_The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.013 17 July 1997 1) Yiddish Matters (From the Editor): Leonard Prager 2) Vos iz yidishizm? An entfer Filologosn: Dovid-Eliyohu Fishman 3) The Yiddish Poem Itself--"Di tsvey lukhes": Avrom-Nokhem Shtentsl [Abraham Nahum Stencl] 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thursday, 17 July 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters --In This Issue In this issue we give the first of what is hoped will be a series of reflective essays from a variety of viewpoints on the subject of Yiddishism. _Yiddishism_, if only by virtue of its _ism_ suffix, continues to refer to an ideology. As David Fishman cogently demonstrates in his essay in this issue, Yiddishism was never monolithic. When we move to the agentive form _Yiddishist_, we find an even larger variety of meanings. The term no longer exclusively -- or perhaps even principally -- means 'one who subscribes to the tenets of Yiddishism'. Today one is likely to hear _Yiddishist_ used not only in the sense 'a specialist in the Yiddish language (on the model of _Germanist_, Semiticist_, etc.'), but even 'one who loves the Yiddish language; one who takes an interest in Yiddish culture.' It has always been theoretically possible to be a "Yiddishist" and not know Yiddish, but nowadays this is all too often not just a possibility. _The Mendele Review_ is not much concerned how its readers define themselves or even how they choose to employ the multivalent words _Yiddishism_ and _Yiddishist_; but it is extremely interested in what we can all agree to call "Yiddish literacy." --The Yiddish Poem Itself In this issue we also initiate a new feature, The Yiddish Poem Itself (this is not, of course, an original idea, but it is one that is worth borrowing), whose purpose is to present and comment upon a selection of notable Yiddish poems. Each presentation will include romanization, English translation and commentary. Readers are invited to offer their own explications and comments on the poems, as well as to suggest poems for inclusion. In some issues the emphasis will be upon a comparison of different translations (a fascinating feature of many weekend editions of the Hebrew-language _Haarets_). Today I discovered a site on the internet called "Yiddish poem of the week" (http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~hhelf/stuff/poem2.html). It featured the romanization and translation of Moshe Kulbak's powerful poem "Asoro dibraye" [not Aseres Dibraye]. Leonard Wolf, the translator, was credited for his work, but there was no indication where it appeared: Irving Howe, Ruth R. Wisse and Chone Shmeruk, eds. _The Penguin Book of Modern Yiddish Verse_ (Penguin Books, 1988), pp. 386-387. Nor any indication that permission had been requested for use of the translation. For some reason, the romanization (which is competent) was not ordered as verse. But these are minor objections. The appearance of a new Yiddish poem every week, especially if the level is that of the Kulbak poem, must be welcomed. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thursday, 17 July 1997 From: Leah Krikun Subject: "Vos iz yidishizm? An entfer Filologosn" fun Dovid-Eliyohu Fishman Vos iz yidishizm? An entfer Filologosn by Dr. Dovid-Eliyohu Fishman* (Bronx, New York) (reprinted by kind permission from _Oyfn shvel_ No. 304 [October-December 1996], 1-4_) Inem vikuekh tsvishn Dovid Kats un Filologos (_Forward_, August 16, 1996) makht der letster a gzeyre-shove tsvishn yidishizm un bundizm, un tsvishn bundizm un der Yevsektsie mit ire farbrekhns kegn hebreish un tsienizm. Azoy arum shaft Filologos a karikatur funem yidishizm, in velkher der same derviderdikster un diskreditirtster teyl zayner vert forgeshtelt vi di gantskayt. Azoyne bashmuts-taktikes dermonen in der retorik fun kolerley _anti-tsienistn_ vos farufn zikh oyf di teror maysim fun der shtern bande (Lechi) bichdey tsu bavayzn, az der tsienizm shtrebt oystsuvortslen di araber fun zeyer land durkh retsikhes, gerushim un konfiskatsies. Loy zu haderech, oyb men vil firn an ernstn ideishn shmues. Historish geredt, iz di definitsie fun yidishizm a poshete: der yidishizm iz geven (un iz adayem) di bavegung avektsushteln un farfestikn dos ort fun yidish vi der hoypt-shprakhmitl fun mizrekh-eyropeishn yidntum, un tsu shtarkn di antviklung fun a moderner, sofistitsirter un arumnemiker yidisher kultur oyf dem dozikn loshn. Der yidishizm iz geven an oysdruk fun kultureln un shprakhikn natsionalizm vos is ongenumen gevorn durkh a breyter game yidishe sotsialistn un _burzhuaze_ natsionalistn, tsvishn zey oykh a sakh tsienistn. Ikh vel do opentfern di finf greste historishe toesim un farkriplungen vos Filologos iz bagangen inem dermontn vikuekh: 1. "Yiddishism, certainly a very powerful wing of it, looked forward to the (Bolshevik) revolution. Counted on that revolution as a means for carrying out its linguistic agenda.... I'm talking about the Bund.... The Bund joined the Communist Party in 1921.... The Yevsektsie drew heavily on the Yiddishist movement, on the Bund." Yeder bar-bey-rav in moderner yidisher geshikhte veyst, az der Bund un di bolshevikes zaynen geven bitere kegners zint 1903, ven der Bund iz aroysgetrotn fun der Ruslendisher Sotsial-Demokratisher Arbeter-Partey. Eyner fun di hoypt-sibes fun zeyer kegnanandikn antaganizm iz geven Lenin's kegnershaft tsu di ideyen fun yidisher folkishkayt un yidisher natsionaler oytonomie, vos der Bund hot proponirt. Di manhigim fun Bund hobn farurteylt di bolshevistishe iberkerenish fun november 1917, un s'rov fun zey zaynen antlofn fun Sovetn-land tsvishn 1917 un 1920 bikhdey oystsumaydn arest (Henrik Erlikh, Refoel Abramovitsh, A. Litvak). Der farblibener ruslendisher Bund hot zikh geshpoltn iber der frage tsi men zol zikh onshlisn in der komunistisher partey in 1919 un 1920. Hagam der bund iz geven militantish-yidishistish un sharf kegnerish tsu hebreish, hot di organizatsie keyn mol nisht gehaltn oder afile geklert, az men darf aroyftsvingen di bundishe shtelung tsu der shprakhn-frage oyf der yidisher gezelshaftlekhkayt mit koyekh un gevald-mayses (vi s'hot shpeter geton di Yevsektsie). Men darf oykh bamerkn, az di firershaft fun der Yevsektsie iz nisht bashtanan akh verak fun amolike bundistn. Der komisar far yidishe inyonim, Shimen Dimenshteyn, iz geven a yeshive-bokher mit smikhe oyf rabones, eyder er hot zikh ongeshlosn in der Bolshevistisher Partey; der redakter fun der tsentraler yidish-komunishtisher tsaytung, _Der emes_, Moyshe Litvakov, hot far der revolutsie gehert tsu der teritorialistisher S"S-Partey. 2. "The persecutors (of Hebrew in the early Soviet Union) were largely Yiddishists, who came out of the Yiddishist movement." Loy mit an alef. Di onfirendike yidishe komunistn in Sovetn-farband vos hobn geroydeft hebreish un di yidishe religie, hobn batrakht di yidishe shprakh un kultur bloyz vi mitlen oyf tsu farshpreytn dem komunism tsvishn yidn. Zey hobn farurteylt yidishizm vi a forem fun burzhuazn natsionalizm. Ot vos Shimen Dimenshteyn, der oybn dermonter komisar far yidishe inyonim, hot geshribn in 1918: "Mir (yidishe komunistn) zaynen ober oykh nit keyn fanatiker fun der yidisher shprakh. Zi vert far undz nisht keyn _yidish hakoydesh_, vi far andere, yidishe natsionalistn. Di shprakh iz far undz nit vikhtik. S'iz gants meglekh, az in der noentster tkufe veln di raykhere shprakhn fun di shtarkere un mer antviklte felker aroysshtupn in yedn land di yidishe shprakh. Mir komunistn veln oyf dem keyn trer nit fargisn, un mir veln gornit ton kdey tsu shtern der doziker dershaynung." Bay der Yevsektsie iz yidishizm geven a shem-gnay, a bashuldik-vort, vos men hot gekent nutsn kdey tsu bazaytikn a mentsh fun der arbet, oder im aroystsutraybn fun der partey. Eyn vikhtiker yevsekisher tuer, Aleksander Tshemerinski, hot gevornt zayne khaverim oyf a baratung in 1926: "Yeder pruv tsu batrakhtn di yidishe shprakh, di shul un azoy vayter zelbshtendik, nit vi a badinendike aynrikhtung farn sotsializm, muz zikh farvandlen in yidishizm -- in natsionalizm." 3."(Yiddishism) tried to read Jewish identity and Jewish history in terms of overall revolutionary ideology, and to see the Jews as a Diaspora people whose future lay in alliances with the political left.... Jewish Socialism and Yiddishism were very closely conjoined in the years we're talking about." Tsum teyl emes, ober farfirerish. In politishn lebn fun Rusland un Poyln iz der liberalizm geven a knaper koyekh, un s'hot koym eksistirt epes a mitele makhne tsvishn der rekhter reaktsye un dem linkn sotsializm. Yidn hobn noyte geven tsu sotsializm; genoyer, zey hobn geshafn kolerley kombinatsies fun sotsializm un yidishn natsionalizm. In Rusland far der revolutsye zaynen geven finf yidishe sotsialistishe hoypt parteyen -- yeder mit an anderer kombinatsye oder trop. A sakh yidishe sotsialistn zaynen nisht geven keyn _ortodoksishe_ marksistn, un a sakh hobn geleygt dem trop mer oyf zeyer natsionalizm vi oyf zeyer sotsializm. Der yishuv in Erets-Yisroel iz dokh oyfgeboyt gevorn durkh di sotsialistishe khalutsim fun der tsveyter alie, vos hobn oykh "oysgetaytsht de yidishe geshikhte un identitet loyt di bagrifn fun revolutsionerer ideologye." Oykh zey hobn gehaltn, az "Di tsukumft fun yidishn folk vent zikh in a bund mitn politishn links." Fundestvegn iz a guzme, az "sotsializm un yidishizm zaynen geven zeyer eng farbundn," hagam say bundistn, say tsienistn hobn yorn lang farshpreyt di o legende. Y.-L. Perets, eyner fun de foters funem modernem yidishizm, iz keyn mol nisht geven keyn bundist, un zayne batsiungen mitn bund un di andere linke parteyen bay yidn hobn zikh vos a mol farergert fun onhoyb yor hundert biz zayn toyt in 1915. In zayn barimtn esay "Hofenung un shrek" hot er gevornt, az di revolutsionere bavegung ken aleyn megulgl vern in an unterdriker un tseshterer. Portsies khsidishe, neoromantishe un simbolistishe verk hobn aroysgerufn umtsufridnkayt bay bundishe zhurnalistn un literatur-kritikers, un take tsulib yene verk iz Perets geven a problematisher shrayber far di yevsekes, un men hot zayne shafungen a sakh veyniker ibergedrukt in Sovetn-farband vi di verk fun Mendele un Sholem-Aleykhem. Nokh tsvey mesholim: Nosn Birnboym, der organizirer un forzitser fun der Tshernovitser shprakh-konferents (1908), iz geven azoy vayt fun sotsializm un klasnkamf kerakhoyk mizrekh mimayrev. Er iz damolt, in 1908, geven a reyner goles-natsionalist, vos hot gehaltn, az farshtarkn di eygene shprakh iz a noytiker faktor farn yidishn natsionaln kiem. Azoy oykh Noyekh Prilutski, der vikhtikster yidishistisher maneg in Poyln, un rosh fun der poylish-yidisher Folkspartey. A goles-natsionalist -- yo, ober a sotsialist -- neyn. 4. "Within the labor Zionist movement the Yidishists were a relatively small bloc." Nokh a falsher mitos. Der rov-minyen-verov-binyen fun di tsienistish-sotsialistishe bavegungen in Rusland un Poyln hobn ongenumen di shtelung, az yidish badarf zayn di dominirindike yidishe shprakh in goles, un hebreish -- dos dominirindike loshn in Erets-Yisroel, un az men darf farzikhern a tsveytike role far beyde leshoynes inem anderns _reshus_. Di o shtelung iz ofitsiel gutgeheysn gevorn bay der Kiever konferents fun di linke poyle-tsien in 1917 un bay der Varshever konferents fun di rekhte poyle-tsien in 1925. Poyle-tsienistn hobn geshpilt a gor khosheve role in der moderner yidisher kultur-bavegung. Di galitsishe poyle-tsien-organizatsye hot geholfn organizirn un durkhfirn di Tshernovitser shprakh konferents fun 1908, un a 20% fun di delegatn dortn zaynen geven poyle-tsienistn. Ber Borokhov (1881-1917), der foter un hoypt-teyoretiker fun proletarishn tsienizm, iz geven an ibergegebener yidishist un eyner fun di gruntleygers fun der moderner yidisher filologye. Oyf zayn matseyve oyfn Kiever beys-oylem iz geven oysgekritst a zats genumen fun zayne ksovim: "Di ershte zakh far yedn vakhndikn folk iz vern a har iber zayn eygener shprakh." Der yidishizm fun di poyle-tsienistishe parteyen in Rusland un Poyln hot geshafn shpanungen tsvishn zey un zeyere shvester-organizatsyes in Erets-Yisroel, vos zaynen geven shtreng hebreistish. 5. "The battle between Yiddish and Hebrew in Eastern Europe....was a battle over.... what would be taught in the schools, where money would be given to put out a newspaper. In 1916 on the eve of the revolution there was an enormously developed Hebrew educational network in Russia.... There were Hebrew day schools, Hebrew high schools." Reyshes-kol, a faktndike oysbeserung. Far der ershter velt-milkhome hobn kimat vi nisht eksistirt keyn hebreishe (oder yidish-shprakhike) togshuln in Rusland. Di tsarishe gezetsn hobn gefodert bay ale shuln, az men zol firn di limudim oyf rusish. Der barimter _kheyder-mesukn_ iz geven a tsugobshul far yidishe limudim, vu men hot gelernt nisht mer (un oft veyniker) vi a halbn tog. Der ibervegndiker rov yidishe kinder vos zaynen gegangen in epes a moderner shul (dos heyst nisht nor in traditsioneln kheyder) hobn zikh gelernt in rusishe melokhishe shuln oder in rusish-shprakhike private shuln unter yidishn patronazh. In di letste hot men gelernt yidishe limudim koym oyfn shpits meser. Di o _kleyne_ oysbeserung varft a likht oyf a gresern un vikhtikern inyen: Shoyn baym onhoyb yorhundert iz a vaksndiker kheylek fun yungn dor rusishe yidn geven shprakhik un kulturel rusifitsirt, un a hipsher kheylek fun der yidisher inteligents iz shoyn demolt geven analfabetish say oyf hebreish, say oyf yidish. (Nisht geven keyn eyn hebreishe togtsaytung in Rusland in di yorn 1906-1916, un eyn-eyntsike hebreishe togtsaytung iz aroys beys yene yorn in rusish-kontrolirtn Poyln.) Di yidishistishe bavegung hot gefirt ir _milkhome_ nisht beiker kegn hebreish, nor reyshes-kol kegn der shprakhiker asimilatsie. A sakh yidishistn, vi Y.-L. Perets un Nosn Birnboym, hobn gehat groys libshaft far der hebreisher shprakh un literatur, ober zey hobn gehaltn, az der tsil fun "hebreizirn dem goles" iz geven a total umreyalistisher antkegn dem tsil fun farshtarkn un modernizirn di yidishe mutershprakh. Di hebreistishe lozung, az men zol redn un shraybn "oy ivris oy rusish" (abi nisht keyn yidish ) hot, loyt zeyer aynzen, farzikhert dem nitsokhn fun polonizatsie bay yidn. Filologos zogt az er hot shtark lib di yidishe literatur, ober az er iz a kegner fun yidishizm. Ober der posheter emes iz, az on dem yidishizm volt di moderne yidishe literatur keyn mol nisht oyfgekumen. On der bavegung oyftsuheybn di roye folksshprakh un fun ir shafn a oysdruk-mitl far moderner yidisher kunst, dertsiung un visnshaft, voltn nisht tsu shtand gekumen di maysterverk fun Perets, Anski, Grade, Sutskever un andere. On dem shprakhikn natsionalizm funem yidishizm voltn a sakh mer mizrekh-eyropeishe yidn gegangen inem derekh funm daytshishn yidntum mit a yorhundert frier -- oyfgegebn zeyer loshn un ibergenumen di shprakh un kultur fun der nit-yidisher svive. Punkt vi in Daytshland, volt oykh in Mizrekh-eyrope di yidishe inteligents geshtanen beroysh fun dem dozikn protses, un vi a poyel-yoytse derfun voltn dos yidishe lebn, literatur, kultur un gedank faroremt gevorn eyn-leshaer. Efsher iz neytik az Filologos zol nokh etlekhe yor tsayt leyenen di moderne yidishe literatur, un oysbesern zayne kentenishn fun der moderner yidisher geshikhte, kdey er zol aynzen dem dozikn emes. ****Romanization by Leah Krikun ****** Glossary akh verak 'only' gzeyre-shove 'analogy; equivalence' kerakhoyk mizrekh mimayrev 'as East is far from West' kheyder-mesukn < Hebrew _cheder mesukon_ 'modernized elementary school' *Dr. Fishman is Associate Professor of Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. From July 1997 to January 1998 he will be a visiting professor at the Bar-Ilan University Yiddish Center. He is the author of _Russia's First Modern Jews_ (New York: New York University Press, 1955) and co-editor of _Yivo-bleter_ (New Series). 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thursday, 17 July 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: The Yiddish Poem Itself. *"Di tsvey lukhes" by Avrom-Nokhem Shtentsl (Abraham Nahum Stencl) (_Loshn un lebn_ June 1951, p. 4) Di tsvey lukhes hot got aleyn oysgekritst, Beshum-ofn hot es a mentsh gekent zayn, Vorem vi azoy volt der "loy tirtsach" Tsvishn di aseres hadibres arayn. Un farvos af tsvey lukhes zey oysgekritst, Es muz dokh derfar a tam geven zayn! Az ale tsen gebot af eynem aruf, Hot got nisht gefunen aza groysn shteyn? Oyb di lukhes veln vern tsebrokhn, Yede helft a matseyve vet blaybn shteyn. Eyne far di mentshhayt oysgekoylete, Di tsveyte, kavyokhl shoyn, far got aleyn. *Translation ('God alone etched the Two Tablets, It could not have been Man; For one of the Ten Commandments Says "Thou Shalt Not Kill"! And there must have been a reason Why the tablets number two; For God could have put it all On one single slab of rock. If ever the tablets are broken, Each half will be a memorial stone; One for murdered Mankind And the other, inconceivably, for God alone.') [LP] *Commentary The notion of "got shtelt far zikh aleyn a matseyve" ('God puts up a gravestone for himself') is of course bizarre and hardly conceivable, as the poet indicates in his words "shoyn kavyokhl." But the God of this poem is the compassionate lover of humankind, without whom his own being seems meaningless. There must be some significance in the fact that _kavyokhl_ is also a name for God, who encompasses and absorbs the very question of his possible disappearance/absconding. Everyone who has sung "Echod mi yodea" ('Who knows One?') deep into the night at the Passover Seder knows that the answer to the second question, "Shnaim mi yodea?" ('Who knows two?') is "Shney lukhoys habris" / "Shney lukhot habrit") ('two tablets of the Ten Commandments'). What Stencl does is to ask a further question: Who knows why these tablets are two? These are tablets of a _covenant_, as implied in the Hebrew/Yiddish _brit_/_bris_, which in Stencl's poem becomes a universal one. In addition to its own midrashic qualities, this poem suggests analogies with the Ovidian tradition in Western literature where the poet asks how flora and fauna came to be what they are. Herbert and others in the seventeenth century devised ingenious conceits, sometimes (e.g. "The Pulley") in a scripturally-inspired Hebraic vein. But Stencl's poem is not concerned with metamorphoses in nature or with poetic conceits. The biblical Tablets of the Law are somehow powerfully present to our imagination and our conscience. Stencl's poem appeared originally in the journal he edited for forty years, _Loshn un lebn_, as a kind of coda to three short essays on Shvues [Shevuot] 'the Feast of Weeks', which celebrates God's giving of the Law to the Children of Israel. The poem implies that if humankind disappears it will be because of mutual slaughter. God will mourn the loss and place a memorial stone for remembrance, using one-half of the tablets of Life. He will use the second half for his own memorial stone, since life without his children is Death for him. The Shoa and humankind's capacity for destruction are on Stencl's mind as well as the Neitzschean notion that God is dead and the Jewish idea of God Himself being in Exile or hiding His face. Though two, the tablets are usually represented as a single image, as in the two tablets over the ark in many synagogues. The "half" of which the poem speaks is therefore a single tablet. The human:divine relationship symbolized by Stencl's pair of stone tablets may be read as an ideal type of pairedness, other forms being male:female, one:many, native:stranger, parent:child, etc. In all these relationships, both sides are vulnerable -- even the Almighty when Humankind turns cruel. This poem provides opportunity for discussing some prosodic questions. Stencl was from near Bendin, a dialectal pocket first described by Prilutski (as explained by Dovid Katz). As a speaker of Central Yiddish he would have said /shtayn/ 'stone' and 'stand'. How would someone who spoke SEY and said /shteyn/ read the 8th line? Would he be satisfied with a half-rhyme plus eye-rhyme and read /shteyn/? Or would he shift dialects for that word and read /shtayn/? Nokhem Stutshkov (_Yidisher gramen leksikon_, 1931, p. 20, writes that "/ey/* gegramt mit /ay/**... iz a spetsifish galitsianer gram, velkhn men bagegnt ober zeyer zeltn." [*= tseyre tsvey yudn; **= pasekh tsvey yudn] Shtentsl was not a galitsianer. In a private communication Meyer-Leyb Volf explained to me that: "The forced rhyme of the 6th & 8th lines assumes the "dissonance" of the standard pronunciation and Shtentsl's own. Moshe Altbauer in _Field of Yiddish II_ touches on similar forced rhymes in Bialik's Yiddish poetry. The phenomenon is pretty common where dialect pronunciation has not yet been subdued by the standard pronunciation. I think there's a lot of literature on the matter in German and I recall reading something on Chaucer's rhyming which also addressed it."[LP] ------------------------------------------------------------- End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.013 Leonard Prager, editor Send articles to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il Send change-of-status messages to: listproc@lists.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele mail postpone b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail ack c. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. 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