The mensches* over at Simple to Remember (http://www.simpletoremember.com) have given the rest of us Goyim* a real gift with a beautiful, straightforward, easy-to-understand site that explains Judaism without patronizing, pandering or proselytizing (which is bupkis*, anyway… Jews don’t go out of their way to convert non-Jews. Never have, never will.)  It’s just straightforward saykhel,* with nisht gefonfit.* Just  richtiker chaifetz.*

The tone is gentle, respectful koved*, gut gezugt*, and glick* to the rest of us for the mitzvah* of Simple to Remember for their willingness to share this with us.

To the mensches* over at Simple to Remember, a leben ahf dir!* And to you, my fiends, thank you for approaching this with an open mind, curiosity, and wonder. We can learn more about ourselves and who we are by learning about our friends. To you, Gai gezunterhait! – Go in good health!

A Shikseh’s Yiddish to English translation guide. (I’m from New York. You expected ancient Hebrew?)

*Mensch (Yiddish: מענטש mentsh; German: Mensch, for “human being”) means “a person of integrity and honor”
*Goy (Hebrew: גוי‎, regular plural goyim גוים or גויים) is a Hebrew biblical term for “nation”. By Roman times it had also acquired the meaning of “non-Jew”.
*Bupkis (also spelled “bubkes”): emphatically nothing, as in He isn’t worth bubkes (literally ‘goat droppings’, possibly of Slavic origin; cf. Polish bobki ‘animal droppings’)
*Saykhel – Common sense
*Nisht gefonfit – Don’t hedge. Don’t fool around. Don’t double-talk
*Richtiker chaifetz – The real article!  The real McCoy!
*Koved – Respect, honour, reverence, esteem
*Gut gezugt – Well said
*Glick – Luck, piece of luck
*Mitzvah – Good deed
*A leben ahf dir! – You should live! And be well!
*Gai gezunterhait! – Go in good health

My deepest gratitude to Michael Hanna-Fein and the Gantseh-megillah Yiddish Glossary for providing an invaluable resource with accurate Yiddish spellings. For more on the Yiddish language, Michael can be contacted by e-mail. Be sure to put “Yiddishkeit” in the subject line.