September 25, 2013 If your summer reading list included Witness to the Storm: A Jewish Journey from Nazi Berlin to the 82nd Airborne, 1920-1945 by Werner T. Angress (2012) or Children of the Holocaust: Conversations with Sons and Daughters of Survivors by Helen Epstein (Penguin Books, 1979), you might be a 2nd generation Holocaust survivor. […]
What My Clever Mother Used To Say
December 18, 2013 by
October 2012 Yiddish speaking friends listen “up”, and let’s speak a little. Not a literary Yiddish, but a common every day one: [whohit]What My Clever Mother Used To Say[/whohit] 1. Geh nisht mit shlechteh chaverim. (Don’t associate with bad friends.) 2. Ess ah bisseleh nor zaul daus zein eppes goot. (Eat a small amount […]
Shabat Shalom – Be Strong As The Leopard, Swift As The Eagle…
December 13, 2013 by
Dec. 20, 2013, 17 Tevet 5774, Shemot Exodus 1:1–6:1 Pirke Avot 5:23 – Judah ben Teima used to say: Be strong as the leopard, swift as the eagle, fleet as the gazelle, and brave as the lion to do the will of your Father in Heaven. He also used to say: The impudent are for […]
The Yiddish word for today
November 21, 2013 by
November 2013 Daus Yiddish vort far heist. (The Yiddish word for today.) Der zummer gait avek un balt vet shane veren kalt. (Summer is over and soon we will be getting cold weather.) Ahz ich haub geven ah clayneh ven der vetter is gevoren kalt flegen mir gain yehder mitvauch in shvitz […]
Childhood Memories In The Sukkah
October 16, 2013 by
October 2013 Ah gooten un gehzunter yor alleh meineh Yiddish lehenershaft un frynt. (A good and healthy New Year to all my Yiddish readership and friends.) Ich vil eich dertzalen vegen mein zaydes sukeh. (I want to tell you about my zayde’s sukkah.) Yeder yor glych nauch Yom Kippur fleckt der zayde tzuzamen […]
Tears No Longer Sting My Eyes
August 14, 2013 by
As a Holocaust educator, I see the need for all humanity to work for peace and justice so that “Never again!” becomes a reality for all people, and not just a slogan. For over a decade, I have been a member of a Jewish-Palestinian dialogue group and a multifaith group composed of lay leaders and […]
Meineh Yungeh Yorn (My Early Years)
June 15, 2013 by
June 2013 Yiddisheh kinder hert zach tzu ich vil redden mit eyech hynt fun meineh yungeh yorn. (Listen and I will tell you about my early years.) Ich haub zich gehaudevet in oremkeit, auber ich haub alleh mol geven tzufreeden mit vos haut pahsert. Der far vos ich haub gehat mein mutters mishpaucheh zayernaunt. I […]
Meineh Shayneh Gehdanke Fun Pesach (My good memories of Pesach)
March 21, 2013 by
March 2013 Ich gehdenk ahz glych nach Purim flegen mir aun hayben ramen tzu machen dee hoyz Pesachdik. Mir hauben nisht gehhat kein dindzt flegen mir alleh helfen dermahme. (I remember as soon as Purim was over we started cleaning to ready the house for Passover. We did not have maids so all […]
A Freilichen Purim
February 21, 2013 by
February 2013 “Haynt iz Purim morgen iz ouz, git mir ah groyshen un varft mir ahroys.” (“Today is Purim tomorrow it’s over, so give me a penny and I’ll be gone.”) Many years ago, little children would run from house to house in their little shtetl singing this on Purim. I heard it […]
Chicago Winters When I Was A Girl
January 19, 2013 by
January 2013 By Henya Chaiet Yiddisheh kinderlach hert zich tzoo un ich vel eych dertzalen ah bissel vegn mineh yungeh yoren. (Yiddish lovers listen and I will tell you a bit of my life story when I was a little girl.) Vinter is geven zayer kalt un greyleh shnayen in shtaut Chicageh. (The winters […]
