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Judaica

1968

The Joys of Yiddish

reference

humor

jewish

non-fiction

Leo Rosten - 1968

Do you know when to cry Mazel tov -- and when to avoid it like the plague? Did you know that Oy! is not a word, but a vocabulary with 29 distinct variations, sighed, cried, howled, or moaned, employed to express anything from ecstasy to horror? Here are words heard 'round the English-speaking world: chutzpa, or gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, "...that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and his father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan." Then there's mish-mosh, or mess, hodgepodge, total confusion...and shamus, or private eye.

They're all here and more, in Leo Rosten's glorious classic The Joys of Yiddish, which weds scholarship to humor and redefines dictionary to reflect the heart and soul of a people through their language, illuminating each entry with marvelous stories and epigrams from folklore and the Talmud, from Bible to borscht belt and beyond. With Rosten's help, anyone can pronounce and master the nuances of words that convey everything from compassion to skepticism. Savor the irresistible pleasure of Yiddish in this banquet of a book!

One Foot in America

Yuri Suhl - 1968

A sweet coming-of-age novel about Shloime (Sol) Kenner's first three years in America, as lived in a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn.

The protagonist, a sort of Jewish David Copperfield, takes a job in a butcher's shop to help his tradition father put bread on their table. The cast of characters includes a colorful assortment of Shloime's relatives as well as pushcart peddlers, merchants, night-school students, communists, anti-Semitic bullies, and the girls with whom he falls in love. Some of the book's most satisfying scenes take place on the boat coming over to America, while others, written in flashback, present gripping tableaux of his childhood "shtetl" in Galicia. Originally published in 1950, "One Foot in America" is a forgotten classic of Jewish immigration fiction, recommended for readers of all ages. Written with warmth, humor and a savoury Yiddish flavour; suitable for young readers. Note: Replaces 978-0-9784435-6-6.