Born to Kvetch Chapter 10: A Slap in the Tukhes and Hello YIDDISH LIFE FROM BIRTH TO BAR MITZVAH
Born to Kvetch extract:
I don't mean any disrespect to Jesus--if I did, I'd be writing in Yiddish--but Hebrew school is not for the meek. Airless and overcrowded, full of pre-adolescents forced to trudge through steaming jungles of syllogisms, bubbe mayses [cock and bull stories], and kid-eating prohibitions--you can't touch your hair while praying; you can’t pet a dog on shabbes or go swimming during the hottest three weeks of the year--the kheyder [traditional elementary school] had to be run by a combination prison guard, exegete and child psychologist. But we’re in goles [exile]; we got the melamed instead.
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