Thursday, March 28, 2024 -
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Einen guten Rutsch

Here in Switzerland, on Silvester, what the Swiss call New Year’s Eve, the phrase “einen guten Rutsch” is heard frequently. The commonly held understanding is that the phrase translates to “a good skip [into the new year].”

What most German speakers don’t realize, however, is that the origin of this saying is actually Hebrew, the “Rutsch” derived from “Rosh”, from when German speaking Jews wished each other a good Rosh Hashana, or happy new year.

From Rocky Mountain Jew and the whole IJN.com team, “einen guten Rutsch” to one and all!



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IJN Assistant Publisher | [email protected]


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