They came from an old world
to a new land. The Yiddish speakers from Eastern Europe brought few material
possessions but clung to a language and a culture that defined who they were, a
way of life that had endured pogroms, persecution and a genocide that pushed
them to the brink of extinction. Melbourne gave them a second chance at life,
an opportunity to rebuild a secular Yiddish world that sat at the core of their
existence.
Hardship had taught these
Jews to be resilient, fiercely independent and great institution builders. A
community centre quickly became the beating heart of Yiddish Melbourne. The
arts flourished, newspapers were launched and schools were established. But
these immigrants also brought their competing political ideals, hotly contested
notions of what it meant to be a Jew and how to live life in this furthest
corner of the world.
Their arrival in Melbourne
was not always welcomed. The Australian authorities only grudgingly accepted
them as immigrants, in restricted numbers and under the sponsorship of Jews
already living here. Yiddish speakers, with their boisterous demeanour and high
visibility challenged the authority of the established Jewish community, which
traced its origins to the first settlement and which believed that ‘blending in’
was the antidote to antisemitism.
Using the voices of the
immigrants themselves and archival sources, the authors give a compelling
account of how these Yiddish speakers came to shape, change and define an
entire community.
