June 21, 2001  Assembly Yiddish   For the benefit of the 90
percent of Assembly-members who are not Jewish, and for other
Yiddish-challenged lawmakers, Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg
(D-Van Nuys) has published a 36-page booklet, appropriately
titled "Yiddish for Assemblymembers."  It contains a selection
of words drawn from the mameloshen, with examples of their use
in the legislative process, as well as a brief guide to Jewish
holidays.  Hertzberg succinctly explained the purpose of the
literary effort in a press release. "I want to make sure members
don't get farblondjet when us alte kahkers of the Assembly make
a megillah about our bills," Hertzberg wrote. (A sanitized
translation would read: "I want to make sure members don't get
mixed up when us fussy old guys make a long story about our
bills.")  Hertzberg told The Journal that he owed his own
Yiddish vocabulary to his maternal and paternal grandparents,
who came to America from Latvia and Odessa. He said that he had
received numerous thank-you notes