originally meant a "fool" as well but later transformed to particularly signify a "dandy" or "fop".
However, the broader usage of the Rhenish noun Jeck(e) in the Rhineland area has even given the term a general meaning resembling "person", "(mere) mortal", or "humble sinner" with a particularly (self-)ironic connotation, such as in the common saying Jeder Jeck is anders (lit. "Every fool is different", with an idiomatic meaning of "Different strokes for different folks" or "Live and let live"). From there, a transformation into an ethnonym
Ethnonym
An ethnonym is the name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms and autonyms or endonyms .As an example, the ethnonym for...
such as for Jewish people would be akin to the fate of similar terms such as Germanic
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
man (word)
Man (word)
The term man and words derived from it can designate any or even all of the human race regardless of their sex or age...
and *þiuda-, and the equivalent words for "person" or "human being" in many other languages around the world.
Usage
The term is often used in a slightly derogatory or cynical manner, although it is also used as a badge of honour. It is used mainly in reference to the German Jews’ legendary attention to detail and punctuality. This sense for detail extends into the strict adherence to minhagMinhag
Minhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, Nusach , refers to the traditional order and form of the prayers...
im (religious customs, especially when pertaining to the synagogue service
Jewish services
Jewish prayer are the prayer recitations that form part of the observance of Judaism. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book....
). Oberlander
Oberlander Jews
Oberlander Jews are Ashkenazi, Yiddish- and German-speaking Jews originating in the Oberland or higher land western region of Hungary and the district surrounding Pozsony...
s—Jews originating from parts of Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, and Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
—are often confused with yekkes due to similar minhag
Minhag
Minhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, Nusach , refers to the traditional order and form of the prayers...
im.
A classic example of how exacting and detailed oriented Yekkes can be, is in the following parable: A Yekke says to his wife on the evening of 4 December, "I'll be home from synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
services a little late tonight." Explanation: at the evening prayer on the 4th of December, the words "V'seyn Tal Umotor" (Give us dew and rain) are added to the prayer
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
s for the upcoming winter
Winter
Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.-Meteorology:...
season. The addition of these few words causes the Yekke to be "late" coming back home.