Say it in Yiddish
This word, which literally means "beans," is also used in Yiddish to mean "nothing," "zilch," "zero," or "zippo"
What is "bobkes"?
In this year, Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer won the Nobel Prize.
What is 1978?
In 2021 this language learning app launched a Yiddish language course.
What is Duolingo?
This is a baked casserole, most commonly made from egg noodles (lokshen) or shredded potato.
What is kugel?
This is the pen name (translating to "How do you do?") of the Yiddish writer Sholem Rabinovich.
What is Sholem Aleichem?
This Yiddish word literally means a piece of cloth, or a rag, of the common household variety. It can also can be an old or cheap piece of clothing or it can be used as an insult for a person, meaning a pushover.
What is a "shmatte"?
In this year, Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem published the first short story about the character Tevye (about whom the Broadway musical "Fiddler on the Roof" is based).
What is 1894?
In 2025, Israeli writer Shiri Shapira published a book of original Yiddish short stories titled "Di Tsukunft" (the Future). The book was published by Leyvik House, a Yiddish press located in this city.
What is Tel Aviv?
This is a rolled pancake filled with sweetened cheese, sometimes with the addition of raisins, or fruit preserves.
What is a blints?
This is the Yiddish word for "belly button".
What is "pupik"?
This is the Yiddish word for a small box or container used to collect money for charity.
What is a "pushke"?
In this year, Tsar Alexander II was assassinated, prompting waves of pogroms by mobs who blamed the Jews. This marked the beginning of mass Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe.
What is 1881?
This organization is one of the leading Yiddish cultural organizations in the world and an important site of the contemporary Yiddish cultural renaissance. Its annual summer retreat in the Laurentian Mountains outside of Montreal began in 1996.
What is KlezKanada?
This is a dish made from a poached mixture of ground deboned fish, such as carp, whitefish, or pike.
What is gefilte fish?
This is the most famous play in the Yiddish language. It was originally written in Russian, and then translated into Yiddish, by S. An-sky between 1913 and 1916. A Hebrew version was prepared by Hayim Nahman Bialik and staged in Moscow at Habima Theater in 1922.
What is "The Dybbuk"?
This Yiddish word (literally "time of year" means the anniversary of someone's death.
What is a "yortsayt"?
This is the year of the death of the Ba'al Shem Tov (also known as the BeShT), a Jewish mystic and healer credited with founding Hasidic Judaism, transforming Jewish spiritual life in Eastern Europe.
What is 1760?
This American singer, entertainer, and composer who fuses Hasidic music and lyrics with contemporary music styles is a headliner in Hasidic communities worldwide and has released 19 solo albums.
Who is Lipa Schmeltzer?
This is a thick Polish soup made from vegetable or meat broth, containing potatoes and barley groats.
This star of the Yiddish stage and screen is most widely known in English for her role as Yente the Matchmaker in the 1971 musical film Fiddler on the Roof.
Who is Molly Picon?
This is the Yiddish word used to describe your child's parents-in-law. English doesn't have a word for this relationship!
What are "makhetonem"?
In this year the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society (JCRS) was founded in Denver, Colorado. The JCRS was home to some of the most celebrated Yiddish writers of the 1920s and 1930s as they convalesced from tuberculosis.
What is 1904?
This organization, founded in 1980 by Aaron Lansky, has collected more than 1.5 million Yiddish books from all over the United States and across the globe and has digitized over 12,000 titles.
What is the Yiddish Book Center, in Amherst Massachusetts?
This is a cold soup made from sour grass, also called sorrel.
What is shchav?
This artist was born into a Hasidic family in Vitebsk, Belarus, and spoke Yiddish natively. His surreal visual motifs—like flying lovers or musicians—often directly translated Yiddish idioms and proverbs into paint.
Who is Marc Chagall?