It’s not that easy. No, I’m not talking about those people in the hatchery that have to sort the males from the females; they’ve got it easy. I’m talking about Yiddish. This is something that has confused our people since time immemorial, and today I’m going to try and lay out the problem so you can see what’s going on.

One of the small oddities of Yiddish is the situation where a German word and a Hebrew word have similar sounds and similar meanings.  I’ve always enjoyed noticing those, and recently I came across a new one. Here is a short list of some of my favorites:

Let’s start with the facts. For the last year, the Palestinians have been launching missile attacks against Israel almost on a daily basis. No nation would tolerate such blatant violations of its territory, and Israel is legally justified in responding to these attacks with all means at her disposal. She is even entitled to argue that she shows admirable restraint by not responding with even greater force. These are the facts, and they can hardly be disputed.

This is the story of a “hyphenated-Canadian family”, troubled by the mass media propaganda campaign which regularly demonizes their national homeland. They hear about a program whereby young people are given the opportunity to spend time overseas, immersed in their culture, to learn about their history and values from their side. They send their teenage son.