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...

According to the YIVO, the Institute of Jewish Research, the term "Yiddish" is derived from the German word for "Jewish." The most accepted (but not the only) theory of the origin of Yiddish is that it began to take shape by the 10th century as Jews from...

Yiddish has style. The style comes not just from the incredibly humorous sounding words, but from the literal way our great-great-grandparents, great-grandparents, and grandparents sounded when they said the words. I’m referring to their voices and...

Our favorite purveyors of Ashkenazi grandma chic are back with a new Yiddish bop and we are obsessed. Obsessed, I tell you! Vibers, the Israeli duo of Michal Karmi and Yael Tal, have a new remake of a Yiddish standard — this time with a version...

It's truly amazing how long it takes till you really understand your grandfather or at least a part of him, you took for granted. Since joining the Jewish Light, I've reflected on my own Jewish experience growing up, and part of that was the Yiddish,...

YiddishWit.com is a collection of Yiddish proverbs and sayings and expressions that are published in Yiddish and that lend themselves to illustration. The illustrations are created by Johanna Kovitz, and are adaptations and recombinations of existing...

James Carville thinks Yiddish should be the language of voter outreach. Well, kind of. In an interview with Vox, the longtime political consultant and “Muppets” cast member expressed his concern about “jargon-y language” surrounding subjects...

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?”  

Hock Literally: Don’t knock a tea kettle. To bother incessantly, to break, or nag from “hokn a chaynik”– “to knock a teakettle.” Hock mir nisht kein tshainik-  האַק מיר נישט קיין טשײַניק Aside from the metaphor...

Play timeFew Monday mornings start off as chill as a coffee date with Eddie Coffield, artistic director of the New Jewish Theatre. We got together at Colleen’s in Clayton to talk about the new NJT season, the first one he officially put together. Of...

You say you have shpilkes when Cardinals manager Mike Matheny calls the bullpen for a relief pitcher? Had a little too much wine and you’re feeling shikker? That’s a shondeh! But don’t worry, bubbe, listen to my mayse.Please pardon me if I’m...