Languages and Linguistics

My (now ex) husband is Jewish, grandparents from what today is Poland or Russia. Once, early in our relationship, we went to services at a nearby synagogue, and when the rabbi started speaking to him in Yiddish, he had to say, "I'm sorry, I don't really understand." His parents spoke almost no Yiddish, certainly not enough for him to be at all conversant or even understanding of it.

But here's the real kicker. When we got married in 1980, we went to Eastern Europe on our honeymoon. When we were in Krakow, Poland, every time we were out somewhere someone would approach him, start speaking in English, and then when he looked confused would say, "You're Jewish, aren't you?" Because my husband, in this country was NEVER taken for Jewish. He learned at a fairly early age to figure out ways to signal his Jewishness to other Jews. Which I saw him do more than once. It also meant he could be a fly on the wall in many places, since no one who didn't already know, never guessed he was Jewish.

So anyway, on the streets of Krakow they'd say, "You're Jewish aren't you?" and he would of course say yes. As someone whose grandparents all came from Ireland, I was invisible to the local Polish Jews. The whole experience was fascinating, both for me and for my husband. One time we were led up to an attic where they'd saved what records they could of the local Jews prior to WWII. It was very moving to be presented with that.