Poetica Magazine

I will let Ruthie, the recently widowed Jewish grandmother, who is the narrator of my book, Yiddish Yoga, tell you her story about books, reading and Chanukah, the festival of light. (Ruthie sometime turns her personal stories into folk tales).

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It is said that the Jewish people are “people of the Book.” To my Harry I owe an understanding of what this means, because of his gift to me of one book, The Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten. This is a humorous collection of popular Yiddish words each illustrated by a joke.

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One Chanukah early in our marriage, we visited my parents, who spoke Yiddish at home. Momma put out a plate of golden potato pancakes with apple sauce and sour cream and a plate of hot suvganiyot, fried doughnuts dusted with confectioner’s sugar filled with apricot preserves.

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“Harry, why don’t you read to us from The Joys of Yiddish?”

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I wanted Momma and Poppa to see how funny Harry was. How heimish, which means homey, like family. Harry picks up the book, and I could tell he was nervous, for he was perspiring. It was hot in my parents’ NYC apartment. where you couldn’t adjust the heat. He turns to a random page.

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“Chozzerai: pronounced kho-zair-eye to rhyme with “roz her eye.” A Yiddish derivation from the Hebrew “khazir,” pig.

Food that is awful. “Who can eat such chozzerai?”

Junk, trash.

Anything disgusting.

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“In modern terms, chozzerai means crap. This may be a gross libel on the innocent pig since the pig, contrary to popular belief, is a quite tidy creature; he wallows in mud because he likes to stay cool.”

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“So Harry, you think I serve you chozzerai? You eat pig? You feed my daughter meat that is not kosher? You don’t like my baking? You think we’re not fancy enough?”

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Harry composed himself. “Mrs. Greenberg, Jewish tradition tells us that Elijah, the perpetually journeying prophet, appears in many unexpected guises in order to help people recover the spark of their lives. Books that we love are our lights, that help us dedicate and re-dedicate ourselves, which is the meaning of Chanukah, for the temple was rededicated. I am a lawyer, and I love words and books and New York, and culture and Yiddish and Hebrew. . . and your daughter, Ruthie. She is my light, my book, my miracle. I have dedicated my life to hers, we are building a Jewish life, a Jewish home together. And by the way, these are the most delicious suvganiyot I’ve ever tasted. A real mekhaye, a real joy.”

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My mother looked at the table full of food, the Chanukah candles burning in the living room, my father half asleep in the leather armchair, the Jewish Forward in his lap. Tears poured from her eyes, and she gave him many kisses and hugs. “You speak Yiddish, a learned man, a modern man, a mensch with golden words, words he makes dance. My son, my son, may you be happy together, with pigs, without pigs, with books, with children, with each other’s light.”

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Each Chanukah we made a tradition of remembering Momma’s blessing and reading from The Joys of Yiddish. And it’s such a funny book, we kept a box of Kleenex beside us because we all laughed so hard we’d cry.

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Now I bring in The Joys of Yiddish to my yoga classes and read to my students some of the strange sounding words and phrases. It makes them laugh, and Harry and Momma agreed this is the most pleasing sound to God. I have often said that I dedicate my yoga practice to my Harry. It’s like lighting a yahrzeit candle for him daily. My body is the dancing flame that continues to burn for him.

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You can read more about Ruthie’s adventures and memories as she kvetches and stretches her way through yoga poses and braids the yoga tradition with her Jewish tradition, like a braided challah bread, in the book Yiddish Yoga: Ruthie’s Adventures in Love, Loss and the Lotus Position.

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Thanks for reading JWorld Cafe, the Poetica Magazine Blog

Lisa Grunberger, Guest Blogger

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Lisa Grunberger was raised in Long Island, NY, by an Israeli mother and a Viennese Father. With a doctorate in Comparative Religions from the University of Chicago Divinity School, as a Yoga teacher, a college professor and published writer, Lisa Grunberger is an entertaining and passionate public speaker. Her chapbook of poems, Root Canal: Love Poems is forthcoming from Poets Wear Prada Press (Roxeanne Hoffman, editor, Hoboken, NJ). She has been published in such journals as The Paterson Literary Review, Mudfish, Nimrod, The Drunken Boat, and Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal. She has taught at universities including Hofstra, the Bronx Community College, SUNY at Old Westbury and Parsons, and the The New School School of Design. She is currently an Assistant Professor in English at Temple University in Philadelphia. Her illustrated gift book, Yiddish Yoga: Ruthie’s Adventures in Love, Loss and the Lotus Pose was published by New Market Press in September, 2009.

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www.yiddishyoga.com

lisa@yiddishyoga.com