Jewish as a Second Language

How to Worry, How to Interrupt, How to Say the Opposite of What You Mean

By: Molly Katz

Narrated by: Carol Leifer

Length: 1 hr and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Molly Katz is Jewish and her husband is not. To help him—and every other poor soul who might believe a Jewish mother-in-law's "don't bother driving me, I'll take a cab"—here is the indispensable guide to the complex twists, unexpected nuances and hidden meanings of Jewish language and culture.

"Not your religion"; e.g. "She's Jewish, but her husband's not." Learn all the family secrets, from the Positive Insult, the Negative Compliment, the Shrugs, the Faces, and the Hands to the Viennese Table, the Buying of the Suit/the Returning of the Suit, and the Basic Psychology of Raising a Jewish Child.

"You're wonderful/You'll never be good enough," "Eat/Be thin," "Save/Spend/Earn/Give/Buy/Keep."

©1991 Molly Katz (P)2009 Phoenix

I Laughed to Tears

I don't know why this hasn't gotten better reviews. I was literally crying laughing in my car, and hopefully the passersby didn't think I was crazy to be laughing so hard by myself. I do have NY Jewish family, so I saw us in the humor! I agree with another reviewer that the narration was a little shrill but I think anyone with that NY Jewish cultural influence in their family will be highly amused.

OK. Better as a book.

The content is OK, but involves many lists forcing you to pay really close attention to what's going on OR listen to a barrage of "suitable:", "unsuitable:","suitable:", "unsuitable:","suitable:", "unsuitable:", etc.

I also found the narrators voice to be a little shrill which made it difficult to listen to.

I wish I'd have bought the book, I would have liked if much better.

Anti-Semitic and misbranded.

Purchased to share with a non-Jewish partner thinking, as per the description, it would be a series of simple explanations of Jewish & Yiddish vocab - holidays and slang that gets thrown around - but instead I received a barrage of bad one liners about jewish people, all based in one bad stereotype or another, performed in a caricatured voice of a Brooklyn Jew. If shared amongst Jews to laugh at themselves as “it’s funny because it’s true” fodder, I think that’s fine - but this book is not funny so I’d recommend a different author. If you give this to a non-Jew entering a jewish family, they’re going to receive some misinformation and hear offensive jokes at best, at worst they’ll repeat or insinuate some of these statements as truth to a family member and make a bad impression despite good intentions. Really disappointing and I’ll be seeking a refund.