Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a Republican, just announced that he is endorsing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for president in the upcoming election. Colin Powell has some knowledge of Yiddish. Where did he learn to speak this language?
Gen. Colin Powell by Charles Haynes is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
A. Powell grew up in the South Bronx, directly across the street from the Intervale Jewish Center. When he was a teenager in the early 1950’s, Powell was hired as the synagogue’s “Shabbos Goy,” responsible for turning on and off the building’s lights and heat on Friday night and Saturday. In Powell’s autobiography, My American Journey, published in 1995, Powell wrote, “I was very lucky to get that job, and to get to know the Jewish people at that synagogue. Many were Holocaust survivors, and hearing of their experiences greatly influenced my decision to join the military and fight for freedom. Of course, I had no idea at that time that the Yiddish words I learned would come in handy years later as I met with many of Israel’s leaders.”
B. Powell’s mother worked as a maid/housekeeper for a Jewish family in the South Bronx. When Colin was young, his mother would often bring him with her to her employer’s house, where he became friendly with the children his mother was caring for. The Jewish family, who had immigrated from Poland, often spoke Yiddish, and Colin’s mother and Colin both learned many words and phrases from this family. Powell often told the story of attending the bar mitzvah of one of the children, and joining in as everyone yelled “Mazel Tov” at the end of the ceremony.
C. When Powell was a teenager, he worked part-time at Sickser’s, a baby equipment store in the South Bronx, where Powell lived. The Sickser family was Jewish, as were many of their customers, immigrants from Eastern Europe whose native language was Yiddish. As a result, Powell picked up some basics of the language and was able to communicate with the Jewish customers.
D. When Powell was Secretary of State, he briefly studied Yiddish with Rabbi Levi Shemtov, the Chabad rabbi who was founder of TheSHUL in Washington, DC and who organized the annual Chanukkah Menorah lighting across from the White House. Rabbi Shemtov, known as the rabbi of Capitol Hill, worked and studied together with many politicians and Washington bureaucrats, and he had suggested that Powell learn some Yiddish as it might provide a bit of an “in” for Powell in working with Israeli politicians.
E. Before he was born, Colin Powell’s mother Maud worked as a custodian at Congregation Hope of Israel near Yankee Stadium. Because many of the members were immigrants from Eastern Europe, she picked up a smattering of Yiddish, which she later taught her son. Part of her responsibility at the synagogue was to ready the building for the Yom Kippur services every year. She would then listen to the service and was moved by the beautiful sounds of the cantor’s voice. As a result (and with some slight misunderstanding of the words), when she gave birth to a son a few years later, she named him Colin Idray Powell.