Heir to the Hipster line of rabbinical leaders and sages, eleven year old Micah Mushmelon enlists Shraga Potasznik, the comic-book-addicted protagonist of this novella to make good of all things worthwhile in this world. An heir to the rich modern Yiddish literary tradition, Michael Wex paints a vivid, hilarious picture of the hasidic demimonde. His is a view into Yiddish culture at once erudite and super hip, and always true to the cadences of a language that informs so much of modern North American culture.
Author of Born to Kvetch, columnist, bon vivant and raconteur, Michael Wex has been called "a Yiddish national treasure;" Born to Kvetch, the bestselling book ever written about Yiddish, was hailed by The New York Times as "wise, witty and altogether wonderful."
A native of Lethbridge, Alberta, Wex has worked in virtually every area of contemporary Yiddish. Some of his songs have been recorded by such klezmer bands as Sukke, The Flying Bulgars, and 2007 Grammy winners, The Klezmatics.
Wex's teaching and lecture activities-a unique combination of learning, stand-up comedy and probing investigation into the nature of Yiddish and Yiddishkayt-have taken him from Toronto to Budapest, and to many points in between. His approach is so unique and appealing that his annual series of classes at Klezkamp (a yearly Yiddish cultural event in upstate New York) has been renamed Wexology-and not at Wex's instigation. The only complaint ever heard is that people are enjoying themselves so much that they forget to take notes.
You can find Michael Wex at www.michaelwex.com
