Many American’s have figured some Yiddush and Jewish phrases over the years thanks to the TV & Movie industry. However, many of you are not from here and may be scratching your head as you read.
So, to help, here is the reader’s guide, along with some commentary, 10 years after writing the original.
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Schlep - to carry; I realize I gave you very little time to get your bearings. This was the 10th word in, didn’t even make it into the body of the post.
I think I covered Passover and Seder enough in the actual post. What you need to know here is that Passover is what Jesus & Co. were celebrating at the Last Supper. It’s one of the more important holidays, probably 2nd after Yom Kippur but don’t quote me on that. It might be 3rd after Rosh Hashana. The two of those are called “High Holy Days/ High Holidays” and are often the only time not so religious Jews go to temple. Don’t quote me on that either.
Bar Mitzvah (bat mitzvah for girls) - This is a coming of age/rite of passage. It means you have become a man or a woman and are recognized by society. It generally means you read from the torah, lead a prayer service, and then like you’ve seen on TV have some type of party. The importance and presence of the three probably depends a lot on how religious you are and which sect you’re in. For example, it used to be that Orthodox girls don’t read from the torah. I don’t know if that’s still the case.
Orthodox - When you think of religious Jews in Israel or New York with hats, beards, etc. This is who they are. There are however, many different versions of what I’d call Orthodox (Modern Orthodox, Hasidic, etc.), some of which don’t wear anything specific besides maybe a kippah.
A kippah is one of these. Also known as a yarmaluke (pronounced yah-muh-kuh; “no quema cuh”) Also the photo is hilarious, the Etsy store is advertising the kippah but Jews aren’t supposed to have tattoos, so they don’t know their audience well.Judah the Maccabee - He’s the main character of Hanukkah. He basically was a religious fanatic/fighter that was fighting against oppression by the Seleucid Empire (read: one of the ancient Greek empires) and secularism in the ranks of the Jews trying to assimilate or even just hiding it to not be killed for religious persecution.
I’m not sure why I capitalized all of the descriptions of my dad….maybe it was for emphasis? These descriptions, however, are still mostly the same.
Gefilte fish - Cold fish balls, kinda? https://www.foodandwine.com/news/gefilte-fish-haters-heres-why-you-should-reconsider-your-stance
Boiled eggs - You know what these are, but for some reason they’re always extra hard boiled, no one ever thought to serve a marinated ramen egg (soft boiled) and I disrespect them for that.
Kosher/Kashrut - Jewish food rules. No pork, no meat and cheese together, and no shellfish are the well known ones. They get a bit more esoteric. The rule on Passover is no leavened bread.
Fasting on Yom Kippur - It’s one of the things you do. Sundown to sunset.
Schmooze - Chit chat; according to google it includes trying to impress someone but I’ve never heard that implication before.
L’Chaim - Literally “to life”, it’s the hebrew equivalent of “Salud” or “Cheers”
Manischewitz - Wine brand. They make alcoholic grape juice, I refuse to call it wine. It’s disgusting.
Tevya - Have you seen Fiddler on the Roof? It’s the dad. He sings Tradition. He’s, well, traditional.
Haggadahs - The instruction manual
Echad Me Yodeah - A song not too different to the 12 days of Christmas in that it counts things. The difference here is that it’s in Hebrew. When sung by a bunch of elementary school kids it turns into a race where breathing is ruled out as optional. Here’s an incredibly overdramatic rendition:
Goy - non-jew. As far as I know, it is not a derogatory term.
Dayenu - A song about being grateful basically. It’s really repetitive and you clap and yell a lot since it’s one of the few songs people actually know (only the chorus tbh)
TBH - to be honest
“There is finesse and there’s a crotch grab” — this was before the Trump line was made famous. That would have to wait another couple years until the tape was released.
Chocolate Bark - One of life’s delicacies. This isn’t my mom’s recipe (the best) but it gets the point across. https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/chocolate-toffee-matzo-crack.html
Afikomen - Part way through the seder you hide a piece of matzah. Later the kids go look for it, generally for a little prize.
Elijah - A prophet who you leave the door open for and he comes and drinks a glass of wine you leave him. Kind of like Santa with the milk and cookies. A classic trick is to drink it while the kids go and open the door so that they are shocked.
Bar Mitzvah Brunch - After the Bar Mitzvah service, there is a family sponsored luncheon. The highlight is bagels and cream cheese, lox, onions, tomato, capers, lemon juice, the works. There are some butter cookies that are good to. The rest is kind of garbage.
Chametz - Leavened bread; mostly thought of as crumbs. There is a ritual where you gather and burn the bread items from your home, we don’t. Some people also give their bread and such to neighbors. We left it in the house,
If you have any questions, let me know. I’m neither the most nor least informed so I’m an ok place to start.
There is a lot more I could explain but it’s not brought up in the original article so I’m not thinking about it at the moment. You can bet that after 30+ years of this I’ve got an opinion on everything…