Thank you everyone for your encouragement and support in this - especially Alinyaalethia.

So instead of playing "Name the '80s movie," we're going to be playing "Guess the Yiddish word." Alinyaalethia and kslchen, you guys already have a head start in this. :) Bonus points to you for every word you figure out. Hint: Some of the translations are in the text. There's also a glossary at the bottom of the page.

So in my mixture of Hebrew and Yiddish (respectively): Shabbat Shalom v'/un hob a gut shabbes. I hope you all enjoy this!

- rebeccathehistorian

Disclaimer: Gilbert and Anne are L. M. Montgomery's and Mr. and Mrs. Roth are Katherine-with-a-k's. (The Roth's are mentioned in More Windy Willows Love Letters, chapter 3.) I don't own any of them. I only own the Roth kids.

28 – 29 Tishrei, 5642 / 21 October, 1881

Gilbert leaned back against the wall with a sigh – with what seemed like the tenth time in the last two hours – as his schoolbag hit against the side of the building. His mind whirled with the accusations and the lengthy … discussion… he had just had with the school board. Wasn't the Old Testament enough? And they need to give the Roth family time. They are learning. Not everyone needs to be Christian. He shook his head. He wasn't the one who needed to convince himself. He was trying to convince the school board. He pushed himself off the wall. For one, there was an ever so slight nip in the air. Fall was here; winter was coming. Secondly, he had told his parents when he went home last weekend that he had a school board meeting that next Friday afternoon so he wouldn't be home until that Saturday. But it would be nice to try to surprise Ma and Pa and get home unexpectedly on a Friday night, like he usually did. He looked up at the sky. The shadows were lengthening with every passing moment and while the sun wasn't setting yet, it would do so soon. If he wanted to get to Avonlea before nightfall, he would have to get his things together quickly. He hadn't managed to pack his things the night before – like he usually did, so he could leave for Avonlea almost as soon as school was out and be able to be with Anne – due to spending the evening grading papers, getting some biology coursework done, and revising his latest paper for AVIS. Perhaps in the back of his practical mind, he knew that it was useless to try to pack the night before when he figured he wouldn't be able to make it home the next day…. He sighed again. He figured he had a little bit more than an hour or an hour-and-a-half of sunlight left … and most of that time would need to be reserved for the drive home. He needed to get going.

He turned around, opened the door, and walked into the Roth family home. The warmth inside enveloped him like a blanket. He could smell a mixture of freshly baked bread, fish, something nice and sweet smelling, and sharp odor of some kind of spice. As he put his bag down in the entryway and took off his coat and put it on the coatrack, he heard a pair of feet round the corner. "Ah, Gilbert, bistu aheim," Hannah Roth said with a smile as she wiped her hands on her apron as he walked towards her. "You go to Avonlea?" she asked him as he followed her into the kitchen.

"Uh …" He looked out the window. It was already slightly darker than it was a few moments ago. Did he have enough time now? Would he be able to make it?

"Mameh!," Rachel yelled while she pointed to the window. "Gib a kuk!"

"Ah!" She directed her gaze back at Gilbert. "Meyle," she said waving a hand at him. "Zits. Blaybn do. Sit. You no go to Avonlea."

"Can I – " Gilbert asked, starting to rise from the chair he was sitting in.

"Nayn, nayn." Hannah bustled around giving directions. He couldn't understand what she was saying but he at least got the names – Ruchele, Yankele, Sorele. He could see the children bustling around, Rachel coming to the table to put on another plate but rushing back in a couple of trips to first put on the utensils and then another cup – a nicer one, he noticed. Meanwhile, he could see Hannah rushed over to the other doorway that was covered by a curtain. "Avremel!" Gilbert couldn't understand what she said but it sounded urgent. Presently, Gilbert heard the door lock in the store before Abraham came through the curtain and into the kitchen. As Abraham quickly walked by, he said with a smile, "Hello, Gilbert." He walked away before Gilbert could have a chance to respond. Gilbert's brow furrowed. Why was everyone rushing around? It was only a Friday night. The Sabbath wasn't until Sunday anyway. A minute or two later, there were heavy footfalls on the stairs and Abraham came down wearing a nice wrap and a flat black cap with no bill covering his head. Gilbert looked down for a few moments and swallowed touching his newsboy cap self-consciously. Should he have worn one of those too?

Abraham came back into the room and nodded at his wife. As the family gathered around the table, Abraham crooked his finger to Gilbert, indicating that Gilbert should join them. As he stood behind Abraham (who was holding Sammy) and Jacob (whom he noticed with relief, was wearing a newsboy cap just like he was), he saw that Rachel was standing in between Jacob and Hannah – she was tall enough that her head cleared the table – and that Sarah was standing to the left of Hannah, holding onto the table and doing her best to stand on her tiptoes to peer up and over the table to see what was happening. Hannah pinned a piece of lace to her wig. As Gilbert looked out the window, he could see the sun was clearly setting. The strike of a match brought him back to the present. Hannah lit the two white candles in the silver candlesticks and waved her hands, palms up and cupped, over the flames three times in a circle bringing her hands from the outer ends to the center, which, at the end of the third time, she brought her hands to cover her eyes. She then said, "Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu l'hadlik ner shel Shabbes." At the end of the blessing – which is what it must've been – everyone started hugging and wishing each other "Gut Shabbes!" Abraham turned to him and gave him the same greeting.

What was he supposed to say in response? "Uh … goot shaybess?" Abraham smiled at him and Gilbert's shoulders relaxed. He guessed he had said the right thing. So they were going to eat now, right?

Evidently not. Abraham started singing and the rest of the family joined in. After what he thought were a couple of stanzas, he realized that it sounded like most of the words were the same except the beginning kept changing. As the song went on, he could detect a rhythmic rise and low in the music … even if he didn't know what they were saying at all. But it sounded like a nice song. It would just be nicer if he knew what in the world they were saying.

At the end of the song, Gilbert saw that both Abraham and Hannah glanced at him for a moment before Abraham gave Hannah a look indicating that he was communicating with his wife through their eyes alone. After a moment of silence, Abraham told him, "Mothers and fathers bless the children now. You too."

Gilbert stared at him eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "You want to bless me? But – but I'm not your son."

"No. But you live with us, no?"

"Yes …"

"Nu? So?"

"I … I guess …" Abraham placed a hand on Gilbert's head as he continued to hold Sammy with his other arm. Gilbert thought it was strange … but nice? Here he was, getting blessed by people whom he had only known for about a month-and-a-half whom – he hazarded a guess – were only about ten years older than he was … and yet…. It was nice. He was getting blessed not because he had done anything good, but just for being here, for living in this house. And what made him heart-glad more than anything is that he knew, even without them actually saying it, that by blessing him, Abraham and Hannah were including him as part of the family. To them, he was their son. He smiled, now knowing that while yes, he did have parents – even though he only saw them on the weekends – he also had parents in White Sands during the week too. Even if they seemed to him in a sense, more like a brother and sister to him because of the ten or so year difference, but also they were somewhat like his parents because they did their best to look after him. They invoked the names of Efrayim and M'nashe – Where had he heard those names before? … Oh right, Ephraim and Mannaseh. Joseph's sons!– before they continued on, next blessing the girls and saying something with the names Sar-rah, Rifka, Rahel, and Leah. He mulled it over his mind for a moment. So if Leah was Leah, Jacob's wife, then would Sar-rah be Sarah, Abraham's wife, Rahel perhaps be Rachel? Jacob's other wife? … But then who was Rifka? He shook his head for a moment before resolving to figure it out later. Then, it seemed like, they blessed all of them together. Afterwards, Abraham and Hannah quietly shooed them to their seats. Gilbert sat down for a moment. Looking around, he realized with embarrassment that one, everyone was looking at him, and two, everyone was still standing.

"Sorry," he muttered with a blush as he stood up and pushed his chair in. Then Abraham turned to Hannah and started to say something. As he went on, Hannah blush deepened and she ducked her head and eyes for a moment before she looked up at her husband again. As Abraham continued on, Gilbert stood there. This blessing – or whatever it is – is long. When are we going to eat? Gilbert thought. At the end of the blessing, Gilbert gave an internal sigh of relief. So they were going to do grace next, right?

Abraham picked up his cup and held it out in front of him. Seeing that the rest of the family did the same, Gilbert picked his up too. As Abraham started to recite something, Gilbert brought his cup up to his nose and gave a sniff. The pungent smell of wine met his nose. He smiled thinking of what Mrs. Lynde would say about the intemperance of this family and the fact that they were drinking wine. After a few moments, Abraham said something like what sounded like the end of a prayer. Gilbert started to raise his cup to his lips but partway there, Abraham continued on. Thankfully, not too much later, the prayer, or blessing, or whatever it was, was evidently done as Abraham took a sip of the wine. The family said "Amen" and took sips from their own cups as did Gilbert. Abraham then went over to the pump taking a cup and pouring water over each hand three times. As he dried them, Gilbert could see his mouth muttering something under his breath. Was that another prayer? Geez! How many prayers and blessings did they have?! Gilbert turned to look at the kids who were still standing around the table. He was quietly amazed that the whole family was quiet and respectful. He knew that at their age he would've been the exact opposite. When Abraham came back to the table, Gilbert noticed that they were pulling a white cloth off of something and underneath lay two braided loaves of bread on a breadboard. Finally. They were going to eat. He was starting to get hungry. But why had the bread been covered?

"Ab – " Abraham placed a finger over his mouth and shook his head. Gilbert fell silent though he was slightly confused as to why he couldn't talk. Abraham grabbed the two loaves, one in each hand, and held them together the bottom parts of each touching each other. "Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz." Abraham placed both of them on the table and then started pulling chunks of bread from one of them into nice-sized pieces before sprinkling … Was it salt or sugar? He couldn't tell yet … on them, before taking one, putting the rest on a plate and passing it down the table. When it got to him, he took a piece and bit into it. Yes, it was definitely salt. But underneath all that, he could taste a soft, eggy bread that was probably one of the best breads he had ever tasted … besides his mother's of course. He could almost feel it melt into his mouth. He could imagine putting anything on this and that combination would infinitely taste better than the regular bread he usually had … butter, jam, lard.

The talking resumed as chairs scraped against wooden floorboards and everyone sat down. As the food was passed around and Abraham and Hannah – especially Hannah, Gilbert noted with amusement – piled the children's plates high with food, Abraham turned to him for a moment, a curious look in his eyes. "Gilbert, what was it that you wanted to say earlier?"

"Huh?" Gilbert's forehead furrowed in confusion. What was it that he wanted to ask earlier?He blinked a few times and shifted his eyes back and forth while he cocked his head for a moment trying to remember. He gave a slight shrug and shook his head. "I don't remember. Sorry."

"It's all right. If you remember later, you can ask."

"Thanks."

Gilbert tucked in happily. There was chicken soup with carrots, chicken, some kind of bread pudding, and some kind of beige patty with flecks of what looked like onion, carrots, and potato. A small bowl of a beige something – a spice from the smell of it – came around to him. His eyebrows furrowed again in confusion.

"Far di gefilte fish,Gilbert," Hannah explained. Gilbert looked at her with a confused expression on his face. "Uh, uh," she waved her hand in circles trying to figure out how to say it in English.

"For the stuffed fish," Abraham provided helpfully.

"Yo. A sheynem dank," Hannah said with relief.

Ah. So that had to be that beige patty then. Gilbert took a generous helping of the spice and put on his fish before passing the spice bowl on. He cut a piece of fish with the spice on it and as he closed his lips over the piece of food he heard –

"Gilbert, don't – "

As he looked up at Abraham, he started chewing, and an explosion of spice burnt his whole mouth. What kind of spice is this?! As he threw his face forward, his mouth opened trying to find a reprieve. He could feel his cheeks flaming with the heat. He flapped a hand in front of his mouth trying to cool it down. As he continued to chew – he was determined to finish this bite whatever it took – he started coughing, his body repelling of taking in whatever this … this spice … was. Now not just his mouth was hot but also the inside of his nose hurt and eyes had started watering. A hardened hand slapped him on the back until he was able to calm down.

He held a hand up in surrender. "I'm alright. I'm alright. Thanks," he said to Abraham.

Abraham looked at him dubiously for a moment before accepting Gilbert's statement. "We tried to tell you," Abraham replied as walked back to his seat, "not to put so much on. It's chrain … uh, horseradish."

So that's what that little bugger was. And then he promptly scraped off all the horseradish off of his fish.

As dinner continued, the talk shifted first to relaying the events of the day and then to the Torah portion for the week. As he learned from the table discussion, that week's Torah portion was Beresheesh – whatever that was – and it was going to focus on creation and Adam and Eve. At one point during dinner, Hannah asked him, "Gilbert, you like teaching?"

"Yes. I'm learning a lot. But I'm not sure if it's something I want to do forever."

"What would you like to do?" Abraham asked in response.

Gilbert paused for a moment in thought. "I … I don't know," he said slowly. "I know that I want to help people."

Abraham nodded. "There's time. When you know, tell us," he said with a smile. Gilbert gave a quick nod.

After dinner was over, dessert was eaten, and Hannah had piled the plates in the sink and had strangely left them there and had not washed them up like she did every other night, Hannah gave Gilbert a lamp and told him not to turn it out. Gilbert acquiesced but he was confused as to why. It's not like they told him to do this any other night he was with them. He mentally shook his head. While it was something he wondered about, he knew with his limited Yiddish and Hannah's limited English, there was no way Hannah would be able to explain it to him. And frankly, he was starting to get too tired to care. Between the long week at school and the late hour, all he wanted to do was get ready for bed.

Following the Roths upstairs, after bidding them good night amid the sounds of closing doors, Gilbert opened his door up. As he started to close his bedroom door, he could hear Hannah singing quietly with the noise of a rocking chair through her bedroom door:

"In dem beis ha'mikdash …"

As Gilbert snuggled under the blanket he mused that he hadn't gone to sleep with the light on since he was a child. Which led his brain to mull over the question he had been having in the back of his brain all evening: Who was Rifka? He had determined that Rahel and Leah had to be Jacob's wives and Sar-rah must be Sarah who was Abraham's wife … Hold on a moment. If at least three out of four names could be from ancient times in the Old Testament, was there a possibility that the fourth name – Rifka – was the same? He wracked his brain for a few moments trying to think who it could be. It couldn't be anyone in the New Testament – the Roth's didn't believe in it – and beyond Genesis, he couldn't think of any woman whose name started with an R. Could it be Rebecca, Isaac's wife? He sighed. Moody would be much better at this. It hit him then. Isaac's wife, Rebecca, seemed to be the only logical explanation. If it was taking the women from Genesis – as the other three were, it seemed to be the only logical explanation. That had to be the answer. Eh. He could check with Moody tomorrow. Maybe between the two of them they could figure this puzzle out.

The morning light streamed into the bedroom casting patterns on the floor. He could hear birds chirping, a new day was starting, and … were the Roths singing downstairs? He stilled for a moment, listening.

Ashrei yosh'vei veytecha od yehalelucha selah

Ashrei ha'am she'cacha lo, ashrei ha'am sheh'adonai elohav

Huh.

After getting himself and his trunk ready, Gil walked downstairs to find through the open doors of the parlor, all of the Roth's were praying. He wanted to eat breakfast before he traveled home but it didn't seem right to disturb them. As he stood there, he saw Hannah glanced at him for a moment before she knelt down to speak with Rachel who was standing next to her. With the slam of a book being shut, Rachel flew to Gilbert's side pulling him along the hallway to the kitchen.

"Mama said that your breakfast is in the kitchen. She made it already. It's on a plate." He dutifully found the plate on the table with a glass of water next to it. Seeing that Hannah had already made him breakfast – a chicken liver sandwich on the egg bread, possibly from last night? – he shooed Rachel back to her mother so for once he could eat breakfast in peace.

A while later, Gilbert bid the Roth's a good day, hitched up the horse, and drove home to Avonlea.

A week later he gave Anne his answer to Abraham's question at dinner: "What would you like to do in the future?"

Glossary (in order of appearance):

Bistu aheim (Yiddish) = You're home

Mameh (Yiddish) = Mother

Gib a kuk! (Yiddish) = Literally: Give a look; Generally: Look!

Meyle (Yiddish) = Never mind

Zits (Yiddish) = Sit

Blaybn do (Yiddish) = Stay here

Nayn (Yiddish) = No

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu l'hadlik ner shel Shabbes. (Hebrew (Ashkenazic pronunciation)) = Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to light the Sabbath candles.

Gut Shabbes! (Yiddish) = Good Sabbath!

Nu? (Yiddish) = So? Well?

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam, hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz. (Hebrew) = Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth. (Among Jews, this blessing is known as the Hamotzei.)

Far di gefilte fish (Yiddish) = For the gefilte fish

Gefilte fish (Yiddish) = Stuffed fish – no literally. In the olden days, you'd buy a live pike or carp and depending on when you bought it (anywhere between a Thursday (the day before the start of the Sabbath) to around a week before) you'd keep in the bathtub for the duration of that time (anywhere between a day and a week). (If you bought it on a Friday, then you wouldn't do this.) When you were ready, you'd kill it, slice it open, take out the organs, dice up the meat, and then put the fish meat in a bowl and mix it with onions, carrots, parsnips, eggs, matzah meal, salt, and sugar. Then you would stuff the dead fish with this mixture, sew the dead fish up, cook it, and then serve it. Nowadays, at least where I live, you can buy them in the grocery store (just the fish mixture – it's not stuffed in the actual fish) and you don't even need to cook them; the brand I know of is Manischewitz Gefilte Fish.

Yo (Yiddish) = Yes

A sheynem dank (Yiddish) = Thank you very much

Chrain (Yiddish) = Horseradish

In dem beis ha'mikdash (Yiddish) = In the synagogue. This is the first line of the Yiddish song, "Rozinkes mit Mandlen" (literally translated as "Raisins with Almonds", generally translated as "Raisins and Almonds") which was a song Abraham Goldfaden (aka the "Father of Yiddish Theater) wrote in 1880 for his Yiddish operetta Shulamis.

Ashrei yosh'vei … (Hebrew) = These are the first two lines of the Ashrei prayer and are from Psalm 84:5 and 144:15 respectively. The first two lines translate to:

Happy are they that dwell in Thy house, they are ever praising Thee.

Happy is the people that is in such case. Yea, happy is the people whose God is the Lord.