goyishkeit

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish גױיִשקײַט (goyishkayt).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡɔɪ.ɪʃ.kaɪt/
  • Hyphenation: goy‧ish‧keit

Noun

goyishkeit (uncountable)

  1. (Judaism, rare) Non-Jewish culture, customs, or values.
    Antonyms: Jewishness, Yiddishkeit
    • 1928, Abraham Burstein, The Ghetto Messenger, Bloch Publishing Company, pages 87—88:
      “But what makes you think of such things now?” Asked Abbie. “Last week you were cheerful about everything, even the goyishkeit in America. What has happened?”
    • 1995, Immanuel Jakobovits, Jeffrey M. Cohen, Dear Chief Rabbi: From the Correspondence of Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits on Matters of Jewish Law, Ethics, and Contemporary Issues, 1980-1990, KTAV Publishing House, →ISBN, page 25:
      What troubles me is an attitude of disdain or indifference for the feelings of non-Jews towards us which seems to me incompatible with the Jewish concept of Kiddush Hashem whereby we are to care very deeply about the opinions and feelings of Goyim (Gentiles) concerning us. The Rebbe calls such concern "the Goyishkeit within us," […]
    • 2012 January 19, Gil Ribak, Gentile New York: The Images of Non-Jews Among Jewish Immigrants, Rutgers University Press, →ISBN, page 66:
      More than other nationalities, the Irish came to signify an unadulterated kind of goyishkayt, a Gentile essence that was seen as the innate opposite of Jewishness.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:goyishkeit.
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