A number of Yiddish symbols have emerged to represent the language and the

Yiddishist movement Yiddishism is a cultural and linguistic movement that advocates and promotes the use of the Yiddish language. It began among Jews in Eastern Europe during the latter part of the 19th century. Some of the leading founders of this movement were Men ...

over history. Lacking a central authority, however, they have not had the prominence of those of the Hebrew revival and the Zionist symbols of Israel. Several of the Yiddish symbols are drawn from Yiddish songs in the

klezmer Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...

tradition.

Yiddish symbols

The Golden Peacock

The Golden

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

() has historically been a common symbol in Yiddish literature, popularized by '' Di Goldene Pave''. It has often been a subject of Yiddish poetry, including a collection under that title from Moyshe-Leyb Halpern. Yiddishpiel uses a logo of golden peacock plumage surrounding its theatre building, while ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Set ...

'' has used gold in its masthead (also recalling Di Goldene Medine) since 2015, A variation of this symbol has been used as the logo of the Yiddish cafe

Pink Peacock Pink Peacock (Yiddish: , ) was a café and infoshop in the Govanhill area of Glasgow. Described by its founders as "Anti-Zionism, anti-Zionist" and "the only queer Yiddish anarchist vegan pay-what-you-can café in the world", it opened physical ...

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

The Golden Goat

The traditional Jewish lullaby " Raisins and Almonds" popularized the golden goat as a Yiddish symbol, echoing that in

Chad Gadya Chad Gadya ''or'' Had Gadya (Aramaic language, Aramaic: חַד גַדְיָא ''chad gadya'', "one little goat", or "one kid"; Hebrew language, Hebrew: "גדי אחד ''gedi echad''") is a playful cumulative song in Aramaic and Hebrew language, ...

, a traditional

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

song. The Yiddish Book Center has adopted the golden goat as its logo since 2012, designed by Alexander Isley with lettering from El Lissitzky's lithographs of Chad Gadya.

Komets-Alef

In the modern era, some have turned to the komets- alef in search of a symbol for the Yiddish language, a letter that " Oyfn Pripetshik" highlights as a distinctive letter in

Yiddish orthography Yiddish orthography is the writing system used for the Yiddish language. It includes Yiddish spelling rules and the Hebrew script, which is used as the basis of a full vocalic alphabet. Letters that are silent or represent glottal stops in the H ...

in a play on a Yiddish ABC song. This particular letter () is also used to represent Yiddish on

Duolingo Duolingo, Inc. is an American educational technology company that produces learning Mobile app, apps and provides Language assessment, language certification. Duolingo offers courses on 43 languages, ranging from English language, English, Fre ...

, replacing a "Yiddish flag" on the pattern of the flag of Israel but in black with a

temple menorah The Temple menorah (; , Tiberian Hebrew ) is a seven-branched candelabrum that is described in the Hebrew Bible and later ancient sources as having been used in the Tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem. Since ancient times, it has served as a ...

, promoted by a user from

Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons, or simply Commons, is a wiki-based Digital library, media repository of Open content, free-to-use images, sounds, videos and other media. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. Files from Wikimedia Commons can be used ...

which was used for a time in the Duolingo Incubator.

Flags

There is no historical language or

ethnic flag An ethnic flag is a flag that symbolizes a certain ethnic group. Ethnic flags are often introduced to the ethnic community through the respective cultural or political ethnic movements. They are popular among diasporas, ethnic minorities, and som ...

for Yiddish speakers, though in the 21st century there have been some minor proposals for digital use as flag icons for languages. File:Yiddish kometz aleph flag.svg, The komets alef flag, now used for the Duolingo Yiddish course. File:Proposed Yiddish flag.svg, Proposed Yiddish flag, that was temporarily used for the Duolingo Yiddish course.

Flag with a menorah

It appeared on the internet around 2012, when it was published on Wikipedia. Rapidly, it disseminated in the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

, becoming number one result in any google search for “Yiddish flag”. Soon after,

, a vocabulary learning app, started using it for promoting its Yiddish course. Following the publication of the article ''"What Flag Should Yiddish Fly?"'', which criticized the flag for its gloomy appearance and resemblance to the

flag of Israel The flag of the State of Israel ( ; ) was adopted on 28 October 1948, five months after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. It consists of a white background with a blue Star of David in the centre and two horizontal blue stripes at the ...

(which was considered inappropriate due to an unfavorable policy towards Yiddish in Israel's early years), Duolingo changed it to the komets alef. Claims that the flag originated in anarchist milieu in the early 20th century are not true.

References

{{reflist Jewish symbols Lists of symbols Yiddish Language identifiers