Born to Kvetch Yiddish Language & Culture in All of Its Moods

Praise for Yiddishkeit:

and#8220;The book is about what Neal Gabler in his introduction labels and#8216;Jewish sensibility.and#8217; It pervades this volume, which he acknowledges is messy; he writes: and#8216;You really can't define Yiddishkeit neatly in words or pictures. You sort of have to feel it by wading into it.and#8217; The book does this with gusto.and#8221; and#8212;New York Times

and#8220;Yiddishkeit is as colorful, bawdy, and charming as the culture it seeks to represent.and#8221;

and#8212;Print magazine

and#8220;every bit of it brimming with the charm and flavor of its subject and seamlessly meshing with the text to create a genuinely compelling, scholarly comics experienceand#8221;

and#8212;Publishers Weekly

and#8220;Yiddishkeit is a book that truly informs about Jewish culture and, in the process, challenges readers to pick apart their own vocabulary.and#8221; and#8212;Chicago Tribune

and#8220;a postvernacular tour de forceand#8221;

and#8212;The Forward

and#8220;A fascinating and enlightening effort that takes full use of the graphic storytelling medium in an insightful and revelatory way.and#8221; and#8212;The Miami Herald

and#8220;With a loving eye Pekar and Buhle extract moments and personalities from Yiddish history.and#8221; and#8212;Hadassah

and#8220;gorgeous comix-style portraits of Yiddish writersand#8221;

and#160;and#8211;and#8211;Tabletand#160;

and#8220;Yiddishkeit has managed to survive, if just barely, not because there are individuals dedicated to its survival, though there are, but because Yiddishkeit is an essential part of both the Jewish and the human experience.and#8221;and#160;

and#8212;Neal Gabler, author of An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood, from his introduction

"The hearty hardcover is a scrumptious smorgasbord of comics, essays, and illustrations, edited by Harvey Pekar and Paul Buhle, providing concentrated tastes, with historical context, of Yiddish theater, literature, characters and culture." and#8212;Heeb magazine

“An earthy romp through the lingua franca of Jews. . . . This treasure trove of linguistics, sociology, history and folklore offers a fascinating look at how, through the centuries, a unique and enduring language has reflected an equally unique and enduring culture.”--Publishers Weekly, starred review

The main spoken language of the Jews for more than 1,000 years, Yiddish offers a comprehensive picture of the mind-set that enabled them to survive a millennium of unrelenting persecution across Europe. Through the idioms, phrases, metaphors, and fascinating history of this wonderful tongue, Michael Wex gives us a moving and inspiring portrait of a people, and a language, in exile. From tukhes to goy, meshugener to bobe mayse (cok-and-bull story), Born to Kvetch offers a wealth of material, some that has never appeared in English before, on all elements of Yiddish life, including food, nature, divinity, humanity, and even sex.

From The Three Stooges to Seinfeld, Born to Kvetch is a smart and witty portrait of Yiddish and its relationship to both Jewish culture and American life.

"An earthy romp through the lingua franca of Jews.... This treasure trove of linguistics, sociology, history and folklore offers a fascinating look at how, through the centuries, a unique and enduring language has reflected an equally unique and enduring culture."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

The main spoken language of the Jews for more than 1,000 years, Yiddish offers a comprehensive picture of the mind-set that enabled them to survive a millennium of unrelenting persecution across Europe. Through the idioms, phrases, metaphors, and fascinating history of this wonderful tongue, Michael Wex gives us a moving and inspiring portrait of a people, and a language, in exile.

From tukhes to goy, meshugener to bobe mayse (cok-and-bull story), Born to Kvetch offers a wealth of material, some that has never appeared in English before, on all elements of Yiddish life, including food, nature, divinity, humanity, and even sex.

In Born to Kvetch, Michael Wex looks at the ingredients that went into this buffet of disenchantment and examines how they were mixed together to produce an almost limitless supply of striking idioms and withering curses (which get a chapter all to themselves). Born to Kvetch includes a wealth of material that's never appeared in English before. You'll find information on the Yiddish relationship to food, nature, divinity, and humanity. There's even a chapter about sex.

This is no bobe mayse (cock-and-bull story) from a khokhem be-layle(idiot, literally a "sage at night" when no one's looking), but a serious yet fun and funny look at a language that both shaped and was shaped by those who spoke it. From tukhes to goy, meshugener to kvetch, Yiddish words have permeated and transformed English as well.

Through the idioms, phrases, metaphors, and fascinating history of this kvetch-full tongue, Michael Wex gives us a moving and inspiring portrait of a people, and a language, in exile.

Throughout history, Jews around the world have had plenty of reasons to lament. And for a thousand years, they've had the perfect language for it. Rich in color, expressiveness, and complexity, Yiddish has proven incredibly useful and durable. Its wonderful phrases and idioms impeccably reflect the mind-set that has enabled the Jews of Europe to survive a millennium of unrelenting persecution . . . and enables them to kvetch about it!

Michael Wex—professor, scholar, translator, novelist, and performer—takes a serious yet unceasingly fun and funny look at this remarkable kvetch-full tongue that has both shaped and has been shaped by those who speak it. Featuring chapters on curse words, food, sex, and even death, he allows his lively wit and scholarship to roam freely from Sholem Aleichem to Chaucer to Elvis.

Perhaps only a khokhem be-layle (a fool, literally a "sage at night," when there's no one around to see) would care to pass up this endearing and enriching treasure trove of linguistics, sociology, history, and folklore—an intriguing appreciation of a unique and enduring language and an equally fascinating culture.