Paul Ariste jidisi keele uurijana
Paul Ariste as a Yiddish Scholar

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses Paul Ariste’s research on Yiddish as well as his efforts to promote and popularize the language. Before the Second World War it was extremely rare for a person of non-Jewish origin, especially from a small country such as Estonia, to become an expert in the Yiddish language. The article describes briefly the sociolinguistic situation of Yiddish in Eastern Europe between the wars and the reasons for rivalry between Yiddish and Hebrew. Special attention is paid to Ariste’s academic contacts with YIVO and outstanding Yiddish scholars such as Max Weinreich, as well as to his Yiddish-language speech in favour of Yiddish. Yiddish was not only an object for academic research for him, as he was active in Yiddishist circles in Tartu. During the Nazi occupation Ariste saved Torah scrolls from the Tartu synagogue. He occasionally wrote on Yiddish during the Soviet occupation of Estonia and was an enthusiastic speaker of Yiddish until his death.

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