My Yiddishe Mother Tongue
Sholem-aleykhem! Which is Yiddish for hello…
Not really a video this, but a couple of extracts from a documentary I did for Radio 4 about my mother’s parents – a Yiddish playwright and actress – and my general obsession with the language and culture of Yiddish.
First extract is where I take my mother back to the site of the Grand Palais Yiddish theatre in the East End of London where my grandmother was an actress and my grandfather a playwright.
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The second is part of an interview about Yiddish with former head of ITV Michael Grade, sharing a couple of his favourite insults.
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Want a bit more Yiddish? Well, here’s a link to an article I wrote for the Jewish Chronicle…
And, whilst we’re at it, here’s a nice review from the Guardian that I’m posting here so my family can kvell, which means glow with pride. In a Jewish way…
The Guardian: My Yiddishe Mother-tongue
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Loved ‘My Yiddisher Mother Tongue’. Here’s part of the reason I wanted to track down the whole thing (thanks for getting back to me about that) – my blogpost on Yiddish for the Guardian. Apols if, as a non-speaker, I’ve failed to do Yiddish – or you – justice: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mind-your-language/2012/dec/07/hanukah-chanukah-chutzpah-embrace-yiddish