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44

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1991

William Safire
Columnist William
Performs As Yiddishist

recognize it as a remarkable
acclaim for a language that
is much more than dialect ;
it is a literary treasure.
William Satire enriches it.
Therefore, let us recognize
that he is not only an au-
thority on politics and a na-
tionally prominent colum-
nist, but he keeps emerging
in a great role as a Yid-
dishist!

PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

Editor Emeritus

W

illiam Safire exerts
influence upon a
very large reading
audience that follow his
columns in the New York
Times and in newspapers
that share in the syndication
of the essays. He is also a
novelist. As a speech writer
for Richard Nixon, he had a
role in politics. He earns rec-
ognition as a classicist in
language structuring, and
he is a linguist when con
sideration is given to his
mastery of Yiddish.
He often enthuses readers
and gains acclaim as a Yid-
dishist, which may surprise
journalists and publishers.
In his most recent column,
"Peace-ese," he explains a
non-Jewish diplomat, Secre-
tary of State James Baker,
resorts to the use of and
understands the meaning of

tsores.

In the Yiddishism provid-
ed for us, Mr. Satire lends
confidence for those who will
never admit that Yiddish is
on the decline by inviting us
to take a portion of his com-
mentary:

Though I was not pre-
sent, and cannot get a
definite, on-the-record con-
firmation from a source in-
side the room, I am told
that at one point in the
negotiations leading up to
the Madrid conference,
Secretary of State James
A. Baker said to a member
of the Israeli team about a
procedural matter: "This
shouldn't cause any tsores."
This epochal under-
standing of Yiddish angst
by a starchy diplomat from
Texas augured well for the
opening of the face-to-face
meeting between Israelis
and Arabs. The word
tsores, roughly rhyming
with "Boris;' is derived
from the Hebrew tsarah
and means "trouble, woe";
it can also mean "worries"
or "minor suffering?' Em-
phasis can be provided by
adding gehokteh, meaning
"chopped?' as in "chopped
liver"; gehokteh tsores is
"deep trouble," enough to
derail talks (and to
diplomats, that ain't chop-
ped liver).
We are in the world of
peace-ese, the language of
Middle East peacemaking.
Trying to bridge the gulf of
age-old resentments is a

❑

Federation Published
In Yiddish
With attention to Voice of
Jewish Identity, 1914-1967

William Safire

serious business, and it is
not to trivialize the peace
process (a phrase whose
coiner should . come for-
ward) that this department
delves into the means of
communication; on the
contrary, great issues
churn up new usage.
From that Yiddish begin-
ning, we are lured into
Latin: fans of Latin plurals
were turned on by Presi-
dent Bush's speech in
Madrid. After referring to
bilateral (between two) and
multilateral (among more
than two) meetings to
come, he talked of "pro-
gress in these fora:'

There is much more to the
literary-linguistic delight
provided by Mr. Safire. He
continues with the follow-
ing:

Informal interchanges
between delegates re-
quire explanation. "I
want to eat hummus in
your place," said the
Israeli Yoash Zidon to the
Palestinian Albert
Aghazarian, "and you eat
hummus in my place."
Replied Mr. Aghazarian,
who has apparently had
enough hummus: "Well, I
will eat maybe gefilte fish
in your place." Hu.mmus
is a Middle Eastern spread
made of pureed chickpeas
with tahini, garlic, lemon
juice and olive oil; gefilte
fish is a cake of gehokteh
(see tsores) fish, carp when
you can get it, mixed with
onion, seasonings and egg,
simmered in a broth, and
when made inexpertly can
anchor a battleship.

Call this "food for
thought" if you wish and

by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, we
are invited to• learn about
scores of historic occurrences
in our communal history.
The WSU Press-published
volume will keep inspiring
our interest and concern.
Meanwhile, many
reminiscences will justify
addenda to make our
historiography as complete
as possible.
A chapter that must not be
neglected could be compiled
as "The Decades of Yiddish
Dominance in Detroit."
Those were the years when
Yiddish newspaper readers
predominated. It was when
the Jewish daily Forward
was not only the leading
Yiddish daily in the world
but was also a power in the
American press.
While the oppressive
decline of Yiddish reduced
Yiddish publishing and
readership, the power of the
Forward continues in the
new English language week-
ly. It keeps reminding of
journalistic achievement.
One reminder is of Detroit
community commitment.
As I began the Bolkosky
history, I recalled that a his-
tory of the Detroit Jewish
Welfare Federation was
published in Yiddish. I
recalled the author, Samuel
D. Weinberg, was the city
editor of the Detroit Yiddish
Forward sections. I began a
search for a copy of the book.
I hope it can be located. Not
even Federation can find a
copy.
A former executive vice
president; William Avrunin,
called to inform me that he
had a copy of Jewish Social
Studies of 1940 which con-
tained my review of the
Weinberg book. Jewish So-
cial Studies was a leading
quarterly for Jewish social
workers.
• The clipping identified my
article as being about "
Weinberg, Samuel D. — a