THE MEMORIAL BOOK OF PÁPA JEWRY - JewishGen

THE MOTHER TONGUE OF PÁPA JEWS
The first Jewish settlers who moved there in the 18 th century spoke German. Most of them
came from Moravia, where they spoke the Silesian dialect. Together with the language, they also
brought along German culture. They spoke it not only with one another; they could also use it to
talk to the landowner or his steward. The artisans in town were Germans and the majority of
villagers nearby were ethnic Germans, so they did not have a language problem. Only rabbis,
dayanim and some Talmud scholars wrote in Hebrew; they did not actually speak it. The Hebrew
correspondence of rabbis can be traced in collections of responsa. The rabbis of Pápa are
mentioned by Rabbi Yehuda Asad, the Chatam Sofer and the Ktav Sofer. Hebrew books were
written by secular people as well, mostly doctors.
Until the middle of the 19 th century, the spoken language for everyday life remained
German; it was also used in business and in family correspondence. Yiddish was unknown in
Pápa, even in the most religious circles; you could not hear take zai instead of wirklich so,
beshüm aifen was also unheard of. The connection to the Hebrew language was preserved by
believers through letters: they wrote Hochdeutsch in Hebrew letters.
Rabbis started their sermons by Andächtige Zuhörer, teaching at school was in German
until 1860. At the turn of the century, the Bible and the Psalms were taught in their classical
German translations. In the upper grades of the higher elementary school, Uncle Marton used to
teach psalms in the Hochdeutsh translation of Frankfurt chief rabbi Samson Rafael Hirsch.
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