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A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

Yiddish Word Of The Week

Yiddish Word(s) Of The Week: A patsh farheylt

Yiddish Word(s) Of The Week: A patsh farheylt

Published June 14, 2021

Unlike Latin, which I arguably don’t know, but am going to say this anyway, Yiddish has style. To me, the style comes not just from the incredibly humorous sounding words, but from the literal way our great-great-grandparents, great-grandparents,...

Yiddish Word(s) Of The Week: Bei mir bistu shein

Yiddish Word(s) Of The Week: Bei mir bistu shein

Published June 7, 2021

In Godfather II, Michael Corleone says of a fellow mobster – “Hyman Roth has been dying from the same heart attack for the last twenty years.” The same thing could be said about Yiddish, the language that refuses to die, even though it has been...

Yiddish Word(s) Of The Week: Tsvey hassenas

Yiddish Word(s) Of The Week: Tsvey hassenas

Published June 1, 2021

In Godfather II, Michael Corleone says of a fellow mobster – “Hyman Roth has been dying from the same heart attack for the last twenty years.” The same thing could be said about Yiddish, the language that refuses to die, even though it has been...

Yiddish Word Of The Week: Vilde Chaye

Yiddish Word Of The Week: Vilde Chaye

JORDAN PALMER and RABBI BEN NEWMANPublished May 24, 2021

In Godfather II, Michael Corleone says of a fellow mobster – “Hyman Roth has been dying from the same heart attack for the last twenty years.” The same thing could be said about Yiddish, the language that refuses to die, even though it has been...

Yiddish animal sounds that will make you LOL

Yiddish animal sounds that will make you LOL

LIOR ZALTZMAN, KVELLERPublished May 20, 2021

This story originally appeared on Kveller Last month, Kveller had the honor of hosting an amazing author and Yiddish professor Miriam Udel, who led us in a family-friendly introduction to Yiddish class. It was hardly your run-of-the-mill, didactic...

Yiddish Word(s) Of The Week: Shmatta and Schlump

Yiddish Word(s) Of The Week: Shmatta and Schlump

JORDAN PALMER and RABBI BEN NEWMANPublished May 17, 2021

In Godfather II, Michael Corleone says of a fellow mobster - "Hyman Roth has been dying from the same heart attack for the last twenty years." The same thing could be said about Yiddish, the language that refuses to die, even though it has been described...

Yiddish Word Of The Week: Ungepatchka

Yiddish Word Of The Week: Ungepatchka

RABBI BEN NEWMAN, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished May 10, 2021

Usually, an adjective that describes something which is overly ornate, busy, ridiculously over-decorated, kitch, and garnished to the point of distaste. Doing senseless things. Example:  "That outfit looks ungapatchked."

Yiddish Word Of The Week: Schlep or Schlepper

RABBI BEN NEWMAN, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished May 3, 2021

Etymology: from Yiddish שלעפּן (“to drag”); from High German schleppen (“to drag”)– “to carry”- schlepper (plural schleppers) 1) a servant who carries things 2)  a porter 3) a pejorative insult for an individual who wanders...

Let the ‘Shtisel’ cast teach you some Yiddish

Let the ‘Shtisel’ cast teach you some Yiddish

LIOR SALZMAN, KVELLERPublished April 29, 2021

We love the cast of Shtisel so much. These brilliant actors have had us very deep in our feelings, especially as we binged season 3 of the show about the eponymous Haredi family, which premiered on Netflix in March. We really cannot get enough of...

Yiddish word of the week | Chazerai כאַזער

Yiddish word of the week | Chazerai כאַזער

RABBI BEN NEWMAN, SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH LIGHTPublished April 26, 2021

Food that is awful; junk, trash; anything disgusting, even loathsome (Yiddish כאַזער, from Heb.חזיר  “khazir,” pig). Example – “Ben, before going to sleep, could you please clean up all that chazerai?”  

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