Yiddish Books for Children: Where to Find Them
There is a real shortage of Yiddish books for children that are neither out of print nor written for adults learning the language. If you are raising children in Yiddish, most of what a search returns is either a nostalgic reprint or a textbook.
What is generally available
Chassidishe publishers print storybooks and parsha books in Yiddish, mostly sold through seforim stores rather than online. Older classics exist in reprint. Both are worth having, and neither is personalized.
A book written in Yiddish, with your child in it
A Torah Tale book can be written entirely in Yiddish - the whole story, not only the name - with your child as the hero and their name spelled the way you spell it. The same book is available in English and Hebrew, so a family that reads in more than one language can order the same story twice.
Why the language of the book matters at this age
A child who speaks Yiddish at home and only ever sees English on a page learns that books are an English thing. A book in their own language, with their own name in it, says the opposite.
Stories to start with
- Parshas Bereishis - Hashem creates the world in six days - light and darkness, sky and sea, every creature that swims and flies and walks - and rests on the seventh. Adam and Chava are placed in Gan Eden, and a child watches the whole world come into being one word at a time.
- Shabbos - Candles lit before sunset, kiddush over wine, challah under its cover, and a whole day when the world stops asking anything of you. The day a Yiddishe child learns to look forward to all week.
- Purim - Megillah read twice with the graggers ready, mishloach manos carried to neighbours, matanos la'evyonim, and a seudah where a story that could have ended terribly ended upside down instead.
- Sukkos - Eating and sleeping in a sukkah under schach you can see the stars through, the lulav and esrog held together and shaken, and simcha that fills a whole week.
Questions
- Are there personalized Yiddish children's books?
- Torah Tale writes the whole book in Yiddish - story, cover and dedication - with your child as the hero.
- Is the name transliterated or properly spelled?
- Properly spelled. You give the spelling you use, and that is what is printed.
- Can I order the same story in two languages?
- Yes - the same story can be ordered as separate books in English, Hebrew and Yiddish.