Asian Art

Doikayt

Doikayt (Yiddish: דאָיִקייט, lit. 'Hereness') is a principle associated with Bundism and the Bund, especially in inter-war Poland, which states that Jews have a right to live and organize wherever they reside, and that they should focus on the challenges facing their local communities. Also transliterated as do'ikayt, doikait, doikeyt, doykait, doykayt, and doykeit, the word is a combination of the Yiddish word דאָ (romanized: do, lit. 'here'), an adjectival suffix יק (-ik), and a noun suffix -קייט (kayt, similar to '-ness'), doikayt is often posed as an opposition to dortkayt (דאָרטקייט, lit. 'thereness'), as represented by migration and the Zionist movement. Doikayt has been defined as "the political desire to solve the questions and problems of the Jews in the place where they lived, as opposed to solutions which implied migration" and as the idea that "Jews had the right to live in freedom and dignity wherever it was they stood [...] fight for freedom and safety in the places where they lived, in defiance of everyone who wanted them dead". As such, the concept has been likened to the Palestinian concept of ṣumūd. Others have defined it as "a catch-all term in Eastern European Jewish historiography for the commitment of various early 20th century non-Zionist political movements to the diaspora". Another view defines doikayt as consisting of two tenets: organizing where Jews live for the improvement of their lives, and promoting Jews' sense of history, culture, and belonging to the places where they live. For some, the concept is closely linked with Non-Zionism, Anti-Zionism, and solidarity with Palestine. Other groups have cited doikayt in their choice to avoid taking a stance on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and focusing on local issues instead. Bundists in Israel used doykait to explain their attachment to Israel, as well as to explain their non-Zionist stance, stating: "I view Israel as something that is there, an important thing. I am here, in my country, but I don't call myself a Zionist [...] far from it." Molly Crabapple links doikayt to Anti-Zionism, contrasting the Bund's "insistence on staying: Doikayt (hereness)" to the Zionist "'there' of Palestine".

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See also

• ▸1912
• ▸Browneopsis
• ▸Cinema of North Korea

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