Sharon Udasin » Jewish Politics http://www.sharonudasin.com A look inside the head of journalist Sharon Udasin Wed, 19 Oct 2011 12:44:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 MetroPolitics: Marty Markowitz http://www.sharonudasin.com/2010/06/metropolitics-marty-markowitz/ http://www.sharonudasin.com/2010/06/metropolitics-marty-markowitz/#comments Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:37:26 +0000 Sharon http://www.sharonudasin.com/?p=937

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Share]]> http://www.sharonudasin.com/2010/06/metropolitics-senator-kirsten-gillibrand/feed/ 0 Speaking The King’s (Jewish) English http://www.sharonudasin.com/2010/05/speaking-the-kings-jewish-english/ http://www.sharonudasin.com/2010/05/speaking-the-kings-jewish-english/#comments Wed, 26 May 2010 17:10:03 +0000 Sharon http://www.sharonudasin.com/?p=928

Speaking The King’s (Jewish) English

Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sharon Udasin, Staff Writer
Sitting on a train approaching Manchester, England, recently, my friend Arron and I leafed through a copy of MetroNews — Britain’s biggest free paper — and came across an article about recent violence in Jerusalem caused by the latest settlement controversy.
I began to read the article aloud, nonchalantly voicing the words “Israel” and “Palestinians” as they passed by in the sentence.
“Sshhh,” Arron whispered. “Try not to say that around here.”
Growing up, Arron explained, he and his Jewish friends learned from a young age to avoid saying words like “Jew” and “Israel” in public. It was a precaution against the anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism that continues to pervade Europe.
Instead, they created a secret, coded language. Jew became “wej” (its backwards cousin). “Eretz” (a Hebrew nom de plume for Israel meaning “land”) became the code word for the Jewish state or random Yiddish words. “We’re walking through a wej neighborhood,” Arron and his friends would say to each other.
One of many definitions of wej, according to UrbanDictionary.com, an online dictionary for slang and often-derogatory terms, is “the polite way of saying Jew in public without others knowing.” In France, a similar type of term, “feuj,” is also used colloquially to replace the word Jew — but this time, usually insultingly. From the French dialect similar to Pig Latin called the Verlan, feuj is simply the syllabic inversion of the French word for Jew, “juif.”
My language faux pas were by no means limited to the train ride into Manchester. Walking through the streets in London, in Liverpool, in Leeds — I breached the language barrier.
In London, I had just visited some of my British colleagues at The Jewish Chronicle office — which is, in fact, a veritable fortress against terrorism — and I was eager to discuss this with Arron. But I quickly learned from him that this too was off limits for conversation, at least on the street.
Local rabbis play down the “wej,” “Eretz” business, viewing the phrases more as forms of ethnic group dialect than paranoia.
“There’s a ‘Jewish British’ just as there’s a ‘Jewish American,’ in terms of speech. One of the things that has been fun in my 12 years here is learning all of the British expressions,” said Rabbi Mark Winer, the senior rabbi at West London Synagogue — Britain’s largest liberal shulSitting on a train approaching Manchester, England, recently, my friend Arron and I leafed through a copy of MetroNews — Britain’s biggest free paper — and came across an article about recent violence in Jerusalem caused by the latest settlement controversy.

Sitting on a train approaching Manchester, England, recently, my friend Arron and I leafed through a copy of MetroNews — Britain’s biggest free paper — and came across an article about recent violence in Jerusalem caused by the latest settlement controversy.

I began to read the article aloud, nonchalantly voicing the words “Israel” and “Palestinians” as they passed by in the sentence.

“Sshhh,” Arron whispered. “Try not to say that around here.”

Growing up, Arron explained, he and his Jewish friends learned from a young age to avoid saying words like “Jew” and “Israel” in public. It was a precaution against the anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism that continues to pervade Europe.

Instead, they created a secret, coded language. Jew became “wej” (its backwards cousin). “Eretz” (a Hebrew nom de plume for Israel meaning “land”) became the code word for the Jewish state or random Yiddish words. “We’re walking through a wej neighborhood,” Arron and his friends would say to each other.

One of many definitions of wej, according to UrbanDictionary.com, an online dictionary for slang and often-derogatory terms, is “the polite way of saying Jew in public without others knowing.” In France, a similar type of term, “feuj,” is also used colloquially to replace the word Jew — but this time, usually insultingly. From the French dialect similar to Pig Latin called the Verlan, feuj is simply the syllabic inversion of the French word for Jew, “juif.”

My language faux pas were by no means limited to the train ride into Manchester. Walking through the streets in London, in Liverpool, in Leeds — I breached the language barrier.

In London, I had just visited some of my British colleagues at The Jewish Chronicle office — which is, in fact, a veritable fortress against terrorism — and I was eager to discuss this with Arron. But I quickly learned from him that this too was off limits for conversation, at least on the street.

Local rabbis play down the “wej,” “Eretz” business, viewing the phrases more as forms of ethnic group dialect than paranoia.

“There’s a ‘Jewish British’ just as there’s a ‘Jewish American,’ in terms of speech. One of the things that has been fun in my 12 years here is learning all of the British expressions,” said Rabbi Mark Winer, the senior rabbi at West London Synagogue — Britain’s largest liberal shul.  Continue reading…

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Share]]> http://www.sharonudasin.com/2010/04/metropolitics-interview-with-sheldon-silver/feed/ 0 Can Palin Win Over Jews? http://www.sharonudasin.com/2010/04/can-palin-win-over-jews/ http://www.sharonudasin.com/2010/04/can-palin-win-over-jews/#comments Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:56:15 +0000 Sharon http://www.sharonudasin.com/?p=854

Can Palin Win Over Jews?

Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin.
Could Obama’s growing problems with the community translate into popularity for our least-favorite Sarah? Despite a new website, most experts say no.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Sharon Udasin, Staff Writer
If you believe the conventional wisdom about the 2008 presidential election, Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama was having a very tough time garnering Jewish support before Sen. John McCain picked a running mate. Polls in the Jewish community had Obama getting about 55 percent of the Jewish vote, as much as 20 percentage points lower than John Kerry or Al Gore, the two previous Democratic presidential candidates.

Then McCain tapped a little-known Alaska governor as his vice presidential pick, one who had a habit of dividing the country into East Coast city folk and the so-called real Americans who live in more rural areas.

The Jewish community, it turned out, shuddered. And Obama ended up with 78 percent of the Jewish vote.

A year and a half later, Obama’s popularity with Jewish voters is sinking, and a group of Jewish conservatives is now touting Sarah Palin as the Republicans’ latest best hope to win over Jewish voters.

The big question: Will Obama’s growing problems with the Jewish community translate into popularity for a Republican only recently seen as a poison pill with Jewish voters?

Philadelphia political activist and former Philadelphia Exponent editor Benyamin Korn thinks so. The self-described “Independent” just launched a new website, “Jews for Palin – A Home Page for Jewish Independents,” to galvanize Jewish support based on Palin’s positions on Israel, energy independence and fiscal responsibility and her outspoken advocacy on “family values” issues.

To Korn, a presidential win for Palin would be no different than Ronald Reagan’s rise from “B-list movie-star” to California governor and the presidency, or Margaret Thatcher’s ascendance from grocer’s daughter to prime minister of the United Kingdom.

Worried by what he views as Obama’s chilly attitude toward Israel and complacency toward Iran, Korn said he was anxious to find someone capable of unseating the president in the next election — and despite the skepticism of numerous political scientists, he believes Palin’s personality and views on U.S.-Israel relations will prove attractive to Jewish voters.

“We are so upset about Obama’s Middle East policy that we’re looking for his biggest opponent — she is the leading voice,” Korn told The Jewish Week. “We have been impressed by Gov. Palin’s brilliance, charisma and courage, and we have supported her and wanted to see her advance since she made her acceptance speech at the Republican nominating convention.”

The site, launched by a team of six, has received over 10,000 hits in its first 11 days of operation, according to Korn. Since its incorporation as an LLC, the organization has received several small contributions along with one major donation.

Many political observers are not all that impressed.

“Anyone can launch a website, and a good deal of the 2012 presidential campaign will be fought on the Internet — this site seems to be an effort in that war,” said Sandy Maisel, a professor of government at Colby College in Maine. “However, Palin will draw little Jewish support — and I think it is noteworthy that none of the groups that they say launched the group have their names listed.”

Korn brushes off this omission, saying that the “the paint is still wet” on a project that was rushed because of his sense of urgency about deteriorating U.S.-Israel relations. He said he will announce an official advisory board in the coming weeks.   Continue reading…

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From the website’s front page gallery:

palinjewswebfrontpg

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