Do Not Remove a Fly From Your Friend’s Forehead With an Ax…” and Other Yiddish Proverbs

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this week’s proverbs
פאַרטרײַבּ נישט די פליג פון דײַן פרײַנדס שטערן מיט אַ האַק
transliterated
fartrayb nit di flig fun dayn fraynd’s shtern mit a hak
in English
do not remove a fly from your friend’s forehead with an ax
in Hebrew
אל תסיר זבוב ממצח חברך בגרזן
or this
אַז משיסט מיט אַ האַרמאַט אויף אַ פליגדאַן ווען מען דאַרף וועט אויספעלן
transliterated
az m’shist mit a harmat af a flig, dan ven men darf vet oysfeln
in English
if you shoot a fly with a cannon, you won’t have when you need it
in Hebrew
אם יורים זבוב עם תותחכשתצטרךזה יהיה חסר
A proverb is a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, and traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorizable form and which is handed down from generation to generation
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