Arpa Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 Here is everything one needs to know about the subject and more.BTW. Gamavor, Rimma Varzhapetian is mentioned here. http://www.haruth.com/JewsArmenia.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamavor Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 Nice site! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arpa Posted August 30, 2003 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 Note. Please ladies and gentlemen do not take this subject topic to corrupt the main theme i.e. please do not invoke similarity of our destinies. Some of us may already know that I take a very dim view when we are compared to them. In my view there absolutely is no comparison except that there Jews in Armenistan as there are Armenians in Jewistan. As long as we are talking about the Jews of Armenia let me tell that story that to this day gives me this eerie feeling.During one of my jouneys to Yerevan we had an American Jewish lady in our group. She had visited Armenia several times before, and since then, Some people suspect that she had ulterior motives. That is another story. However her main interests were the Jewish community of Yerevan and some other projects sponsored by a Jewish society of New York.One night after we returned to our hotel people were looking for me. They had concluded that I would be best qualified to be the translateor. This Jewish lady was standing in the middle of the lobby surrounded by several people. (For all I know Rimma may have been one of them, I didn't know her then)Among them was the Rabbi of Yerevan, he was the main target of our firend's conversation. The Rabbi's wife was with him too. They were both young, they were dressed as expected, he in his black trousers, black overcoat, the wide rimmed black hat, and the wife was dressed in plain dress and the obligatory headcover. He had dark black full beard and the obligatory side curls. Even though they had come from an Eatern European country (Romania?)he had learned Armenian and spoke fluently, his wife did not. None of them spoke English so I acted as translator. Our friend would speak English I translated it to Armenian for the Rabbi, then I would translate his Armenian to English. Easy you think? Should be since I speak both languages fluently. Think again.As I would translate the English to Armenian I would have this eerie feeling, and I would notice that the Rabbi's eyes would turn glassy. It would take me sometime to understand what was happening. It would take me a few moments looking into the glassy eyes of the Rabbi that he was not understanding what I was saying. Why? It would take me to repeatedly get a hold of myself and realize that I was reverting to English right in the middle of every sentence, until I had to pinch myself to remember that I should address the Rabbi in Armenian.How does one speak Armenian to a person that looks the way he did, with his wide brimmed black hat, black overcoat, black beard and the everpresent side curls??!! Mind bogglng? I think so!Next time you run into a Rabbi on the streets of NY or LA try and speak Armenian to him. And here is Ms. Varzhapetian and more Rimma;http://www.osce.org/documents/sg/2003/06/411_en.pdfAnother look;http://www.osce.org/events/conferences/ant...itism/index.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamavor Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 Arpa, are you sure that he didn't understand 100% your English? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
America-Hye Posted August 30, 2003 Report Share Posted August 30, 2003 Arpa, The problem here was in your subconscious mind, which was playing tricks on you. You were not comfortable speaking Armenian to this Rabbi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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