Aviya Kushner is the Forward’s language columnist and the author of Wolf Lamb Bomb and The Grammar of God. Follow her on Twitter @AviyaKushner.
Aviya Kushner
By Aviya Kushner
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Culture Why Making Hebrew Nonbinary Is So Crucial
The Israeli poet Yona Wallach memorably wrote that “Hebrew is a sex maniac.” Wallach, who died in 1985, was no stranger to attention-grabbing subjects: One of her poems discusses sex with tefillin. Today, pronouns are a hot topic, and Wallach’s poem “Hebrew,” which explains why gender-neutral language is easier to accomplish in English, is the…
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Culture A Very Yiddish Way To Respond To Brexit
When it comes to describing baffling human behavior, Yiddish excels, and perhaps the same is true for describing baffling government behavior. As Brexit descends into no-one-knows-what’s-happening mode, and as March 29th — or Brexit day — gets perilously closer, Twitter is lighting up with Yiddish explanations for British politics. “The Yiddish word for “Brexit” is…
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Culture Suddenly, Yiddish Theater Is Everywhere!
“Fiddler on the Roof” has made headlines of late as public figures have expressed their love for Yiddish theater. Interestingly, what brings on the love is the Yiddish language itself. Alan Dershowitz is not primarily known as a theater critic, but he was so moved by a recent Yiddish performance of “Fiddler on the Roof”…
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Culture Why Online Etiquette is an International Conundrum
When I spent a month in Germany, I noticed how swiftly every danke, or “thank you,” was immediately followed by bitte, or “you’re welcome.” All the Germans I encountered seemed determined to make sure I noticed just how polite they were, and how prompt they were with their politeness. But recently, while emailing an institute…
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Culture Why Trump’s Callous Call To End Birthright Citizenship Is A Jewish Issue
President Trump’s calls to strip American-born citizens of their citizenship should chill all Americans, but it is especially disturbing to anyone with knowledge of Jewish history. Citizenship is a profoundly Jewish issue. In the Middle Ages, many Jews were simply not citizens of their countries. “In much of Europe during the Middle Ages, Jews were…
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Culture Why We Must Pay Attention To What ‘Pay Attention’ Means
In the age of the smartphone, it is getting harder and harder to get human beings to give their all to one person, one subject and one moment. Maybe that’s why a tweet on how various languages express the idea of “paying attention” went viral recently, amassing 28,000 likes and over 7,000 retweets at last…
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Culture Why Right Wing Claim That Kavanaugh Was ‘Crucified’ Is So Dangerous
Comedians often zero in on the Trump Administration’s tendency to depict victims as tormentors — and tormentors as victims. That’s how the #MeToo movement became a referendum on the rights of white men, the “sons” and “husbands” who could be accused at any time for no reason. Now we’re seeing a rewrite of the story…
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Culture Why Transliteration Matters
As defined by Merriam-Webster’s, “transliteration” means “to represent or spell in the characters of another alphabet.” And, one unexpected aspect of writing about language is learning how many people around the world turn out to be passionately concerned with transliteration. For example, I have received numerous missives on the spelling of mamaloshn, or “mother tongue”…
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