Exhibit by Hannah Croulet, Sahana Fisher, and Prinay Patel

Introduction

Comedy is one of the oldest ways to connect people because it breaks down barriers of cultural background, race, beliefs, and personal identity. Comedy allows people to come together and become more educated while doing one thing - laughing. Mendy Pellin, a Jewish American, is a comedian whose comedy primarily focuses on his Hasidic background. He showcases Jewish-Hasidic traditions and breaks stereotypes surrounding Jewish culture. His comedy includes short skits, YouTube videos, and stand-up comedy. Mendy is not fluent in Yiddish, but he is proficient enough to use it in his skits. He reports that his language use and views about the language come from his mother because she was a primary influence. Another major influence on Mendy’s accent is the Chabad-Lubavitch community in which he grew up in Crown Heights, New York, where he was exposed to Hasidic Yiddish and Hasidic English. We see elements of these languages in some of his comedic videos. Even though some of his videos include full Yiddish sentences, audiences of diverse linguistic backgrounds can still appreciate them. Our Jewish American respondent, Tyler, does not speak Yiddish, but he was able to enjoy Mendy's use of Yiddish loan words and phrases that most Jews would know.

Talk Yiddish To Me (Nisht-Dirty Parody)

Analysis of video

In Pellin's first video we chose to analyze, "Talk Yiddish to Me," Pellin creates a Jewish parody of Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty to Me." According to Pellin, the song's original melody came from a Jewish melody, so, in a way, Pellin is reclaiming this identity through this Jewish parody. The video consists of a group of Jewish men singing about stereotypical aspects of Hasidic Jewish culture, like attire, having a minivan, and eating fish sticks. The lyrics are in English and Yiddish. Although Hasidic Jews use Yiddish in vernacular ways, this video is an instance of post-vernacularity because Pellin cannot speak Yiddish fluently, and his target audience is American Jews, most of whom do not speak Yiddish. Due to the nature of the comedy, he isn’t just singing in Yiddish; the Yiddish is part of the performance. His use of the language is performative and has a goal of celebrating the culture and thus would be an instance of post-vernacular engagement and metalinguistic discourse (Shandler).

In addition, the skit demonstrates a strong emphasis on Hasidic language use and language ideologies. It portrays a group of Hasidic Jewish men who are speaking Yiddish and translanguaging - combining Yiddish and English. Also, the video makes the point that language is not just about communication, but about understanding and appreciating culture and tradition. This is seen in the way that he is able to connect with other Hasidic Jews, and in the way that he is embraced by the community. The video also demonstrates that Yiddish-speaking Hasidim recognize that most people in the world do not speak their language. Overall, “Talk Yiddish to Me” is a powerful exploration of Hasidic language ideologies, yet it is still very comedic.

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With his Yiddish verses bragging about his minivan with a backup cam, those outside the community may not understand this comedy. Even so, they will likely absorb the message that Yiddish is an important language in Hasidic communities.

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In terms of language purity, "Talk Yiddish to Me" shows that Yiddish has experienced borrowing from other languages, such as English, Hebrew, and German. This is evident from the variety of words used, as well as the different dialects and accents used by the speakers. Despite this, Yiddish is still a distinct language, with its own grammar, syntax, and vocabulary.

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Analysis of comments

The video “Talk Yiddish to Me” received a lot of positive reactions from the Jewish community. Some of the enlightening comments were: “I am in tears. I have just found a masterpiece” and “WOW! I am sephardic but I love this kosher song, now I would like to learn Yiddish this language is really fantastic.” It is clear that this video did not offend people from the Jewish community, rather brought many people of diverse backgrounds together as they related to a lot of the comedy. The comments in the video appear to be mostly positive in terms of their ideologies about Yiddish. Many of the commentators praise the video for showing the richness and diversity of the language, as well as the importance of language in Jewish identity. For example, an individual commented, “I want to learn Yiddish. I am of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage and the language has always seemed so cool.” This goes to show that Mendy Pellin’s videos are not only fulfilling comedic purposes but also urging his fans to reconnect with their heritage. Several commenters express their appreciation for the preservation of the language, while others emphasize the need to ensure that it is taught to future generations. This fulfills a goal common in Yiddish metalinguistic communities (Avineri): getting people interested in learning more of the language.

"Shake It Off" Jewish Parody -- I'M TAKING OFF

Analysis of video

"Shake It Off" Jewish Parody -- I'M TAKING OFF is a humorous take on the popular Taylor Swift song, "Shake It Off." The song is a humorous comment on Jews taking off of work for Jewish holidays. The lyrics of the song are written in a combination of English and Yiddish, making use of postvernacular Yiddish and Yiddish and Hebrew loanwords. The loanwords used are ones that most Jews would be familiar with, including "Chanukah," "kiddush," "bubbe," "oy," "goyim," and "schmoozing." These words, combined with recognizable Jewish objects, such as a large challah, a Chanukah menorah, and a shofar, suggest that the video is geared toward a broad Jewish audience, not only the Orthodox Jewish communities depicted in the video. In addition, the video has a Hasidic Yiddish section. Most audience members would not understand these lyrics, but they are accompanied by English translations in speech bubbles, demonstrating that the intended audience is not just Yiddish speakers.

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Analysis of comments

In the parody of “Shake It Off” by Mendy Pellin, he received a lot of positive feedback back from his fans and the community. One of the splendid comments was, “Great parody! Loved the Yiddish rap, don't think I've seen that before!”. As you can see, the performers' Yiddish rapping skills are commended by their fans, and people find the concept of the video funny. People from outside his community and non-Jews loved his video with one individual commenting, “I'm not a jew, but i love this channel, make me smile, you guys are way too cool.” It is clear that Pellin's use of Yiddish appeals to broad audiences, not just native Yiddish speakers.

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Respondent interview

We interviewed a Jewish-American named Tyler. He is 19 years old and attends the University of Southern California. He comes from an Ashkenazi family and grew up in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles. His father’s side came from Germany and moved to Brooklyn, New York, in the 1940s, where he grew up in a Hasidic community. His father ended up leaving the Hasidic community but held onto his Jewish identity, he came to California where he met Tyler’s mother, another Ashkenazi Jew, and they later got married and had Tyler along with his sister. Tyler grew up going to synagogue, he said, and while he is not fluent in either Hebrew or Yiddish, he can slightly understand Hebrew when spoken due to his exposure to it. Tyler also attended Jewish summer camps throughout his childhood, and while he can’t speak Hebrew, he does know how to say “water-balloon toss” and “inside voices.” While he does not consider himself a practicing Jew with his religion, he still holds his culture and upbring very close to his heart.

When we showed Tyler the videos by Pellin that we analyzed, he found them quite amusing. When asked his thoughts on the Jason Derulo parody “Talk Yiddish to Me,” he said while he enjoyed the clever lyricism behind it, he couldn’t really relate to it. This was because the raps were mostly sung in Yiddish. He said the jokes were funny, and he could understand some of the lyrics, but it was harder to follow than the other video. The other video, a Taylor Swift video titled “I’m Taking Off,” he found much more humorous. He said most of the Hebrew and Yiddish words that were used in the song were commonly used amongst most Jewish communities and even some non-Jewish areas. Its loan words sprinkled throughout the song such as the Yiddish word “dreidel,” a spinning top used on Chanukah, are commonly understood by all Jews, even if they don’t speak Yiddish, which he found very enjoyable.

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After the videos however, we also wanted to hear his thoughts on whether or not he found Pellin’s comedy offensive, and Tyler didn’t think Pellin was offensive at all. His outlook on the comedy was that Pellin was coming from an insider perspective. “It’s like when someone makes fun of their little sibling,” he said, “I can call my sister an idiot, but no one else can. Because they don’t have that relationship you know?” In the same way, a comedian can make fun of their own culture’s stereotypes, but outsiders can’t, because they don’t actually share a relationship with that culture so their jokes aren’t coming from love. Tyler thought that Mendy Pellin’s jokes were well within his jurisdiction as a Jew and a comedian.

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Comedian interview

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Hannah Croulet  

So we know you're a comedian. And obviously, it has a lot to do with your culture and your identity as a Jewish man. And so I wanted to ask, can you tell us a little bit about your history with your own Jewish identity?

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Mendy Pellin

Yeah, sure. I grew up in New York, a Hasidic community. And it was interesting how we were in our own bubble here. And but I was always kind of curious. And I always like to have one foot in the - I figured [I] can have it all, you know, I'm saying you don't have to always be following one specific path. So I kind of added more color to the black and white of the dress. And, you know, just started coloring outside the lines.

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Hannah Croulet

Yeah. And so you mentioned coming from a Hasidic community. Do you still personally identify Hasidic?

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Mendy Pellin

Yeah, I mean, I guess I'm closely. Part of that community. And generally, I'm not a big fan of labels. But yeah.

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Hannah Croulet

How did that history and culture influence the language that you use today?

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Mendy Pellin

So it's interesting because this community originates from Russia [and] Ukraine. And a lot of the people, their first language is Yiddish. So a lot of the English expressions are, are like English translations from Yiddish, you know, like, for example, you'd hear, throw me out, throw me out of the window, a towel. And it makes more sense in Yiddish, because the order that that sentence would go is kind of flipped into the more general than specific, but in the English language, it kind of sounds like someone wants to throw me out of the window. So it's a very interesting mix - and everything also sounds funnier in Yiddish, though, there's a lot of different nuances in Yiddish that gets interwoven into the English.

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Hannah Croulet

Very interesting. Can I ask, so are you personally fluent in Yiddish? 

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Mendy Pellin 

I'm not that fluent in Yiddish. Because I have like a mental block when it comes to languages. Like I say, English is my second language, and I haven’t yet gotten a first, but I understand pretty well, I do speak a lot of Yiddish, but in terms of Hebrew, I should really speak fluent Hebrew with the amount of exposure I've had to that language, and also Yiddish, but I'm just like-

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Hannah Croulet

No, I totally get it. My first language is Armenian, but I don't remember it anymore. So, it quite literally English is my second language and don't have... But can I ask, so, how does that language identity of yours- how do you incorporate that with your own with like your comedy?

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Mendy Pellin

So, the ideal audience - I headlined a show in Montreal, and the community there was very much more secular, traditional Jewish community, but for some reason in that community, they have a strong Yiddish background. So, I was able to add a lot of nuance to that show. So, you know, when things are interwoven in, when the two languages are interwoven, you're able to bring out certain things that you can't really bring out otherwise. And also, for example, like if you're gonna throw English into a Yiddish sentence, it kind of adds a nice little twist, you know ... So I guess like you putting the two in there gives a flavor, you know?

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Hannah Croulet

Yeah. Would you say that accents are also a big part of that?

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Mendy Pellin

Yeah, for sure. Like, in Brooklyn, where I am right now, the Yiddish language has one accent because this community originates from Russia. When you go 15 minutes to Williamsburg, which is the Satmar community. They're more famous ... They originate more from Hungary. So they have a whole different dialect in Yiddish, theirs, I think, is cooler, but-

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Hannah Croulet

That's all the questions I have for you personally. So I'll let my colleagues take over now. Okay. All right.

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Prinay Patel

Okay, yeah. So my question was, how have you interacted with the language you used? 

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Hannah Croulet

So when you use the language in your comedy, and you use perhaps like examples, like Yiddish, or perhaps language that is more typical of like, a Hasidic community? How have you personally interacted with that in your life to incorporate it into your comedy?

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Mendy Pellin

Oh. So let's see. So like my mother, for example, she grew up secular-secular. So she was kind of new to this whole thing. So she is interesting, seeing her trying to fit in and use the Yiddish dialect. And the different phraseologies in the mix, she would throw it in all into the wrong context, you know, so it was very humorous watching her trying to fit in with the crowd that grew up Hasidic... For example, she'll say like, let's think of a different phraseology, like, I had a rough day, keinahora. And keinahora stems from kein ayin hara, which is 'there should be no evil eye'. And that stems from when someone says something good about you, or you say something good about yourself, you don't want to get the evil eye, so we ended up with keinahora. So then it kind of turned into more of an English thing. You know, keinahora, because they couldn't pronounce it properly. And then she's using it in a context of [when] something bad happens. So she was totally butchering it, you know, let's say what when someone gets engaged, right? So, a Yiddish phrase that you say im yirtzeh hashem bay dir, God willing by you. So you say to people that are not yet engaged at that engagement party, you know, you'll say im yirtzeh hashem bay dir, or you have a kid and say im yirtzeh hashem bay dir, 'soon by you'. She, I'm not making this up. But she, she went over to the son of the deceased at a funeral and said, like, im yirtzeh hashem bay dir, like, 'God willing by you'. Like she didn't even know what it meant... I don't know if you've heard of the word yontif. Yontif is holiday. And it's actually a Hebrew word, Yom Tov, and it's also used in Yiddish, yontif, which literally means 'good day'. So when, when he wants to say holidays, say, you know, on Yom Tov, we're gonna- but it kind of morphed. And in America, it morphed into a yuntif. It changed into a whole different form, and it kind of just became accepted that- Oh, on yuntif, oh, good yuntif. So it turned into like one word yontif from two words, Y-O-M, which means day, T-O-V, which means 'good'. Now, it's just its own thing. There's a lot of these kinds of phrases.

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Hannah Croulet

Oh, wait, so that to me, so does that mean Yom Kippur? Is that?

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Mendy Pellin

Oh, yeah, exactly. Yom Kippur. Yes. Yes. The Day of Atonement. Yeah.

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Prinay Patel

But yeah, the next question is: where you grew up had an influence on linguistic skills, like you said, you grew up, in New York, right in a Hasidic community that have an influence on you - Yiddish is technically your first language. But did it have an effect on that? Or in anything? Or in any way?

Mendy Pellin

Oh, yeah, for sure. For sure. I mean, I think my English has a Yiddish flavor to it because of my upbringing. You know, when I first started studying the Tanakh, the Torah, the Bible, the teacher would tell us the word in Hebrew, and then the translation in Yiddish. At that time, I didn't know what it meant in English, but I just knew that like Bereshis which is the Hebrew the first word in the Old Testament, Bereshis means in Yiddish, it means in onheyb. I don't know what in onheyb means. But like that's, so that's how we started off. And then I guess the schooling was a very interesting schooling. We had some teachers that were more into Yiddish, some of them didn't know as much Yiddish, and then in ninth grade I remember the teacher was just like, that's it. You know, the system is messed up, everyone should only speak in Yiddish, and he walked into class, and everything he was saying was only in Yiddish. And because of a lot of us in our particular school had a very inconsistent Yiddish, a lot of us were kind of lost. So after like two weeks, he just couldn't keep it up. He just, he's just switched into English. I don't know why I'm talking about this now. But-

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Prinay Patel

But yeah, moving forward from that question did your New York influence how, has your New York influence mixed with your Jewish influence?

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Mendy Pellin

Oh, yeah, for sure. For shizzle.

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Prinay Patel

But, yeah, go to the next question. How has being open with your identity influenced your career as a comedian? I've noticed that you openly embrace your Jewish culture. And how does that influence your career as a comedian and preaching to people?

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Mendy Pellin

Yeah, that's a good question. There's definitely a lot of people that have come across my works and looked at Hasidic Jews as like these very uptight people. And I guess I was a non-threatening gateway into the Hasidic drug. And they kind of got closer to their heritage from that. And so, I mean, it also is a little restrictive, because of what I represent. I am more cautious about, you know, what I say? And how I say things, because I don't want it to reflect poorly on the community.

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Hannah Croulet

Do you think that it's caused the divide in terms of entertaining a more secular audience?

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Mendy Pellin

Um, yeah, it definitely definitely has. It definitely is limited. To a degree. But what I've done at shows is, and I love, is a Q&A. And that's a lot of fun, where they'll ask questions about different, like, very juicy things that I spoke about, that they have an idea what the hell I said, and then we just get into it. It's a lot of fun.

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Prinay Patel

But yeah, moving on to the last question for me, when would you say language such as accent imitation is acceptable? And like any shape or form?

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Mendy Pellin

Like, accent imitation? Yeah.

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Prinay Patel 

When would you say it's acceptable to do that? As like, in your perspective as a comedian?

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Mendy Pellin

That's a good question. Um, I think it's- as long as it's funny, it's acceptable. And I mean, also, if you're feeding into, like, a stereotype that is not really that funny. And it's like, you're just predictable, you know what I'm saying? If you're like, my money, then I think it's like, you gotta get some better material. You know, that's just lazy, you know? Right. But I mean, in general, I think that as a society, we've become way too offended on other people's behalf. Like, let them get offended for a minute and say so. It's like, we're very cautious about, you know, I think if you're comfortable in who you are, I know in that, like, there's plenty of people that like, put on the Hasidic thing and the Jewish thing, I think, if you're comfortable, I know if I'm comfortable with who I am, then I laugh at it. You know, I think it's funny. Even if it's a little offensive, I think it's funny, you know, if it's funny, but if it's like done in a hateful way, then you know-

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Sahana Fisher

Right, understandable. So to continue on with accents, what kind of feedback do you normally get from your audience in regards to accents in your comedy and how does that differ from maybe the older generation to versus the younger?

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Mendy Pellin

The younger generation has definitely gotten a lot more-  I have to watch what I say, you know, like, I can't get too free in with the improv, because-

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Sahana Fisher

With the younger generation-

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Mendy Pellin

Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, 'cause if it was the older generation, believe it or not, I never thought I would say this, because ... not too long ago, they were the ones that were like, Oh, I can't believe you just said that. But now they seem like the cool dudes that I could get away with trying stuff that are more on the edge. Younger people now if I try stuff that is on the edge, someone's going to come over me after and like, I think you've crossed the line. And that's not cool.

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Sahana Fisher

Oh, that's interesting, because I thought the older generation might have been more sensitive.

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Mendy Pellin

It has been when I first started putting out content. Any backlash that I've gotten was from the older generation, but that kind of flipped over the last 20 years, where the older generation has become pretty accepted. Like, I haven't heard that much from the older generation. The younger generation I think, for some reason has, you know, I guess taken to Twitter I don't know, they're looking for things to be offended about. At least that's what it looks like.

Sahana Fisher

Yes, very true. So moving on to more fun questions. What has been your most favorite or memorable skit or performance?

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Mendy Pellin

Oh, that's a good question I think in Ukraine back in was it in 2003? Maybe not, 2001, some while ago, I did this show where I was like lost, homeless on the streets in Ukraine and I got like different jobs and you know, like I took a shower in the public fountain. That was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun just going around Ukraine doing some crazy, crazy stuff. And it was for a Ukrainian audience, and they didn't understand English. I did a lot of shows over there. And I had a translator, and I loved the challenge of like breaking through the language barrier, and like, I had to get very expressive and rely on a lot of body language and incorporate the translator in the work. Another one is, more recently was a music video, "Talk Yiddish to Me." ...

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Mendy Pellin

So the original one is by Jason Derulo, Talk Dirty to Me. But Jason Derulo took it from a Yiddish melody. Balkan Beatbox, I think they're called, like an Israeli Yiddish band. And so they repurposed that song in "Talk Dirty to Me." So I was like, let's take it back, because Talk Yiddish to Me sounds more appropriate for the tune. ... And so I wanted to do like Hungarian Yiddish rap into that song, and I wanted to be contemporary. Like, let's say a Hasidic guy is on the rap scene. And you know, how they're all they always have to brag about their stuff. Like, what would the Hasidic guy brag about? So the Hasidic guy would probably brag about how cool his minivan is, you know, right? So I got this gold chain with a minivan key on it. And this like, this is called a shtreimel hat, which, which they- the Hasidic community wears, and it's also like it's like a thing you could pay like six grand, eight grand for those things. So I went with that, and [here are the lyrics]:

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קים אריין אין מיין הויז – מי גייט אויף א שפאציר
וואטש דיין שטריימעל – דו גייסט צוברעכן מיין טיר
איך האב א גיטע טשולענט פאר די עולם צו עסן

מיר ברענגט נישט די באבע זי גייט אלעס פרעסן

מיין באבע רעדט אידיש און מיין טאטע אויך

די ערשטע ווארט איך האב געלערנט איז א גוטע וואך

איך האב נישט סתם א מיני ווען

ס’קומט פולי לודעד מיט א בעק אפ קאם

דו, דו ביסט, דו ביסט א יאץ

און דיינע ברודער איז א קלאץ

[lyrics from https://lyricstranslate.com/en/talk-yiddish-me-talk-yiddish-me.html]

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Yeah, so that was good. Thanks. So I went the route of- so that just means like, come into my house. We're just gonna go for a leisurely walk, you know, a shpatzir is a walk that has no destination. As for a shpatzir is, like, we're just gonna go for a stroll, watch your, you know, like your pimped out hat. You know, you could brekhn zikh in an ofener tir, you're gonna break my door down, you know, because it's so big, I'm gonna get the cholent, which is the traditional food that's eaten on Saturdays for Shabbat. Don't bring your grandmother, she's going to eat the whole thing, you know. And then my grandmother speaks Yiddish. And my father also does. The first word that I learned was a gute vokh, which is like, like, have a good week, which can be taken, like when you say a gute vokh- it could be taken as derogatory. Like, like, I don't want to speak to you... And then it says, I don't just have a minivan, s'kimt fully loaded mit a backup cam. It comes fully loaded with a backup cam. You are a yutz, like more derogatory terms that don't really have translations in the English language... And your brother's, you know, whatever. And your mother has a beard, you know? That's the Yiddish part of Talk Yiddish to Me, so I wanted ... the kind of lyrics that would be more seen in a rap song. Right? You don't usually hear that in classic Yiddish songs.

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Sahana Fisher

That's hilarious. I'll definitely watch that video after.

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Hannah Croulet

Again, I didn't know the history behind Talk Dirty to Me coming from- Yeah, that's very interesting.

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Mendy Pellin

I was invited to a bar mitzvah to perform that song. And then I got cancelled last minute, because Jason Derulo was also a guest at the bar mitzvah. And when he heard that I was coming, he thought it'd be like, mocking to have a parody of his song.

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Sahana Fisher

Oh my gosh. Um, I do have one more question for you. Do you prefer doing stand-up comedy or skits?

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Mendy Pellin 

Ah, that's a tough one. Probably more skit comedy... because stand-up doesn't always go- You have a better chance of success with a skit than stand-up. There's a lot of times where I was like, on top of the world and there's times where it's like, bury me.

Hannah Croulet

Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah.

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Prinay Patel

That's understandable. Those are mostly all our questions for you, Mendy. But yeah, I like it. Thank you for your time, for obviously last week, it has been a hassle getting you on but yeah, thanks for your time.

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Hannah Croulet

Might and have a happy holiday.

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Sahana Fisher

Thank you. Thank you.

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