My Grandfather's Best Joke
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- Опубліковано 15 сер 2016
- Fyvush Finkel, z"l - comedian, actor, and singer - tells how he inherited his grandfather's sense of humor and recalls his grandfather's best joke.
To learn more about the Yiddish Book Center’s Wexler Oral History Project, visit: www.yiddishbookcenter.org/tell...
I knew Fyvush well. He and his family were regulars at a small hotel in the Borscht Belt my parents ran from the late 40's thru the middle 50's. He told jokes and sang with us for 4 summers. His success was a joy.
Amazing to hear about that connection!
This is the way I remember hearing the elder folks speak Yiddish when I was a youngster.
What a beautiful soul! He was one of the last remaining actors from the golden age of Yiddish theater.
One evening in the 1980s, I once was riding downtown Fifth Avenue on a bus in Manhattan. I saw Mr. Finkel and whom I presumed to be his wife sitting in the two seats just behind the driver. They were engrossed in conversation and so I didn’t bother them. This was before his success in Picket Fences. I had just seen him in the Off-Broadway smash hit “Little Shop of Horrors” in the Orpheum Theater on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark’s Place in Manhattan’s East Village (he was the stand-in for whomever was playing Mr. Mushnik that evening!). That was the only reason I recognized him. On the way out on my stop at 14th Street, I told him I enjoyed watching him in the show. He thanked me graciously. Class act.
Still love this Language... nice to see that also normal people speak it!
Gott, but I love these stories and the people who tell them! Such humor, such kindness...and this from a people who have been in the shit like no other in the world! This is their genius and their greatest gift to the world: showing us how to survive barbarism and somehow remain a mensch!
I loved his performance at the beginning of A Serious Man. He invoked feelings of terror, confusion, and humor all at the same time. It’s surreal.
Mr. Finkel, great actor . Many in my New York neighborhood in Brooklyn spoke Yiddish and had a great sense of humor back in the mid to late 60's . I miss their malt shops and corner groceries and Kosher Deli's
Rest in Peace, Fyvush Finkel. A fine man in whatever language!
I love his Yiddish. It's pure Ukraine. What my paternal grandmother spoke and all her family.
My grandparents were from Ukraine also.
My grandparents were from a little town called Chudniv, do you know the town where your grandfather was from?
I always loved seeing Fyvush perform. May he rest in peace.
Steven Meyer Oh no,he died.I discovered him in Cohen Brother's "A serious man" opening scene.I watched and rewatched that scene a dozen times,almost under a spell.He was amazing.
Yes he was! I STRONGLY disagreed with his politics, but that was ok. A good man too!
Yiddish is beautiful!
Dank a sakh alter man. This is helping my own Yiddish hearing people speak it.
What a fascinating language.I love to hear it.I grew up hearing it almost daily as a kid in my neighbourhood of Montreal .My downstairs neighbour spoke it,in all the bakeries it was spoken. I wish I had learned it.
The beauty of his (Neshama) soul was seen on his face. Rest In Peace my friend.
I realize your comment is old, but it caught my eye. I'm also in Montreal. I'm learning Yiddish right now on Duolingo :) Even after study of just a month, I understood some of what he said!
Funny how as someone who speaks high German fairly fluently (my parents are from North Germany) I can understand most of what he's saying even though I am not of jewish heritage....but boy do I love thier culture and humor
If your parents were from North Germany did they speak or understand Plattdeutsch instead of Hocheutsch? Or were they from near Denmark?
מיט אַ ביסל ווערטער פון עברית דו קענסט פארשטיין א סך יידישע
My German Jewish Grandfather always gave me a small Math Problem when I visited.... it was a fun way to interact
What a beautiful soul ❤❤
*The version I heard of The Yizkor Minyan Math Joke.. It was the 1st anniversary of a dead Uncle Zeff who was known to always cut corners on his business dealings with others and so no one showed up for the Yizkor Minyan but two very old nephews... who'd worked for him when they were young kids. The punch line as I heard it was...* *"Since you and me are the only ones who've showed up and there is just two of us... And if I try and think through this like our Uncle Zeff would... I'm thinking if we two both look in the mirror... that would make four and with the two of us added to those four that would make six... and if all six of us look in the mirror that would make 12... and since we only need 10 for a Minyan... After the candle is lit and before their eyes have adjusted... maybe we should slip out and let the rest of them focus on the pray Uncle Zeff deserves"* ..gw
I remember he played the part of the lawyer Douglas Wambaugh on Picket Fences.
He was great in Picket Fences - funny and great singer - brought tears to my eyes several times in this 90's series
We need to make sure this language doesn’t disappear. Important. Not Jewish but I have sooo many Jewish friends including one I used to work with and she would teach me Yiddish during lunch. Lost track of her because of a job transfer. Next time I am in Columbus I need to track her down.
Fiveish fenkell what a cool guy I've seen him interviewed several times such a peaceful man
My parents spoke in "Yiddish" at home as my grandmother. I understood ever word yet had trouble speaking it!
Practice makes better.
😂 i understand all, i growing up in South Germany Its like my bavarien dialect 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
I worked at a radio station, as a technician, in New York City called WEVD, which at that time was owned by the Jewish Daily Forward. The Board of Directors were all old men, “alta kakas” that convened once a month. They held their conferences in the “mommaloshen”, the Mother Tongue, as Yiddish was known amongst it’s native speakers. I was only there in the last year or so of the station’s existence, as it was eventually sold to ESPN.
Wow! Maybe you're a candidate to be interviewed for our oral history project! www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/oral-histories/request-interview
Well, not really. As a technician, I had very little interaction with management. My immediate superiors were the Chief Engineer and the union shop steward (another engineer). Neither gentlemen were Jewish, although they had been there a long time. This was in the mid 1990s, I was there for only about a year and a half. I can see if I can maybe try to track down the Chief Engineer, whose name escapes me as I type this, but I may have it written down somewhere (should he still be alive, as I’m in my mid sixties and he is twenty years my senior). As for the shop steward, I don’t recall seeing his name anywhere after I left the station.
Wow! WEVD played in our kitchen whenever Grandma was cooking. I called it her "Jewish radio" and I loved the talent speaking the mamaloshen but then burst into "555 Delancey St in Manhattan" in perfect unaccented English. And the music was "Azoy freilach!"
Sweet. He played a small town lawyer in a wonderfully creative and quirky TV series in the 90s called Picket Fences.
Oh, this is wonderful!! Thank you!
Language , religion, community…they are inextricably linked. …
I can actually understand most of this dialect sometimes I have trouble. Great video
I miss my bubbe and zaida and my great aunt and their friends speak Yiddish every day ❤❤❤❤❤
Dank a sakh altern.
I know a lot of folks who have RBF, but this guy has Resting Happy Face!
👏🏻👏🏻🙌🏻🫶🏻🙏🏻
I am German and I understand quite a bit. That's amazing!
Justus well Yiddish is German so not that surprising
@@thgentleman9210 yiddish is NOT german.
Yiddish is an archaic dialect of low German with a healthy dose of Slavic and a few Hebrew words added.
Who are the nine people who didn't like this? You guys are a shanda.
@@Braglemaster123 Silly
I don’t even understand it ? ?
@@afan4840 It's in Yiddish. So if you don't understand that, put on the captions and listen while reading along. [Some of the German influenced words can be understood by those with a little German].
The references are rather culturally specific, so we Jews are probably more likely to get it.
But you can enjoy for the laughing energy, such good humor, like we all need.
Dad and Grandpa jokes are very similar. Which a lot of these actually are.
Happy life and peace to all
I once sat right behind him at an event honoring famous Jews from Brooklyn. I would have talked to him but I was too nervous.
love you
minyan - minimal amount of adult males needed for a prayer service.
shabes - sabbath.
10 = a minyan
Goodbye old friend
"Ikh hob a minyan!"
"Vee zenen di Yiddin?"
I love that I understand that part, if only that part :S
What a wonderful humour this man could makhst!
I'm of Celtic decent, raised in a small Midwestern town where Plattdeutsch (Low German) was spoken and I like to see what words I can descern of the Germanic part of Yiddish. That's almost the set up for a joke. :)
Interesting project.
Amazing 😉
lost in translation. though I love his spirit!
yiddish, here in south africa, although started dying out is still spoken by many people. the problem was, that, the old parents, would only use yiddish , when, they did not want their children to know what they were talking between themselves. also yiddish is not spoken the same around the world. it all depends where the yiddish comes from. in lithuania, the yiddish is germanic. in poland it is pollak (galitzyanner). in argentina it is ladino. a spanish derivative. the only common denominator is the hebrew lettering. also to translate into another language, is not so easy. for example it can get one into a bit of a problem. in english, one can say, that she sleeps on three cushions and he sleeps on four,, that is a normal english sentence. in yiddish it is zi shloft af drei kishen und er shloft af ir (he sleeps on her.) no lol.
af fir... same thing happens in English; I once asked a professor whether he knew of any cases of formalin sensitivity, and he thought I asked about formal insensitivity.
Reminds me of the old Abbot & Costello 7 x 13 = 28 routine.
All of my Yiddish comes from Mel Brooks movies.
It is said that Yiddish speakers are on the decline, more Jewish people speaking Hebrew, or the languages of whatever country they're in. This is a world so rich in culture, love, history, art and beauty...it must be preserved, must remain, must stay alive, must thrive......we have species of plants and animals dying off every day - to lose this...there are no words for the loss it would become. In the name of humanity - thrive!
juhuuu. i got the joke. even if i speak neither yiddish nor english.
Yiddish is the best! ¡Viva el Yiddish malditos puritanos!
This sounds so similar to someone speaking hochdeutsch with a New Yorker accent, which honestly makes sense
OMG the priest from Boston Public! XD
Sorry you had to remove the girl Adah Hetko playing , i still enjoy this channel a lot
The Adah Hetko video is on our channel!
A Great Joke...It says a lot about the Humor it took to keep things going in the Ghettos in America...
קען ער האָבן אַ בריליאַנט גאַניידן
How many gentile kids recognized him right away, AND knew his name? I'm one. Any others?
This is the most Jewish thing I ever heard.
Ир зонт а клигер мэнч. Их об штарк либ маме-лушн.
א גרוייסע מציאה :)
You have six, look in the mirror and you twelve 🤣🤣🤣
Oyy gavault gansa mishbucha chavar fresers
✡️Happy Chanukah✡️
Oi gewold .😅😅😅
And here’s Modi demonstrating what Fyvush is claiming about how his grandfather, the shames, was as knowledgeable as the rabbi and could have replaced him…😂
ua-cam.com/users/shortsUsN4hNqGWMA?feature=share
I didn't get the joke
You're cute
🇵🇱❤️🇮🇱
I wish i had a culture. People. Family. Americans are not any of those things to me.
I dont get it.
sounds like american yiddish...
De Bakst vous Meint d vort syroyreh?