THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, July 4, 1975 31

`Yiddish Curse' Considered Branch of Yiddish Humor

—From Maurice Samu-
el's "The World of Sholem
Aleichem".

serve them as escape; they
had not so many prayers
and other religious duties.
In a sense, then, the curse
was a substitute; there is a
close etymological relation-
ship between "prayer" and
"imprecation."
The nearest approach to
the curse for ingenuity, va-
riety, complication and
completeness is to be found
in the medieval Church ana-
thema. But there is this dif-
ference: the Church curse
makes your blood run cold,
the Yiddish curse is down-
right funny. And it is funny
because unlike the Church
curse it does not believe, or
pretend to believe its own po-
tency. The greater the exu-
berance, the more striking
its pathos. It is the reductio
ad absurdum of the curse.

gin, and the Kasrielevky
pronunciation is meeseh
meshineh. Actually the
market-woman could not
have said what meeseh
meshineh meant, literally.
A variant of the curse is:
"May you take a meeseh
meshineh" — the word
"take" being used here in
the same way as we use it
in English for "taking" a
medicine.

The Yiddish curse, partic-
ularly as developed by the
Kasrielevky market-
woman, must be classified
as a branch of Yiddish hu-
mor. It was a pastime and a
form of self-expression
rather than an implement
— even theoretical — of
war. A people physically
disarmed takes refuge in
dreams and worlds; where
resentment cannot issue in
action, it makes shift with
the imagination, and in the
course of time the purely
imaginative element
riumphs over the emotion;
,,he curse becomes a dreay
exercise practiced for its
own sake.
The Yiddish curse was the
domain of women. They had
The phrase "unusual
not the man's learning to death" is of Hebrew ori-

There is a story attached

By RABBI SAMUEL FOX
(Copyright 1975, JTA, Inc.)

Animal sacrifices are part
of Jewish tradition. A vari-
ety of reasons are offered
for this phenomenon.
Some claim that the sac-
rifice of the animal was a
symbol of the destruction of
the animal nature of man
which leads man astray.
This nature of desire and
lust must be curtailed and
held in abeyance and sub-
ject to man's spiritual na-
ture. (Sefer ha-Chinuch).
Maimonides is well-

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MRS. LESHEM

TEL AVIV — Mrs. Alvssa
Leshem fails to understand
why an ambassador's wife
should not be permitted to
run a beauty salon.
Mrs. Leshem is the ,wife
of Moshe Leshem, Israel's
ambassador to Denmark,
whose request to have his
term of duty in Denmark
prolonged in order to allow
his wife to finish 'a cosmet-
ics course, was turned
down.
"I just can't, see why am-
bassadors' wives should be
such a special class of
woman," Mrs. Leshem said.
"This is discrimination,
and I do feel that I have a
right to use my own judg-
ment as to what work I can
do in a specific situation."

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In the year of bicentennial,
We seek out joys perennial.
We hallow moments historical,
Lending ear to orations rhetorical.

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where the arms of Germany
had been victorious. "We
have taken Przemys1-1 We
have taken Kamenetz-Po-
dolskl We have taken Rado-.
mysLi

Ml

known for his theory that
animal sacrifice, under con-
trol and limited by Jewish
laws, was instituted to draw
people away from pagan rit-

uals of those days which
went way beyond human
reason and dignity at times.
Others (e.g., Nahman-
ides) claimed that the sac-
rifice of the animal showed
man that he owed the
Almighty, either by grati-
tude or guilt, his very own
life. The animal was a sub-
stitute for human life
which was either forfeited
through sin or owed in
thanks to its Maker.
One who feels close to
someone or who was sepa-
rated and again wishes to
feel close to someone, feels
required to give something
or sacrifice something as a
means of reconcilation.

Thus sacrifices bring us
"nearer" to God.

Dominoes vs. Checkers

By DAVID SCHWARTZ
(Copyright 1975, JTA, Inc.)

The game of dominoes
seems to have lost stature
with the ending of the Viet-
nam war. President John-
son made dominoes famous
by using it to justify the
Vietnam war.
The President should
have played checkers. The
Trumpenster Rebbe pointed
out hOw much more check-
ers teaches. "From check-
ers," he said, "you learn it is
often good to give in a little
— to sacrifice one in order
to gain two. And that you
must not make two moves at
the same time — that you
must always move forward
and that when you are on
the top, you can move in any
direction."
The game of checkers
seems to have a lesson appl-
icable to the present situa-
tion in Israellsrael is asked
to yield much but is given
nothing in return.

Israel Investigates
Foreign Deposits

TEL AVIV (ZINS) — The
police have begun to investi-
gate Israelis ,who are sus-
pected of having deposits
abroad, or of being silent
partners in foreign enter-
prises in which they have in-
vested capital.
The investigations con-
cern the unlawful transfer
of currencies abroad and
began in earnest after the
disclosure by Michael Tzur
(himself under indictment
for this unlawful practice)
that many Israelis have un-
lawfully transferred curren-
cies out of the country.

The noted Rabbi Bunam
was an advocate of chess.
He said chess gives the far
range perspective. You
learn to look ahead. In the
American Revolution,
there were many chess
players. Benjamin Frank-
lin, when he was in France
to solicit French support
for America, as Israel now
seeks American support,
Was playing a game of
chess.

It was interesting to hear
Moshe Dayan's views about
the Vietnam war. He said he
thought_it would have been
better if America had not
involved herself. He said
there were times when Is-
rael might have easily taken
Damascus, the capital of
Syria. It would have been
acclaimed as a great victory,
but, he said, it would have
been unwise. There was
more to the matter, he said,
than taking the city. There

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At last the Jew asked,
timidly: "Pardon me, sir,
have you also taken Amee-
sehmeshineh?" "No". an-
swered the officer, haugh-
tily, "but we intend to take
that too."

Animal Sacrifice—a Tradition

Wife of Envoy
Claims Right
to Hold Job

A COMPLETE VARIETY OF FRESH

.-00

to "taking a meeseh meshi-
neh." A Jew sitting opposite
a Prussian officer in a train
was forced to listen to a long
recital of the military
triumphs of Germany. The
officer would exclaim,
whenever they were passing
a fortress or a fortified city:
"You see this? We, the Prus-
sians, have taken it-!" Be-
tween cities and fortresses
he would recall, in a kind of
chant, all the foreign places

k
(67 rescript" )ro-

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