Actually, Jayne, since Jehanne's notes do explain those words, you're supporting her actual choices very effectively. And concerning those words, and most other Yiddish expressions that appear in her book The Hardship Post, end notes were the right choice for me as a reader as well.
Her notes about Jewish holidays (not Yiddish words) were simply the first examples that came to my mind of notes that were more than I needed and that set me wondering how one decides how much to explain. Your precept "When in doubt, help the reader out" seems to apply.
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