Sunday, July 25, 2010

"Va vorscht". Say it again Joe!

Another post by "Chaverim Kol Yisroel" (see earlier post here) :

Following on last week's front page feature on Yiddish, the AJN decided to prove that they really haven't go a clue.
Whether Joe Krycer really said "Va vorscht nisht?" or that is the way the paper's reporter heard it, is irrelevant. It clearly shows that the Yiddish knowledge at the AJN is zero! And that is despite their editorialist trying his best to make use of every cutesy Yiddish word that he has ever heard on American TV shows.
Indeed their entire reportage about Yiddish language locally is completely flawed. Their attempt to fill a few pages by making a desperate big deal about a dozen (or less) Yiddish ‘academic’ students, (whose irritating, unnatural and stultifying dialect usually hurts listeners ears,) is a complete beat-up with the total result showing gornisht mit gornisht.

Had they done even minimal research, the AJN may have discovered that indeed Yiddish is a live day-to-day language in Melbourne amongst many frum Jews. In the Adass there are dozens of families for whom Yiddish is on an equal footing with English (and quite a few where that is actually the first language). Similarly in the Lubavitch community has – especially amongst the “imports” - families where Yiddish is a living language. So too can one find its use in the Ger shteebel, Katanga, Yeshiva and Beth Hatalmud. But then what would the Jewish News know about such places?


The Adass school has since its inception 60 years ago remained faithful to it as the language of instruction - as it was in “der alter heim”. They have produced generations of Yiddish speakers over that time. Also, there are dozens of Yiddish Torah shiurim held in Adass. Not only all speeches but even the selling of aliyos is in Yiddish. But as to be expected, the AJN’s report doesn't have a single word about all that, rather its focus is on the efforts of a few housewives and pensioners who ‘study’ the language for an hour or two a week.


What’s to say, except  to repeat the immortal words of Joe: “Va vorscht?”

2 comments:

  1. I'm a little confused by this post and more importantly this site. I appreciated your initial premise, but now you've turned into that which you were calling out as inappropriate in the first instance.

    1) Your article may be seen as embarassing Joe Krycer? your stance of the high moral ground is lost

    2) You coninually ridicule the AJN for not representing Jewish news from a Jewish point of veiw.
    Please note, where in their charter does it say that they have to follow your formulae?

    I get the distinct impression that you are losing face and digging a grave for yourself through your own arrogance and sense of superiority

    I don't care for the AJN, but more importantly I don't care for you either
    If you can't figure out why -
    (The reason why I care less for you is that you are abusing Hashem and his Torah for your PROVEN non-Torah agenda)

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  2. Your anon kvetcher seems to be the same one that posts the same criticism again and again. Never happy with your posts. Ah well. You can't please all the people all the time.

    I think it was the AJN that embarassed Joe (if indeed there is any embarassment). After all, how many readers does this blog have compared to the paper?

    I hope that AJN Watch is in it for the long run. Most readers enjoy the posts and those who don't are not forced to come here.

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