A propos to nothing in particular, I was thinking recently about the names of the […]
Category: Yiddish Column
A Yiddish guide to your seder plate
The Passover season is once again upon us. Spring is in the air, the dawn […]
Bovine bon mots for the Yiddish speaker
The other day I was reading Lucretius (which we should all get in the habit […]
Parodying philosophy with Leyzer Volf
Ensconced in winter, I tend to brood. I may self-aggrandize and call it “filosófye.” But […]
Yiddish Ailments
Well, here I was in “yánuar” (January), firmly embarked on the new year, only to […]
In Yiddish, ‘laughing with lizards’ at antisemitism
I recently had the unfortunate privilege of being on a panel to discuss the history […]
The influence of Genesis on Yiddish thinking
Now that we are well into our reading of Genesis, and as the autumn darkness […]
Yiddish poetry for harrowing times
We are all reeling. Confronted with such unthinkable things, we crave ways to ground ourselves […]
A Yiddish look at sin
Once more we dive headlong into the High Holidays. But as we well know, it’s […]
A child’s 1928 Yiddish poem shows the timeless importance of education and labor rights
As my children get ready to go back to school, I find myself going through […]