Myths, Monsters, and Folktales
A classic Jewish tale, perhaps the most famous version of which is set in Prague, is about creating this creature from clay.
What is the Golem?
The Intel 8088, a microprocessor that made these possible, was the invention of an Israeli team in Haifa.
What are personal computers?
Nothing, not at all.
This famous Israeli snack is similar in look--and metaphorical taste--to packing peanuts.
What is Bamba?
Who is Shakespeare? (What is Hamlet?)
The great sage Rabbi Akiva was out walking one day, and found a ghost weeping on a hillside. Quickly consoling the restless dead, Akiva recited this prayer which immediately convinced the ghost that people were grieving it.
What is the Mourner's Kaddish?
This is perhaps the most famous equation of all time, the brainchild of a German Jewish immigrant.
What is General Relativity (or E=MC^2)?
Audacity, guts, gall, moxie.
What is chutzpah?
DAILY DOUBLE!
Though related to the Russian blini, this dish never has meat or veggies, only sweet cheese and fruit jam.
What is a blintz?
"Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you."
What is the Torah? (What is Genesis/Bereshit/Parshat Lech Lecha?)
The monster name Dybbuk derives from this verb, describing what such listless souls must do to gain a temporary body.
What is clinging/possessing?
Siegfried Marcus is a Jewish inventor, credited with the creation of this mode of transport, about 10 years before Benz and Ford were ever on the scene.
What is the car?
To pester, bother, hound, or badger; particularly in the pursuit of a sale.
What is hock?
Though this salmon dish is different from the Scottish/Scandinavian grav- version, the Jewish version is similar in smoking and curing method, pronunciation, and even etymology.
What is lox?
"All that glisters is not gold."
Who is Shakespeare? (What is the Merchant of Venice?)
Many Jewish stories were compiled by the writer Sholem Aleichem, including tales of a dairyman and his daughters, the basis of this Broadway show.
What is Fiddler on the Roof?
All calendars split up time into portions, based on the sun and moon, but Jews were the first to come up with this Sabbath-focused division of time.
What is the seven-day week?
Crazy, insane, out of control; or a Swedish death metal band.
What is meshuggah?
Though they are formed differently, Montreal and New York bagels share this pre-baking step, often with barley malt syrup.
What is boiling?
"Nothing will come of nothing."
Who is Shakespeare? (What is King Lear?)
DAILY DOUBLE!
The so-called "Wise Men of Chelm," who tried to overcome darkness, "captured" this nightly light in a barrel of water, only to wake the next morning to find they'd been tricked by a reflection.
What is the moon?
Arthur Eichengrün, a Jewish chemist and inventor of highly successful drugs against some STIs, may also have been the first person to synthesize this, the first household painkiller.
What is aspirin?
A crazy idea, a useless toy, or a knockoff version.
What is cockamamy?
Beef brisket, a cut of meat, is prepared in different ways for different cultures. Jews are often partial to spiced, peppered, and smoked pastrami, while this Irish version cures it with "kernels" of salt (though Jews loved it enough to invent the Reuben anyway).
What is corned beef?
"Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive."
What is the Torah? (What is Deuteronomy/D'varim/Parshat Shoftim?)