Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Make a matched gift and support Jewish journalism. DONATE NOW
News

Jewish Questions Arise in Beijing

Oh, who will light symbolic flames
At China’s great Olympic games?
Perhaps officials will employ
A conflagrative Shabbos goy?

Will mameloshn be among
The languages of print and tongue?
Yes, yenta is a Yiddish word,
So “Ori-yent-ed” may be heard.
(Or would the use of mameloshn
Simply lead to more Confucian?) If garrulous, a winning jock Perhaps a tshaynik he would hock?

Why isn’t there, in old Beijing,
A contest: speed of davening?
Hadassah gals might show up strong
In competitions of mahjongg.

Among the many foods they stock,
Should medals go to most geshmak?
A Jewish dish might we behold
That merits silver, bronze or gold?
The arbiters could we cajole
To laud the bagel (and its hole)?
The food that boasts a Yiddish tam,
The Chinese could brand “Peiping Tom.”
Award tea-drinkers with a wreath
If sugar-lumps they hold in-teeth.
It’s chicken versus won-ton soup:
A triumph for which ethnic group?
Some tsimmes would be very nice,
With grains of (Condoleezza?) rice.

Could UJA, or even ORT,
With rivalry indulge in sport?
Which one, in an imbroglio,
Would laurels win in raising dough?
(This area, in which they vie,
Is more germane than vaulting high!)

Perplexing problems Yidn bring
To states assembled in Beijing.
Libidos, egos, also ids
Prevail among OlympiYids!

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

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.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.