Joseph posted: “Maran Hagoen Rav Elazar Shach told American educators that Yeshiva boys should be taught Chumash in Yiddish, even if the boys speak English amongst themselves. He furtermore said that both boys and girls should learn to be comfortable in Yiddish. He also said that Yiddish is spoken by “all jews” (that is his phrase). He referred parents to send their children to Yiddish teaching yeshivos. And there is good reason why Rebbes and Rabbonim give ma’amarim in Yiddish.”
Well, on that point Rav Shach was demonstrably wrong–as there are thousands of religious (and nonreligious) Jews who do not speak Yiddish, and nor did their parents, grandparents or other ancestors. These people are just as religious as their Ashkenazi Yiddish-speaking counterparts.
If one wishes to make a point, one should not make it in a manner so easily disproven.
Joseph also posted: “The changes in Loshon HaKodesh that were made, both in accent and content, are unacceptable. The changing of accents from Ashkenaz to Sefard for Ashkenaz Jews is wrong. Rabbeinu Bachye writes that if you change even a komatz to a Pasach in the language, it will lead to heresy.”
Of course, when one looks at the obviously Sephardic boys learning in Hareidi Yeshivot–and pronouncing words in a Yiddish accent–that does not seem to bother the Chareidi Rabbanim much. All one need do is walk into a Yeshiva (if such boys are allowed to learn there in the first place) to observe this phenomenon.
“What about giving a Shiur or Dvar Torah in Loshon Kodesh?”
We do all right.