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
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Culture The Chagalls, Joined in a Sketchbook
Bella Chagall, the great love of Marc Chagall, began to write in a small hardcover sketchbook in 1942, the year after the couple arrived in New York. On the first eight pages, she translated Yiddish poetry into French as a means of relating to her past — since both France, which she had just fled,…
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The Schmooze He Beat Me Black and Blue: Yiddish Songs of Family Violence, Part Four
This is the last part of a four-part article originally appearing in the Spring 2011 issue of Lilith Magazine. Read the first three parts here, here and here. ALLUSIONS TO RAPE Margaritkelekh / Daisies In the woods, by a stream The daisies grow like little suns With white rays. Khavele goes there, quiet and dreamy,…
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The Schmooze A New Breath of Yiddish Poetry
“I’m not going to be on Oprah,” said Zackary Sholem Berger matter-of-factly about his new book, “Zog khotsh l’havdil / Not in the Same Breath.” He’s realistic about his completely negligible chances, not because Oprah’s show and book club have just come to an end, but because he knows his work of original Yiddish poetry…
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The Schmooze He Beat Me Black and Blue: Yiddish Songs of Family Violence, Part Three
This is the third part of a four-part article originally appearing in the Spring 2011 issue of Lilith Magazine. Read the first part here and the second part here. Shvigern / Mothers-in-Law When couples married they did not necessarily become autonomous heads of their own households. Many a new bride — often a teenager in an arranged marriage — moved in…
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Culture June 10, 2011
100 Years In The Forward The Jewish community of Baltimore is reeling after arrests were made in the case of the murdered Cohens. The police arrested Ida Brooks Cohen after they determined that she poisoned her husband, Morris Cohen, as well as his uncle, also named Morris Cohen, and his wife. The former Morris Cohen…
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The Schmooze He Beat Me Black and Blue: Yiddish Songs of Family Violence, Part Two
This is the second part of a four-part article originally appearing in the Spring 2011 issue of Lilith Magazine. Read the first part here. FIGHTING BACK Soreles khasene / Sarah’s Wedding When Sorele wed, people laughed and scoffed. Why the laughter? The brand new bride Couldn’t even make kugl for Shabbes. She began on Wednesday morning Finished…
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The Schmooze He Beat Me Black and Blue: Yiddish Songs of Family Violence, Part One
This is the first part of a four-part article originally appearing in the Spring 2011 issue of Lilith Magazine. Picture the stairwell in the poor apartment: the neighbor descends the steps and the woman in the doorway repeats, “Good night, good night,” and then haltingly speaks the words: “He hit me yesterday. I’m black and…
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Opinion What Is Really Happening in New Square?
Eighteen years ago, as a Hasidic student at the yeshiva of New Square, I found myself swept up one morning in the frenzy of a mob. I, along with around two dozen young men, ransacked the private dormitory room of a fellow student. We broke open the door, smashed the lock on the bedside cabinet,…
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