The recent increasing interest in Yiddish language, literature, and culture can be attributed not only to the need to recuperate a vast treasure of Jewish civilization, but also to Yiddish as a site for examining concepts and debates that are currently at the center of humanities research.

Yiddish literature has been characterized, from its origins and throughout its history, by both adaptation and continuity. In dialogue with its surrounding languages and cultures, Yiddish has also maintained its role in the formation of Jewish communal and collective identity. As a result, Yiddish serves as a case study for current theoretical questions.