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5 Comments

Yiddish is Delish

By Mendel Kaplan

About the Speaker

Mendel Kaplan
Rabbi Mendel Kaplan is the founder and spiritual leader of Chabad @ Flamingo in Thornhill, Ontario, he also serves as a Chaplain of the York Regional Police Service

By Mendel Kaplan More articles... |

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Reader Comments
Latest Comments:

Posted: Aug 14, 2011

Yiddish lessons

Dear Rabbi Mendel Kaplan, YES, please teach me Yiddish. I only have "words" that I shtip into English phrases, but I can`t formulate a phrase in Yiddish. I would love to be able to pass along Yiddish to my 2 Daughters. They`re still very young, but we live in Chiba, Japan so I`m their only link. I wish I hadn`t always answered in English...I might have learned more. Ach, sol zeine kapora!! I hope many more people have sent you similar emails so that you will set-up a class teaching Yiddish. B"H

Posted By Mr. Zhak Shaw

Posted: Dec 2, 2009

Loved it!

I love Yiddish, it's the sweetest language, so expresive!

Just in case anyone was curious, geshmack is a German, schmecken means to taste, geschmacken means tasted. So it's a really good example of a term that comes from German that doesn't have a particular meaning in German, but a totally different meaning in Yiddish.

Kvetsh came from Old High German, "quetschen" meant to squeeze. Ausquetschen is german for squeeze out, but it never means to complain, just squeeze.

The etymology of shmuts is from old high german, meaning dirt, but it's in German too. Actually German uses Dreck too :P

Anyone know about feygele? What about lehavdl?

Posted By 'צוי יוסי אלדריצ, Austin, TX

Posted: May 14, 2008

Answer for Rabbi Mendel

I would say Ivrit, but I am not sure about the roots of the yiddish words mentioned above. These, may german words imported into yiddish but i have no way of knowing about the roots of these words if they are hebrew words imported into german.

Posted By Anonymous

Posted: May 13, 2008

Question for Rabbi Mendel

When you talk about Hebrew in your talk, are you refering to Lashon Kodesh or Ivrit?

Posted By Anonymous

Posted: May 11, 2008

Yiddish words known in Germany

Also misch-masch= mixed up, hasserei=rabits cage, quetschen=squissen, schmutzig=dirty, schlepen=dragging, gesund=healthy,
geschmack=taste, qwatch=non sense, zwievel=onion are common yiddish (maybe hebrew or german) words used in Berlin today.

Posted By Anonymous

Now playing...

	Yiddish is Delish
Discover the Yiddish language, how some of the most frequently used phrases are so well used by everyone, and why some things are best expressed in this uniquely Jewish language. Yiddish is delish!
Topics: Yiddish (4), Tradition (16)