Schvartze

Schvartze (from שוואַרץ, shvarts, 'black'; cf. German: schwarz; OED) is a racial slur for Black people in the Yiddish language.

Etymology

Schvartze is derived from the Yiddish word schvarts, which means "black". The word is sometimes referred to as "the S-word".

About

The term schvartze has been described as "the Jewish N-word" or "the Yiddish N-word". Upper-middle class Jews during the 1800s and 1900s often used the term to describe their Black servants because it was assumed they wouldn't understand the word.

Some Yiddish speakers argue that the term is not inherently offensive, claiming that is a neutral term for a Black person.

Among white South African Jews, the term has a history of being used to describe Black South Africans, as well as Indian South Africans and Coloured South Africans.

The Black Jewish writer Michael W. Twitty has criticized the "troubling resurgence" of the term. The Black Orthodox Jewish rabbi and writer Shais Rishon has denounced the term as offensive, saying that "It is not merely a 'color' word...American Jews do not say 'Pass me my schvartzer jacket' or 'Today I'm wearing my schvartzer hat', adding that term "was thrown around quite often in my youth, even more so toward my fellow African-American Jews who went to yeshiva, and always in lieu of an actual name. In short, in the exact same contest that 'nigger' was used in the 1960s."

See also

• African-American Jews
• African American–Jewish relations
• Jews of color
• Racism in Jewish communities