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!

    With the recent renaissance of interest in Yiddish, and in keeping with a language that embodies the variety and vibrancy of life itself, The New Joys of Yiddish brings Leo Rosten’s masterful work up to date. Revised for the first time by Lawrence Bush, in close consultation with Rosten’s daughters, it retains the spirit of the original—with its wonderful jokes, tidbits of cultural history, Talmudic and biblical references—and is enhanced by hundreds of new entries and thoughtful commentary on how Yiddish has evolved over the years, as well as clever illustrations by R. O. Blechman. Did you know that cockamamy, bluffer, maven, and aha! are all Yiddish words? If you did, you’re a gaon, possessing a lot of seykhl.

    In Legends of Our Time, he shares with us some of their stories.   On a Tel Aviv bus, Wiesel encounters a notorious Auschwitz barracks chief who forces him to confront past demons that he thought had long since been laid to rest. While traveling through Spain, he is approached by a young Catholic man holding an ancient family document in an unfamiliar language; written in Hebrew in 1492 by the man’s Marrano ancestor, it proudly proclaims to future generations the family’s Jewish origins. Twenty years after being deported from Sighet, Wiesel returns to discover that the only thing missing are the towns 10,000 Jews and the collective memory of their ever having existed. In a Moscow synagogue in the fall on 1967, Wiesel finds a sanctuary filled with young Jews who have miraculously educated themselves in their history and ancient language, who sing Hebrew songs in the street as KGB agents take down names. And from a rabbi in Auschwitz who fasted on Yom Kippur, Wiesel leans that there is more than one way to confront a God who seems to have abandoned His people.

    

    Immediately following the creation of the State of Israel, the leader of an Arab town finds his people's traditional ideas challenged by the Jews building a kibbutz nearby and by his own children, particularly a rebellious twelve-year-old daughter.

    

    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.

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