Hanukkah wishes

oldmom4896
Tue, 16 Dec 2025 17:13:05 +0000

…and how the originator of a spelling chose to transliterate. The CH at the beginning is the gutteral CH, not ch as in chat.

In general, there are two “modern” forms of spoken Hebrew, Ashkenazi (mostly people from northern and eastern Europe), and Sephardic by those from southern Europe, Asia and Africa. When it was founded, the Israeli government chose to use Sephardic. Shabbat (Sabbath) with accent on second syllable vs Shabbos with accent on the first.

And then there is Yiddish, an agglomeration of German and eastern European languages, used in the past by Jews at home and to communicate with people from other countries. Yiddish is used by ultra-Orthodox (Hassidic) Jews because they believe that Hebrew is only for prayers. In NYC Hassidic communities, many men (whose time and studies are almost all prayer-related) speak minimal English and it may not be taught in their grade/high schools.