Transgender Jews may be nothing new

[Behind the Aegis]

There is always that question of what the shtetl Jews who populate the stories of writers like Sholom Aleichem might think about a transgender folk-punk band named Schmekel, which will be appearing October 29 at the Nehirim Queer Shabbaton, at the JCC in Manhattan.

Bands like Schmekel, which uses Yiddish as an alternative culture to help bulk up their Jewish identities, are part of a phenomenon dubbed “Queer Yiddishkeit,” by Rutgers University scholar Jeffrey Shandler, in which queerness is juxtaposed with elements of Yiddish in order to upend the status quo.

While the state of the Jewish status quo is always in some sort of hysterical flux, evidence would seem to indicate that it’s come a long way, baby, when transgender masters of folk-punk-snark, Schmekel, play a show at an American Jewish community center.

And although Tevye the Milkman tried to rule his roost with tradition, he also suffered continuously under a barrage of tsoris from his elder daughters. It is, however, fairly safe to say that none of them — not Hodel, not Tzeitel, nor Chava — ever went on the record as considering gender reassignment.


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[xchrom]

1. Great - both for trans folk & for Yiddish.

It's lovely to see the 2 mix.

[xchrom]

2. i had to go look it up --

Ta'am gan eyden -- Yiddish for fabulous.


my little go to when i want a word in Yiddish:
http://www.yiddishword.com/

[mitchtv]

3. thanks

I love Yiddish words, having grown up in NYC.(and Monticello)