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by Jacob Plitman Banner credit: Alex Foley LIKE OUR COUSINS the Elves, we Jews are a crafty, clever and resourceful people. Marooned as many of us are within a Christian-hegemonic superpower, we reach for what is at hand — ritually, by turning a minor holiday about the Jewish Taliban into a major celebration, and literally, by turning […]
Read MoreA RESOURCE FROM JEWISH CURRENTS’ SCHAPPES CENTER FOR CULTURAL JEWISH LIFE (Sponsored, in part, by the Kurz Family Foundation. Illustration [above] from Richard Codor and Lawrence Bush’s Babushkin’s Catalogue of Jewish Inventions.) KHANIKE (that’s the YIVO-style transliteration of the Yiddish pronunciation for Hanukkah, which we use to honor Yiddish culture) is one of the […]
Read MoreTranslated from the Yiddish by Curt Leviant A RESOURCE FROM JEWISH CURRENTS’ SCHAPPES CENTER FOR CULTURAL JEWISH LIFE. Sponsored, in part, by the Kurz Family Foundation. BENNY POLKOVOY was my best pal. I liked him more than any of my friends in kheder or in town. I adored Benny because he was the best looking, […]
Read MoreTHE YOM KIPPUR CANTOR — SOMEONE TO ENVY Translated from the Yiddish by Curt Leviant IN ALL of Kasrilevke’s history, there was no finer funeral than Reb Melekh the Cantor’s. Reb Melekeh was a pauper, the poorest of the poor, just like the rest of the people in the shtetl of Kasrilevke. He was given […]
Read MoreTranslated from the Yiddish by Curt Leviant YOU WANT TO KNOW why a Jew like me, a father of children, handles contraband filth like French postcards? I’ve got Tolmatshov and Tolmatshov alone to thank for it, may he fry in hell! But since this all happened so long ago, and since Tolmatshov is gone and […]
Read Moreby Max Rosenfeld Published in Spring, 1967, in Jewish Currents THE TRADITIONAL explanation for the holiday of Pesakh is to be found in the twelfth chapter of Exodus: “Tell all the congregations of Israel,” God said to Moses, “that on the tenth day of this month, every household must sacrifice a lamb,” and if the […]
Read MoreTranslated from the Yiddish by Curt Leviant 1. Kicked out of Paradise “THANK GOD Purim’s over and done with. Now we can start planning for Passover.” That’s what Mama said the morning after Purim as she carefully inspected the four corners of the parlor like a chicken about to lay an egg. There, a few […]
Read Moreby Lawrence Bush MY FAMILY and Passover intimates have consistently observed the Festival of Matse by turning the hagode text into a participatory event. We assign the holiday themes to individuals at least a couple of weeks in advance. These might include: Springtime • Four Questions • Slavery • Afikomen (hidden matse) • Burning Bush […]
Read MoreA CLASSIC STORY FOR PURIM Translated from the Yiddish, and with an afterword, by Curt Leviant WEARING a silk kerchief and a plain apron -– a combination of holiday and weekday attire –- Mama stood by the table, practically at her wit’s end. It was no trifle, you know, receiving almost a hundred shalakhmones, the […]
Read Moreby Rabbi Reba Carmel MEGILLAH 7b of the Babylonian Talmud ascribes the following to Rava: “One is to drink on Purim until he is unable to distinguish between blessed be Mordechai and cursed is Haman.” The following story is then recounted: Rabbah and Rav Zeirah made a Purim feast together. They got drunk and Rabbah […]
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