Marilla

How to Be a Mentsh ends up in the pulpit…

...albeit a virtual one. It's long been our hope that How to Be a Mentsh would end up being discussed in the various flavours of synagogue across the English-speaking world (no translations have been commissioned as yet). And now it's happened. Rabbi Mark Fasman of the Shaare Zedek Synagogue of St. Louis, MO references the book in his January edition of "Message from the Rabbi" which discusses the three... Read more here

Wex

The worst thing you can say in Yiddish

Someone recently asked me about the worst thing that you can say in Yiddish. After weeding out all the obvious contenders, I realized that the final frontier of Yiddish cursing also involves the ultimate reversal of any victim’s expectations: Zolst onkumen tsu mayn mazl, "you should have my luck.” In other words, “The worst thing I can wish on you is...that you should be me.” Ale tsuris vos ikh hob... Read more here

Wex

Religious snow in Toronto

We’ve got very religious snow this year in Toronto; it turns up every Monday, Thursday and Saturday, whenever the Torah is read in shul, and woe to the week with a two-day Rosh Chodesh that starts on Monday night. We’ve got what Yiddish would call shney durkh tir un toyer, “snow through door and gate.” Normally, you’d say shlimazl durkh tir un toyer, "bad luck through door and gate," but our... Read more here

Wex

Living in Sin

I was recently asked how Yiddish refers to people who live together without what used to be called “benefit of clergy.” The short answer is, as infrequently as possible. Indeed, as soon as the news gets out, the woman’s older relatives will all nod sagely and whisper that they’d always suspected that the girl shpint nisht ken tsitsis dortn, “isn't spinning [i.e., knitting, weaving] any tsitsis... Read more here

Wex

Pesach in January

After twenty-five years in an apartment previously occupied by Glenn Gould, I’m about to move into a beautiful, roomy house in one of Toronto’s most impeccably gentile neighborhoods, ten minutes by foot from the nearest shul. Looking the place over while the previous owners were still in residence reminded me of one of my mother’s favorite terms of opprobrium: shlimazlnitseh, a bad housekeeper, the... Read more here

Marilla

Michael Wex at Klezkamp

Michael Wex and Henry Sapoznik ham it up (if you'll pardon the expression) at Di Hoo-Ha The entire Wex family just returned from another great week at Klezkamp. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the Yiddish Cultural event which takes place near Kerhonkson in upstate New York. It was truly a vintage year - registrations were up, the dress-up ball Di Hoo-Ha was a massive success and Mrs. Wex had... Read more here

Wex

Dreaming of a White Christmas

As this festive season of the year draws to a long-awaited close, I have to confess that, like so many members of other communities, I’ve been dreaming lately. Not of a white Christmas, particularly, but of “White Christmas” itself, the Irving Berlin song that has become virtually synonymous with the American idea of Christmas. It’s no secret that Berlin was Jewish. Like Al Jolson, he was the son... Read more here