This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. During a recent trip to Israel, my 31-year old son, Naftali, spent an afternoon taking in the sights of Tel Aviv. Although he’s a fluent Hebrew speaker, he was curious whether any of the merchants or passers-by knew Yiddish, too, and decided to check it out. Entering…
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. New Delhi, India. – Most people know the compelling history of the Jews who escaped Hitler’s henchmen by going to Shanghai, but few know that India, too, provided refuge for a large number of Jews during World War II. As Dr. Margit Franz, a historian at the…
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. The classic Yiddish writer, Sholem Asch, whose serialized stories once graced the pages of the Forverts, has become a familiar name as of late, thanks to the new theatrical production of his novel about a Jewish brothel owner, “God of Vengeance” and Paula Vogel‘s acclaimed drama about…
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Few people know that Long Island was once a national center of duck farming with hundreds of active poultry farms. Digging through Purim issues of yesteryear our archivist Chana Pollack recently came upon this amusing ad that ran in The Forward on March 5th, 1925, telling Jewish…
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. Badkhonem, traditional Eastern-European Jewish wedding entertainers who are part clown, part master of ceremonies and part musical entertainment, are a rare sight these days outside of the Hasidic world. So where should you study if you’d like to learn to be a Badkhn today? Apparently Germany. The…
How was the historic Forward Building built?
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. When I got married, I decided to speak Yiddish to my children, and not just any Yiddish, but my husband’s “haimish Yiddish”; in other words – Hasidic Yiddish. I was able to carry out my plan quickly since I was marrying a divorced father of three, so…
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. The Jews of Uchanie, my father’s shtetl in Lublin province, used to say about the Jews of Wojslawice just down the road, that they were meshumodim. Turncoats. What worse epithet could you hurl at a fellow Jew? Slawek Nowodworski, the translator/genealogist my son and I hired in…
Be sure to take a piece before it cools: fluden is even tastier when still warm from the oven.
A former Catholic schoolboy in Memphis, Tennessee, describes how Yiddish became an important part of his life.
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. In the final countdown before the election, Ruchie Freier was still uncertain whether she would win the race for Civil Court Judge. But win she did, and starting in January 2017, she’ll become the first Hasidic woman ever elected to this high position. Sipping hot tea with…
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