Description: From chutzpa to shmooze, oy vay to shlep, a wealth of Yiddish words have entered common American parlance, rolling off the tongues of Jews and non-Jews alike. More than a quarter of a century ago, Leo Rosten presented the first comprehensive and hilariously entertaining lexicon of this colorful and deeply expressive language. The Joys of Yiddish went on to become a perennial bestseller in both hardcover and paperback, selling more than 500,000 copies and becoming a New York Times bestseller.

With the recent renaissance of interest in Yiddish, and in keeping with a language that embodies the variety and vibrancy of life itself, this new edition brings Rosten's masterful work up to date. Revised by editor Lawrence Bush, in close consultation with Rosten's daughters, it retains the spirit of the original -- with its wonderful jokes, tidbits of cultural history, Talmudic and Biblical references, and tips on pronunciation -- and enhances it with hundreds of new entries, thoughtful commentary on how Yiddish has evolved over the years, and an invaluable new English-to-Yiddish index.

The New Joys of Yiddish is nothing less than a mitzva ("a 'good work, ' a virtuous, kind, considerate, ethical deed") for those who loved the original book and for those discovering the pleasures of Yiddish for the first time.

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