How did a popular Yiddish woman's name come to mean gossip and busybody? In the first of our new Word of the Week mini-series, we trace the evolution of the word yenta. Producer Jen Richler talks with Fiddler on the Roof scholar Jan Lisa Huttner, comedian...

(JTA) – Imagine a village full of Borats, and you’re close to realizing the absurdity of Chelm. The real-life Polish shtetl, a popular subject of Jewish folklore and Yiddish authors including Isaac Bachevis Singer, took on a mythic identity as a village...

On May 1, 2019, Glamour magazine's West Coast Editor and St. Louis native Jessica Radloff posted this picture on Facebook, from the set of "The Big Bang Theory." "This is all I’m allowed to...

On Friday the 13th, we brace ourselves for ominous mishaps—elevators plummeting, relationships unraveling, or catastrophes that seem plucked from disaster movies. Americans are so wary of the number 13 that many buildings skip the 13th floor entirely....

During Covid, "pandemic pups" became all the rage. More than 23 million American households — nearly 1 in 5 nationwide — adopted a pet during the pandemic, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). My social...

No offense to Mrs. Maisel, but Sam Fox on FX’s “Better Things” is the Jewish icon we need to see on TV. The final season of the show, about a working actor and single mom to three teenagers, displays all the traits we love in Jewish women while...

Turning 40 for an actor can sometimes open up their repertoire to new genres or challenges as a performer. But Seth Rogen is already there, existing in an area of versatility that I am not sure some of his fans and critics know enough about. The Jewish...

(New York Jewish Week) — “Funny Girl” is so deeply ingrained in Beanie Feldstein’s life that she doesn’t even remember the first time she watched the movie. “From my developmental psychology classes in college, I think I remember that...

Dear Jewish Light reader, Please help me put an end to a mystery. I'll just say it straight up, I think the kid, featured on the cover of my very own Maxwell House Haggadah, is now grown up and is a major Hollywood star. Many of his fans simply know...

(JTA) — Rabbi Yael Buechler conceived of her latest product a whole year ago, after planning ways to make the Passover seder fun for her two young sons. But it wasn’t until she started promoting the matzah pajamas she designed that she decided...

I ran across a book today, that I just had to tell you about. It's written by Daniel Klein, who figured that Yiddish needed an update to make it more conducive in modern times.  He penned "Schmegoogle: Yiddish Words for Modern Times," which contains...