Rachel, it is Brooklynese, although it features prominently in the Staten Island and New Jersey dialects also ;-) I associate it mostly with Italian-American tough-guy-speak, but …

Now check this out (from Wikipedia), NYC is the largest Jewish community outside of Tel Aviv, by a big margin. So there may well be a connection.

And yes, I recall you saying you were born in Brooklyn, so I’m glad you found this piece.