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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

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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