Jackie Mason writes ("How to Talk Jewish"), "My family always spoke Yiddish.  It was the first language I spoke.  In my neighborhood ("shkneyneshaft") everybody spoke Yiddish.. If Yiddish dies out, it will be a great loss. It's a colorful language and a very dynamic form of expression.  And that's why to this day I use it.  It is pictorially more interesting, I think, than English."

Sholem Aleykhem, Mr. Mason:

I'm not going to be long winded, boring ("hakn a tshaynik").  I know that you would like to be considered a "mensch' or a "richtiger mensch"--a really great guy.  I am also aware that you've been honored by Nelson Mandela, the United Kingdom's oxford University, and scores of other organizations.

However, you don't seem to "fershteyn" (understand) the word "shemot"--the names we use for others.

This is surprising since you once said, "I am as Jewish as a matzo ball or kosher salami." And since you started out as a cantor and rabbi.  (At age 28, you quit the rabbinate and became a comedian.)  You joked, "Somebody in the family had to make a living."

About 20 years ago you got in trouble when you called David Dinkens, then a "kandidat" for N. Y. C. mayor, a "fancy shvartze with a mustache"  And just recently, you referred to Obama as a "shvartze."  Some people say that this term is equivalent to the "N" word.  Others say that it's just part of the Yiddish culture and a literal translation of the word "Black."

I read that one person attending your performance at Feinstein's at Loews Regency in N. Y. C. walked out "broygez' (angry).  He shouted, "He's more offensive to the Jews than Madoff tonight."

Mr. Mason, I do not accept your excuse, "I'm an old Jew:  I was raised in a Jewish family where 'shvartze' was used.  It's not a demeaning word and I'm not going to defend myself."

Jackie, I know that much of your acts ("Jackie Mason, freshly squeezed," "Love Thy Neighbor," "Laughing Room Only," "The World According to Me," etc.) has involved making fun of various ethnic groups.  However, you seem to have become an out-and-out racist.  How would you feel if someone called you a "kike"? ("Kike" is an offensive slang term used as a disparaging term for a Jew.) 

Rabbi Jason Miller (RabbiJason.com) writes, "For too long, our ancestors have used the wrong names to refer to our Black brothers and sisters.  May we learn from the misdeeds of our ancestors.  And may we and our children and our children's children immerse ourselves in learning so that we come to understand the essence of the 'shemot'--the names we use for others... With America's first Black president taking office this January along with a Jewish chief of staff, now is certainly the time for the Jewish community to end its use of the term 'shvartze'--whether it is used derogatorily or in jest."

"Zayt gezunt."  (Be well.)

Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
-------------------------------------------