Yiddish-speaking Israeli soldier shows us what gift he received for Hanukkah
Yonatan Alman, who’s stationed at Israel’s northern border, never thought the war would still be going on by Hanukkah time.
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Yonatan Alman, who’s stationed on Israel’s northern front with Lebanon, recently shared a video clip where he wishes his viewers a happy Hanukkah in Yiddish and shares what gift he received. “Who knew we’d still be here on Hanukkah!” he says with disbelief.
Although there are no subtitles, you’ll probably understand the gist of it, even if you don’t know the language.
This is one of a series of Yiddish videos that Altman has made since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war. In one of them, he’s riding in a tank down a dusty road, boldly singing the Hymn of the Partisans, a Yiddish fighting song inspired by the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943. In another, he wishes his viewers “a gitn shabes” — a good Shabbos — while displaying a kugel the army sent over for the Sabbath meal.
To find out more about this unique IDF soldier and his reason for promoting the Yiddish language, read this article.
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