Marilla

Wex in Montreal

Michael Wex at the Eleanor London Cote St. Luc Public Library in Montreal Wex's Canadian tour for How to Be a Mentsh (and Not a Shmuck) is going well. Last week he did a slew of interviews while staying in Montreal, followed by a public appearance at the Eleanor London Cote St. Luc Public Library and then flew directly to Winnipeg where he had another event at McNally Robinson book store. Rosh Hashanah... Read more here

Wex

The kosher meat industry sheds crocodile tears

Should the federal grand jury currently investigating possible anti-trust violations on the part of certain unnamed kosher meat suppliers uncover evidence of unkosher business practice, I’ll bet dollars to dales—that’s Yiddish for poverty—that we’ll soon see more than one representative of the firms in question weeping tsibele trern, “onion tears,” and adopting a yires-shomayim peniml, “a... Read more here

Wex

Eating tsimmes on Rosh Hashanah

Two days of Rosh Hashanah, two nights of eating tsimmes. As Jewish as any food this side of kugel, tsimmes is far more likely to glow in the dark. Described by Uriel Weinreich as a “vegetable/fruit stew,” the tsimmes comes in nearly as many varieties as there are fruits and vegetables to stew. There is the plum tsimmes, the raisin-tsimmes, the apple-tsimmes and the pear-tsimmes. There are tsimmesn to... Read more here

Wex

Hakn a tshaynik about the holidays

With Jewish New Year cards on display all over town and Halloween candies clogging supermarket aisles, there’s no question that the holiday season is already upon us. From six weeks before Rosh Hashana all the way to Memorial Day, tshatshkeh-makers and greeting-card companies hak us an endless tshaynik—bang us an endless tea kettle—about holidays that can now be ruined months before they take even... Read more here

Marilla

How to Be a Mentsh book launch in NYC

How to Be a Mentsh (and Not a Shmuck) gets its US launch at the Workmen's Circle in New York City next month. On Tuesday 27th October at 6.30pm Wex will be talking about his new book, signing copies, pressing flesh and answering questions at a launch held by the Workmen's Circle. If you're in the New York area - drop by and say hello! (Mentsh gets its Canadian launch in a couple of weeks on 21st September... Read more here

Marilla

Biggest mentsh/biggest shmuck competition

Check out these and other fine items with Yiddish flair at our online store by clicking on the image above Win yourself a signed copy of Wex's new book, How to Be a Mentsh (and Not a Shmuck) - here's how. Simply go to our contact page and send us (in 500 words or less) a story about the biggest mentsh or the biggest shmuck you've ever met. The writer of the best mentsh story and the best shmuck story will... Read more here

Wex

When big shots go all to pot…

The shocking recent slide in stock markets around the world could well leave many a private investor and Wall Street maven on the verge of turning into a knakker on a nun, “a knakker without the n” (but with the initial k). A knakker is a “big shot,” the sort of person who does everything with knak, with enough pizzazz to make sure that no one pays attention to anybody else. And many a market... Read more here