WATCH: So many Yiddish words for ‘imbecile’
By Forverts Staff October 29, 2020
Read this article in Yiddish
On October 19th more than 1,000 people tuned in to watch the Forward’s first online gala.
One of this year’s features was an online auction. One of the offerings people could bid on – a private Yiddish lesson with Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter – went up to $720. The evening also included greetings from celebrities including former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and actress Mayim Bialik, as well as various musical and comic routines by talented performers.
A highlight of the evening was a sketch featuring Yiddish actors Allen Lewis Rickman and Yelena Shmulenson. The married comic duo taught viewers a number of colorful Yiddish expressions that not only demonstrated the clever irony and sarcasm of eastern European Yiddish speakers, but was also downright hilarious.
A message from Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forverts' 127-year legacy — and its bright future.
In the past, the goal of the Forverts was to Americanize its readers, to encourage them to learn English well and to acculturate to American society. Today, our goal is the reverse: to acquaint readers — especially those with Eastern European roots — with their Jewish cultural heritage, through the Yiddish language, literature, recipes and songs.
Our daily Yiddish content brings you new and creative ways to engage with this vibrant, living language, including Yiddish Wordle, Word of the Day videos, Yiddish cooking demos, new music, poetry and so much more.
— Rukhl Schaechter, Yiddish Editor
