Yiddish Quotes

“I don't care if you care, I retorted. But in my religion, we're taught to admit our mistakes and to apologize for them...Oh, and there's one other thing I'm sorry about, I added. I should've spit in your eye and called you a szhlob weeks ago.”
― Amy Fellner Dominy, OyMG

“A soldier who serves an emperor has to have a uniform, and this also applies to a soldier who serves the Almighty.”
― Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Penitent

“The noble old synagogue had been profaned and turned into a stable by the Nazis, and left open to the elements by the Communists, at least after they had briefly employed it as a 'furniture facility.' It had then been vandalized and perhaps accidentally set aflame by incurious and callous local 'youths.' Only the well-crafted walls really stood, though a recent grant from the European Union had allowed a makeshift roof and some wooden scaffolding to hold up and enclose the shell until further notice. Adjacent were the remains of a mikvah bath for the ritual purification of women, and a kosher abattoir for the ritual slaughter of beasts: I had to feel that it was grotesque that these obscurantist relics were the only ones to have survived. In a corner of the yard lay a pile of smashed stones on which appeared inscriptions in Hebrew and sometimes Yiddish. These were all that remained of the gravestones. There wasn't a Jew left in the town, and there hadn't been one, said Mr. Kichler, since 1945.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22: A Memoir

“God made man because He loves stories”
― Yiddish Proverb

“What concrete steps can I take now?" I asked the voice, and it replied: "Go to a house of prayer and pray."
"Without faith?" I countered, and the voice said: "You have more faith than you know.”
― Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Penitent

“No, no," Arnie says. "Fondle--fondle is to touch. Everything sounds Yiddish to you. Far-fetched, far-flung..." "Farflung is Yiddish." "No," Arnie says, "it's not.”
― Nathan Englander, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank

“His eyes reflected a softness I had already forgotten in America.”
― Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Penitent

“Where do the wheels of history lead? How can you be so sure that the wheels of history won't get bogged down in blood and marrow again?”
― Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Penitent

“Of course, the Shtrakenzer bride, though perfect, was not suitable; Mrs. Shpilman knew that. Long before the maid came to say that nobody could find Mendel, that he had disappeared sometime in the course of the night, Mrs. Shilman has known that no degree of accomplishment, beauty, or fire in a girl would ever suit her son. But there was always a shortfall, wasn’t there? Between the match that the Holy One, blessed be He, envisioned and the reality of the situation under the chuppah. Between commandment and observance, heaven and earth, husband and wife, Zion and Jew.”
― Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union

“Bringing you 'raisins and almonds' and words (from a Yiddish lullaby”
― Rona Simmons, Postcards from Wonderland

“Ekh! Rumania, Rumania, Rumania …
Geven amol a land a zise, a sheyne.
Ekh! Rumania, Rumania, Rumania …
Geven amol a land a zise, a fayne.
Dort tsu voynen iz a fargenign;
Vos dos harts glust kenstu krign:
A mamaligele, a pastramele, a karnatsele,
Un a glezele vayn, aha … !”
― Aaron Lebedeff

“The light of kindness and goodness in our heart is ultimately what we must tap into. We do not so much "fight the darkness (of hate and bigotry)" as we illuminate it when we unite our own inner light with the inner light shining in our fellow brothers and sisters”
― Aimee Ginsburg Bikel

“The town was laid out like a hamantasch with three corners. In the middle of town stood the synagogue; on the left end was the bathhouse, and on the right end the poorhouse.”
― Salomea Perl

“someone who did languages for a living stopped me in the subway because how I spoke was a linguist's treat
I mean there it was yiddish and Spanish and fine refined college educated english and irish which I mainly keep in my prayers”
― Rosario Morales, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color

“My letter,” Bella said in Yiddish that was a bit garbled, but perfectly understandable. “I want my letter back and she won’t give it to me. Why doesn’t she understand my English?”

“That’s Yiddish you’re speaking,” Yetta said.

“No, it’s not,” Bella said irritably. “It’s the English I learned in the factory.”

“It’s Yiddish! You must have learned Yiddish because there were so many of us Jews in the factory. Listen”—Yetta switched languages—“English sounds like this.”

Bella stared up at Yetta, her eyes seeming to grow in her pale face. “I don’t even know what Yiddish is,” she said, in Yiddish…..

“Bella learned Yiddish by mistake,” Yetta said. “She thought she was speaking English.”

“Wish I could learn a new language just by mistake,” Jane said. “I’ve been studying Italian for weeks, and it’s totally useless.”
― Margaret Peterson Haddix, Uprising

“Marlon’s worldly possessions went up for auction at Christie’s New York showroom a year after his death. Among the 320 objects were some knickknacks (Marlon preferred the Yiddish word chotchkes).”
― Stefan Kanfer, Somebody: The Reckless Life and Remarkable Career of Marlon Brando

“Does that mean you don’t want to come out and play with me today?” said Stan, sniffing. “Go get Debby and the three of us’ll go out tonight. I don’t have a date and you and that cute wife of yours need to get out more. Also, I figured, maybe Debby could fix me up with a nice Jewish girl from the neighborhood. They’re so much hotter than the kishkes I usually date from Harcum College.”

“Okay, first of all, I’m working now. Also, tonight is the beginning of Passover, so I have to go home for dinner with the in-laws. And, it’s shikse, not kishke. A kishke is what you might have for dinner; shikse is more like desert.” Ben winked and laughed, shaking his head.”
― Joel Burcat, Whiz Kid