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I Arts & Entertainment
'National Language
Of Nowhere'
Yiddish may no longer be the Jewish
mamaloshen, but it is anything but dead.
Sandee Brawarsky
Special to the Jewish News
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52
April 27 2006
iN
I
f somebody asks whether you
speak Yiddish and you want
to impress with your answer,
don't say, " Yo" (Yes) or "Tsi red ikh
Yiddish" (Do I speak Yiddish). Try
"Halevay voltn ale azoy geret" (If
only everybody spoke it the way I do).
As Michael Wex explains in his out-
standing book, Born to Kvetch (St.
Martin's Press; $24.95), this will show
that you know not only the Yiddish
words, but also the Yiddish worldview,
the principles that bind the words
together.
For Wex, a novelist, translator, col-
lege instructor and performer, Yiddish
is "a language in which almost any
noun or verb can instantly be turned
into an insult." No matter the ques-
tion, it's likely that there's an answer.
Yiddish is earthy, argumentative and
not politically correct. "Yiddish is a
lot of things, but innocent isn't one of
them," he writes.
His new book is a multidimensional
view of Yiddish, looking at history
and usage and the connections forged
among language, religion and national
identity — even when it's the "nation-
al language of nowhere."
Through Yiddish, he offers a portrait
of Jewish life; he playfully.unpacks the
meanings of metaphors and idioms.
Wex is both scholarly and funny; he
respects and loves the richness of the
language, and he writes in the spirit of
irony that's laced into so many Yiddish
phrases. His original approach is
informed by two facts of his life: He's a
former yeshiva bocher, so he's able to
trace how biblical and talmudic texts
made their way into Yiddish colloqui-
alisms. And he does stand-up comedy.
It's easy to hear the monologue
in the writing. In fact, much of this
material was presented in lectures and
perforrilances over 15 years. Wex per-
forms in Michigan April 29 at a fund-
raiser for Workmen's Circle/Arbeter
Ring (see sidebar).
Best - Seller
With the publication of the book,
Wex disproves the Yiddish proverb
BORN TO
KVETCH
kh
figuo.g.t.
and ClOturf..7 in -
AU of Its Moods
MICHAEL WEX
"Eyn mazl le-yisroel" (The Jews have
no luck). Good things have been hap-
pening. After a prominent review in
the New York Times, Wex's publisher
went back to press to meet demand
and now has returned to press several
times. The author has been inter-
viewed on NBC's Today show as well
as on NPR's Fresh Air.
While there have been an increas-
ing number of scholarly publications
about Yiddish and, on the other side
of the spectrum, lighthearted humor
books about Yiddish language, Wex's
book is unusual in carving out a
middle ground.
In an interview by phone from his
home in Toronto, Wex, 51, speaks
about The Joys of Yiddish, explain-
ing that Leo Rosten's book was more
about English than Yiddish — about
how Yiddish words are used in
English. "For all its virtues, it's dated.
It's a great book if you remember
watching Milton Berle on television.
That's not a put-down; that's the cul-
tural milieu:'
To make his book more relevant to
a contemporary audience, Wex probes
the depths of Yiddish and includes
references to political figures, films,
television series and entertainers.
As Wex explains, the kvetch is
the basic unit of communication in
Yiddish. According to Wex, kvetch-
ing has its roots in the Bible, with