Paul Wexler

Israeli-American linguist known for controversial theories on Yiddish as a Slavic language and non-Semitic origins of Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews

Paul Wexler
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Born	6 11 1938 (age 88 years old (as of 2026) ) United States
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Occupation	Linguist, professor emeritus
Known for	Relexification theory of Yiddish; Slavo-Turkic origins of Ashkenazi Jews
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Paul Wexler (born November 6, 1938) is an American-born Israeli linguist and Professor Emeritus of Linguistics at Tel Aviv University. He is best known for his highly controversial theories on the origins of Yiddish and of Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardic Jews. Wexler argues that Yiddish is not a Germanic language but a Slavic language that underwent massive relexification with Germanic vocabulary, and that both Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews are largely descended from non-Semitic converts (Slavs, Turks/Khazars, Iranians, and others) rather than from ancient Judeans. His work has been widely rejected by mainstream Yiddish linguists, historians, and geneticists as fringe or pseudo-scientific, though it has been cited in debates on Jewish ethnogenesis and the Khazar hypothesis.

Early life and education

Wexler was born in the United States to parents of Ukrainian Jewish background. He earned his B.A. from Yale University in 1960 and his M.A. (1962) and Ph.D. (1967) from Columbia University, where he studied under Uriel Weinreich and George Shevelov. In 1967, while at the University of Washington, he wrote a pedagogical grammar of the Aymara language for Peace Corps volunteers. He immigrated to Israel in 1969 and completed basic training in the Israel Defense Forces in 1974.

Academic career

Wexler joined the faculty of Tel Aviv University in the early 1970s and remained there until his retirement. His early work focused on Judeo-Romance linguistics and general linguistics, but he became known in the 1980s–1990s for radical reinterpretations of Yiddish and Jewish ethnolinguistic history. He has published extensively on relexification processes in language contact and on the non-Semitic components in Jewish languages.

Linguistic and historical theories

Yiddish origins

Wexler’s best-known claim is that Eastern Yiddish is ultimately derived from a Judeo-Slavic language (specifically a Judaized form of Sorbian) that underwent relexification—replacement of its lexicon with High German words while retaining Slavic grammar, phonology, and syntax. He rejects the traditional view (associated with Max Weinreich) that Yiddish developed as a Germanic language in the Rhineland with later Slavic influences. Instead, he argues Yiddish began in the Germano-Sorbian lands as a Slavic language that was relexified first with German and later with Hebrew elements.

Ashkenazi Jewish origins

In The Ashkenazic Jews: A Slavo-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity (1993), Wexler proposes that the core of Ashkenazi Jewry originated from a heterogeneous population of converts—Slavs (especially Sorbs), Turks (including Khazars), Iranians, Greeks, and Balkan Romance speakers—rather than from Judean exiles. He argues that a small number of Palestinian Jewish emigrés intermarried with these larger convert groups in the Khazar Empire and Slavic lands, leading to the formation of Ashkenazi communities. Linguistic evidence (Yiddish’s Slavic substrate) is central to his argument.

Sephardic Jewish origins

In The Non-Jewish Origins of the Sephardic Jews (1996), Wexler extends his relexification model to Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) and argues that Sephardic Jews also descend primarily from local converts (Berbers, Arabs, and others in North Africa and Iberia) rather than from ancient Judeans. He maintains that both Ashkenazi and Sephardic communities are the product of proselytism and cultural relexification rather than direct biological descent from the ancient Israelites.

Modern Hebrew

Wexler has also claimed that Modern (Israeli) Hebrew is not a revived Semitic language but a relexified form of Yiddish (itself Slavic), with a Hebrew lexicon grafted onto Slavic grammar and phonology. He describes it as a “schizoid” language created by the first Hebrew revivalists who were native Yiddish speakers.

Wexler's theories on Yiddish, Ashkenazim and Sephardim

Paul Wexler is best known for his radical linguistic and historical claims about the origins of Yiddish and the ethnic composition of Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardic Jews. He rejects the mainstream view that Yiddish is a Germanic language with Slavic influences and that both Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews descend primarily from ancient Judeans. Instead, he argues that both groups are largely the product of large-scale conversions of non-Semitic populations, with Yiddish and Judeo-Spanish (Ladino) being relexified (lexicon-replaced) Slavic and Romance languages respectively.

Yiddish origins

Wexler maintains that Eastern Yiddish is not a Germanic language that developed in the Rhineland but a **relexified Slavic language**. Its grammar, phonology and syntax derive from a Judeo-Sorbian (West Slavic) base, while its lexicon was massively replaced first with High German vocabulary and later with Hebrew-Aramaic elements. He describes this process as "two-tiered relexification".

Yiddish is the fifteenth Slavic language… a Slavic language in search of a Semitic past.

He argues that the first Yiddish speakers were Slavic-speaking Jews in the Germano-Sorbian lands who relexified their language under German cultural pressure.

Ashkenazi Jewish origins

In The Ashkenazic Jews: A Slavo-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity (1993) and later works, Wexler claims that the core of Ashkenazi Jewry originated from heterogeneous non-Semitic converts — primarily **Slavs** (especially Sorbs), **Khazars/Turks**, Iranians, Greeks and Balkan Romance speakers — rather than from Judean exiles. A small number of Palestinian Jewish emigrés intermarried with these larger convert groups in the Khazar Empire and Slavic territories, leading to the formation of Ashkenazi communities. Linguistic evidence from Yiddish’s Slavic substrate is central to his argument.

Sephardic Jewish origins

In The Non-Jewish Origins of the Sephardic Jews (1996), Wexler extends his relexification model to Judeo-Spanish (Ladino). He argues that Sephardic Jews also descend primarily from local converts — Berbers, Arabs and others in North Africa and Iberia — rather than from ancient Judeans. Like Ashkenazim, Sephardim are the product of proselytism and cultural relexification rather than direct biological descent from the ancient Israelites.

Wexler summarises his overall position on Jewish ethnogenesis as follows:

Both Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews are largely the descendants of proselytes and converts from various non-Semitic peoples who adopted Judaism at different times and places.

These theories remain highly controversial and are rejected by the overwhelming majority of Yiddish linguists, historians and geneticists, who view them as methodologically flawed and ideologically driven.

Reception and criticism

Wexler’s theories have been almost universally rejected by mainstream Yiddish scholars, historians, and geneticists. Critics describe them as methodologically flawed, relying on selective evidence and ignoring genetic, archaeological, and documentary data showing Levantine origins for Jewish populations. His work is often labeled pseudo-scientific or fringe, though it has been referenced positively by some post-Zionist and anti-Zionist writers (including Shlomo Sand) and in popular discussions of the Khazar hypothesis.

Publications

Paul Wexler has authored or edited the following major academic monographs and book-length works (chronological order; only publications authored, co-authored or edited by Wexler are included). Full-text or preview links are provided where freely available online.

• 1967: Purism and Language: A Study in the Maintenance of Linguistic Norms.
• 1967: Beginning Aymara: A Course for English Speakers – full PDF.
• 1977: A Historical Phonology of the Belorussian Language.
• 1987: Explorations in Judeo-Slavic Linguistics.
• 1990: The Schizoid Nature of Modern Hebrew: A Slavic Language in Search of a Semitic Past.
• 1990: Studies in Yiddish Linguistics (editor).
• 1993: The Ashkenazic Jews: A Slavo-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity.
• 1996: The Non-Jewish Origins of the Sephardic Jews.
• 2002: Two-tiered Relexification in Yiddish: Jews, Sorbs, Khazars, and the Kiev-Polessian Dialect – full text preview.
• 2021: Silk Road Linguistics: The Birth of Yiddish and the Multiethnic Jewish Peoples on the Silk Road (1,400+ pages) – full preview PDF.

Wexler has also published dozens of peer-reviewed articles and shorter studies on Judeo-Romance linguistics, relexification theory, and related topics. Many are accessible via his Academia.edu profile.

External links

• The Ashkenazic Jews (book description, Slavica Publishers)
• David Miller Are the Jews indigenous to Palestine? Mayadeen, 3 Aug 2022.