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| OHCC LIVING | AUGUST 2020 | 21 Just in case: Check with your club contact to confirm meeting place, date, and time. Yiddish Club Hello Yiddish Clubbers — are you ready for some uplifting news? The Yiddish Club Board overwhelmingly approved a $200 donation to the Jewish National Fund, helping to support "Team Israel's" journey to the 2021 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. I am pictured here presenting our check to Yiddish Club member Rob Ganz. Rob tells me that over $13,000 was generated from the JNF fundraising zoom event held on June 17. Kudos to Rob for his commitment to JNF, and to Harv Jaffe for his enthusiasm for baseball and for arranging the movie, which introduced us to the Israeli baseball team! "JNF's Project Baseball brings this sport, which builds sportsmanship, fosters teamwork, and cultivates confidence, to Israel, where it is quickly growing into a beloved pastime." This project represents but a small portion of what JNF is doing in an effort to raise funds to develop and cultivate the land of Israel and for the Israeli people. We are the Yiddish Club… so let's learn a bit about what Yiddish IS and what it IS NOT. "Yiddish," "Hebrew," and "Jewish," these words are often used synonymously, but in reality they are very different. Understanding Yiddish or Hebrew will not necessarily give you an understanding of either language. Yiddish does use letters of the Hebrew alphabet and does include a great many Hebrew words, and like Hebrew, is written from right to left. Yiddish and Hebrew are as different from each other as are English and Spanish, which also uses a common alphabet, but is written from left to right. "Yiddish" is not a synonym for "Jewish." Yiddish is the name of a language. There is no language called "Jewish." Jews do not speak "Jewish" any more than Canadians speak Canadian or Catholics speak Catholic! However, we can't disavow that in popular usage "Jewish" is often used as an equivalent for "Yiddish." Actually, "Yiddish" comes from the German "Judisch" meaning "Jewish," and in the Yiddish language "Yiddish" does mean Jewish. We may as well accept the confusion surrounding these words! Here are some examples of a few Yiddish words which will help get you through this quarantine with a bit of humor: Tsedrayte (tsuh-DRATE), meaning all mixed up, confused. We couldn't always remember if we promised to meet a friend for lunch on Thursday or Friday. Now we don't know what day of the week it is! Just getting the mail makes us "tsedrayte." Do we leave the letters on the floor for 24 hours? Do we wipe the package before we put it on the floor or wash our hands and then wipe the package? And what do we do after we open it? Shpilkes (SHPILL-kiss), meaning impatience, restlessness. Sometimes we all have a feeling of "shpilkes"… like we have ants in our pants. Where to go or not to go, what to do or not to do! Just needing to get out of the house! A few more commonly used Yiddish words, such as Bupkes (BUP-kiss), Tsuris (TSORE-iss) and Oy (oy), have greater meaning in this time of quarantine. In this new normal, we're getting used to "Bupkes" (literally means nothing) in the toilet paper aisle, in our fresh vegetable drawer, and in our checking account! Tsuris (troubles and worries, problems). These days we worry about illness, money, family, or the future. "Tsuris" has gone from personal to universal. Perhaps the most popular of Yiddish expressions, Oy, can mean surprise, joy or relief, and also pain, fear and grief. So, in these uncertain times, give a good "oy," tie a "shmata" (rag) on your face, be sure to cover your mouth and nose, and try not to get "tsedrayte!" Here's hoping all this "tsuris" will be over in our not-to-distant future! Stay well, everyone! ~ Elaine Massei, President

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