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November 2023
Voos iz “Gaab’l, Gaab’l?” Zoog mir in Yiddish By Sol Awend, GenShoah SWFL
I
f it’s November, then Thanksgiving to be better understood. One day, my can’t be far behind. mother and I went to the local A&P to I don’t know about you, but this shop for the feast and came home with all time of year conjures up wonderful memothe fixings, including sweet potatoes and, ries of growing up. of all things, a pumpkin pie. Keep in mind that as a young boy, All went well, that is, until it was time I wasn’t familiar with the Thanksgiving for dessert. story as I was a newly minted American, My parents did not know about pumphaving arrived in America in January kin pie. They just managed to figure out 1951 at the age of 4. Part of the problem Halloween and how the pumpkin fit into could have been my inability to speak and that scheme of things. And now, a month understand English. Being young, though, later, it shows up again as a piece of pie? I caught on quickly and English rivaled I kept on playing up the virtues of how my understanding of Mamah Looshen. great it would taste and that we should all I was fascinated by the Pilgrim’s story wait until the end of the meal and try it and how the turkey came to symbolize together. My younger brother, Abe, and I what “giving thanks” meant if you were an told our parents to be seated and that we American. Explaining this to my parents would serve them. in Yiddish was an interesting With a plate in front of experience, as it was totally everyone, we picked up the fork foreign to them. But once I and took our first bite of this connected the Pilgrim’s story, all-American treat. the meaning of the turkey and Silence. giving thanks for being here in After a bite or two, our America, the light bulb went parents grimaced and couldn’t on. finish another bite. In a word: Amongst the gGreener” they hated it. Something in the (refugee) families in our compie was totally foreign to their munity, Thanksgiving caught taste buds. I guess if you were Sol Awend on in short order. I was in European, eating pumpkin fourth grade, and I was used to explainpie involved a learning curve they could ing billboard advertising to my parents. not master. We were one of the first families to have a “Feh! Nisht fah meeyeh!,”* my mom black-and-white TV, which helped English exclaimed.
“Ich ken doos nisht essen!** Ess shmek’t mir nisht! ***,” vehemently commented my father. How ironic it was that the following year, after enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving meal, my mom made her dessert — apple strudel, thereby creating a tradition that lasted 30 years. May we all enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, complete with the dessert of your choice. To be here in America, in spite of what one hears, is still worthwhile and worthy of our thanks.
A few Yiddish words that help express the season
1. IN-dik (Turkey) Ich hob leep t’zeh essen ahn indik! (I love to eat turkey!) 2. OOH geh-BROOT-teneh (Roasted) Ahn indik iz shein ven siz ahn ooh gehbroot-teneh. (A turkey is beautiful when it’s roasted.)
3. doos HO-et (The skin of a turkey) Doos ho-et fin ah gehbrooteneh indik shmek’t ahzoy git! (The skin of a roasted turkey tastes so good!) 4. “GAAH-bl, GAAH-bl !” (Like it sounds) Voos iz doos “gaahbl, gaah-bl”? Ich fah shtei nisht! (What is this “gaah-bl, gaah-bl?” I don’t understand!) *5. FEH! Also Fooy! (Distasteful, awful) Feh! Nisht fah meeyeh! Fooy! (Terrible! Not for me! Foowee!) **6. ESS-en (n. Food, v. To Eat) Ich ken doos essen nisht essen! (I cannot eat this food!) ***7. ShMEK’T (Taste, Smell, Aroma) Ess shmek’t mir nisht! (It doesn’t taste good!) 8. POMP-keh Pei (Yiddish derivation. In real Yiddish, it’s Der KEER-vaas.) Ah Pompkeh Pei miz zaahn geh maac’ht fin der keer-vaas. (A pumpkin pie must be made with pumpkin.) 9. OOH-geh fressen (Full, stuffed to the point of being sick) Mott zec’h oogeh fressen biz arof! (We ate and filled ourselves full!) 10. LEEB-shaaf ’t (Undying love) Mah leebshaaf ’t fah America is eibik! (My love for America is eternal!)
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