Jewish Word | Askan: ‘The Guy Who Knows a Guy’
An askan could offer legal help or act as a medical liaison—someone well connected to the ins and outs of different hospitals, who can get you an appointment with the right specialist.
Jewish Word | Meet the Machatunim
“What if the solution lies not in affirming the family unit, but in expanding it outward—building a scaffolding of extended family who together create the support network children need to thrive?”
Jewish Word | Judea and Samaria: A Palimpsest of Sorts
The term “Judea and Samaria” has never been merely a geographic marker and is deeply intertwined with Jewish history.
Jewish Word | Diaspora: Blessing or Curse?
Born in polemic, the meaning of the word ‘diaspora’ has fluctuated.
Jewish Word | Chaver: Friend or Lover?
“What are we, exactly?”
Jewish Word | The Mizrahi Mosaic
For so many Jews, in Israel and around the globe, the word Mizrahi, much like the words Ashkenazi and Sephardi, is more than just a label.
Jewish Word | The Jewfro Grows Up and Out
The stereotype of “Jewish” hair is rooted in a history of racial pseudoscience, radical self-empowerment and comic self-deprecation.
Jewish Word | ‘Momala’ of the Year
At a brunch during the DNC in Chicago, California assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan was wearing a hat with two Stars of David flanking the slogan “Jews for Momala.”
Jewish Word | Verklempt: The Yiddish Word that Wasn’t
Borrowed from Yiddish and launched into the cultural stratosphere by a Canadian comedian and his Jewish mother-in-law, "verklempt" keeps evolving.
Jewish Word | Doikayt: The Jewish Left Is Here
Embraced by 1940s Bundists opposed to Zionism, the Yiddish word for “hereness” is being popularized by progressive American Jews.
Jewish Word | The Twisted Path of the Word ‘Genocide’
Since October 7 and the subsequent Israel-Hamas war, the word genocide has been used liberally by parties on both sides of the conflict.
Jewish Word | Not That Kind of Rabbi
In 1970 The New York Times ran an article about the secret language of New York City police officers.