To Life! to Life! L'chaim!
Grove, Helen, Moment
"Mazel tov ... l'chaim ... I wish for you a hundred years of success," raps hip-hop artist Jay-Z in a recent music video for the 2007 song ROC Boys (And the Winner Is), a celebration of success and excess. In the widely popular 2005 comedy film Wedding Crashers, two non-Jewish bachelors played by Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn shout l'chaim!--complete with the guttural clearing-of-the-throat sound unique to Semitic languages--to a bride and groom they have just met.
No longer reserved for Yiddish-speaking grandparents from the Old Country, l'chaim--to life!--has become synonymous with "cheers." It's an all-purpose toast for any occasion or situation that crosses barriers of …
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Publication information:
Article title: To Life! to Life! L'chaim!.
Contributors: Grove, Helen - Author.
Magazine title: Moment.
Volume: 33.
Issue: 5
Publication date: September-October 2008.
Page number: 22.
© 2009 Moment Magazine.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale Group.
This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.
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