Digital Library
Dreams for Living Jews
Topic:
General/Other
Principal Investigators:
Dara Horn
Study Date:
2022
Source:
Sapir
Key Findings:
This essay begins with the author's recollection of attending an academic conference on modern Hebrew about six years ago, where the majority of attendees were Jewish scholars deeply invested in Hebrew language and literature. The author vividly remembers three representatives from the Wampanoag Nation, Native Americans seeking to revive their language, who attended the conference with a keen interest in learning from the Hebrew revival. While Hebrew had been successfully revived after two millennia, Wampanoag had not been spoken for only two centuries. Despite initial doubts from some Hebrew scholars about the feasibility of Wampanoag language revitalization, the author notes the optimism and determination of the Wampanoag representatives.
The Hebrew scholars at the conference, including the author, recognized the challenges the Wampanoag faced, such as the lack of an extensive written corpus and educational infrastructure. Despite this, the author acknowledges the unexpected progress made by the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project, including language classes and programs in Wampanoag communities.
The author receives numerous messages from Jewish readers sharing personal experiences of erasure and humiliation, leading to a reconsideration of the "lachrymose" view of Jewish history. Reflecting on the resilience of Jewish culture and its ability to reinvent itself, the author emphasizes the importance of aspiration and imagination in overcoming trauma. Drawing parallels with the Joseph story in the Bible, the author highlights the difference between passive submission and active participation in shaping one's destiny.
The essay concludes with a call to dream big and aspire to achieve the seemingly impossible, inspired by the Jewish tradition of envisioning a better future.
Methodology:
Dara Horn is the author of People Love Dead Jews, a collection of essays about how non-Jewish societies often use or exploit Jewish history to encourage positive feelings about themselves, while simultaneously erasing living Jews and the actual content of real Jewish life. This article is a reflection of People Love Dead Jews alongside several other case studies.