The Study Of The Development Of Yiddish Theater In New York

This paper is a historical investigation of Yiddish theater in New York.From 1881 to 1945,Yiddish theater came to New York with the wave of Jewish immigrants in Eastern Europe,and went through the process of prosperity and decline.This paper interprets the fate of Yiddish theater under the influence of Americanization from the perspective of cultural identity.In the 1880s,Yiddish theater,as an important part of the traditional culture of Eastern European Jews,was brought to New York with the massive wave of Jewish immigrants.Foreign scholars have noted the importance of Yiddish theater and culture in Jewish studies.Domestic scholars pay relatively little attention to it.This paper mainly studies the origin,development and influence of New York Yiddish theater.This paper is divided into three parts:introduction,text and conclusion.The introduction is a review of the significance of the topic,research status,research ideas and innovations at home and abroad.The body part is divided into three chapters:the first chapter mainly discusses the Jewish anti-theater tradition,then introduces the early Yiddish theater prototype Purim theater,and finally introduces the influence of Jewish enlightenment movement"Haskala" on the formation of professional Yiddish theater."Haskala" was an ideological movement among central and eastern European Jews in the late 18th and 19th centuries.The main idea of "Ilaskala" is that Jews need to increase secular knowledge education in addition to traditional Talmud education.Through Gordin's efforts,the Yiddish theater was finally transformed from Purim theater into professional theater.Gordin's stage art succeeds in aestheticizing Jewish life and customs.By blending theatrical tension,spectacle and Jewishness,he created a theater accessible to Eastern European Jews.The second chapter is the focus of this paper,which elaborates the rise and decline of the Yiddish theatre in New York.In 1880,there were about 7.7 million Jews in the world,and about 6 million Jews lived in Eastern Europe,accounting for 75 percent.Only about 3 percent of Jews live in the United States.By 1920,after several mass migrations,more than 23 percent of Jews were concentrated in the United States.They came to the United States with their own unique social and cultural brand,experienced a series of exclusion,poverty,but finally tenaciously rooted,and carried forward the Jewish culture in the United States,also successfully integrated into the American society.In the process,Yiddish theater had a great influence on the Yiddish community.The early New York Yiddish plays were criticized for their poor quality.However,its contents can help Eastern European Jews to ease their homesickness and adapt to various problems and perplexities in the process of Americanization.In addition,Yiddish theater helped Jews regain their Jewish spiritual faith.As the influence of Yiddish theater grew,Eastern European Jewish intellectuals began to reform it in order to push it into higher places.However,with the popularity of movies,the decline of immigrant population,and the acceleration of the Americanization process,the New York Yiddish theater began to take a serious hit.With the rise of the Zionist movement,a number of the surviving Yiddish-speaking Jews emigrated to Israel,where many Jews were assimilated into the new Hebrew culture.Although its glory days have passed,Yiddish troupes in New York still perform in different Jewish communities,maintain influence over American multiculturalism.The third chapter mainly introduces the influence of Yiddish theater in protecting the integrity of Yiddish community,promoting the Americanization of Eastern European women in New York and helping Jews to construct their identities.As a public place in the community,the Yiddish theatre is not only a place for performing theater,but also a place for eastern European Jews to meet,socialize,entertain and even go on blind dates.The Yiddish theatre provides a mirror for its audience.It helped them better understand their role in the historical process of Americanization and gave them a deeper understanding of the problem of creating new identities in the new world.The conclusion mainly discusses the existing problems in the study of Yiddish theater.