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Oct. 10, 2008
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The limitations of scientific miracles
Caroline B. Glick:
Lebanon on the brink --- and why it matters
Oct. 8, 2008
Rabbi Berel Wein: The day when the sane talk to themselves
Ana Veciana-Suarez: Many nonobservant Jews are finding religion
Oct. 7, 2008
Gary Rosenblatt: Of politics and prayer
Caroline B. Glick: The ironies of the West's collusion with the Arabs and Iran
Oct. 6, 2008
Rabbi Yitzchok R. Rubin: Mamma to the masses
Jonathan Tobin: Ahmadinejad Isn't Too Impressed
Oct. 3, 2008
Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The 'living dead' are all around us
Caroline B. Glick:
Olmert's parting blows
Oct. 2, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: Often customers looking for our competitor accidentally enter our store. Can we just serve them without comment?
Jonathan Tobin: Jewish pundit quiz on next year's news
Sept. 29, 2008
Rabbi Eli Gewirtz: Lehman Brothers and the Day of Judgment
Rabbi Leiby Burnham: Apples, Honey and You
Sept. 26, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The shofar and the Echo of Sinai
Caroline B. Glick: A road paved on reality
Sept. 24, 2008
Greg Crosby: Home for the Holy Days
Ethel G. Hofman: Rosh Hashanah Favorites: Old-fashioned taste, reduced calories
Sept. 23, 2008
Caroline Glick: Liberalism or lives!?
Michael Ledeen: Dear President Ahmadinejad
Sept. 22, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: I gave a check to a local merchant, but it hasn't been cashed in months. Probably they lost it. Do I have to tell them?
Diana West: We are losing Europe to Islam
Sept. 19, 2008
Rabbi Berel Wein: On harvesting success
Caroline B. Glick: It is time to act
Sept. 18, 2008
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Is camping the panacea to save Jewry from self-destruction?
Craig Gordon: Was SNL hilarity too much for Hillary?
Sept. 17, 2008
Jonathan Tobin: The Whole World Is Watching
The Kosher Gourmet
By Linda Gassenheimer: East meets Southwest in this quick meal: MEXICAN-ASIAN TOSTADOS
Sept. 16, 2008
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. : Into the fire
Everything's Relative : Your Official Jewish Guide to the 2008 USA Presidential Election
Sept. 15, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Enabling risky behavior
Diana West:
A day that will live in ... accommodating Islam
Sept. 11, 2008
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The skeleton in my closet
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein: Persecution and systematic destruction of Christians in the Middle East must be stopped
Sept. 10, 2008
Jonathan Tobin: There's Something About Sarah
The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: Who needs Chili's when you have these? Recipes for Mexican that taste great and are dietetic!
Our commitment to freedom
Sept. 9, 2008
Daniel Pipes: Must counterinsurgency wars fail?
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.:
Sept. 8, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: How far must one go to help somebody out of a contract?
Barry Rubin: Waiting For Something
Sept. 8, 2008
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : How far must one go to help somebody out of a contract?
Barry Rubin: Waiting For Something
March 22, 2007
J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)
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Jewish World Review
Feb. 10, 2004
/ 18 Shevat, 5764
Google Goes Yiddish
By
Steve Lipman
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
How do you say "search engine" in Yiddish?
If you're a traditionalist, you probably don't. "In the shtetl," where
Eastern European Jews' language of preference developed, "there
weren't such things," says Miriam Hoffman, professor of Yiddish and
Yiddish literature at Columbia University. No computers, no Internet,
no on-line features that perused databases.
But we're not in the shtetl anymore, and Yiddish has taken another
high-tech step on the information highway Google, which bills
itself as the most popular English-language search engine in the
world, just introduced a Yiddish version, www.google.com/intl/yi,
complete with Yiddish menus and messages. Users need, of course,
the software for the Hebrew/Yiddish alphabet on their computers.
For Hoffman, who says she is "not a computer person," that's no
problem. "I do have the Yiddish lettering on my computer."
"I think it's wonderful. Why shouldn't they have Yiddish?" says
Hoffman, who writes plays in Yiddish and introduces the language to
college students.
"I'm surprised," she says, "that this wasn't done before."
Google isn't saying why it added Yiddish to its roster of common and
more-obscure language sites, which includes Afrikaans, Latvian and
Punjabi. It didn't make a formal announcement, and a Google
spokesman did not return a call for comment from this paper.
Presumably, there is enough interest in cyberspace with growing
nostalgic interest in Yiddish, academic courses at prestigious
universities, and an increase in its speakers in the Orthodox
community to warrant the step. In May, Google posted an
announcement asking for volunteers to translate its home page,
toolbar, wireless and other programs into Yiddish.
Coincidentally, Hoffman gave a class a Google assignment this week
on the day she found out about the new search engine. Actually, her
assignment was about google-moogle, a medicinal delicacy in her
native Russia it consists of raw eggs, melted butter, hot milk and
honey.
As for the modern version, "you have to find an equivalent" in the
Yiddish lexicon for the term "search engine," Hoffman says. She
combined the terms for "to look for" and "engine," and came up with
pfind-motor.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in Washington and in the media consider "must reading."
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Steve Lipman is a reporter for New York Jewish Week. Comment by clicking here.
© 2004, New York Jewish Week
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