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GREAT AT 85!
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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Hyman is a very "raykh" (rich) and successful businessman.
As it is coming up to his wife, Rivka's birthday, he decides to buy her a really "spetsyel" birthday present. So he tells his "shofer" (chauffeur) to take him to the best art shops in Manhattan. He soon finds what he's looking for--a beautiful Rembrandt painting and he buys it without a moment's hesitation.
As soon as Hyman gets back home, he opens his front door and shouts, "Rivka, Rivka, have I got a Rembrandt for you!"
To which Rivka replies, "Efsha (maybe/ perhaps) it will make a skirt?"
The Yiddish word for birthday is "geboyrn-tog." Former Mayor of N.Y.C. [1978-1989] is turning 85. The law firm of Bryan Cave has invited a few friends at a birthday party at the St. Regis. "De farbetung" (the invitation) list includes Henry Kissinger, Bill and Hillary Clinton, "der birger-myster" (the mayor), Mike Bloomberg, Tina Brown, Mario Cuomo, Pete Hamill, Al D'Amato and Archbishop, Timothy Dolan.
Shown below is a Yiddish list of trivia about Ed Koch. Enjoy!
Anti-Semitism
Koch says that he is particularly concerned
about anti-semitism and wants to bring Jews and Catholics closer together.
"betn mekhile" (to apologize [quote on being blamed for everything] "So many people want me to be apologetic I'm beginning to refer to myself as Mayor Culpa."
Bintel Brief
Ed Koch served as an advice columnist for the Forward's Bintel Brief column. He spoke candidly about his bout with "dershlogn" (depression) and responded to a question from an ailing elderly lady who felt her life was no longer
worth living.
Bloomingdale's model
In 1986, Koch was featured in a full-page
ad for Bloomingdale's. It showed a photo of a "yung" Koch canoeing. He
said, "When I was 17, I wanted to look like a preppy, even though I wasn't
attending a preppy school and I also had hair when I was 17. Today I
still like to dress informally, although my hairline has changed. (Koch's
$2,500 fee was split among 5 charities.)
"bokher" (bachelor) Koch is a lifelong bachelor.
"bukh" (book)
Koch says that he's through writing books.
"After eight autobiographies and two
children's books, I don't think I have anything left in me," he said.
diploma
[to a group of new "kaledz" graduates]
"The fireworks begin today. Each diploma
is a lighted match. Each one of you is a fuse."
"dire' (apartment)
[quote on keeping his (then) $291.71 rent
controlled apartment in Greenwich Village]
"Why shouldn't I keep it? How do I know
what rents will be like when I leave office?"
"dray (3) Koch Yiddish-isms
(1) "They're making a big tsimmes out of it."
(2) "Stop with your megillah."
(3) "You don't agree? Well, gezinterheidt."
Note: "Zay gezunt" means "good-bye/be healthy.
"egoistish" (egotistic)
Clyde Haberman ("Koch at 75: More
Chapters In the Works," 12/10/99) wrote,
"Don't misunderstand, Mr. Koch could be
amply petty. He was often insulting and
unbelievably self-absorbed." Koch replied,
"I've got plenty of ego."
"elter birger" (senior citizen)
[quote to the president on old folks]
"Do you want to be known as the president
who closed senior citizen centers?"
Epitaph
Koch's tombstone will quote the last words
of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal
reporter beheaded in 2002 by Islamic
terrorists: "My father is Jewish, my mother
is Jewish, I am Jewish."
"feh!" (it stinks)
One of Mayor Koch's favorite epithets is
"Feh!"
"farbrekhn" (crime)
[Koch went to a senior citizen center in the
Bronx and was immediately asked about
crime and what he intended to do about it.]
(quote) "Crime is terrible. A judge I know
was mugged this week and do you know what he did? He called a press conference
and said the mugging would in no way affect his judicial decisions in matters
of that kind."
The elderly woman stood up and shouted, "Then mug him again!"
"fotografye" (photograph)
Koch has his photograph hanging in
practically every Jewish deli in N.Y. C.
According to David Sax ("Save The Deli"),
"Mr. Koch, like most savvy politicians,
learned early on the political value of eating a pastrami sandwich." He said, "It's a Jewish statement, and New York is an
ethnic town. Every politician does it...Our culture shouldn't be defined by something
that we were fifty years ago. Jews are living in a golden era in the United States."
"fliplats" (airport)
Koch, who was raised for 10 years in Newark, NJ, said that he would not mind
if Newark Airport was renamed "E.I.K. Kind
of rhymes with J.F.K."
"frage" (question)
Koch is famous for asking residents, "How'm I doin'?"
"broygez" (angry)
Koch was angered by placards that sprouted in the 1977 mayor campaign that said, "Vote for Cuomo, not the homo." (Mr. Cuomo has always disclaimed any responsibility.)
"galkrankayt" (gallbladder)
In 2009, Koch underwent gallbladder
surgery. And on June 19, he underwent a
quadruple bypass and valve replacement.
"hatslokhe" (success)
(quote) "I am living proof that someone
from the South Bronx can make it."
"hock him a chinkek"/hok a tchynick
(quote on what he is going to do about
transit problems)
"I have asked the Governor for more state
assistance and he is resisting me, and I am
gonna hock him a chinkek. Does everybody
know what that means? Drive him crazy."
Note: "hok a tchynick" also means "don't
talk my ear off."
And, acccording to Ruth & Bob Grossman ("The Chinese-Kosher Cookbook), "hok mee noh chy nick" is what Mom says when Irving tries to explain why he was kicked out of Hebrew School."
Jerusalem
(quote) "If New York City is the Big Apple,
you could describe Jerusalem as the Apple
of God's eye."
Jewish {on being Jewish]
(quote) "I'm very conscious of being Jewish."
"kandidat" (candidate)
In Sept., 2008, Koch called Sara Palin a
"plucky, exciting candidate," but also said,
'She scares the hell out of me."
"khasene gehat" (married)
[quote on being married]
"The only times when I feel a wife would be
important is when other people I'm
entertaining have wives."
"lebn" (life)
(quote after being hospitalized)
"I wouldn't say I'm a new man - I'm an
84-year-old retread who's been given a
second life. Life is good, God is good - and
I'm enjoying every minute of it."
"meshugana/meshuge
[on nasty people in his audience]
"In every community there is a meshugana."
"mishpokhe" (family)
(quote on Caroline Kennedy's potential
senate appointment)
"When you look at her, and you know what
the Kennedy's are capable of and you know
where she comes from--think of the DNA."
"nekrolog" (obituary)
Koch said, "I'm not morbid. How many
84-year-olds do you know who are as
active as I am? Not many. And how many
84-year-olds do you see in obituaries? A
lot. But I believe I have another five years."
"nisht" (not)
Koch has said that he is not: a jock, a genius, a prosecutor, a scientist,
a populist,
or a nut.
Noo Yawker
(quote) "I said to be a New Yorker you have
to live here six months and if at the end of
the six months you work faster, talk faster,
think faster, you're a New Yorker."
"politsyant" (policeman/caop)
(quote in answer to a request that more
cops patrol the Chassidc areas of Brooklyn]
"There are only six thousand police on
patrol throughout the city on any given
day. They can't all be in Borough Park."
"redn" (to talk)
While in office, Koch once said, "...when I
talk (the same) to all people, white and
black, Hispanics and Asians alike, most people in those groups appreciate it;
as
opposed to being talked to differently and
then finding that he talks nice but he
doesn't do nice. I talk straight and I do nice."
Regret
Koch regrets his decision to shutter Sydenham Hospital in Harlem, both to save
money and because of complaints about
the quality of health care there. (He saved
$9 million)
"shpitol" (hospital)
Koch checked into Columbia-Presbyterian
Hospital for his angioplasty and aortic
value replacement. He said, "This is one
hospital where the food is good."
"shtarbn" (to die)
In 2009, Koch said, "We all die. Whenever
he or she wants me, I go." [He had no
desire to linger.] "I had a conversation with
God: 'Take me totally or don't take me. No salami tactics...I want
to die at my desk."
"rikhter" (judge)
Judge Edward Irving Koch sat on the bench
of "The People's Court." Rahel Musleah
(Hadassah Magazine, May 1998) wrote that
"he mediates cases about beaded dresses
that cannot be dry-cleaned, faulty hair
weaves, and dysfuncti.onal relationships...he
displays the same sharp intelligence sardonic humor, unabashed candor and sense
of fainess that were hallmarks of his
12 years as mayor of New York."
Signs
Mayor Koch had a small sign on a stand. It
read, "If you say it can't be done, you're
right. You can't do it." A few years later,
Koch switched to a sign based on a moving
hymn he had heard at several "politsey"
(police) funerals: "Be Not Afraid."
And still later, a sign read: "The Best is Yet
to Be."
"vaser" (water) conservation
In 1985 Koch told Maralyn Matlick (NY Post)
some of his own personal water-saving
tips: Hizzoner said, "What I'm preaching,
I'm also practicing. I shave with a bowl of
water and I brush my teeth the same way. {He also goes to the gym every day,
showers, and reduces the water in the
shower.] He's no drip!
Village Voice
In "Mayor the Musical," a glossary of names
and terms (for out-of-towners) was included in the Playbill. Under VILLAGE
VOICE, we read, "A weekly paper filled with
anti-Koch articles, listing and futon ads."
Wolpe, Lenny
Wolpe played Mayor Koch in the 1985 show,
"Mayor The Musical."
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