This is 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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Opinion Lingo of the Sarah Silverman Controversy
The Jewish Press set off a firestorm last week when it published An Open Letter to Sarah Silverman by Rabbi Yaakov Rosenblatt. The Orthodox author criticized the comedian’s politics, vulgar presentation style, and the fact that she remains childless. As a linguist, what I found most interesting about this article was the language. By looking…
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Culture The New Testament Sounds Odd in Yiddish
In my September 6 column about a Yiddish translation of the Qur’an, I observed that many of the singular effects created by translating the sacred scriptures of Islam, a religion closely linked to Judaism, into an intensely Jewish language like Yiddish would no doubt be found in a Yiddish translation of the Christian New Testament,…
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Culture Looking Back: October 12, 2012
100 Years Ago 1912 Speaking from the witness stand, Jack Rose dropped a bomb at the Charles Becker trial. Rose, a New York City gambler, said Becker told him that Herman “Beansie” Rosenthal had to be killed. Rose then recounted the story of Rosenthal’s murder in vivid terms. Making matters worse for Becker, a Jewish…
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Culture Looking Back: October 5, 2012
100 Years Ago 1912 The infamous gangster Big Jack Zelig, was shot Saturday, October 5, at 8 p.m., on the corner of 14th Street and Second Avenue, as he sat in his car. Zelig, who was scheduled to testify as a major witness in the trial of vice cop Charles Becker, slithered to the floor…
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Culture Looking Back: September 28, 2012
**100 Years Ago 1912 Seven young Jewish girls stood before the magistrate in Essex Market Court, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, on charges of running an illegal gambling ring out of Mrs. Rays’ Hairdressing Parlour, located on Second Avenue between Houston and First Streets. The police raid on the hairdressing parlor caused a huge sensation…
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Culture Looking Back: September 21, 2012
100 Years Ago 1912 Louis Budinsky, a resident of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, went straight to the police after having received a letter stating that if he didn’t come up with $100, all his horses would meet an ugly end. Budinsky then received a phone call from the horse poisoners, and he told them that…
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Culture Looking Back: September 14, 2012
100 Years Ago 1912 Real estate magnate Harris Diamond, recently retired, had become depressed and pessimistic after the death of his wife. His children tried to cheer him up, but without success. Recently he was found dead in his Manhattan apartment, on Lexington Avenue. His death was a suicide. Diamond had closed all the windows…
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Culture Looking Back: September 7, 2012
100 Years Ago 1912 Everything was set for the forthcoming wedding of Rose Mann and Isadore Schwartz. But then, tragedy struck: Mann was found dead in the Brooklyn apartment she was setting up for the young couple to reside in after their wedding. She had taken her own life by turning on the gas and…
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