Tag Archives: Hebrew

No Brain, No problems (Hebrew Saying)

Text

אין שכל אין בעיות

Translated roughly to no brain, no problems.

Context

The informant said that this saying might be used “if you do something dumb or if someone else does something dumb.”

Both of the informant’s parents were born in Israel, and the family all speaks in Hebrew to one another.

Analysis

The term “no brains, no problems” may be used in a situation where a person near you has erred, and the person enacting the statement wants to point out the error without being rude or offensive towards the other. By offering a sense of humor, it allows the user to diffuse the tension which may otherwise come from pointing out a mistake, and lets the other person admit to fault.

Hebrew Racing Joke

אני נהג מרוצים כי אני הנהג ואתם המרוצים

Phonetic Translation: A-nee na-HAGh me-roo-TSEEM kee A-nee ha-na-HAGh ve-a-TEM ha-me-roo-TSEEM

L: which means I’m a race car driver because I’m the driver and you’re the pleased people. It is a pun that works in Hebrew and not at all in English. I guess because race and fulfilled are the same.

Context

Both of the informant’s parents were born in Israel and they speak in Hebrew together as a family. The informant claims to have heard this joke from their Grandfather.

Analysis

As the informant pointed out, this joke is based on a play on words that calls attention to the homonym מרוצים, which means both satisfied and race. Jokes that involve a play on words are often used to communicate wit and mastery of a language. In the case of Hebrew, a language that is so uncommon, it might be even more important to be able to demonstrate such mastery.

From Where The Fish Pisses – Hebrew Proverbial Phrase

Nationality: Israeli-American
Age: 17
Occupation: High school student
Residence: Bellevue, Washington, United States
Language: Hebrew

Text:

מאיפה משתין הדג

Mi’ayfo mashtin hadag
From where the fish pisses

Context:

The informant heard this from other Israeli immigrants growing up in Western Washington nearby Seattle. Although they don’t use it themselves (making them a passive bearer), people around them use it often. It is a proverbial phrase that can used within a sentence such as “I’ll show you where the fish pisses” or “Just you wait, one day I’ll show you where the fish pisses from.” To the informant, the main meaning of the saying is “I’ll show you something even more unbelievable.” It is followed by the statement that is almost impossible to believe. The statement is usually used in a boasting way (where the person is going to say something even crazier than the other person). It is meant to show superiority over the other person by being more knowledgeable. It can also be used as an exclamation such as when someone says something incredible and the other person tells them that it is beyond belief, like the English phrase “no way”. The third way it can be used is as a warning that there are better things to come. For example, someone is telling a story and their audience is getting amazed before the climax of the plot. The storyteller might say this phrase to warn the audience that “you haven’t seen anything yet” and that the most unbelievable or amazing part is still to come. The informant stresses that this phrase is very flexible and has a lot of uses in many contexts. This reason is why the informant likes the phrase so much.

Analysis:

The text of the phrase is comedic to someone reading it for the first time although the uses of the phrase do not quite fit that. It can be used in a very menacing way where one person tries to prove that they are better than another person. This might reflect some cultural value of proving your worth through knowledge, especially over another person. If it is important within Israeli culture to show how much you know, then the usage of this phrase is an example of that.

Fish are an important symbol within Judaism which might explain why they are the animal selected for this specific phrase. While other cultures have similar phrases that are structured similarly, this version uses fish specifically. Fish are a traditional food for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) and are a symbol of fertility along with being associated with protection from the evil eye. Given that they are important, the use within a phrase that is meant to show something exciting or unbelievable makes sense.

The phrase itself describes something that is amazing or interesting. Fish are not mammals so knowing where they urinate from is less common knowledge. If someone didn’t know where a fish urinated from and they were told, they might find it interesting and see it as a testament to the other person’s knowledge or expertise.

Without much knowledge about the cultural and historical context of the Hebrew phrase, it is difficult to say what exactly it shows. With more phrases and a deeper understanding of Jewish history, a deeper connection may be revealed. It is likely, in any case, that knowledge and the ability to prove it is an important part of Jewish and Israeli culture.

Sorrow

Main Piece: Sorrow

“Sorrow shared is sorrow halved” 

“צער משותף הוא צער בחצי”

Background Information:

This was a proverb that my mother grew up with in Israel. Her mother would say it to her in situations where it was applicable.

Context of the Performance:

This is said to somebody when they are experiencing sorrow when others also feel the same sorrow. It tells them that they are not alone in their sorrow and that they have support through others. Going through a sad situation alone is much more difficult than experiencing it with somebody else because there is somebody to talk about it with that shares the same experience.

My Thoughts:

I have not encountered this proverb before, but it is a very applicable one. It is always better to have somebody to talk about a sad situation with and this proverb summarizes that truth very well.

Main Piece: Shabbat

Nationality: Amewrican
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: CA
Performance Date: 04/20/2021
Primary Language: English

Background: Growing up, the informant celebrated Shabbat every Friday night. The custom was very reformed. Her dad would lead a five-minute ‘service’ that consisted of prayer, drinking some wine, and the breaking of Challah. The whole family would have a meal together. It was less of a religious experience for the informant than it was an opportunity for her family to be together and connect at the end of the week. 

Context: When the informant moved out of her house for college, she did not continue the folk ritual of having Shabbat on Friday nights. It wasn’t until she left home that she realized what the experience meant as a folk tradition. She explained to me: 

“Shabbat was unnegotiable in my house. Even on Friday nights when I wanted to go out with my friends in high school, I first had to have dinner with my family. My dad would say the prayers from memory- literally speaking so fast in Hebrew, it was remarkable-, we would pour the wine, and have homemade challah. My mom made it fresh every week and she would often spice it up with, like, a theme of sorts. Sometimes sweet, savory, but always so good. Nothing compares. I really did not have a choice in the matter when it came to Friday night dinner, but I did not know otherwise it was something that was so routine that it never phased me to rebel against the system. And I also didn’t look at it as something ultra Jewish- like I knew my friends weren’t doing this every week, but it felt more like a family tradition rather than a religious obligation. I did not appreciate those nights until they were gone, let me tell ya. I just never realized how special that time was. My dad worked and traveled a lot and my mom had three kids to deal with plus all of the non-profit stuff she did, so that time, even if I ran out of the house to meet my boyfriend directly afterward, that time was so important to my family.  It was one of the only times we all were together and there was no way to get out of it. I miss it. I never thought I would miss it, but on Friday nights, I don’t always want to be at a bar with my friends or finishing up work, I want to be with my dad blessing our food and my mom making sure the candles are burning just right. They always say you don’t know what you got till it’s gone, and I know that if I facetime my parents on a Friday night, they will be right there at the table just enjoying each other’s company. My kids will have some sort of tradition very similar to this implemented into their lives because it kept us together.” 

Thoughts: The celebration of Shabbat is a religious custom that is practiced in many Jewish households across the world. What I find interesting about my informant’s story is that the ritual carries a different meaning to her because of the way that her family practiced this tradition. They did not emphasize the praying as much as they did the conversations at dinner where each family member got to share the stories of their week and laugh over Challah. The Challah is part of the folk ritual that is an emblem of love and connection. Both the wine and the Challah are foodways that facilitate the bringing together of the family and serve as reminders of the informant’s roots when she encounters them in different contexts.