I had said no talk of the virus this week. But that doesn’t mean I can’t talk politics…. or more precisely a certain assessment of politicians.

Let’s try it in an educational context. How about learning a few Yiddish words? Words that perfectly grasp the range of human behavior and/or certain personality types? The poster below is a decent memory aide for the yiddish words you might be interested to learn. Just think of the person and the word will come to mind! (It first appeared on twitter in 2019 which also explains why Jeffrey Epstein is still on there.)

I collected some translations from different sources since the poster itself did not provide any, wherever I could find them on the internet, in order of left to right.

(tRump) Chazer:

Pig

khazer (khazeyrim)

kha’∙zer (kha∙zey’∙rim)

(m.)

חזיר

(Mnuchin) Ganef:

Thief

ganef (ganovim)

∙

(m.)

גנבֿ

(Conway) Ligner:

Liar

ligner

∙

(m.)

ליגנער

(Epstein) Mahmzer:

Bastard   mahm’∙zer  (m.)  ממזר

(Kushner) Neb·bish: a person, especially a man, who is regarded as pitifully ineffectual, timid, or submissive.”He’s a nebbish. No money, no prestige, no future”

(Ivanka tRump) Nokhshleper: The verb nokhshlepn means “to drag after”; a nokhshleper is a follower whom you have no desire to lead.

(Eric tRump) Pish·er: an insignificant or contemptible person.

(Donald tRump) Putz: a stupid or worthless person.

(Bannon) Schlub: a talentless, unattractive, or boorish person.”the poor dumb shlub just didn’t get it”

(Nunes) Shmegegge: (שמעגעגע) baloney; hot air; nonsense. shmegegge. hokum, meaninglessness, nonsense, nonsensicality, bunk – a message that seems to convey no meaning

(McConnell) Schmuck:

jerk, fool, idiot, contemptible person; naive person, person easy to deceive; (vulg. penis, dick, asshole) (American Jewish)

shmok

shmok

(.)

שמאָק

(de Vos) Schnorrer: beggar; sponger, moocher, parasite shnorer shnor’∙er (m.) שנאָרער

(Miller) Shande: shame  (f.) שאַנדע

(Guliani) Shleger: Bully, violent person.

Yiddish שלעגער ‘shleger’ from the verb שלאָגן ‘shlogn,’ meaning hit or strike.

(Putin) Shtarker: a man of great strength, a strong, stout fellow

Yiddish שטאַרק shtark ‘strong,’ declined for masculine, שטאַרקער shtarker

(Pence) Tsvuak:

hypocrite

(m.)

tsvuak

צבֿעק

Many of the descriptions fit, I do take exception, though, for Steve Bannon…. I’d say he is a geferlekh mensch (געפערלעך מענטש) – a dangerous person. And Guliani could also be considered meschuggene….

Photographs today are all of plants that you would also see at this time of year in Northern or Eastern Europe where Yiddish was spoken – although I photographed them last Sunday on my walk.

Here is moving music from the Yiddish Glory project:

A tremendous discovery was made in Kiev, Ukraine. In the manuscript department of the Ukrainian National Library, archivists found a number of sealed boxes. They contained hand-written Yiddish documents dating back to 1947. Upon examination, it turned out that the pages contained thousands of songs, written by Yiddish-speaking Jews in Ukraine during World War II. Leading Soviet Jewish ethnomusicologists and linguists, including the legendary Moisei Beregovsky, had archived this music by Jewish refugees, Jewish soldiers in the Red Army and Holocaust survivors, who had defied Hitler in song. Stalin’s authorities arrested Beregovsky and his colleagues in 1950, and the documents were sealed. Scholars believed them to have been destroyed forever. University of Toronto professor Anna Shternshis learned of these songs buried deep in the archive. None has been performed in nearly 70 years. Until now. Shtershis worked with Psoy Korolenko, a poet, philologist, and performer of Yiddish music, reconstruct the tunes for these songs. The process was similar to that of archaeological digs, as they analyzed scarce supplementary notes, contextualized the lyrics, and took a leap of imagination.