JEWMBA! MIZINKE! HORA!
DANCING CAN BE "GEFERLEKH"
Note: The Yiddish word "geferlekh" means "dangerous."
"Tantsn" means "to dance."
The "Hora" is also known as the "chair dance."by
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York"Gratsyez" (graceful) dancing isn't easy!
Fran Drescher (AKA "Fran from Flushing") said that John Travolta once stood up, doubly oy, and told her, "Let's dance." She wrote, "John Travolta grabbed my hand, pulled me onto the lighted disco floor, and began to lead me like no man has ever led me before or since. Hoo-ha! I mean, I didn't even know one single step but it didn't matter because he holds you so tight and moves you, pushing and pulling, twirling, throwing and catching. Whoo, I'm getting a little overheated here! You become more like a juggler's balls than anything."
(Source: "Enter Whining" by Fran Drescher)Henny Youngman said, "Some people ask the secret of our long marriage.
We take time to go to a restaurant two times a week, a little candlelight, dinner, soft music and DANCING. She goes Tuesdays, and I go Fridays."Dancing is a major feature of Jewish weddings. I fondly remember my wedding on Nov. 27, 1958, at the Belle Harbor Jewish Center. When the band played the "Hora," everyone (young and "alt," Jewish and non-Jewish) got up and formed a huge "krayz" (circle). Fifty-six years later, I can still recall "di hanoye" (the fun)!
The Hora/Horah is a Middle Eastern Israeli style dance.
In the hora, the dancers form a circle, holding hands, moving counterclockwise following a six beat step in a walk-walk-step-kick-step-kick pattern. According to Yiddish Dance this became known as the Israeli hora with the founding of the state of Israel in 1946. Some caterers who have frequent Horas use arm chairs for the raising.
Other traditional dances include:
- The "krenzl," in which the bride's mother is crowned with a wreath of flowers as her daughters dance around her (traditionally at the wedding of the mother's last unwed daughter).
- The "mizinke," a dance for the parents of the bride and groom when their last child is wed.
- The gladdening of the bride, in which guests dance around "di kale" (the bride), and can include the use of "shtick"--silly items such as signs, banners, costumes, confetti and jump ropes made of table napkins.
- The "mitzvah tantz," in which "mishpokhe" (family) members and honored rabbis are invited to dance in front of the bride (or sometimes with the bride in case of a father or "zeyde"--grandfather), often holding a gartal (belt), and then dancing with the groom. At the end, the bride and groom dance together.
- Sadie Whitelocks writes, "Zumba has been given a kosher makeover so Orthodox Jewish women can finally join the sexy Latin-inspired fitness craze." Shimrit Adar, of Brooklyn, hosts women-only $10 classes in a synagogue basement. She edits raunchy lyrics, replacing lines such as "talk dirty to me" to the less suggestive phrase, "talk jazzy to me." Some rabbis believe women-only Zumba classes violate established rules.
Boston University's Hillel House hosted a program called "Jewmba"-- a Jewish Zumba.
HORA DRAMA
Some people have advised that one should avoid "Hora Drama" at a wedding party. During the "hora," family members and friends lift up the bride and groom in a chair. This act can suddenly provide a burst of festiveness for "shtark" (strong) guys and not-so-strong men. Some advice:"Do the hora dance BEFORE the guests are too "shiker" (drunk)/intoxicated.
Many guests, who have had too much alcohol don't realize that heavy bodies being held aloft in chairs for several minutes could be kind of dangerous. (If you're not sure how much drinking will take place, always assume there will be more.) Doing the hora later--after the main course--may be difficult since people are usually a bit "farshnoshket" (tipsy) and even "farmatert" (tired) due to a few solid hours of imbibing and dancing.A second "forshlog" (suggestion):
Guests need to know that the hora is happening when it is about to happen. They may think it is when they hear the familiar opening melody of a song but because guess usually don't want to assume too much and risk "farlegnhayt" (embarrassment), and because the bride and groom or best man don't have time to ready all the guests on their own, the reception needs a simple announcement that the Hora is about to begin.Note: Many Jewish American couples who consider themselves secular still feature traditional hora dancing as part of their wedding celebrations.
The headline read:
MICHAEL DOUGLAS SUFFERS HORA-RELATED INJURY
Yes, Douglas celebrated his son, Dylan's, bar mitzvah, but he may have overdone it on the dance floor. The 69-year old actor suffered a hora- related "vund" (injury) that left him limping days later."I'm hurting. I don't know whether it's my groin or a hernia ("kile"). I got carried away at my son't bar mitzvah this weekend. You know they put you up in the chairs over the top--I think something happened there."
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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe is the author of
two books:
"Yiddish for Dog & Cat Lovers" and
"Are Yentas, Kibitzers, & Tummlers Weapons of Mass Instruction? Yiddish
Trivia." To order a copy, go to her
website: MarjorieGottliebWolfe.com
NU, what are you waiting for? Order the book!
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