"Mishegas"

       The post about Yiddish a couple days ago reminded me I'd written the following over two years ago:

       My Grandma used to look at the new TV set in our living room; any new face that came on, she would say, "Is Jewish?"   A public medium, but she wanted to see her own kind looking back at her, a reflection, a confirmation.

       Today I saw a word used by theatre critic Charles McNulty.  He was reviewing a new play with myriad plot lines with multiple family members, each
                                  "adding to the spiraling mishegas,"

(mish-uh-GAHSS), a Yiddish word meaning "mixed up" and "crazy." And I felt proud.  Why?  Word I recognized, heard family and friends use, was a part of me.

       But look, Charles, "chutzpah" became good American English; maybe next time you don't even need to italicize.