Oy! Gewalt!

I just inadvertently kinda freaked out a Jewish man in my building.  I'm sitting in the lobby charging a jumper battery for our phones. To keep myself amused, I was taking some pictures of the carp fish in the lobby.

 

An older Jewish man over my shoulder said "What are you doing?" in Yiddish (which has its roots in German, of course).

 

My knee jerk reaction? I answered him in English... "Just taking some pictures... oh, sorry you were speaking to your friend..."

 

He kinda got this big hopeful smile on his face, "You speak Yiddish?"

 

"No, I just understand it."

 

Then he turned to his friend to explain that I had understood what he'd said and that I speak Yiddish.

 

But I don't... :-)

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Hey, Ya Know? Listen!

In the lobby earlier charging my phone, I kinda tired of hearing: "I saw that this house was picked up off its foundation and then moved a block down the road and then hit the neighbor's house!" Or "Yeah, ya know, listen... they keep picking up dead bodies!" Or "Edgewater is a complete disastah! I can't tell you how it looks! Trader Joe's? Oi, they're devastated!  Devastated!"

 

Did they not read or hear about the tsunami last year?  This highly pails in comparison.  At least Indian Point is still standing and suffered no ill effects from Sandy.  But I get it: THIS storm affected THEM or came this close (*showing an inch with my fingers*).

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