Guest Editor: Judith Shulevitz
*This fall, guest editors have helped to shape Forward Forum by commissioning opinion pieces. The eighth and final of the group is Judith Shulevitz, a cultural critic and magazine editor who helped to start both Slate and Lingua Franca, which won a National Magazine Award for General Excellence under her co-editorship. She has been a regular columnist for Slate and the New York Times Book Review, and is now a contributing editor at The New Republic. Her book, “The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time,” was published by Random House this year.
Most American Jews speak no Hebrew, and those who do usually have so many English-speaking friends and relatives in Israel that they almost never get to practice it. When I visited Israel this summer, I grew desperate to know what was going on outside my floating bubble of English. I speak some Hebrew, but not enough to eavesdrop on conversations for more than a minute or two. I wanted to know: What were the unfamiliar phrases, the colloquial expressions, that invariably caused me to lose the thread of the discussion? I felt as though the real meaning of each exchange was locked inside words being used in ways that, I was pretty sure, wouldn’t be explained in the dictionary. It seemed to me that if I could only unravel those dense knots of vernacular Hebrew (and in some cases non-Hebrew), I’d understand something important, not just about my friends but about Israeliness itself. So when the Forward asked me to guest-edit this page, I decided to ask some of those friends to explain themselves. It turns out that I was right. The phrases we Americans aren’t taught in Hebrew school are exactly the ones we need to know if we’re to get any insight, however preliminary, into the Israeli character and experience. Herewith, a short primer.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
