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To Kvetch Or Not To Kvetch
My grandpa had a favorite saying: “A sad Jew is a Happy Jew.” When I asked what he meant he explained, “Jews love to kvetch. It makes them feel alive.” In Yiddish, kvetch translates as “stress” or “squeeze.” Leo Rosten described kvetching in his book The Joys of Yiddish as “to fret, complain, gripe, grunt, sigh.” Kvetch is both a verb (to complain) and a noun (the person who complains is a kvetch). Most people pronounce the word as ka-vetch. This is wrong. It should be uttered as a single syllable with no vowel between the “k” and “v.”
Kvetching is a Jewish tradition that goes back centuries. When the ancient Israelites wandered the desert for 40 years, they kvetched to Moses about their lack of food, water and shelter. Moses himself was a kvetcher. He kvetched to God for committing evil against the Jewish people and forcing them into exile (Exodus 32:11–13). Abraham, the first Jew, kvetched to God when the cities of Sodom and Gomorra were about to be destroyed accusing God of immoral behavior. (Genesis 18:25).
The most kvetchiest expression in the Yiddish vernacular is oy vey. These two words translate to “Woe is me.” It’s an expression of dismay or sadness in response to a troubling situation. Oy vey is an all-purpose kvetch. It can be spoken in response to getting into a car accident or discovering your milk went bad in the refrigerator.
