The Happiness Cipher- New serial in Binah by Etka G!

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Chaya123

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 1:45 pm

Can it be that Issy killed himself so as not to get Harry and Morrie into trouble? And all Harry's guilt was for nothing?

amother

Royalblue

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 1:53 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

Remember that Harry doesn't know Yiddish or doenst know how to read Hebrew, or both.
I thought I understood that Issy wrote in Yiddish, some line at the bottom, that Harry was unable to read.
He hid the paper for years.
Now that Birdie got her hands on it, she read something he wrote on the bottom, which clarifies everything for her.
And I guess we find out next monday what that was.
I hope.

Got it.
But that still doesn't explain why Birdie was desperate for it. Why was she searching for it? Why did she think it held all the answers?

Miri1

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 2:24 pm

When Birdie sees the note, she considers Harry a thief. Was this part of the scandal - stealing the one item of value to the deceased family? He sent them money (not sure if Birdie knows that ), but he kept the picture that Issy treasured all these years...

Miri1

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 2:27 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

That makes sense, but wouldn't Mendelsohn have understood the note when he saw back then - presumably he knew Yiddish?
I thought she saw Harry's initials in Yiddish , there was something else written?

Last edited by Miri1 on Tue, Sep 17 2019, 2:47 pm; edited 1 time in total

Chaya123

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 2:29 pm

I remember reading she thought the picture was Harry with his brother and mother. She didn't originally realize it was Issy and his brother and mother.
Well, either way, she's also a thief. She stole the letters and identity and knowledge of her husband. So they're a good match.

amother

Taupe

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 2:32 pm

Harry def. speaks yiddish, we see him do it a bunch of times

he just can't read aleph bais

suremom

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 2:56 pm

Mama Bear, your theory seems sound but there is no hint to that in the story. When he died, it was only mentioned that he wrote Harry's initials on letter. The shopkeeper f'sure knew how to read hebrew as he was able to read issy's name... I didnt read this weeks installment yet. Where did Birdie find the note?

suremom

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 2:58 pm

amother [ Taupe ] wrote:

Harry def. speaks yiddish, we see him do it a bunch of times

he just can't read aleph bais

Actually, we never hear Harry speak yiddish! He seems to understand Birdies yiddish thought. I think scotty mentioned that she couldnt get recording of how his yiddish couldve sounded so he doesnt speak it...

cbsp

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 3:01 pm

Chaya123 wrote:

Will this raise any flags for Harry once he has a chance to think?

amother

Taupe

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 3:02 pm

No, we def see Harry speak Yiddish numerous times

not actual phrases like the others but there's loads of times it says 'he says in Yiddish'
and he tells Birdie when she comes that he just never learned aleph bais but he talks to her in yiddish all the time

Miri1

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 3:02 pm

amother [ Taupe ] wrote:

Harry def. speaks yiddish, we see him do it a bunch of times

he just can't read aleph bais

I meant that Mendelsohn or Gundle would have already read the note.

The difference here I guess is that when Birdie reads it she has the whole background to Issy's death, so there may be knew meaning to what is written.

suremom

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 3:10 pm

Scotty wrote:

Quote:

Which sector does Harry belong to? Being that he has a Yiddish name and speaks the language, would he have been of the poor immigrant Jews that arrived from the Pale of Settlement around 1880 (when he would have been about 10)?
Was he from the East End?
Do we know his name before it was Franklin?
I'd thought his accent was a good ole Cockney, but perhaps it is a Manchester accent?

He's definitely a Cockney from the East End, but was born there in 1869 - by the time the wave of Russians from the Pale arrived in the 80's he was already in South Africa. There was a massive (and fascinating) Jewish community in England preceding that immigration, though it did change a lot with it. (Historically, Barney Barnato was an East End boy who famously 'made good' in SA.)

South Africa was so very much a Rainbow Nation - we barely get to see much of it - but trying to struggle through Scotty Smith's Scottish brogue and Reg Baker's Cornish and Birdie's Lithuanian-Russian-Yiddish-English and Harry's Cockney and Jamie's Wooster-erian way of thinking has really put it all in context for me, and that's without even having any Hindu, Chinese, Irish, American, or Jewish-but-not-Cockney characters with us at all.

You never actually see Harry's Yiddish, though, because I have not been able to find audio representation of what Cockney Yiddish actually sounds like :-)

Scotty

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 3:14 pm

YOU ARE ALL BRILLIANT

Quote:

The difference here I guess is that when Birdie reads it she has the whole background to Issy's death, so there may be knew meaning to what is written.

THIS.

Remember, context is almost as important as content. What frame of mind was Harry in when he read it? Issy, when he wrote it? What were Gundle's expectations, reading that note, and how might that have colored his read of it? What sort of condition was the note in at all, especially since we know Issy has a flamboyant handwriting to begin with and was dying when he wrote it? What was in English? What was in Hebrew? Was there writing on teh photograph that predated Issy's use of it as an impromptu funeral card? What was written when, why, and for whom? Does it make a difference? Just because Birdie is intent on finding something, does it mean she will? And, if she finds anything, what can even help her at this point?

So very many questions.

And they've only got a few hours left until dawn, anyway. What are the odds?

THANK YOU ALL FOR MAKING THIS SO MUCH FUN!!

Quote:

You never actually see Harry's Yiddish, though, because I have not been able to find audio representation of what Cockney Yiddish actually sounds like :-)

Putting this to rest because I think I mixed people up without meaning to here...
Harry DOES speak Yiddish, and all the time, too. We just don't get a vowelized English representation of what it would sound like, because I... don't really know what it would sound like.

ANOTHER THING FOR THE 'FIX FOR NOVEL' LIST THANK YOU

seeker

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 10:42 pm

Miri1 wrote:

Title of story is cipher. He would have put his message in code I.e. a reference only Harry would understand, if it's about stolen diamonds. Though he'd also know that Harry doesn't read Yiddish so my theory has some holes.

seeker

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 10:43 pm

cbsp wrote:

Will this raise any flags for Harry once he has a chance to think?

that's what I thought as I read it. I guess he was too consumed by his own distress to notice this.

penguin

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 10:53 pm

איזהו עשיר השמח בחלקו
I'm guessing the cipher will be something about happiness coming not from riches I.e. diamonds but from being happy with what you have

Mama Bear

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 11:05 pm

Me with my chasidishe pronounciation kept thinking there's a double meaning to the 'cipher', aka 'sefer'. LOL

seeker

Tue, Sep 17 2019, 11:49 pm

I was thinking that the double meaning of Cipher would be that the story theme is going to involve the secret of happiness, but also an actual cipher. I mean it wouldn't be punchy if it didn't have two references.

Miri1

Wed, Sep 18 2019, 9:27 am

Please please could someone post the exact words on the note? I’ve misplaced my Bina and I have a hunch.

I couldn’t fall asleep last night because I wanted to check it out but Bina is nowhere to be found 😥 hope no one recycled it 😯

seeker

Wed, Sep 18 2019, 9:29 am

Cmon, you know this author by now. You think she's going to find the note and read it in the same episode? We can only hope we actually find out next week. I say this with love, Scotty, but the cliffhangers drive me bananas.

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