HEBREW UNIVERSITY RESEARCHER COMPLETES
BOOK OF 2000 YIDDISH IDIOMS

Jerusalem, July 28, 2002 – The thousands of people studying Yiddish around the world now have a new tool thanks to Dr. Yosef Guri of the Russian and Slavic Studies Department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

After three years of intensive work, Dr. Guri has completed a book of 2000 Yiddish idioms with translations into English, Hebrew, and Russian and semantic and other indexes.

2000 Idiomatic Expressions in Yiddish, which is being distributed by the Hebrew University Magnes Press, is for all the Yiddish lovers in the world, Dr. Guri said.

While academics and professional translators will find the indexes useful when they are searching for a translation of a difficult phrase, anyone interested in Jewish culture will find it provides a window onto the daily life of Eastern European Jewry.


The book contains wonderful examples of Yiddish’s tragicomic humor:

· esn kadoches in a klein tepele: “have a plate full of troubles” or literally
“to eat malaria from a small cup”

· fardinen vaser af kashe: “earn next to nothing” or literally
“earn water for porridge”

· lign in drerd (un bakn beigl): “be dead and buried” or literally
“lying in the ground (and baking bagels)”

· er hot shoyn gebitn etleche mol tachrichim: “he is long dead” or literally
“he has already changed the shroud several times”

For older Yiddish speakers the book can spark a trip down memory lane, Dr. Guri noted.

The dictionary also will be helpful to newcomers to Yiddish who are struggling to read the works of Yiddish authors such as Sholem Aleichem in their original form.

Dr. Guri emphasized that he hopes the book will help prevent the idioms of the Yiddish language from being lost.

Dr. Guri, who was raised in a Yiddish-speaking home in Lithuania, immigrated to Israel in 1957. He has written several Yiddish dictionaries and is currently working on a dictionary of Yiddish curses and blessings.

2000 Idiomatic Expressions in Yiddish is much larger and more scientific than Dr. Guri’s previous dictionaries and is intended for a wider audience.

The book can be ordered directly from the Magnes Press via email (magnes@huji.ac.il)
or fax (972-2-563-3370). It also is available at university and popular bookstores.

2000 Idiomatic Expressions in Yiddish was published with the assistance of the Pratt Foundation of Australia.

It is dedicated to the memory of Yankev Waislitz (1892-1966),
one of the outstanding personalities promoting
Yiddish theater and culture
in the Australian Jewish community.

For further information or to obtain a review copy, contact:

Heidi Gleit, HU foreign press liaison: tel. 02-588-2904; cell. 064-454-593;
or email heidig@savion.cc.huji.ac.il

Orit Sulitzeanu, HU spokeswoman: tel. 02-588-2811