In the early 1970s, Marvin Zuckerman and Gershon Weltman, childhood friends from the co-ops of the Bronx, came across a rare Yiddish manuscript. Though they had never thought of putting out a book together, they quickly recognized that there was something in this document that made them want to take up the task of translating and publishing the work — dirty words.
The result, “Yiddish Sayings Mama Never Taught You,” was released in 1975 and went through five printings before the press stopped. Now, due to both personal requests and the fact that bootleg copies have been circulating on the Internet, the two men have decided to give the book one more run.
“We did the book because we were impressed with seeing an aspect of Yiddish life that was unknown to us. Dirty Yiddish! Smut in the shtetl! Who knew?!! And they were so clever, witty and pithy,” said Zuckerman, a Yiddish scholar and former literature professor.
The nearly 230 sayings in the book, which appear in translation and transliteration as well as in the original Hebrew, open up a window into the indecent side of the shtetl, one that has rarely seen light.
Among the pretty dirty, sometimes offensive and mostly clever offerings are:
Az men shloft mit’n vayb, shtelt men der velt dem tokhes aroys.
When you sleep with your wife, you show your behind to the world.
Der pelts unter dem vaybershn boykh iz dos tayerste futerl.
The pelt under a woman’s belly is the world’s most expensive furpiece.
Itlikhes tepl gefint zikh zayn shtertsl, itlikhes petsl gefint zikh zayn lekhl.
Every pot finds its own lid, every pole finds it own hole.
An eygener forts shtinkt nit azoy vi a fremder.
Your own farts don’t stink like someone else’s.
The source of the material was a transcript by a folklorist named Ignaz Bernstein, a wealthy Ukrainian who collected nearly 5,000 Jewish proverbs at the turn of the century. He published all these in a two-volume collection — with the exception of 227 sayings that he published separately, for reasons unknown, under the title “Erotica and Rustica.” Unlike his main work, the proste, or vulgar stuff, had a very small run and remained little known until Zuckerman and Weltman got their hands on it.
“My mother was shocked that we would undertake such a low-life endeavor,” said Weltman, an engineer and lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Nevertheless, she was a willing, if reluctant, source for our more esoteric translations, and perhaps a bit proud when it was published. Her attitude was pretty much shared by her social circle, and particularly by the most elegant speakers of Yiddish; but I think the more waggish members of the group were highly amused.”
While some Yiddish intellectuals indeed found it “a shande far di goyim,” they still sold around 3,000 books and found a fan in Henry Miller, one of the 20th century’s most esteemed purveyors of literary smut, who called the book “Juicy, savory, spicy.”
Zuckerman also managed to get an early blurb for the book from Isaac Bashevis Singer. The two were presenting at a literary retreat near Ojai, Calif., and they spent some time together. Zuckerman passed Singer the book, then in manuscript form, on a Saturday night and asked the author to look it over. Singer came down to breakfast the next morning, with handwritten notes on the manuscript’s cover. He later joined Weltman and Zuckerman for lunch at the latter’s house in Los Angeles.
Today, though, with formal Yiddish culture dwindling, they think the book might serve a new purpose for young students of the language.
“I believe people are much more tolerant, in part because — sadly — virtually all of the old-guard haute Yiddish group is now gone,” Weltman said. “The academics and their students should be interested because this is original source material; the raffish element remains interested because many of the sayings are as rank and funny now as they were originally.”
Elissa Strauss is a frequent contributor to the Forward.
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I can't reproduce her Yiddish, but my esteemed grandmother would say, :If a man is really hard up "a brait mit a loch" (a board with a hole) will do.
David Fisher, a board or a broad?
Actually Asher, all three of them have holes but my guess is that David Fisher ain't interested.
Ah memories, memories
Shtetel humor was far from chaste. I can tell many Yiddish jokes from that era with really "dirty" punch lines. One of them:
The entire female population stood in line waiting at the mikvah before Shabos.One woman at the end of the line tapped the one in front saying, "Ich bin Rifka, the rebetzin, the rebe vart far mere." (I'm Rifka, the rabbi's wife,the rabbi waits for me." Hearing that, she was immediately ushered to the front of the line. The first woman, when told of who Rifka was, said:
"Hmph, Ich bin Chafka der nafka, the gantza shtawt vart far mere!" (I'm Chafka, the whore, the entire city awaits me!") Loses a bit in translation since in Yiddish Cahfka and Nafka (whore) rhyme.
My mother of blessed memory was the epitome of a rather modern, yet old fashioned Jewish mamaleh. She was not, repeat, not at all prudish. Her favorite joke:
An astronaut on the moon came upon a native,chopping meat in an old fashioned wooden bowl. To his query, "What are you doing?" she responed. "Making children, of course." "Let me show you how we do it on earth," he replied.
After completing the job, he looked at her, "Well. how did you like it?" "When do I get the child?" she asked. "That takes 9 months" "WELL, WHY DID YOU STOP???"
Ah, mamaleh, mamaleh. . .
I would be thrilled to hear about a new book that describes Jewish expressions, vulgar or otherwise, that today's English speaking Jews in America have created (and use among themselves). The Yiddish speaking Jews lived in their own society. Hence, they had their own idiomatic expressions, their own lullabies and their own rhymes. Today, in America, that is all finished. There is no Jewish society (except for the haredim) that has its own lullabies, rhymes, idiomatic expressions. So, every Monday and Thursday we hear about another book about Yiddish, being reminded that Jewish culture is mere nostalgics. How about today's Jewish poetry - even in English? How about Jewish music? If you were to have an evening of Jewish music in your local JCC, the songs would be in Yiddish ("oifn pripetshik") from Poland - or in Hebrew ("yerushalayim shel zahav") from Israel. I can't think of a nice Jewish song, made in the English-speaking Jewish community of North America, that Jews everywhere hum to themselves. It's nice to hear about all these Yiddish books being published in the Jewish community - but there should be a comment that these books are an expression of crisis, of a tremendous break in Jewish continuity.
Instead of attempting to do something serious and ongoing to save Yiddish culture and language, we have the Forward print this article and contribute to the popular perception that Yiddish is a language of only dirty words. You are correct our mothers and fathers(in my case) did not speak thus. Will we be treated to nude pictures because the model's granfather spoke Yiddish. This article does not belong in a family newspaper, and I doubt the NY Times or even the NY Post would have printed these great tidbits of wisdom.
I only caught a few word in yiddish from my grandparent and parents, but recently I started a project of collecting animals' yiddish names, and reviving them on badges (http://nemalim.com/?p=86). Its' very interesting to watch how people react to these names. Merav Nemalim Design http://nemalim.com
My family always says that the only Yiddish they learned from my great-grandparents was "de kinder, de kinder" whenever the younger generations came within earshot. I can only imagine the juicy conversations they were having!
The 'Bobovir' community, in Toronto...still continues the 'mahmeh-loshen'with amazing results... children, of all ages enjoy the dual program, at their day schools.... not Hebrew... but Yiddish there is insruction, in reading, writing,conversational Yiddish, as a ongoing program..... BRAVO TO ALL... also... there are, still programs available, in the Toronto Jewish Community, that have regular classes/ guest-lectures.. to continue Yiddish as a living language..... the 'Winchevsky-Center'... has, still an active secular,summer camp, that started in the 30s'... still going strong.... for more info....www.winchevskycentre.org... ... tzu alleh,meineh.. gooteh, yiddisheh, friendt..zohll mehn nor zein, shtark, gezundt, und ahf leingeh yohr....(to all my good jewish friends,, we should all be strong, healthy, & of long years...) ..to 'ROCHELL/ROCHELLEH...[ch.. here, is the guttral sound, as in 'chaim']above.....my above saying, applies to all.. i still use it on a regular basis.....to all above.. memorise this saying..practise, repeat it to your-self over & over..until you can say it as good as i can.. the rewards are worth it...
Yehuda, how about virtually all Broadway musicals? Rogers, Hart, Hammerstein, Lerner, Loewe, Sondheim, Bock, Harnick, Loesser, Bernstein, etc., etc. -- all were Jewish. (In fact, almost all Broadway composers and lyricists were, except for Cole Porter.) Add Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Paul Simon, Randy Newman, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, and more. The whole world is singing a North American Jewish song.
Yehuda, how about virtually all Broadway musicals? Rogers, Hart, Hammerstein, Lerner, Loewe, Sondheim, Bock, Harnick, Loesser, Bernstein, etc., etc. -- all were Jewish. (In fact, almost all Broadway composers and lyricists were, except for Cole Porter.) Add Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Paul Simon, Randy Newman, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, and more. The whole world is singing a North American Jewish song.