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How ‘Hacks’ botched its Yiddish line 

JL;DR SUMMARY HBO Max's series "Hacks" found itself in a linguistic mishap during a recent episode where the character Randi, portrayed by Robbie Hoffman, uses incorrect Yiddish while distributing fliers in a Hasidic neighborhood. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish CultureYiddishTelevision SeriesHasidic JewsHbo MaxRukhl SchaechterHacksComedy DramaLanguage AccuracyLinguistic Errors

Places mentioned

New York City, New York, United States
"They spread out into the streets of New York City handing out fliers, desperate to get people to come to the ad hoc performance."
Brooklyn, New York, United States
"Randi does her part by returning to her former community an apparently Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn and hands out fliers to the pious passers-by."
Israel
"Interestingly, the Israeli show Shtisel, produced in Israel, did a much better job of getting the Yiddish right."

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Cairo Item ID 83560
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-05-29 05:31:19 UTC
Curated 2026-05-29 08:31:01 UTC