✨ Khanike iz freylekh! ✨ Khanike iz sheyn! ✨
Khanike iz yontef far groys un far kleyn.
A khanike-lempl mit likhtelekh akht;
Tsindt men di likhtelekh a nakht nokh a nakht.
Likhtlekh aun dreydl aun khanike gelt!
Ts’iz yontef bay yid'n af der gantser velt!
(Khanike is happy! Khanike is beautiful! Khanike is a holiday for big and small.
A Khanike lamp with eight little candles — you light the candles night after night.
Candles and dreidles and Khanike money! It’s a holiday for Jews all over the world!)
My attempt at a more historically-informed banner representing the historical Jewish Labour Bund. The most common one I see all over the internet features a black square inside of a yellow ring on a red background. I have looked for the origin of this flag and basically everywhere it’s posted there’s at least one comment asking something like “Where does this flag come from? When did the Bund use it?” and every time there is no answer, so now I’m just assuming that this is not in-fact a flag that wast ever historically used by the Bund, because I cannot for the life of me find any evidence for such a thing.
What I do know is that the symbols the Bund historically used were: the red banner of socialism, the three arrows (Representing down with fascism, down with monarchy, and down with bolshevism) and the Yiddish language which took form as gold text on things like protest banners. So, I combined the three to make this historically-informed banner, that though not historical in the sense that it was ever used, still functions as a more accurate representation of the Bund by using symbols associated with them historically. The Yiddish text on the flag simply translates to “Jewish Labour Bund.”
this is a jew created this— a gimmick blog which comments on posts with media describing the jew who created that media.
some of the most important contributions to culture, religion, and science have sprung from jewish minds, but it’s too often that these contributions are divorced from the jews who they belong to.
the point of this blog is to recontextualize these creations to equip people with the understanding of where they come from. feel free to submit posts you’d like me to comment on!
So my wife, who loves me very very much, got me this book for Janice:
A working-class radical revolutionary's tale--penned by a prominent union leader--now available in English. Written in 1944 by Ben Gold, th
She heard about the book bc apparently the translator is a friend of someone on her IT Security Slack, and she figured I'd like it.
And... I do. I very much do. It's a quick read, and it definitely has A Point Of View - which is ofc not surprising, in context of the author's life & beliefs. (Ben Gold was the head of the Furrier's Union in NYC at the time when the union won the first 40-hour, 5-day work week contract in the United States in 1926. This is the contract that started that standard.) It is both a snapshot of life in the Pale of Settlement & in immigrant NYC radical leftist organizing in the early 20th century. As with all books that I really love, this book knows exactly what it is and does that thing 200% without apology.
The translator, Annie Sommer Kaufman, does an excellent job of preserving the feel of Yiddish text. Yiddish has a very lyrical flow to it that's unmistakable once you're accustomed to it, and you'll find it clearly preserved here. (Also, Kaufman appears on the late November episode of the Proste Yiddish/Simple Yiddish podcast, a podcast that allows Yiddish learners to practice listening to spoken Yiddish. If you speak Yiddish or are trying to learn, I definitely recommend at least that episode!)
I devoured this book in a Shabbat afternoon and had enough time left over for a lovely nap. A perfect Hanukkah Shabbat, I think.
This question goes out to all the frum/orthodox homies who don't live in dense, walkable cities like New York or Chicago:
How do y'all stay observant in places where walking to shul on shabbos is a whole ordeal, kosher food is prohibitively expensive, and working a job makes davening (especially davening with a minyan) difficult?
I ask because I'd like to be more observant, but as a working-class yid who doesn't live on the east coast, it feels like I need to sacrifice my religious practice for basic survival. I was wondering how y'all are able to do it.
