Since joining the Jewish Light I’ve reflected on my own Jewish experience growing up and part of that was the Yiddish my grandparents would use, particularly my maternal grandparents whom I affectionately named Mama and Baba.

Both would use Yiddish on occasion and not really knowing what they were saying, I just laughed at how funny they sounded. But some of the words and phrases stuck in my head. With a bit of research, I think I’ve found what they were saying.

Writer’s note

I felt the need to edit this story because I created it back in June. Recently, cats, dogs, geese and pets have become a part of the American political conversation. You can make up your own mind on all that but today’s Yiddish phrase has nothing to do with current events. Instead, it has everything to do with my grandmother Mama despising cats. In fact, the lore is that she dreamed my mother was going to be born a cat. Luckily, she wasn’t. Odds are my mother will comment below.