Dr. Helford’s Guide to Terms and References:
Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska
- In this guide, you will find definitions and explanations of Yiddish and Hebrew words as well as historical/cultural references from throughout Bread Givers in page-number order (Persea Books edition).
General notes:
List of Terms and References:
yok (p.3): Yiddish term for a foolish person.
calico (p.3): A printed cotton fabric.
Torah (p.4): The first five books of the Hebrew Bible (same as “Old Testament” as it is called by Christians; Jews do not consider the “New Testament” to be the word of God nor do they believe Jesus is the Messiah, son of God, or savior.
shirtwaist (p.5): A shirtwaist refers to a button-down blouse one tucks into a skirt.
gazlin (p.7): Yiddish for a criminal or thief. Sara’s mother translates this to “bandit” as the next word, meaning Sara has “stolen” food from her family’s mouths by cutting off too much potato with the peel.
gefühlte fish (p.9): Usually written “gefilte fish,” this is the Yiddish term for minced fish balls, boiled and then served warm or cold. They are called “gefühlte” or “gefilte” because the fish is combined (filled) with matzo (cracker) meal.
Nu (p.12): A Yiddish multipurpose interjection, a lot like “Well?” in English. It can also be used to ask “How are you?” as in “So, nu?”
Shenah (p.12): “Pretty one" in Yiddish (from schön in German). Sara's mother's actual name is Rifkeh (see p.76).
Moisheh (p.12): Sara's father's first name, in italics because it is given Yiddish pronunciation. “Moisheh” (often spelled "Moishe") is Yiddish for Moses, the patriarch of the Bible.
schnorrer (p.17): Yiddish for a beggar, sponger, freeloader. One who does not pay one’s way.
Blut-und-Eisen (p.20): Yiddish (and German) for “blood and iron,” meaning an incredible force or, as a nickname for Sara, an unstoppable, determined will. (Also the name of Prussian leader Otto von Bismarck’s policy of 1862 to unify Germany.)
Reb Smolinsky (p.28): “Reb” is from the Hebrew and simply means “Mr.”; in this case “Mr. Smolinsky.”
kozatzkeh (p.31): An Eastern European dance featuring high kicks.
dowry (p.31): A dowry is a payment (of money or goods) given by a father to the man who will marry his daughter. It is called the daughter’s dowry, but the money goes to the son-in-law.
Tsar of Russia (p.33): Tsar (or Czar) means emperor, literally the leader of Russia (until the 1917 revolution). Tsars varied across history in terms of their treatment of the Jews: at best, there was passive tolerance; at worst, they could live only in restricted areas that were periodically attacked (see “pogroms,” next item), were double-taxed, and faced forced military service. (Shenah’s speech points out that forced service led to breaking Jewish dietary and behavioral laws, including the eating pork, drinking excessively, and killing without cause.
pogroms (p.33): Government-sanctioned ethnic raids, including looting, burning, killing, and rape. Commonly used to refer to European attacks against Jews.
mouzhiks (p.33): Russian peasants (meaning not Jewish).
pogromshchiks (p.33): Those who participate in pogroms: looters, arsonists, rapists, and killers.
Songs of Solomon (p.34): Solomon is the third king of Israel as described in the Hebrew Bible. He builds the opulent Temple in Jerusalem and ushers in Israel’s greatest period of wealth and power. Shenah is contrasting Solomon’s apparent work ethic (first bring wealth, then write poetry) to her husband Moisheh’s (“sing first then attend to business”).
oilcloth (p.37): a waterproof tablecloth made of coarse fabric treated with oil.
Oi weh! (p.40): Yiddish for “Woe is me!”; more commonly spelled “oy vey.”
greenhorn (p.49): Common term for a new immigrant; similar to “newbie.” Literally a young horned animal.
Passover set (of dishes): Observant Jews keep at least two sets of dishes, one for everyday and one for the specific holiday of Passover (Hebrew: Pesach). On this holiday, no leavened foods (bread, cake – anything that uses yeast) may be eaten, so everyday dishes that have touched leavened food must be put away and the Passover dishes taken out.
potato lotkes (p.56): Yiddish term for fried potato pancakes, today mostly eaten on the holiday of Hannukah. Often spelled “latkes.”
Lokshen kugel (p.56): Yiddish for “noodle pudding,” this dish is made of wide noodles, eggs, sour cream (or cottage cheese), sugar, cinnamon, nuts, and sometimes raisins. It is similar to bread pudding, but with noodles rather than pieces of bread. Tradition (of a sexist kind) says a woman who cannot make a good kugel is not worth marrying. Sometimes spelled “lukshen.”
car (p.59): When Sara says she “took the car to the concert hall,” she means a streetcar, a public vehicle that ran on rails in city streets. Places including New Orleans and San Francisco still have them.
meshumid (p.63): Yiddish word for one who renounces one’s faith, an apostate.
capote (p.71): Yiddish for the long, black coats worn by Orthodox (strictly pious) Jews of Eastern Europe.
Yid (p.71): Yiddish for “Jew.” See also Yiddeneh below.
America is a golden country! (p.81): Eastern European Jewish immigrants called America “das goldene Medina” in Yiddish – meaning “the golden country.” They predicted immigrants would find all they ever wanted or needed in this “rich” nation. See also later on the page where there is reference to bathing in milk and soaking in honey, a reference to a Biblical idiom for a perfect land, later ascribed to Israel.
yentch (p.93): Yiddish slur for an old wretch.
tzimes (p.102): A traditional Eastern European Jewish stew, made from carrots and dried fruits (prunes, raisins), often combined with other root vegetables (such as yams).
garter (p.106): Before men’s socks had elastic in them, one would use an elastic strap around the calf with dangling clips to hold them up.
Yideneh (p.112): Feminine form of “Yid” (Jew), but used most often pejoratively: a gossip, an interferer, a shallow person, an old lady (or man).
Gott sei dank! (p.116): Yiddish (and German) for “Thank God!”
Meshugener Yid! (p.117): Yiddish for “Crazy Jew!”
Uncle Aby (p.122): A slur for an older Jewish man. “Aby” is a shortened form of Abraham, the patriarch of the Jews.
noodnik (p.126): Yiddish for an annoying person, a persistent pest. Often spelled “nudnik.”
gevalt (p.126): Yiddish for the word “violence.” Used as an interjection to express shock or amazement. Often used with “oy” (“oy gevalt!”) to mean something similar to “oh, horror!”
Ishah Rah (p.126): Hebrew for a bad or evil woman.
shekel (p.133): Ancient Israeli and Arab coin (and basic monetary unit of Israel today).
Chzufeh! (p.137): Yiddish interjection, meaning nerve or brazenness, as in “What audacity!” A more positive version of this is the Yiddish term chutzpah.
yenteh (p.139): A female gossip or busybody. Also a woman’s name (such as Zalmon’s daughter).
kooshenierkeh (p.140): A cheapskate, miser, stingy person. Sometimes spelled “Kushinyerkeh.”
Americanerin (p.144): Yiddish for “an American” woman. (A man would be “Americaner.”)
Goyim (p.172): Yiddish for gentiles; a Jewish name for non-Jews. Singular is “Goy.” Usually derogatory.
teacherin (p.193): Yiddishism for a woman teacher. The “in” ending indicates the feminine. (Cf. Americanerin.)
Schlang! (p.207): Yiddish (and German) for snake.
Pullman (p.237): The Pullman Company (1867-1968) made fancy trains that included sleeping and dining cars and were noted for their service.
Mazel-tof! (p.261): “Mazel tov” is Hebrew for “Good luck (to you).” Often used as an interjection to wish someone luck or to praise someone’s luck. Here, Sara uses it sarcastically to refer to her father’s marriage to Mrs. Feinstein after only 30 days have passed since her mother’s death.
Mammeniu (p.261): Yiddish for “mother dear”; the -niu suffix adds intimacy (or piousness in some cases).
public letter-writer (p.262): Those who were not literate could go to a local letter-writer and pay to have their letters written for them.
Zeresh (p.265): The wife of the villain Haman in the Bible’s Book of Esther.
“ain’t it?” (p.271): This ungrammatical speech tag is similar to ending sentences with “you know.” It comes from the Yiddish/German “nicht wahr?” For example, “It’s cold out, isn’t it?” or “It’s cold out, you know?” or “Es ist kalt drauBen, nicht wahr?” But we don’t say “I got it right, isn’t it?” (Thus, Sara’s correction of Aby’s speech from “ain’t it” to “isn’t it?” shows she doesn’t yet understand English idiom fully.)
Tatteniu (p.276): Unlike “Mammeniu” (p.261), this use of the -niu ending is about piousness, as in “God, our Father” – to whom Moishe Smolinsky here cries out in distress and frustration with his second wife.
Landsleute (p.277): As Sara and Hugo cry out together, this is Yiddish (and German) for “countrymen.” (Do we have a gender neutral expression for this word in English?)
challis (p.283): A lightweight woven fabric.
King Lear (p.284): Moishe Smolinsky compares himself to Shakespeare’s ill-fated king, who gives his kingdom away to two greedy daughters and dies a mad, broken man. Moishe here shows his education but not wisdom: Lear gave everything to the daughters who praised him with flattering words and nothing to the youngest daughter, who genuinely loved and respected him but could not spin such flowery speeches. Compare Lear to Moishe, who did not appreciate all the work his first wife, Rifkeh, did for him and gave all her death money to Mrs. Feinstein, who flattered Moishe then spent every cent on herself.
Jewess (p.293): A female Jew. Such a term, like “poetess” for a female poet, is outdated. Today “Jewess” is used only as a slur.
Tolstoyan (p.296): A follower of the teachings of Russian (Christian) writer Leo Tolstoy, which advocates for manual labor and simple living.
General notes:
- Yiddish is the common language of European (aka Ashkenazi) Jews, the group that dominated immigration to the US from the 1880s-1920s. It is based in a combination of German, Hebrew, and English.
- Hebrew is the religious language of Judaism. Jews read the Torah (comprised of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible – aka the “Old Testament”) in Hebrew. Historically, the language and formal religious study was only for boys. The Talmud, studied by Jewish religious scholars such as Sara’s father Moishe Smolinsky in Bread Givers, is the primary source of Jewish religious law and theology, the body of Jewish civil and ceremonial law. Today, Israel is the only nation in which Hebrew is a common, spoken language.
List of Terms and References:
yok (p.3): Yiddish term for a foolish person.
calico (p.3): A printed cotton fabric.
Torah (p.4): The first five books of the Hebrew Bible (same as “Old Testament” as it is called by Christians; Jews do not consider the “New Testament” to be the word of God nor do they believe Jesus is the Messiah, son of God, or savior.
shirtwaist (p.5): A shirtwaist refers to a button-down blouse one tucks into a skirt.
gazlin (p.7): Yiddish for a criminal or thief. Sara’s mother translates this to “bandit” as the next word, meaning Sara has “stolen” food from her family’s mouths by cutting off too much potato with the peel.
gefühlte fish (p.9): Usually written “gefilte fish,” this is the Yiddish term for minced fish balls, boiled and then served warm or cold. They are called “gefühlte” or “gefilte” because the fish is combined (filled) with matzo (cracker) meal.
Nu (p.12): A Yiddish multipurpose interjection, a lot like “Well?” in English. It can also be used to ask “How are you?” as in “So, nu?”
Shenah (p.12): “Pretty one" in Yiddish (from schön in German). Sara's mother's actual name is Rifkeh (see p.76).
Moisheh (p.12): Sara's father's first name, in italics because it is given Yiddish pronunciation. “Moisheh” (often spelled "Moishe") is Yiddish for Moses, the patriarch of the Bible.
schnorrer (p.17): Yiddish for a beggar, sponger, freeloader. One who does not pay one’s way.
Blut-und-Eisen (p.20): Yiddish (and German) for “blood and iron,” meaning an incredible force or, as a nickname for Sara, an unstoppable, determined will. (Also the name of Prussian leader Otto von Bismarck’s policy of 1862 to unify Germany.)
Reb Smolinsky (p.28): “Reb” is from the Hebrew and simply means “Mr.”; in this case “Mr. Smolinsky.”
kozatzkeh (p.31): An Eastern European dance featuring high kicks.
dowry (p.31): A dowry is a payment (of money or goods) given by a father to the man who will marry his daughter. It is called the daughter’s dowry, but the money goes to the son-in-law.
Tsar of Russia (p.33): Tsar (or Czar) means emperor, literally the leader of Russia (until the 1917 revolution). Tsars varied across history in terms of their treatment of the Jews: at best, there was passive tolerance; at worst, they could live only in restricted areas that were periodically attacked (see “pogroms,” next item), were double-taxed, and faced forced military service. (Shenah’s speech points out that forced service led to breaking Jewish dietary and behavioral laws, including the eating pork, drinking excessively, and killing without cause.
pogroms (p.33): Government-sanctioned ethnic raids, including looting, burning, killing, and rape. Commonly used to refer to European attacks against Jews.
mouzhiks (p.33): Russian peasants (meaning not Jewish).
pogromshchiks (p.33): Those who participate in pogroms: looters, arsonists, rapists, and killers.
Songs of Solomon (p.34): Solomon is the third king of Israel as described in the Hebrew Bible. He builds the opulent Temple in Jerusalem and ushers in Israel’s greatest period of wealth and power. Shenah is contrasting Solomon’s apparent work ethic (first bring wealth, then write poetry) to her husband Moisheh’s (“sing first then attend to business”).
oilcloth (p.37): a waterproof tablecloth made of coarse fabric treated with oil.
Oi weh! (p.40): Yiddish for “Woe is me!”; more commonly spelled “oy vey.”
greenhorn (p.49): Common term for a new immigrant; similar to “newbie.” Literally a young horned animal.
Passover set (of dishes): Observant Jews keep at least two sets of dishes, one for everyday and one for the specific holiday of Passover (Hebrew: Pesach). On this holiday, no leavened foods (bread, cake – anything that uses yeast) may be eaten, so everyday dishes that have touched leavened food must be put away and the Passover dishes taken out.
potato lotkes (p.56): Yiddish term for fried potato pancakes, today mostly eaten on the holiday of Hannukah. Often spelled “latkes.”
Lokshen kugel (p.56): Yiddish for “noodle pudding,” this dish is made of wide noodles, eggs, sour cream (or cottage cheese), sugar, cinnamon, nuts, and sometimes raisins. It is similar to bread pudding, but with noodles rather than pieces of bread. Tradition (of a sexist kind) says a woman who cannot make a good kugel is not worth marrying. Sometimes spelled “lukshen.”
car (p.59): When Sara says she “took the car to the concert hall,” she means a streetcar, a public vehicle that ran on rails in city streets. Places including New Orleans and San Francisco still have them.
meshumid (p.63): Yiddish word for one who renounces one’s faith, an apostate.
capote (p.71): Yiddish for the long, black coats worn by Orthodox (strictly pious) Jews of Eastern Europe.
Yid (p.71): Yiddish for “Jew.” See also Yiddeneh below.
America is a golden country! (p.81): Eastern European Jewish immigrants called America “das goldene Medina” in Yiddish – meaning “the golden country.” They predicted immigrants would find all they ever wanted or needed in this “rich” nation. See also later on the page where there is reference to bathing in milk and soaking in honey, a reference to a Biblical idiom for a perfect land, later ascribed to Israel.
yentch (p.93): Yiddish slur for an old wretch.
tzimes (p.102): A traditional Eastern European Jewish stew, made from carrots and dried fruits (prunes, raisins), often combined with other root vegetables (such as yams).
garter (p.106): Before men’s socks had elastic in them, one would use an elastic strap around the calf with dangling clips to hold them up.
Yideneh (p.112): Feminine form of “Yid” (Jew), but used most often pejoratively: a gossip, an interferer, a shallow person, an old lady (or man).
Gott sei dank! (p.116): Yiddish (and German) for “Thank God!”
Meshugener Yid! (p.117): Yiddish for “Crazy Jew!”
Uncle Aby (p.122): A slur for an older Jewish man. “Aby” is a shortened form of Abraham, the patriarch of the Jews.
noodnik (p.126): Yiddish for an annoying person, a persistent pest. Often spelled “nudnik.”
gevalt (p.126): Yiddish for the word “violence.” Used as an interjection to express shock or amazement. Often used with “oy” (“oy gevalt!”) to mean something similar to “oh, horror!”
Ishah Rah (p.126): Hebrew for a bad or evil woman.
shekel (p.133): Ancient Israeli and Arab coin (and basic monetary unit of Israel today).
Chzufeh! (p.137): Yiddish interjection, meaning nerve or brazenness, as in “What audacity!” A more positive version of this is the Yiddish term chutzpah.
yenteh (p.139): A female gossip or busybody. Also a woman’s name (such as Zalmon’s daughter).
kooshenierkeh (p.140): A cheapskate, miser, stingy person. Sometimes spelled “Kushinyerkeh.”
Americanerin (p.144): Yiddish for “an American” woman. (A man would be “Americaner.”)
Goyim (p.172): Yiddish for gentiles; a Jewish name for non-Jews. Singular is “Goy.” Usually derogatory.
teacherin (p.193): Yiddishism for a woman teacher. The “in” ending indicates the feminine. (Cf. Americanerin.)
Schlang! (p.207): Yiddish (and German) for snake.
Pullman (p.237): The Pullman Company (1867-1968) made fancy trains that included sleeping and dining cars and were noted for their service.
Mazel-tof! (p.261): “Mazel tov” is Hebrew for “Good luck (to you).” Often used as an interjection to wish someone luck or to praise someone’s luck. Here, Sara uses it sarcastically to refer to her father’s marriage to Mrs. Feinstein after only 30 days have passed since her mother’s death.
Mammeniu (p.261): Yiddish for “mother dear”; the -niu suffix adds intimacy (or piousness in some cases).
public letter-writer (p.262): Those who were not literate could go to a local letter-writer and pay to have their letters written for them.
Zeresh (p.265): The wife of the villain Haman in the Bible’s Book of Esther.
“ain’t it?” (p.271): This ungrammatical speech tag is similar to ending sentences with “you know.” It comes from the Yiddish/German “nicht wahr?” For example, “It’s cold out, isn’t it?” or “It’s cold out, you know?” or “Es ist kalt drauBen, nicht wahr?” But we don’t say “I got it right, isn’t it?” (Thus, Sara’s correction of Aby’s speech from “ain’t it” to “isn’t it?” shows she doesn’t yet understand English idiom fully.)
Tatteniu (p.276): Unlike “Mammeniu” (p.261), this use of the -niu ending is about piousness, as in “God, our Father” – to whom Moishe Smolinsky here cries out in distress and frustration with his second wife.
Landsleute (p.277): As Sara and Hugo cry out together, this is Yiddish (and German) for “countrymen.” (Do we have a gender neutral expression for this word in English?)
challis (p.283): A lightweight woven fabric.
King Lear (p.284): Moishe Smolinsky compares himself to Shakespeare’s ill-fated king, who gives his kingdom away to two greedy daughters and dies a mad, broken man. Moishe here shows his education but not wisdom: Lear gave everything to the daughters who praised him with flattering words and nothing to the youngest daughter, who genuinely loved and respected him but could not spin such flowery speeches. Compare Lear to Moishe, who did not appreciate all the work his first wife, Rifkeh, did for him and gave all her death money to Mrs. Feinstein, who flattered Moishe then spent every cent on herself.
Jewess (p.293): A female Jew. Such a term, like “poetess” for a female poet, is outdated. Today “Jewess” is used only as a slur.
Tolstoyan (p.296): A follower of the teachings of Russian (Christian) writer Leo Tolstoy, which advocates for manual labor and simple living.