CATEGORY: Social Culture
29.08.2012
That’s it, I’m becoming haredi
That’s it, I’m becoming haredi.
I’ve always been told that I have a Jewish neshoyma, and I think it’s time to bring it out of its hiding place, deep within my secular chest, out into the open. I’ve often spoken to God, wherever and whenever I found the time and need to. But now I can talk to him at fixed times, and at fixed locations, with the right words, legitimately, not, you know, on the fly, as I’ve been doing.
I’ve spoken to my wife about it [probably the last time I'll do this now] and we both agree that it makes perfect spiritual and financial sense for both of us to become ultra-Orthodox and raise our children frum. Lots of little frum children. She’s happy to spend the next 15 years of her life going from pregnancy to pregnancy, really she is.
The truth is that we can longer afford to remain secular. READ MORE
CATEGORIES: English Social Culture Thoughts WTF
28.08.2012
Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ is not only the best, but also the most heartwarming and secular Christmas tale ever written; thus being a great pre-Rosh haShana read for a nice Jewish boy like me. It’s also a great read for anyone who is eager for some revelations. The first chapter, ‘Marley’s Ghost’, doesn’t intend to tell the afterlife of the reggae legend; Camden Town wasn’t always inhabited by hipsters; and English language used to sound quite different some 200 years ago. Finally, the most shocking fact – name Scrooge wasn’t at all invented by Walt Disney. Scrooge McDuck is merely a cartoon interpretation of Dickens’ repentant and Christmas-ignoring miser – Ebenezer Scrooge.
Scrooge could have been Jewish – Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’ already features a Jewish villain called Fagin, more often bluntly named as ‘a Jew’. Is Scrooge not stereotypically Jewish enough? There’s something even more Jewish about him – his name, Ebenezer. Here’s some wiki on it:
The word “Ebenezer” comes from Hebrew and is actually two words pronounced together: Even Haezer. It is usually transliterated as a proper name by dropping the definite article (Ha) from the Hebrew word for “help” (Ezer) and putting it together with the Hebrew word for “stone” (Even) to create: “Ebenezer.” The etymological roots of the word, thus defined, should demonstrate that an “Ebenezer” is, literally, a “Stone of Help.” The Biblical Scripture reads as follows:
“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; for he said, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’ So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel; the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. The towns that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites.” (1 Samuel 7:12-14 NRSV)”
Being a Biblical name (just as David or Michael), Ebenezer is the only Hebrew thing attributed to Scrooge. Luckily.
CATEGORIES: English Holidays Reading Religion Social Culture
27.08.2012
Hava, nagila hava, nagila…….
“Nagila” usw., mit a Bissel “hava” davor, so singt man schon seit Generationen und weiß nicht was dieses “nagila” heißt, wenn man des Hebräischen nicht mächtig ist, oder es nur ungenügend radebrecht wie so viele diasporische Pseudoexilanten obskurer Einwanderungsimpotenz. Aber man spricht Iwrith, jedoch nur mit Punkten, aber zum Tourismus und Falaffel und Miets Tapusim bestellen reichts ja.
Ja, also, was heißt denn nun “nagila” in “Hava nagila hava nagila hava, nagila wäh nismecha”.
Ich jedenfalls, habe mich ein langes Leben lang nicht darum gekümmert und nach dem Motto: Wes Brot ich ess, des Lied ich sing, fleißig darauflosgebrummt und wars zufrieden. Kundige Philologen der israelitischen Sprache kenne ich so manchen, also zwei, aber gefragt habe ich bisher nicht einen einzigen.
Warum ich jetzt aufsässig wurde und nicht mehr dieses Wort singen will, ohne seine Bedeutung zu kennen, weiß ich nicht, und was mich geritten hat im Wörterbuch nachzusehen ist mir egal. Na klar weiß ich, dass dieses Lied fröhlich ist und zum Tanzen anregt, zur Horah, dem notorischen isralischen Rundtanz, also wird dieses “nagila” ganz zu schweigen von dem “hava” oder dem noch ominöseren “neranena” wahrscheinlich irgendwas mit freuen, jubeln, frohlocken und glücklich sein zu tun haben, wie es auch in Übersetzungen im Internet zu lesen ist, hie und da, was ja nahe liegend erscheint.
Aber
CATEGORIES: Hava Nagila Short Story Social Culture Thoughts Uncategorized
14.08.2012
My Facebook chat with Rabin killer’s accomplice on why ‘he was eliminated’
Remember a few weeks ago when I sent a friendship request to Hagai Amir, the brother of Rabin’s assassin Yigal Amir, on Facebook? Here’s what I wrote about it back then.
Well, a few days later he accepted and we’ve been pals ever since. OK, not really. We haven’t spoken. Was never inclined to.
But last night something happened. I posted a small photo album of pictures I took the night before. They were from the anti-war-with-Iran demonstration under Ehud Barak’s luxury apartment in central Tel Aviv.
Not long after I posted the album, Hagai Amir left a comment on it. A discussion ensued. READ MORE
CATEGORIES: Politics Religion Short Story Social Culture
09.08.2012
Chewre! Found an old skool track, which many of our parents have enjoyed! Yalla
CATEGORIES: DEEJAY SHICCO Favored Hebrew Music Radio Skills Social Culture WTF
06.08.2012
ANDY WARHOL 10 Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century! To honor Warhol on his birthday today, August 6th!
Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century:
Warhol became fascinated with a group of influential Jewish figures – a pantheon of great thinkers, politicians, performers, musicians and writers including French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923); the first Jewish judge of the United States Supreme Court, Louis Brandeis (1856-1941); renowned philosopher and educator Martin Buber (1878-1965); the theoretical physicist, Albert Einstein (1897-1955), widely regarded as the greatest scientist of the twentieth century; the hugely influential founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939); vaudeville, stage and film comedians, the Marx Brothers: Chico (1887-1961), Groucho (1890-1977), and Harpo (1888-1964); Israelís fourth Prime Minister and one of the founders of the State of Israel, Golda Meir (1898-1978); distinguished American composer George Gershwin (1898-1937); the eminent novelist, Franz Kafka (1883-1924); and avant-garde American writer, poet and playwright Gertrude Stein (1874-1946). The collective achievements of this group changed the course of the twentieth century and may be said to have influenced every aspect of human experience.
CATEGORIES: Art Documentation Exhibition Favored Jews-News Press Self made Skills Social Culture Thoughts
05.08.2012
sounds familiar!
CATEGORIES: English Favored German Hebrew Jews-News Social Culture Thoughts Welcome Yiddish Yiddishe Mame
05.08.2012
Tanzt ! Dance ! Od Hapam !
CATEGORIES: Exhibition Hebrew Jews-News Kosher Movie Music Skills Social Culture Yiddish
