NEW COLUMN: "THE MIDDOS TOUCH"

For those of you who don't know this, the word in Hebrew is "middot." But there's an Ashkenazi, more Yiddish-influenced accent that often renders it as "middos." (Just like "Shabbat" becomes "Shabbos." And so on...)

Of course, the pronunciation should be "mee-dos," and if you read the header correctly, "The Mee-dos Touch" doesn't seem to make as much sense. Plus, let's not even get into the whole "touching" issue, which is for another column (or in fact has already been the subject of a terrific Jewish Week article).

And, I put in a reference to the "meet-cute," which is a movie term for the device that gets the two leads together in romantic comedies, which was apparently changed to "meet cute people." Not exactly the same, but whatever. That's what we call "editorial privilege."

That said, I offer my latest Jewish Week singles column. First paragraph is below--to read the article in its entirety, click on the title below.

(11/17/2004)

The Middos Touch
Esther D. Kustanowitz

“I’m looking for a girl with good middos,” the yeshiva boys of my youth would say. The teachers beamed, proud that their students were looking for girls with strong values — family, respect, and modesty. Problem is, nine times out of 10, those boys were punning on the Hebrew word middot, which also translates as measurements — as in 36-24-36. They were looking for a woman with curves in all the right places, and none of the wrong ones. Hearing this, the girls experienced a nagging feeling, as clear as writing on a Babylonian wall, that they had been judged and had been found wanting.

NEW COLUMN: "THE MIDDOS TOUCH"

For those of you who don't know this, the word in Hebrew is "middot." But there's an Ashkenazi, more Yiddish-influenced accent that often renders it as "middos." (Just like "Shabbat" becomes "Shabbos." And so on...)

Of course, the pronunciation should be "mee-dos," and if you read the header correctly, "The Mee-dos Touch" doesn't seem to make as much sense. Plus, let's not even get into the whole "touching" issue, which is for another column (or in fact has already been the subject of a terrific Jewish Week article).

And, I put in a reference to the "meet-cute," which is a movie term for the device that gets the two leads together in romantic comedies, which was apparently changed to "meet cute people." Not exactly the same, but whatever. That's what we call "editorial privilege."

That said, I offer my latest Jewish Week singles column. First paragraph is below--to read the article in its entirety, click on the title below.

(11/17/2004)

The Middos Touch
Esther D. Kustanowitz

“I’m looking for a girl with good middos,” the yeshiva boys of my youth would say. The teachers beamed, proud that their students were looking for girls with strong values — family, respect, and modesty. Problem is, nine times out of 10, those boys were punning on the Hebrew word middot, which also translates as measurements — as in 36-24-36. They were looking for a woman with curves in all the right places, and none of the wrong ones. Hearing this, the girls experienced a nagging feeling, as clear as writing on a Babylonian wall, that they had been judged and had been found wanting.