Having just spent a week in Brooklyn, I was Impressed by the vitality of New York's Jewish life. I was particularly amazed how many more types of bagels – and of Jewish words –they have.
I spent some time tracking down especially exotic examples of both. Auftzuluchis was my favourite find, as rare on Golders Green Road as a cinnamon raisin bagel.
"Auftzuluchis" means a way of doing something which is just to be annoying.
"He's doing it auftzuluchis," they might say in Brooklyn about a baby throwing a toy out of its cot,
or a driver who stops inches from your feet at a crossing.
On investigation, the word turns out to be a Yiddishised running-together of the words "af zu I'hachis" which means "this just to annoy" (I'hachis being a transitive form of the Hebrew "ka'as"
"anger.")
Transgressions which are done I'hachis are an important category in halachah, Jewish law. They
are contrasted with those committed I'te'avon.
A sin committed I'hachis means one which is done precisely and deliberately to anger, provoke and demonstrate defiance towards Jewish law.
The quaint old custom among some militantly secular kibbutzim of serving pork in the dining room on Yom Kippur was an example of an action being performed l’hachis.
A sin committed l’te’avon, on the other hand, is one which assuages a desire or
appetite, without any intention to make a point. Eating pork because you’re hungry would be an example of that.
Actions committed I'hachis are more serious in Jewish law than those which are
done I'te'avon. Halachah is more tolerant of human frailty and weakness than of flagrant
rebellion against the authority of religious norms as such
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