This chapter makes the case for “Global Haskalah,” an expansion and revision of Jewish literary history that investigates connections among Haskalah projects throughout the Jewish world as well as relationships between Hebrew and Jewish vernacular languages. While focusing on multilingual Jewish literary circulation and exchange in the global Jewish diaspora, my approach also emphasizes translation and rewriting as its primary mode of expression; the role of Hebrew as a mediator of intra-Jewish exchange and bridge from foreign languages to Jewish vernaculars; the relationship of Jewish literary revival to global trends and forces; and the colonial dynamics of world literature vis-à-vis the Haskalah. After outlining the Global Haskalah as a historical phenomenon and a scholarly methodology, I offer summaries of two case studies based on novels that circulated within Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, Ladino, and Yiddish. The first, Robinson Crusoe, illustrates the strategies used by Jewish translators in domesticating a quintessentially European Christian text while the other, The Love of Zion, demonstrates the mix of cultural diversity and diasporic interconnection exemplifying the Global Haskalah. In both cases, I show how tracing routes of circulation, juxtaposing multiple Jewish-language translations, and reading them comparatively and contextually can generate new insights into the formation of Jewish literary modernity.

In recent decades, scholars have examined the genesis of Jewish language varieties, particularly Yiddish, as well as Modern Hebrew, drawing intriguing parallels with creole formation processes. This chapter delves into the ecological aspects of language contact, comparing the sociohistorical and linguistic contexts of Jewish language emergence with Caribbean plantation creoles. Particular emphasis is placed on Judeo-Spanish (Ladino), tracing its linguistic trajectory following the traumatic expulsion of Sephardic Jews from Spain in 1492. By applying the “Founder Principle,” the research investigates the linguistic repertoires of founding populations, examining their social stratification, literacy capabilities, familial structures, and intricate social networks.

This chapter discusses – in the general problematics of languages in contact – Jewish languages and languages of the Diaspora. It intends to study from a comparative perspective especially the diachrony of Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish, two diasporic languages with similar developments and destinies. After a short presentation of the two languages, we examine successively: 1) the creation of Judaeo-languages in Diaspora, 2) the Diaspora versus migration, 3) the Judaeo-calque languages, 4) the common dynamics of Jewish languages, and 5) the diachrony of Jewish languages. The conclusion focuses on the successful innovations appearing in a Jewish language. It points out the important role of the Hebrew component (its direct and indirect influence), as well as the broad interlinguistic competence of Yiddish and Judaeo-Spanish speakers in the process of evolution of the languages considered.