Massachusetts 8, or To Everyone Who Has Ever Wondered Why I Tried to Learn Yiddish
"But what [Yiddish] really does have, he thought—what you don't know it has, because it isn't in any Woody Allen movies—is a world of the dead built into it, a true fear of heaven, an automatic need to invoke the presence of God whenever saying anything good or bad about anyone or anything, an absolute trust that the other world, if one could call it that, is not separate from this one, that eternity is always breathing over your shoulder, waiting to see if you will notice."
~Dara Horn, The World To Come
2 comments:
Not a bad description of the language, although I rather think of Yiddish not in terms of the dead, but in terms of its incredible vivacity and adaptability, as well as the unmitigated chutzpah to mix any and all languages at will, to express the feeling and mood of the moment, e.g. the word "boychikel": boy- english, chik - slavic diminutive ending, -el - german diminutive ending. Unmistakably, a cute little boy!
btw, who is Dara Horn? Did you let us have the book recently? The name and title sound vaguely familiar.
LYP
Yes, I lent you the book awhile ago. You loved it - read it again if you don't remember.
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