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Golanski's Treasures

~ a novel

Golanski's Treasures

Category Archives: Yiddish

Friendships – Max’s Gang

09 Saturday Jun 2012

Posted by Golanskis Treasures in Holocaust, Jewish Culture & Traditions, Writing, Yiddish

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Alter Kocher, Ashkenazi Jews, Cafe, Evanston, Facebook, family, Friendships, Illinois, Jews, Lower East Side, New York City, Reunion, Yiddish, Yiddish language

FRIENDS!

Flickr friends

The fuel behind the energy of our lives, friends are those rare individuals who elect to share life’s journey.  They are there during the good times – and the bad. While not related by blood, they are the people who elect to be there for us – our companions, confidants, and fellow-travelers by choice. Recently, friends from my youth have actively come together through FaceBook.  Perhaps the process of aging has caused us to reach back and gather close those who shared the formative years of our lives, inviting them to join us once again even as we venture forward. The process of exploring our collective past in Evanston, Illinois has brought up rich images of places, people, and experiences. Coalescing, these long-standing friendships are blending past and present.  The longing for the warm and familiar surroundings of our youth is being replaced by an extended family picking up where we left off.

That’s probably why two of my greatest pleasures in writing GOLANSKI’S TREASURES have been time spent with Max as a child reliving a youth surrounded by a warm and loving family – and as an older man in New York’s Lower East Side neighborhood.

English: Tenement buildings in the Lower East ...

Tenement buildings in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Having lost his family to the Holocaust, Max has developed a few close friendships with colorful characters who’ve stepped in to provide him with a semblance of family.  While they can’t replace those he lost, they provide him with a connection to the world, and camaraderie that only comes from being “known.”  They are a lively group, and I thought you might enjoy them.  So, without further ado, I’d like to begin introducing Max’s “gang!”

Leading the pack is Sammy, an animated ball of energy and Max’s closest buddy.  Sid is best  described as a well-meaning, but undeniable curmudgeon, and Morrie is simply a sweet and kindly soul.  Every week they meet for “a cuppa coffee and a pastry” at the Cafe Arabica, followed by pinochle in a nearby park.

Max's "Alter Kocher Club"

Max’s “Alter Kochers Club”

However, rather than my telling you about them in the context of discussion, I thought you might enjoy taking a moment to peak beneath the tent of the world where Max lives.  So, today I’d like to invite you to brew up a cup of your own coffee, pull up a virtual chair at the Cafe Arabica and meet the first of Max’s “Alter Kochers Club” (Yiddish for “Old Farts”), Sammy Fuchs.  I hope you enjoy him as much as I do!

(NOTE:  Quoted text is copyright protected by Sue Ross, 2012 and remains the exclusive property of the author.  Use of this material without permission is prohibited.)

Sammy was small verging on elfin with hair an entity onto itself.  Jutting out at odd angles it danced around a face defined by years of laughter.  From the rakishly crinkled skin around his mouth, to his laughing eyes, Sammy was undeniably unique.  In many ways, his hair served as an antenna that drew attention to his way of interacting with the world.  While not immune from life’s challenges, he had traveled the years with sorrows miraculously held at bay.

‘It’s all about attitude,’ he’d explain, finding life much more to his liking when experienced as he wished it could be, rather than the way it really was.

Sammy’s family was from Munich, where before WWII Jews served as the heads of governments, banks, and universities.  Fully assimilated within the dominant society, their experiences were decidedly different from those of Eastern Europeans.  This contributed to a certain modicum of class distinction that sometimes spilled over into dealings with other ‘lansman.’  Possessing this self-inflated sense of worth as a German Jew bolstered Sammy’s already strong sense of personal power.  He identified himself as the group’s self-acclaimed troublemaker, whose mission in life was to keep both his contemporaries, and the rest of the world on their toes — one of the few things left that gave him pleasure.

‘Sex is like a song,’ he’d say.  ‘I can hum the melody, but can’t quite remember the words.  And food?  With these lousy dentures it’s impossible to chew anything to set my taste buds on fire!  We come into the world gumming pabulum and we leave it the same way.’  For Sammy, making waves was not only a form of entertainment, but a skill elevated to an art form.

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YIDDISH (my Mamaloschen)

05 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by Golanskis Treasures in Jewish Culture & Traditions, Yiddish

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Eastern Europe, food, Jewish, Jewish Culture and Traditions, language, Mandy Patinkin, Sholom Aleichem, Yiddish

MAX GOLANSKI here, and like the gifted Mandy Patinkin pictured on the left, I wanted to share with you some information about Yiddish, my mamaloschen, or “mother tongue.” In Poland I read, spoke and experienced the world through its richness.

Yiddish almost became a dead language after World War II, but for centuries it was spoken by 12 million people.  Yiddish helped us maintain our cultural identity and communicate with other Jewish people throughout the world.  As borders changed so often in Eastern Europe, we had a native tongue despite not having a nation. Born in Europe, Yiddish is 70% German with a mixture of Hebrew, Slavic, and Romance languages thrown in. As Yiddish spread between countries and regions, it absorbed their languages and regional slang expressions, but basics stayed the same. Yiddish is the Jewish way to make sense of the world.

To me Yiddish is like a clear chicken broth to which leftovers are added every night until Shabbos (Sabbath). Each night’s soup is stronger than the night before until it’s like a nice, thick stew for the Sabbath meal — then the process starts all over again.  Why all this talk about food?  I see both food and Yiddish as delicacies.  Speaking Yiddish, we relish every bite, eating our words with gusto and enjoying the aftertaste so as not to miss the true flavor, or essence of a conversation.  So, would you like a taste?  A little sampler plate of Yiddish expressions?  So many Yiddish words are now part of everyday life, I’m sure you’ve heard:

BUBKES  (trivial, worthless, useless)

GLITCH (minor problem or error)

MAVEN (expert – often sarcastic)

NOSH (snack)

OY GEVALT and OY VEY (Oh pain!  Yikes!)

PLOTZ (collapse)

SHLOCK (cheap, shoddy item)

SHMALTZY (excessively gushing)

SHMOOZE (chat, small talk)

SHTICK (gimmick, actor’s bit)

SPIEL (involved sales pitch)

TCHATCHKE (knick-knack)

TUCHIS (rear-end, buttocks, tush)

YENTE (female busy-body)

However, unless you’re a lansman (“Member of the Tribe,” or Jewish) and only then if you speak Yiddish, you might be unfamiliar with its descriptive color.  So, how about I start with my very favorite, as it explains the story of my life?

 DER MANN TRAOCHT UN GOTT LACHT.

(“MAN PLANS AND GOD LAUGHS.”)

HERE ARE A FEW OTHER WORDS AND PHRASES I LIKE:

A SHAYNE DANK DIR IM PUPIK — Many thanks in your belly button (“Thanks for nothing.”)

A BI GEZUNT – Don’t worry about problems.  (“You’ve still got your health.”)

BIZ HUNDERT UN TSVANTSIK – You should live to be 120.

FERBLUNJIT — Lost, mixed up.

GAY GA ZINTA HATE — Go in good health.  (“Fine, don’t listen to me. See if I care.”)

HOK A CHAINIK – Bang the kettle, OR give someone a headache with complaining.

KVELL — To beam with pride and pleasure.  (Jewish parents are prone to kvell over their children’s achievements.)

ME OIS VAXEN SVI A TSIBELE MITEN CUP IN VANT – You should grow like an onion with your head in the ground.

SHLIMAZL — A chronically unlucky person, a born loser.  (When a shlimazl sells his umbrella the sun comes out.)

YENTE TELEBENTE – “Mrs. National Enquirer”

ZAYN MAZL ZOL IM LAYCHTN VI DI LEVONE IN SOF KHOYDESH — His luck should be as bright as a new moon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OY . . . I didn’t mean to go on so!  If you have any personal favorites though, let Sue know.  She’s thinking of setting up a page just for Yiddish words and expressions.  But, only if you’d enjoy.  Nu?  What do you think?

Max

P.S.  Sue wanted me to tell you that there are many books and websites on Yiddish and she’ll try to add some to her links.  You may want to read Leo Rosten’s THE JOYS OF YIDDISH.  Or check online.

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  • Friendships – Part Two
  • Friendships – Max’s Gang
  • Counting Blessings
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