Recently, a friend dragged me along to an exhibition at The British Library in central London that he had been talking about for weeks. When I arrived I was skeptical, but what I found changed my viewpoint and opened my eyes to a new problem facing the British Jewish community—ignorance about other people, our neighbors and our fellow Londoners.
Have you ever seen a movie set in London? Have you ever been to London? Can you name any place in our capital city? Like, I can name Rockefeller Center and Times Square in New York; if you know anything about London, you will have probably heard or seen Trafalgar Square. The square was built in celebration of the British naval victory of Admiral Lord Nelson in 1805 at Trafalgar, Spain, and since then has become an iconic space that defines London's identity.
There's Biblical Hebrew, Aramaic, most of us know some Yiddish and some have spoken Ladino, but what are Jews speaking now?
British Jewish teenagers have invented their own unique slang for everyday life. It's a mixture of English, Yiddish and modern Hebrew. Here are the top five ‘Jewish words' that we use every day.
1) Frummer: A description of someone who is religious.
Example: If you are out with your mates, and someone shows up in black with a top hat, you might say, “I didn't know you turned frummer.”
SCHOOL'S OUT! I've got two weeks to go until I hear that for the very last time. But it is with a bittersweet feeling that I sit at school in the library and write the next instalment of my U.K.-U.S. correspondence. In just a few weeks, I won't be a student here anymore...I will have taken my final exams and I will graduate to the next stage of my life.
It's Motzei Shabbat, Saturday night in a house in Finchley, North London and a group of 14-year-old girls are primping. Between straightening hair and applying makeup, choosing outfits and deciding on jewellery, these girls are texting, using msn and calling their friends to arrange what to do that night. Hurriedly they argue; “Go to the cinema?” “Stay in?” “Go to Hampstead?” “Go to Solly's?” The scene is similar in many Jewish homes in North London.
Ever wonder what it's like to be Jewish on the other side of the Atlantic? I'll start by saying that we don't have our own European Jewish teen magazine like JVibe, but there's definitely more to it than that. Let me introduce myself.
My name is Josh, I'm 18 and I live in London, England. I am in my last year of high school where I am studying English Literature, History and Geography. I spend my spare time with my friends, playing double bass, reading, and going to gigs and museums in London.
