a little bit of yiddish
Tuesday, August 22, 2006 at 10:23AM A friend of mine commented to me recently that he is "culturally Jewish." The discussion moved on to cynicism, genX, and my friend's refusal to engage in the former despite being a member of the latter. Later though I reflected, "Am I culturally Jewish?"
I more commonly identify as a "New York Jew" than (just) as jewish; my membership in this sub-sect is mainly signified by my sunday morning ritual, involving lox, bagels, and the New York Times. That is certainly the jewish tradition in which I most consistently participate. I also often think about attending friday night services; ambivalence about participation in religion seems to also be part of being a New York Jew. (I don't think my dabbling in Unitarian Universalism (very cool) or TM (sigh) particularly excludes me from the Tribe.)
My most Jewish daily behavior, though, is invoked as a habit when someone else sneezes. I say gesundheit when all around me everyone else says bless you or god bless you. "Gesundheit" means "be healthy!" in Yiddish. "Gesundheit" is pragmatic; why invoke the blessing of a god that neither I nor the sneezer are sure exists and cannot characterize as a being capable of nor interested in issuing a "blessing"? [In my various lives as an east coast academic or a silicon valley salariman, I assume that most of my contacts are agnostic, atheist, or unitarian universalist.]
So to all of you I say, unprompted by a sneeze, cough, or elevated low-density lipids in your blood work, gesundheit! Because no matter which god you or I do (or don't) believe in, no matter which god we were raised to identify as the One and Only God, no matter whether we cynically or sincerly identify as a member of a particular religion, I do sincerely want you to be healthy and happy. So far as that goes, I'm willing to be a New York Jew, and I claim my heritage with this daily invocation. Gesundheit!
Reader Comments (7)
What I meant to say was go get http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0609610945/" REL="nofollow">Nothing Sacred by Douglas Rushkoff.
To doubt that God exists is to doubt that love exists.
You believe in love, don't you?
And God does in fact distribute blessings.
Why? Because God loves you.
Gesundheit means "Health" in German, I don't know yiddish but it's a German word.
Gesundheit means "Health" in German, I don't know yiddish but it's a German word.
Sometimes in Yiddish, one says "zay gesundt", instead of Gesundheit...
"Gesundheit" is a Yiddish and a german word, literally translated as "soundness". It simply means "health".
The tradition of saying "God Bless You" arose from a belief that sneezing allowed the devil or evil spirits in general a chance to enter your body. Interestingly, medical science has since shown our hearts literally "skip a beat" when we sneeze, so in a sense we are one step closer to death.
Trivia rocks.
"Gesundheit" is a Yiddish and a german word, literally translated as "soundness". It simply means "health".
The tradition of saying "God Bless You" arose from a belief that sneezing allowed the devil or evil spirits in general a chance to enter your body. Interestingly, medical science has since shown our hearts literally "skip a beat" when we sneeze, so in a sense we are one step closer to death.
Trivia rocks.