Gevald! There are so many bizarre things about this New York Times article about Orrin Hatch's new Hanukkah (NYT's spelling, not mine) song. To name just a few:
He has mezuzahs on all his doors.
He WEARS a mezuzah necklace.
He has a 'mock' Torah in his Senate office.
His idol is Barbra Streisand. (What, no Manilow love??? What kind of philo-Semite is this man? Or would that just be straight up gay?)
His writing partner is a Jewish Upper West Sider named Madeline Stone who specializes in writing Christian music. Wait---- WHAT???
But seriously, the Times missed the real khidish (novel insight) to this story. It's not that super Jew lover Orrin "I'm sorry I'm not Jewish" Hatch wrote a song for Chanuqah (Saturday Evening Post's spelling, not mine). It's that the Christians are finally turning the tables on the Jews and selling shlocky culture back to us!
Jews have been creating and selling back American Christian pop culture pretty much since they got off the boat at Tin Pan Alley. Jews are responsible (some might say culpable or guilty) for much of what we think of as Amerikan Kristmas Kulture (Yiddish Radicals' Weekly spelling, not mine). White Christmas, Santa Tchochkes, and pretty much every annoying Christmas song you'll be hearing for the next 3 weeks.
So, well played Senator Hatch. Turn about is fair play. But until I see your Xanika (Gazeta Ruskii spelling, not mine) song blasted from every mall speaker as a subtle form of psychological warfare, well, until then, I say you're still an amateur at this game we call cultural appropriation.
Listen to the song here.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Goldene Keytn
(A new feature of links to articles that caught my eye.)
File this one under nice press for the Workmen's Circle/ארבעטער רינג. The Jewish Press has an article about the WC shules (schools), especially the Long Island branch.
The article was only marred at the end, with a strangely underminery quote from a Rabbi at a competing secular congregation, the City Congregation of Humanistic Judaism. He is quoted as saying about the WC shule: “It’s better than nothing..." Alrighty then...
File this next one under hack journalism that the Forward should be above. Devra Ferst writes a review of Janet Perr's Yiddish for Babies. This is the follow-up to her Yiddish for Dogs.
I fear that floating out there somewhere is some kind of style manual for lazy journalists who write articles about Yiddish. I've seen this formula so many times, it's hard to get outraged.
1. Think of all the yiddish words you know. Make a list. It shouldn't take long.
2. Work at least one or 2 into the title of the article, whether they fit or not.
3. Sprinkle liberally throughout the article, without regard to context or tone.
4. Make sure you turn off the critical thinking lobe of your brain that might compel you to criticize the concept, motivation or execution of the product you're reviewing. Remember, it's Yiddish- no one knows the difference.
5. Invoke at least 2 or 3 memes of the Yiddish Atlantis. Here it's
-Yiddish is dying
-only Bubbes and Zeydes (grandparents) speak or can teach Yiddish
-Yiddish needs to be revived through the medium of novelty books written by ameratsem/עם-האָרצים.
-Yiddish is funny.
If Yiddish is so funny WHY THE FUCK AM I NOT LAUGHING?
Ha ha, just kidding. I'm laughing. To keep from crying.
UPDATE: I often feel I'm alone with my relatively small cadre of Yiddish lovers, despairing of the way that Yiddish is used and abused in the Jewish mainstream. I see books like Yiddish for Babies getting published and I weep. BUT, around the web there is something like a backlash against this crap, and even non-Yiddishists are calling this out for what it is- an insult against the Jewish people.
File this one under nice press for the Workmen's Circle/ארבעטער רינג. The Jewish Press has an article about the WC shules (schools), especially the Long Island branch.
The article was only marred at the end, with a strangely underminery quote from a Rabbi at a competing secular congregation, the City Congregation of Humanistic Judaism. He is quoted as saying about the WC shule: “It’s better than nothing..." Alrighty then...
File this next one under hack journalism that the Forward should be above. Devra Ferst writes a review of Janet Perr's Yiddish for Babies. This is the follow-up to her Yiddish for Dogs.
I fear that floating out there somewhere is some kind of style manual for lazy journalists who write articles about Yiddish. I've seen this formula so many times, it's hard to get outraged.
1. Think of all the yiddish words you know. Make a list. It shouldn't take long.
2. Work at least one or 2 into the title of the article, whether they fit or not.
3. Sprinkle liberally throughout the article, without regard to context or tone.
4. Make sure you turn off the critical thinking lobe of your brain that might compel you to criticize the concept, motivation or execution of the product you're reviewing. Remember, it's Yiddish- no one knows the difference.
5. Invoke at least 2 or 3 memes of the Yiddish Atlantis. Here it's
-Yiddish is dying
-only Bubbes and Zeydes (grandparents) speak or can teach Yiddish
-Yiddish needs to be revived through the medium of novelty books written by ameratsem/עם-האָרצים.
-Yiddish is funny.
If Yiddish is so funny WHY THE FUCK AM I NOT LAUGHING?
Ha ha, just kidding. I'm laughing. To keep from crying.
UPDATE: I often feel I'm alone with my relatively small cadre of Yiddish lovers, despairing of the way that Yiddish is used and abused in the Jewish mainstream. I see books like Yiddish for Babies getting published and I weep. BUT, around the web there is something like a backlash against this crap, and even non-Yiddishists are calling this out for what it is- an insult against the Jewish people.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Be a Mentsh and Celebrate the Publication of Michael Wex's New Book (with Michael Wex!)
Come out to the launch of How to Be a Mentsh (and Not a Shmuck)
Tuesday October 27 2009 at 6.30pm
The Workmen’s Circle: 45 East 33rd Street, New York, NY 10016
Khanike, Xmas and Festivus are right around the corner. Get autographed copies of the book and turn your favorite shmuck into a real mentsh!
See you there!
Tuesday October 27 2009 at 6.30pm
The Workmen’s Circle: 45 East 33rd Street, New York, NY 10016
Khanike, Xmas and Festivus are right around the corner. Get autographed copies of the book and turn your favorite shmuck into a real mentsh!
See you there!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
If I am Jewish should I learn Yiddish?
Part of a new series in which I, or a guest blogger, will attempt to answer some of the more interesting google queries by which my readers have arrived at this sweet blogg o'mine. And no, "jewish women hair" and "hot jewish fucking" are not in the form of a question. Today's guest blogger is Yisroel Bass, who can be found around the city raising the Yiddish rabble, as well as blogging at The Youth Will Sleep No Longer. Enjoy!
If I am Jewish should I learn Yiddish?
By Yisroel Bass
This was the question posed by one curious web-surfer last week to find this very blog. It goes without saying that such a question deserves a direct answer. Simply put the answer shared by both Rokhl and I is yes (or in her words “fuck yea”). But such an answer is lacking without further depth.
Yiddish makes its way to the student in varying forms, depending on who the student in fact is. The categorization “Jewish” is an umbrella term that can encompass a wide array of people from varying ends of the earth with different levels of connection to statues of religious/national matters. Casting aside the issue of non-Jews learning Yiddish, for Jews there are two different reasons for why one should learn Yiddish. For the Jew without a personal or familial connection to the Yiddish nation of the Jewish people (i.e. Arab, Sephardic, etc.) he or she should learn Yiddish in order to widen his or her intra-cultural literacy. The treasures that Yiddish holds for all of our people are simply undeniable.
For the Jew with a personal/familial connection to Yiddish, the reasons for learning Yiddish exist are much greater. Such a Jew must not approach Yiddish as a “foreign language”. No, in fact Yiddish is yours and you are Yiddish. Much more than just a language, Yiddish is an entity that demands your participation. Learning Yiddish is not an end. A Jew will never reach “proficiency” unless s/he lives up to his/her responsibility to create, live and breath Yiddish nationhood, for proficiency is unattainable without the existence of a tangible and active community. Other nations have the advantage (or disadvantage depending on personal politics) of a state and land to preserve their language(s) and culture(s). Yiddish is without such advantages; without an army or navy. Alas! Yiddish is defenseless against the onslaught of assimilation and the negation of the Diaspora without the conviction, union, and participation of those who speak it and those who are it.
Learning Yiddish is undeniably a must for Jews of all backgrounds. However, the burden or responsibility lies heavily on those of Yiddish decent with direct connection to its folkways and words. These Jews must not only learn Yiddish but in doing so be aware that they are rejoining the ranks of a once proud nation that is now making exacting demands on its citizenry, most pointedly to rebuild the Yiddish nation beyond the highest echelon of its former glory.
If I am Jewish should I learn Yiddish?
By Yisroel Bass
This was the question posed by one curious web-surfer last week to find this very blog. It goes without saying that such a question deserves a direct answer. Simply put the answer shared by both Rokhl and I is yes (or in her words “fuck yea”). But such an answer is lacking without further depth.
Yiddish makes its way to the student in varying forms, depending on who the student in fact is. The categorization “Jewish” is an umbrella term that can encompass a wide array of people from varying ends of the earth with different levels of connection to statues of religious/national matters. Casting aside the issue of non-Jews learning Yiddish, for Jews there are two different reasons for why one should learn Yiddish. For the Jew without a personal or familial connection to the Yiddish nation of the Jewish people (i.e. Arab, Sephardic, etc.) he or she should learn Yiddish in order to widen his or her intra-cultural literacy. The treasures that Yiddish holds for all of our people are simply undeniable.
For the Jew with a personal/familial connection to Yiddish, the reasons for learning Yiddish exist are much greater. Such a Jew must not approach Yiddish as a “foreign language”. No, in fact Yiddish is yours and you are Yiddish. Much more than just a language, Yiddish is an entity that demands your participation. Learning Yiddish is not an end. A Jew will never reach “proficiency” unless s/he lives up to his/her responsibility to create, live and breath Yiddish nationhood, for proficiency is unattainable without the existence of a tangible and active community. Other nations have the advantage (or disadvantage depending on personal politics) of a state and land to preserve their language(s) and culture(s). Yiddish is without such advantages; without an army or navy. Alas! Yiddish is defenseless against the onslaught of assimilation and the negation of the Diaspora without the conviction, union, and participation of those who speak it and those who are it.
Learning Yiddish is undeniably a must for Jews of all backgrounds. However, the burden or responsibility lies heavily on those of Yiddish decent with direct connection to its folkways and words. These Jews must not only learn Yiddish but in doing so be aware that they are rejoining the ranks of a once proud nation that is now making exacting demands on its citizenry, most pointedly to rebuild the Yiddish nation beyond the highest echelon of its former glory.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Mr. Steinhardt, stop the insanity!
$38,000. That's the cost of Jewish dayschool for four kids, for one (obviously well off) blogger.
Holy
fucking
shit.
My readers probably know by now that I have no truck with Birthright. I think it's a perverse expression of the American Jewish sickness to define the patrimony of young Jews as a free vacation.
Isn't it possible that there's such a huge disconnect between American Jews and their Jewish identity because they don't know sweet fuck all about anything Jewish?
I'm not saying that what you learn in Modern Orthodox dayschool is the only way to be Jewish. Khas v'sholem.
Indeed, the kind of agenda I believe in (one that integrates modern and not-so-modern Eastern European Jewish culture as an indivisible part of Jewish life) isn't exactly identical with the MO program.
Nonetheless, baseline Jewish education, text and literacy based (Hebrew, Aramaic and Yiddish), in my opinion, will be the difference between Jewish continuity and our continued slide into the muck of fuzzy, assimilated oblivion.
And comprehensive Jewish educational infrastructure, available to everyone, not just the rich, is one of the only ways to make that happen.
Jewish learning, tradition, culture and text is every Jew's birthright. And with a wave of his magic money wand, Mr. Steinhardt could make that available to every Jewish family.
Am I obtuse? Why isn't this happening??
Holy
fucking
shit.
My readers probably know by now that I have no truck with Birthright. I think it's a perverse expression of the American Jewish sickness to define the patrimony of young Jews as a free vacation.
Isn't it possible that there's such a huge disconnect between American Jews and their Jewish identity because they don't know sweet fuck all about anything Jewish?
I'm not saying that what you learn in Modern Orthodox dayschool is the only way to be Jewish. Khas v'sholem.
Indeed, the kind of agenda I believe in (one that integrates modern and not-so-modern Eastern European Jewish culture as an indivisible part of Jewish life) isn't exactly identical with the MO program.
Nonetheless, baseline Jewish education, text and literacy based (Hebrew, Aramaic and Yiddish), in my opinion, will be the difference between Jewish continuity and our continued slide into the muck of fuzzy, assimilated oblivion.
And comprehensive Jewish educational infrastructure, available to everyone, not just the rich, is one of the only ways to make that happen.
Jewish learning, tradition, culture and text is every Jew's birthright. And with a wave of his magic money wand, Mr. Steinhardt could make that available to every Jewish family.
Am I obtuse? Why isn't this happening??
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
My first article for the Forward!
Hey everyone, I know I've been kinda layin' low, silently drifting below the blog radar. I'm going to blame it on the metamorphosis I've been undergoing as I transform into a FORWARD PUBLISHED AUTHOR. Woo. You can see my article about Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird's Partisans and Parasites here.
The CD is AMAZING and you need to get your cursor over to CDbaby right fast and buy a copy.
The CD is AMAZING and you need to get your cursor over to CDbaby right fast and buy a copy.
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