A Child Learns to Appreciate Yiddish
Too
Young for Yiddish by Richard Michelson,
MA: Talewinds, 2002, 32 pages, $15.95
by Mitchell Bard
It is not often that a children's book brings tears
to my eye, but I found Richard Michelson's book about a young boy from
Brooklyn's relationship with his grandfather from the Old Country a
touching one. Young Aaron discovers that his grandfather has a treasure
trove of books in Yiddish and wants to learn the language, but his Zayde
says he is too young. Over the years, Aaron shares his love of baseball
with his Zayde and the two stayed close as the boy grew. By the time
Aaron had grown up, his grandfather had to move to a room in a nursing
home that didn't have room for all his Yiddish books. Seeing them in
the trash, Aaron decides to rescue them and then begins to visit his
Zayde regularly and bring a different book for them to study together.
Aaron not only learns the language, but gets to know more about his
Zayde's life. The book concludes after Aaron's Zayde has died and he
begins to pass on to his own son the stories his grandfather told him
prompting the boy to beg his father to teach him Yiddish as well.
The book is printed "back to front" like
a Yiddish book, but the text is written in the normal left to right
manner. A page at the end briefly describes the history of Yiddish and
there is another page of Yiddish words. Too
Young for Yiddish makes a wonderful bedtime story that will
make you want to call your grandparents and ask them to read you a story.
Sources: Mitchel Bard is the Executive Director of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise |