DER YIDDISH-VINKL April 14, 2006
The inimitable Stanley Siegelman has returned to Der Vinkl to report on a new trend among Russian Jews immigrating to the United States: They are undergoing ritual circumcision in significant numbers. The goal is to affirm in a demonstrable way their allegiance to Orthodox Judaism.
Di Ruskis Kumen
Fun Rusland, take, kumen zey.
Fil yidn yetst, tsum USA.
Di mener geyen oyf krume fis:
Vos zukhn zey? Gevald, a bris!
“Ruf dem moyel, mit zayn meser!”
Shrayen zey, “We mean it, yes sir!”
Iz dos modne? Iz dos “sad?”
— A miskayt bloyz fun Leningrad?
Efsher vert men opgeshnitn
Nor tsu vayzn anti-s’mitn?
Ven der moyel derlangt a zets
Zogn Ruskis “Da!” (Keyn “Nyets”)
Oy, gloybt mir, fraynt, es tut gants vey!
Bay’m Rusishn man, s’iz dokh “OK”!
Der moyl arbet shver; er kvelt,
Vayl er fardint a zak mit gelt.
Nor an oremer Rus, mit der leydiker shisl,
Er kumt oys epes kurts a bisl
Tsu orem zayn iz nit keyn “crime”!
Far yedn Rus, it’s Milah* time”!
*Brit milah is ritual circumcision, more commonly called a bris. “It’s Miller time” is the slogan of a beer manufacturing company.
The Russians Are Coming
To U.S. shores, these Russians rush.
Their goal’s enough to make you blush:
On circumcision they’re intent
Their Judaism to augment.
We seek a “mohel,” they allege,
“Who’ll put us on the cutting edge.”
Is this phenomenon a fad
That spread from Minsk to Leningrad?
Or is it just a sudden surge
Of ethnic pride, a pointless urge?
Post-op, do Rooskies have regret?
Unanimous they answer, “Nyet!”
The process hurts, we all know where.
It is true pain the Russians bear.
The mohels, busy as can be,
Feel free to charge a hefty fee,
While cash poor immigrants report
They’re often prone to come up short.
No matter what, the Russians chime:
“We’re resolute! It’s Milah time.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Make a Passover Gift Today!
Most Popular
- 1
News Student protesters being deported are not ‘martyrs and heroes,’ says former antisemitism envoy
- 2
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
- 3
Opinion What Jewish university presidents say: Trump is exploiting campus antisemitism, not fighting it
- 4
Opinion Yes, the attack on Gov. Shapiro was antisemitic. Here’s what the left should learn from it
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Harvard president: As a Jew, ‘I know very well’ that concerns about antisemitism are valid
-
Fast Forward Ben Shapiro, Emily Damari among torch lighters for Israel’s Independence Day ceremony
-
Fast Forward Larry David’s ‘My Dinner with Adolf’ essay skewers Bill Maher’s meeting with Trump
-
Sports Israeli mom ‘made it easy’ for new NHL player to make history
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.