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“What’s this supposed to be?” asked the hotel proprietor in Chelsea when we showed him the newspaper. “That’s incredible!” Initially confused, then surprised to discover words amidst the stock prices, he became curious, sat down on a revolving chair, and immersed himself in the newspaper. After two minutes of silence we heard the first reaction: “Eschhh!” – “What does ‘Eschhh’ mean?” we asked. “That’s an unbelievably beautiful Hebrew word that describes what it is with its pronunciation: a rustling and hissing that carries up to the heavens. And here it is in Aramaic! I never read something like that in an American newspaper. And here it is in Yiddish – and here in English, too: ‘Fire.’”
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