Re: greetings- off topic, but current

[SamWeiss <SamWeiss...>]

At 12:00 PM 9/17/02, jonathan gordon wrote:
>...the proper way to greet one another during the
>yamim noraim...   anybody have any ideas about the
>proper  (ie., the way amcha really speaks) use of the following:

The "amcha" I'm most in touch with say "Happy New Year".  (I guess there's 
amcha and then there's AMCHA.)

>1.gamar tov (is it ever spoken before the end of yom kippur?  when does
>g'mar tov expire- Simchat torah, or hoshannah raba.

G'mar Tov (short for G'mar Chatimah Tovah) takes over from when (L')Shana 
Tova/K'tivah Vachatimah Tovah drops out: at the end of Rosh Hashanah.  [For 
the first time this year, I heard at least one Paid Jew use this garbled 
variation:  G'mar Vachatimah Tovah.  Let's hope it doesn't catch on.]  The 
term "expires" on Hoshannah Rabba, when the Penitential Season Psalm 27 
ceases to be recited, and the Gates REALLY close. (I hope not.)

>2. a guten kvitl.

This is a folksy Yiddish equivalent for G'mar Tov, these days usually heard 
only in Chassidic circles, among pseudo-Chassidim and among those who took 
Advanced Yiddish Conversation in college or Klezkamp.  It means "(may you 
receive) a good ticket".  Another Yiddish expression, "A Gut Gebentsht Yor" 
technically expires along with K'tivah Vachatimah Tovah, but can last as 
long as G'mar Tov.

>3. Has anyone ever heard an unpaid Jew say "moadim l'simcha,
>chagim l'sasson" or similar words to a neighbor or friend?

Although it's a classical phrase, as a colloquial expression I think the 
Mo'adim L'simchah/Chagim Uzmanim L'sason exchange started in Israel, was 
picked up by American Paid Jews, and struggling for currency in these 
parts.  The Yiddish equivalent term A Gutn Moyed sometimes turns into a bad 
joke since it sounds a lot like "a gute moyd" ("a nice chick").


_____________________________________________________________
Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ

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