ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the causes for and means by which an often disparate group of Yiddish scholars, writing primarily between the two World Wars, began intense researches into Old Yiddish Literature. It suggests that, despite their diverse backgrounds and political allegiances, scholars such as Ber Borochov, Max Weinreich, Max Erik and Israel Zinberg acted from motivations to provide the scientific historical foundation for a national identity for Yiddish-speaking Jewry by means of the exploration of Old Yiddish texts. Philological studies of pre-modern Yiddish literature were a hallmark of Yidishe visnshaft. The science of philology, with its task of conducting historical explorations into the development of languages, has long been employed in the work of elevating the consciousness of national groups. According to the perspective of Max Weinreich, the development of the Yiddish language and its literature traced the path of Jewish, and specifically Yiddish, self-determination.
