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Nov 28, 2023, 8:09 PM

These Things Are Sent To Try Us

We all know that good Yiddish expressions are hard to translate. How can you explain to someone how fermished you become when a meshuggeneh makes you feel like a schmatte?! Perhaps one of the best words is “krechtz” – that...

Alexander A. Winogradsky Frenkel

Nov 14, 2023, 3:23 AM

To stand fast, resist and exist

A special "tseytl-lider\צעטל-לידער" Yiddish poem that I wrote these days because of what has happened in the Darom, in South Negev, Israel. I don't call that a "pogrom", I really think and say this and have been teaching/uttered in...

Reuven Chaim Klein

Nov 12, 2023, 12:58 AM

Shakers and Doers

Back in November 2021, the inimitable Rabbi David Bashevkin of the OU challenged his Twitter followers to consider the following question: "What’s the difference between a shtadlan and an askan?" Both Hebrew terms refer to those tireless individuals who busy themselves with...

Reuven Chaim Klein

Oct 28, 2023, 10:36 PM

Hosts and Guests

The patriarch Abraham is often praised for his superlative dedication to the ideal of Hachnasat Orchim (literally, “bringing in guests”). In this essay, we discuss several different terms for “guests” in Hebrew, including the Biblical Hebrew word oreach and the later words ushpiz and achsanai. The word oreach (“guest/wayfarer”)...

Sep 3, 2023, 10:58 PM

NYTimes smears Hasidim again… now, in Yiddish

Background image: Rabbis and supporters of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party during a gathering, January, 2013. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); Montage by The Times of Israel.

No matter that a thriving community speaks Yiddish as their first language – it's only relevant when spoken by non-Hasidim

Jul 25, 2023, 6:40 AM

When you are down to nothing, G-d is up to something

If it's meant to be, it will be! Have you ever suffered a loss because you did the right thing? They say that “nice guys finish last,” but does that apply to our Judaism too? Can publicly identifying as a Jew negatively impact your chances...

Jul 19, 2023, 8:06 AM

You’ve got to walk into the room like G-d sent you there!

There are no mistakes, only opportunities. What are your happiest memories? Many people tell me that their fondest memories are when life happened just the way they planned. But what about those inevitable times when things don’t go according to plan?...

Jun 5, 2023, 8:19 AM

When History Repeats Itself

When reading “Shadows We Carry,” Meryl Ain’s newly released sequel to “The Takeaway Men,” I was reminded how often history repeats itself and how much the past influences our lives. Some of the themes from this new work of...

May 29, 2023, 5:45 AM

Speaking of Language

In the flood of congratulatory articles celebrating Israel’s 75th birthday, it's been odd and surprising to encounter one side of the language debate that filled my childhood home -- Yiddish (my leftist father) vs Hebrew (my right-wing Zionist mother)...

Apr 27, 2023, 11:43 PM

Abroad with Mordechai Gebirtig

The plaque commemorating Mordechai Gebirtig at 5 Berek Joselewicz Street in Krakow, Poland. (Feigeles-Olko, via Wikimedia Commons

The songs of a Yiddish poet and songwriter from Poland killed long ago resonate with me so deeply that I must thank him publicly

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