Chutzpah

The term entered the English language some time between 1890–95 from Yiddish חוצפּה (ḥuṣpâ). It was used in Mishnaic Hebrew, חוֹצְפָּה (ḥôṣǝpâ), from חָצַף (ḥāṣap, “to be insolent”), though it is believed to come initially from Aramaic, חֲצִיפָא (ḥăṣîpāʾ), חֲצַף (ḥaṣap, “to be barefaced, insolent”).[https://www.drash.org/Chutzpah_handout.pdf Sotah 9:15 in MS Kaufmann A50]{{Cite web |last=Reisel |first=Daniel |title=A Brief History of Chutzpah |url=https://www.drash.org/Brief_History_of_Chutzpah.pdf |access-date=27 May 2024 |website=Drash}}

In Hebrew, chutzpah is used indignantly, to describe someone who has overstepped the boundaries of accepted behavior.{{Cite web |date=2018-04-08 |title=THE TRAVEL ADVISOR: The chutzpah of El Al |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/the-travel-advisor-the-chutzpah-of-el-al-549104 |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en}} In traditional usage, the word expresses a strong sense of disapproval, condemnation and outrage.

Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish defines chutzpah as "gall, brazen nerve, effrontery, incredible 'guts', presumption plus arrogance such as no other word and no other language can do justice to". In this sense, chutzpah expresses both strong disapproval and condemnation. In the same work, Rosten also defines the term as "that quality enshrined in a man who, having killed his mother and father, throws himself on the mercy of the court because he is an orphan".

Chutzpah amounts to a total denial of personal responsibility, which renders others speechless and incredulous.{{Cite web |title=Chutzpah |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095612185 |access-date=2024-05-27 |website=Oxford Reference |language=en }}

The cognate of ḥuṣpāh in Classical Arabic, {{transl|ar|ALA|ḥaṣāfah}} ({{lang|ar|حصافة}}), does not mean "impudence" or "cheekiness" or anything similar, but rather "sound judgment".{{cite book|last=Wehr|first=Hans|author-link=Hans Wehr |editor= J. Milton Cowan| title=Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic |orig-year=1979 |year=1994 |publisher=Spoken Language Services, Inc. |location=Urbana, Illinois |isbn=0-87950-003-4}}

Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis distinguishes the meaning of chutzpah as stubbornness and contrariness from what he calls a tradition of "spiritual audacity" or "chutzpah klapei shmaya":

{{blockquote| We are conventionally raised to believe that Jewish faith demands unwavering obedience to the law and the *law-giver. That attitude tends to cultivate a temperament of compliance and passivity. For conventional thinking, "talking back to God" smacks of heresy. But a significant genre of religious, moral and spiritual audacity toward the divine authority—"chutzpah klapei shmaya"—finds a place of honor in Jewish religious thought.Harold M. Schulweis, Conscience: The Duty to Obey and the Duty to Disobey (2008), p. 10.|author=|title=|source=}}

As an example, Schulweis cites a case where Moses argues with God about the justice of His commands:

{{blockquote|For Moses, that God should "visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation" (Exod. 20:5) is an unacceptable form of group punishment akin to the morally indiscriminate punishment of Sodom. Challenging God's pronouncement of the punishment of the sons for the sins of the fathers, Moses argues with God, against God, and in the name of God. Moses engages God with fierce moral logic:

Sovereign of the Universe, consider the righteousness of Abraham and the idol worship of his father Terach. Does it make moral sense to punish the child for the transgressions of the father? Sovereign of the Universe, consider the righteous deeds of King Hezekiah, who sprang from the loins of his evil father King Achaz. Does Hezekiah deserve Achaz's punishment? Consider the nobility of King Josiah, whose father Amnon was wicked. Should Josiah inherit the punishment of Amnon? (Num. Rabbah, Hukkat XIX, 33)

Trained to view God as an unyielding authoritarian proclaiming immutable commands, we might expect that Moses will be severely chastised for his defiance. Who is this finite, errant, fallible, human creature to question the explicit command of the author of the Ten Commandments? The divine response to Moses, according to the rabbinic moral imagination, is arresting:

By your life Moses, you have instructed Me. Therefore I will nullify My words and confirm yours. Thus it is said, "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers." (Deut. 24:16)Harold M. Schulweis, Conscience: The Duty to Obey and the Duty to Disobey (2008), p. 11.

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The word Chutzpah is sometimes used in discussions of Israeli politics. For example: "Will Far-right Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Chutzpah Trigger a Third Intifada?" was the headline of an article in Haaretz,{{cite web |last1=Harel |first1=Amos |title=Will far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir's chutzpah trigger a third intifada? |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-02-03/ty-article/.premium/will-far-right-minister-itamar-ben-gvirs-chutzpah-trigger-a-third-intifada/00000186-13e1-d5d5-adef-37fb35920000 |website=Haaretz |access-date=15 May 2024 |language=en |date=3 February 2023}} by Amos Harel, their military and defense analyst in both Hebrew and English,{{cite web|title=Biography of Amos Harel|url=http://www.haaretz.com/misc/writers/amos-harel-1.285|website=Haaretz|accessdate=9 December 2014}}{{cite web|title=Amos Harel|url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/amos-harel|website=The Guardian|accessdate=9 December 2014}} in February 2023.

Judge Alex Kozinski and Eugene Volokh in an article entitled Lawsuit Shmawsuit, note the rise in use of Yiddish words in legal opinion. They note that chutzpah has been used 231 times in American legal opinions, 220 of those after 1980.{{cite journal |last=Kozinski |first=Alex |author-link=Alex Kozinski |author2=Eugene Volokh |author2-link=Eugene Volokh |year=1993 |title=Lawsuit Shmawsuit |journal=Yale Law Journal |volume=103 |issue= 2|pages=463 |url=http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/yiddish.htm |access-date= 2007-06-24 |doi=10.2307/797101 |jstor=797101 |publisher=The Yale Law Journal Company, Inc. }} Chutzpah first appeared in a Supreme Court decision in 1998, in National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley, when Justice Antonin Scalia used it to describe the NEA's brazenness in asking for government funding.Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, "The Whole Spiel: Funny essays about digital nudniks, seder selfies and chicken soup memories," Incompra Press, 2016; p. 118. {{ISBN|978-0-69272625-9}}

The Polish word hucpa (pronounced [ˈxut͜spa]) is also derived from this term, although its meaning is closer to 'insolence' or 'arrogance', and so it is typically used in a more negative sense instead of denoting a positive description of someone's audacity.{{Cite journal |last=Biesaga |first=Monika |date=2013 |title=Hucpa/chucpa. Analiza leksykologiczna i leksykograficzna |url=https://jezyk-polski.pl/index.php/jp/article/view/808 |journal=Język Polski |pages=356–365 |language=pl |doi=10.31286/JP.93.5.9}}

Similarly, the German form of "chutzpah" is Chuzpe.{{Cite news |last=Safire |first=William |date=1990-03-18 |title=On Language; Chutzpah At Camp Greentop |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/18/magazine/on-language-chutzpah-at-camp-greentop.html |access-date=2024-05-27 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} In Czech, chucpe is commonly used with a sharply negative connotation. The Dutch noun gotspe is also related and refers to a brazen or shameless act or situation.{{Cite book |last1=Dorren |first1=Gaston |title=Lingo: around Europe in sixty languages |last2=Audring |first2=Jenny |last3=Watson |first3=Frauke |date=2016 |publisher=Grove Press |isbn=978-0-8021-9094-9 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=24 |language=en |translator-last=Edwards |translator-first=Alison}}

In the Hindi-language film Haider (2014) by Vishal Bharadwaj, a modern-day interpretation of Hamlet set against the backdrop of Kashmir in the midst of political conflict, the protagonist uses the word, which he pronounces as /'tʃʊtspə/ instead of /ˈhʊtspə/ or /ˈxʊtspə/ to describe India's way of treating the people of Kashmir since the beginning of the conflict.{{cite news |last=Hashmi |first=Duriya |date=7 November 2014 |title=Haider's chutzpah |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1142932 |work=Dawn |access-date=1 February 2025}}

A Hindi-language streaming television series titled Chutzpah premiered on Sony Liv in 2021.{{cite news |author= |date= |title=Varun Sharma feels title of his new series ‘Chutzpah’ is catchy |url=https://www.thestatesman.com/entertainment/bollywood/varun-sharma-feels-title-new-series-chutzpah-catchy-1502978545.html |work=The Statesman |agency=IANS|location=Mumbai |access-date=18 February 2025}}

Jewish American Senator Ron Wyden wrote a book, It Takes Chutzpah, advocating for progressivism.{{Cite news |title=In 'It Takes Chutzpah,' Democratic Sen. Wyden lays out a path for progressive change |url=https://www.npr.org/2025/01/14/nx-s1-5148761/in-it-takes-chutzpah-democratic-sen-wyden-lays-out-a-path-for-progressive-change |access-date=2025-03-07 |work=NPR |language=en}}

• Gopnik
• Cojones
• Firgun
• Hubris
• Sisu
• List of English words of Yiddish origin

{{Reflist}}

{{wiktionary}}

• [http://www.forvo.com/word/chutzpah/ Chutzpah Pronunciation]
• [https://jel.jewish-languages.org/words/119 Chutzpah - on Jewish English Lexicon]

Category:Yiddish words and phrases

Category:Personality traits

Category:Words and phrases describing personality