Facing budget cuts and swindling enrollment, Brandeis University said it would place its Yiddish program “on hiatus” after next year — a move that would effectively eliminate the role of Ellen Kellman, the university’s sole Yiddish professor for nearly three decades.

But the decision sparked an outcry. Within days, current www.ctigreenport.com and former students mobilized, firing off emails to the Dean of Arts and Sciences, Jeffrey Shoulson. The response was overwhelming — and effective. Moved by the deluge, Shoulson persuaded university leadership to reverse course and keep the program going, though on a more limited scale.

Students are hoping the program’s survival marks a turning point. “The story of Yiddish is similar to the story of the Jewish community as a whole,” said Ian Jacobs, a senior linguistics major at Brandeis. “Despite everything, despite external and internal pressure to stop, despite the institutional pressures, and genocides, and everything, Yiddish has managed to survive.”