A Great Announcement

God be praised, it is now a year since we began printing our supplement to Ha-melits, the Kol mevaser, the world’s first newspaper in plain Yiddish. At first, many people ridiculed us, but time has shown us that we did the right thing. It is a useful thing for all classes. Whoever examines the articles that have appeared this year in the Kol mevaser will recognize that it has done much good. It has delighted many people who up to now have had no possibility to find out exactly what is happening in the world concerning things they urgently need to know—as merchants, as citizens of the country, or as property owners in the city. Today it is simply a pleasure to see that an artisan, a simple family man, a woman, or whoever wishes to, can read a newspaper every week and learn all sorts of things—about the world: about war and peace among the nations, about everything that is happening among Jews all over the world. He can read stories from ages past, about new and useful inventions and the most difficult ideas, all written in a language and in a style that everyone can understand. Is that not a good thing? And can anyone find fault with the newspaper? We can say that quite openly, and it will not mean that we are boasting, since men of great wisdom have already said so in their letters to us. The fact that so-called enlightened people cry out that we are making the speech of the silent masses respectable and that therefore these masses will not want to try to learn Russian or German. That is utterly false. First of all, the language is strong enough even without us, and millions of people speak it. Secondly, Yiddish is not nearly as unattractive as they make it out to be. There are expressions in the language that are full of charm, not to mention Yiddish witticisms that have a worldwide reputation. Who are the greatest humorists in the foreign newspapers? Are they not Jews? And do they not tell Yiddish jokes that make the whole world roll on the floor laughing? Thirdly, it’s really the other way around. From the newspaper Jews will become aware that while among themselves Yiddish is enough, in the wider world you cannot manage with it. And what about all the many new words those who diligently read the Kol mevaser have absorbed this year, the many new ideas they have received, and how much more experienced they have become? And this is just the beginning. We have many more good correspondents who can write and spell just as we have started doing, so as not to confuse the public.