@Avi K: “CG, the incidennt I described in fact happened in Bene Beraq but I am also an observer of the Yerushalkayim scene. Ltvaks speak Hebrew or English (there is a large immigrant population)except for a few who are old enough to have learnewd with European-born rabbanim. Chassidim are divided.Most speak Hebrew but some, especially in Mea Shearim speak Yiddish for political reasons.In any case, one can easily get along in either city without knowing a word of Yiddish.”
Completely wrong. Quite a few Litvaks speak Yiddish, including youth. As for chassidim, it’s not divided, but the vast majority (except for a few places such as Ger which are different). And it is nothing like ‘political reasons’. They speak this because their parents spoke it, and their parents spoke it, and their parents spoke it.
And sure, you can get by without Yiddish. But in the old-school world of Yerushalayim – I’m not talking about Merkaz HaRav, Torah Ore or the Mir – you’ll find yourself seriously limited and excluded from a lot of ongoing things if you don’t speak Yiddish.
Amongst the Yiddish-speakers I know are descendants of Rav Eliashiv, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren. They 1) are not chassidish, 2) do not live in Meah Shearim, and 3) speak Yiddish as their primary language. All facts. I know many other families as well who speak Yiddish.
You might be an “observer”, but I was actually a living part of it for 6 years, until I moved to Gateshead.