Thirteen days late
and a few shekels too short.

Why - you might wonder - do American Jews, of mostly Ashkenazi ancestry but converted in recent decades to "Sefardic"* pronunciation, mostly say "Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur" rather than "-shanah" and "Kippur" (or "shanah" and "Kiper")**?

I wondered that too. But I have no idea. Any takers?

*Ashkesfardic.
**I know I'm supposed to use IPA. So [su] me.
***Where is Naomi Chana, anyway? I miss her and her footnotes.

Year out!
A message from Shawna Tova and Felix Anyo-Nuevo.

May your new year be modified by all the adjectives you yearn for.

Happy holidays!
Awe! Isn't that sweet?

I like this time of year because there are so many different ways of greeting someone, and I think I variously use all of them:

Happy New Year!
Leshana tova! [Ashke-Sfard pronunciation]
Shana tova u-metuka!
Leshone tove! [American-Ashkenazic, i.e. stress on the penultimate syllable]
A gut [zis, gebentsht, . . .] yor!
Leshone toyve [tikoseyvu]!

Add your own that I've forgotten, in this blog's famously rowdy and hyperactive comments section.