Yaakov Kirschen

Jewish Curses Yaakov Kirschen

This book is a guide and coloring book of Jewish "curses." This book is not about cursing as in the kind of "cursing" you do when you hit your thumb with a hammer. Something funny happened on the way to the world we live in today. That funny thing was the hilarious belly laugh Borscht-Belt comedy of immigrant Jews. And Yiddish was a critical and funny part of that world. Generations of Jewish immigrants came to our English-speaking world with Yiddish, a secret language which only they spoke, and it carried their culture. Yaakov Kirschen, famous Jewish cartoonist and comedian has written and drawn this treasure of our people. It makes a great gift for a younger generation that came along after that golden age of Yiddish comedy and is a heart-warming gift for those of us who can still remember those days. And even if you're not into coloring, this cartoon "guide" is super fun. Cartoonist Kirschen is an old guy. Mr. Shuldig, the bald hero of his Dry Bones cartoons is also an old guy. Now, after more than four decades of writing and drawing his daily Israeli/American political cartoon, Kirschen has decided to tackle something REALLY important; passing on the essence of Yiddish culture and comedy to a younger generation and warming the hearts of other old folks. His new project is a series called "Grandpa's Jewish Cartoon Coloring Books." Those early Yiddish-speaking immigrants expressed their frustrations and anger through wickedly funny Yiddish curses that dripped with cynicism. Kirschen's book is a funny cartoon guide and coloring book based on English translations of those sometimes rough explosions of Yiddish one-liners which were the basis of what we now call "Jewish humor."