Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of the Yiddish language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews in Europe and still spoken by many Hasidic Jews today.
For more stories on Yiddishkeit, see Forverts in English, and for stories written in…
Yiddish
The Latest
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Culture Psoy Korolenko’s 21st Century Humor
It’s about two hours before their show at the JCC in Manhattan, and I’m having dinner with Psoy Korolenko and Daniel Kahn, the duo known as the Unternationale. As a solo performer, Korolenko has been winning fans in the United States, mostly at clubs and gatherings catering to young Russian émigrés and at university campuses….
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Culture Looking Back: March 2, 2012
100 Years Ago in the Forward The worst disgrace is to be a moron. According to the Talmud, a stupid person is like a dead man. So how does one become a knowledgeable, intelligent person? There’s no need to go to college or to night school; some people become educated by reading the kinds of…
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Culture I’ve Been Thinking ‘Bout the Railroad
Maurice Wolfthal writes from Houston: “I recently enjoyed Theodore Bikel’s rendition of the Yiddish song ‘Di Ban’ [‘The Train’] after not having heard it for more than 30 years. Part of the humor stems from his choice of dialect. Where most Yiddish speakers use the vowel ‘oy,’ he uses the ‘ey’ of English ‘grey,’ as…
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Culture Looking Back: February 24, 2012
100 Years Ago in the Forward A bloody war between rival gangs exploded on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Numerous shots were fired, bringing many residents onto the streets, where chaos reigned. Although many calls were placed to the police, the gangs had scattered by the time they arrived. Two gang members, 21-year-old Nathan Levi and…
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Culture Looking Back: February 17, 2012
100 Years Ago in the Forward When Barnett Nemeth went to open his safe in his jewelry store on Manhattan’s Broome Street, he was surprised when two men rushed him, held a revolver to his head and said: “Hands up! We want a look in that safe.” While one of the bandits rifled through the…
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The Schmooze ‘Chewish’ Dog Toys (What’s Next?)
There’s a Yiddish for Dogs manual, and — as the Forward recently reported — a rescue dog who understands Yiddish commands. Now, in the latest development around canine Yiddishkeit, a Brooklyn company has unveiled a Semitic series of plush toys for pets, all inspired by Yiddish words. Copa Judaica’s “Chewish” line includes Facachta The Platypus;…
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Books Yiddish Stories Not Lost in Translation
The Association of Jewish Libraries Guide to Yiddish Short Stories By Bennett Muraskin Ben Yehuda Press, 79 pages, $14.50 The title of this small but useful book might have been lengthened to include “in the English language,” but the point is taken. We are now in a veritable golden age of translation, though the “golden”…
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Culture Dishing Some Linguistic Dirt
Lewis Kupperman writes, “There is a Yiddish expression meaning to make mincemeat of someone or something that sounds like to make ‘ushenblottie,’” and he wants to know if I’m familiar with it. Mr. Kupperman’s “to make ushenblottie” is Yiddish makhn ash un blote — that is, “to make ashes and mud” of a person or…
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