_The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 05.012 30 September 2001 Sukes Numer [Sukkot Issue] 1) Mendele Moykher-Sforim's "di kliatshe" and the Palestinians (ed.) 2) A selection from "Di kliatshe" (Mendele Moykher-Sforim) 3) Mendele on "Yidishe parnoses" ['Jewish occupations'] -- A view from Israel 4) A Note on Shmuel Izban (ed.) 5) Shmuel Izban's _Umlegale: yidn shpaltn yamen_ (Samuel Z. Klausner) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 30 September 2001 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Mendele Moykher-Sforim's "di kliatshe" and the Palestinians (ed.) In a recent article on the op-ed page of Israel's _HaAretz_ newspaper, Ariel Hirschfeld, an impressively wide-ranging and knowledgeable critic of literature and the arts, enlists one of the works of our eponymous master, Mendele Moykher-Sforim (whom we affectionately call simply "Mendele"), to register a point in Israel's central dialogue on "What went wrong at Camp David?" and, indeed, in Israeli-Palestinian relations generally. Hirschfeld opens with a quotation from a speech that Prime Minister Sharon gave not long ago at an assembly of Israeli school teachers: "Israel wishes to give the Palestinians what no one before her has given them -- the possibility of establishing a state. Neither the Turks, the British, the Egyptians, nor the Jordanians have offered them such an opportunity." This utterance strikes Hirschfeld as patronizing and stirs his recollection of a passage spoken by the broken-down mare in Mendele's partly realistic, partly symbolic "Susati" [Yiddish: "Di kliatshe" ('The Nag')], where the animal represents the Jewish People (the spirit within her is that of an ancient Hebrew prince). Hirschfeld cites a long passage from Mendele's story and concludes: "No one who knows what national pride is will nurse the illusion that it is his to 'give' someone a state." Hirschfeld -- who, incidentally, neglects to mention that the Hebrew text he so admires is a translation (or recasting) from Yiddish -- rightly praises Mendele's sharp, clean Hebrew style in "Susati" and expresses his regret that the story is no longer read and that few Israeli teachers are even capable of reading it. [See Ariel Hirschfeld, "ma ata omer, patroni? / Ariel Sharon vesusato shel mendele," _Haaretz_ 28/09/2001, p. B1 [Ariel Hirschfeld, "What do you say, my patron? / Ariel Sharon and Mendele's Mare"]. I give a romanization of the Yiddish original of the passage that Hirschfeld quotes, conforming the spelling to modern standards. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 30 September 2001 From: Leonard Prager Subject: A selection from "Di kliatshe" (Mendele Moykher-Sforim) mendele moykher-sforim, _di kliatshe_, krakow: mendele farlag, 1911 [band III, di verk fun mendele moykher sforim, yubileum oysgabe], pp. 117-118. ikh bin glaykh vi ale, zogt mit rekht dos dozike bashefenish, fleysh un blut zenen mir ale, undzer baderfenishn zenen glaykh, un eyn rekht oyf tsu lebn hobn mir ale. hot yener oyf mir rakhmones, heyst es azoy fil, vi ikh leb nor in zayn skhus; er -- hot yo dos rekht tsu lebn, un ikh -- nit! in gantsn vos ikh halt mikh, vos ikh zhipe, hob ikh es tsu fardanken im, nor im -- , in der tsayt az mir beyde zenen gants glaykhe bashefenishn mit eynerley* badarfenishn, lozt mir yener lebn, vayl ikh breng im nutsn, heyst es azoy fil, er iz der takhles, der iker, un ikh leb nor, makhmes dermit toyg ikh im, far mir aleyn volt ikh nisht gedarft bashafn vern. ikh vil ober lebn glaykh vi andere, glat vayl ikh bin oykh a bashefenish far mir. farshteyst du mikh, mayn meylets-yoysher, mayn baremhartsiker har? oyf ayer baremhartsikayt un oyf dem, vos ir kent fun mir hobn nutsn, deroyf ken ikh klal mikh nisht soymekh zayn. morgn vert dir, tsu al di shvarts yor, farshtokt dos harts, bist in a shlekhtn loyne ['shtimung'], oder ikh vel dir eyn mol nisht kenen tsushteln di tsol tsigl akurat, -- verst du broygez, gist oyf mir oys dayn tsorn -- un es vert plutsem a tel fun mir! az ir vet mit mir zikh banemen mit gerekhtikayt, azoy vi ir banemt zikh mit andere, denstmol zest du veln mir shmuesn mikoyekh kuntsn. in gute umshtandn, in voyltog, mekhteyse, krikhn in kop azelkhe zakhn. du vest afile farshporn mir tsu zogn denstmol droshes. ha, vos zogst du dertsu, mayn harinke? *eynerley -- a vort vos me treft zeltn un vos batayt 'zelbe'. in _yidishe shprakh_ band 3, numer 3 (1943), z' 79 bamerkt yudl mark: "fun eynerley foter un muter" = "fun di zelbike tate-mame" (l.p.) 3)---------------------------------------------------------- Date: 30 September 2001 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Mendele on "Yidishe parnoses" ['Jewish occupations'] -- A view from Israel In the past few years a goodly number of Israeli high-tech firms have moved from start-up status to that of international players and have subsequently been purchased for billions of dollars by some of the most powerful companies in the world. On the morrow of the four-and-a-half-billion-dollar acquisition of the Israeli company Chromatis, a bright young venture-capital executive gave an interview to _HaAretz_ in which he made several points of possible interest to Yiddishists. 1) These fabulous sales were not money made from money, but from invention. 2) Israelis, as opposed to, say Frenchmen, had enterpreneurial pluck and were not afraid to take risks -- a quality doubtless inherited from diasporan forebears who struggled against every manner of oppression and discrimination to survive economically. The archetypal "luftmentsh" is the _mekler_, whose total stock in trade consists of acumen, tirelessness and wiles. He owns nothing, he sells anything. He seeks out a buyer -- of any commodity or service -- and then finds a seller; he seeks out a seller and then finds a buyer. He lives on the commissions earned. If he deals in used clothes, he is a _mekler_; if he deals in dry goods, he is a _soykher_; if he deals in properties or in bank loans, he is a _finantsir_. The high-tech industry is not the first instance in Jewish history where Jews created value through invention rather than mere commerical transactions -- numerous inventions can be listed. Jews pioneered in many of the technical as well as institutional changes in such industries as the (typically "Jewish") garment industry. Our interviewee implied that inventiveness is a particularly Israeli trait, and there is no doublt about the Israeli penchant for improvisation, for doing things simpler and cheaper -- qualities which have been translated into impressive technological and other achievements in what is undoubtedly a dynamic society. Much of the technical expertise that feeds the Israeli hothouse is born in Silicon Valley, a familiar diaspora for many Israelis. Israeli hightech success is largely an instance of happy adoption/adaptation and emulation of American methods and knowhow. An Israeli-American symbiosis of sorts reminds us of the German-Jewish symbiosis, whcih saw immense creativity of every kind -- scientific included -- which grew out of the Teutonic-Judaic cultural engagement. Companies which "invent" and do not merely "make money with money" (as by stock investments, etc.) are totally dependent on money loans ("venture capital") even to begin to breathe. Israeli companies succeed only if they learn to behave as do diasporan Jews behave when doing business. Our interviewee acknowledges a genetic advantage whose source is the often disparaged "galut" ('exile; diaspora'; Yiddish: _goles_). (In contemporary Israeli Hebrew _galuti_ is normally pejorative.) There may be a touch of chauvinism here. Risk capitalism was not invented by the Jews nor have they been the majority practitioners in this field -- though names like George Soros carry weight. Yiddish literature immortalizes the _mekler_, the Menakhem-Mendl who believes he can translate a hint, a wish, a fantasy into profit. A special genre shoots its barbs against "yidishe parnoses" ('Jewish occupations'), a term which has a double meaning. It can refer to all typically Jewish occupations (tailoring, etc.) and more narrowly, to all those services and provisions of special goods (e.g. prayer shawls) bound up with Jewish ritual and holiday observance -- with "yidishkayt" -- and which Jews can only sell to one another. And which they do sell to one another even when they are deep in poverty. Those who engage in "yidishe parnoses" are mocked by Yiddish writers, often in a self-ironic way. It is Ironic, too, that Israel more than anywhere else has seen a renaissance of diasporan "Jewish businessess" -- behold the troops of kashrut inspectors who sit in Israeli cafeterias and restaurants, dairies, slaughterhouses, hospitals, hundreds of rewarded supporters of the religious parties. The politicization of religion in Israel has given a new meaning to "yidishe parnoses" -- so many of which always carried the sense of misfortune and miserableness. In Israel the mashgiekh post, to name one conspicuous Judaic vocation,is more apt to be regarded as a prize than as a shlimazl's pathetic livelihood. Here are some fine descriptions by Mendele of "yidishe parnoses," by which he means typical Jewish vocations, including many of those bound up with religious institutions and practice. Mendele's satire is born of revulsion, and yet he cannot help but love those whom he mocks. (a) ikh hob, borekh hashem, azoy vi ir kukt mikh on oto, a matone fun zayn libn nomen, a keyle a kol negine, un davn musfim yomim neroim in der svive, ikh bin a moyel un a matse-redler eyner in der velt, ikh fir amol oys a shidekh, fir ikh oys; ikh hob a shtot, azoy vi ir kukt mikh on oto, in der shul. haynt halt ikh aykh, tsvishn undz zol es blaybn, a sheynkl, vos melkt zikh tsu bislekh; ikh hob a tsig, vos melkt zikh kinehore zeyer gut, un hob nit vayt fun danen a raykhn korev oto, vos lozt zikh unter a shlekhter tsayt oykh a bisl melkn. haynt khuts di ale zakhn, zog ikh aykh oto, iz got a tate un di kinder yisroel zaynen rakhmonim bney rakhmonim.... [mendele moykher-sforim, _masoes binyomin hashlishi_] _______________ (b) a knelung, a kleytl, oder a sheynkl [mendele moykher-sforim, _seyfer hagilgulim_] ____________ (c) er iz a hegdesh-man, a kvores-yid, a shames in der khevre-kedishe, a mashgiekh in zayn biker-khoylim, a vashti-hamalke oder a mondrish in purim, a farshtelter ber mit an ibergekerter pelts in simkhes-toyre, a sarver, an onshteln-makher. a vertl-zoger oyf ale khasenes un brisn -- hot er nokh a parnose dertsu, tsu makhn kholevdike likhtlekh. [mendele moykher-sforim, _fishke der krumer_] ____________ (d) parnoses [note plural form --ed.] iz kinehore do in glupsk, vi shtern in himl! vifl kheyder-yinglekh, azoy fil iz dort do melamdim un bahelfers; vifl bakhurim mit meydlekh, azoy fil shatkhonim; vifl koynim, azoy fil kremer; vifl balebatim, azoy fil batlonim; vifl gasn, azoy fil shuln, kloyzn. bote-midroshim un minyonim. un punkt azoy fil iz do khazonim, gaboim, shamosim, bal-koyres, un bal-tkies; vifl khsidim fun farsheydene rabe'im, azoy fil rabonim, dayonim, un shokhtim; vifl matses azoy fil beker, kneterns, reydler un mashgikhim; vifl shlek mit veytikn azoy fil opshprekher, bale-toyves, ko'ols straptshes un moysrim. khuts dem darf men tsurekhenen di kaptsansker shenker, di shmate-hendler, di farleger mit di mekhabrim, mit di redaktorn mit di moykher-sforimnikes... [mendele moykher-sforim, _tsurik aheym_] Note: all the above citations are taken from Yoysef Kutsenogi [Joseph Kaitz (Kutzenogy)], ed. _Kleyn mendele_ , New York, 1931, pp. 77-78. Kutsenogi is both the compiler of this collection of quotations from the works of Mendele Moykher-Sforim, and the publisher as well. The book was printed by "Nobos-Drukeray," which I take to be 'No Boss Printers' (located at 129 Lafayette St., New York, NY). There were a number of Yiddish printers in this period who were anarchists; perhaps 'Nobos' is one of them. -- L.P. 4)---------------------------------------------------------- Date: 30 September 2001 From: Leonard Prager Subject: A Note on Shmuel Izban Shmuel Izban [Samuel Isban] was a Polish-born Yiddish and Hebrew journalist and writer in Palestine and later in New York. Until settling in America in 1937, when he was 32, he was one of the Yishuv's more notable Yiddish authors, his earliest fiction dealing with local Arab life. For many years he wrote for _Der morgn-zhurnal_, and later _Der tog_, and it was as a writer for the former that he accompanied a blockade-running ship of refugees to the shores of Erets-Yisrael in 1947. According to the _Leksikon fun der yidisher literatur_ (vol. 1, 1956, cols. 52-53), Izban's book on illegal immigration was translated into English, Hebrew, and Spanish. This raises the importance of the Yiddish version, the original source of observations and descriptions which many readers presumably encountered in translation. Izban saw things (e.g. the naivete of many of the American volunteers, the pettiness of some of the crew, which included adventurers as well as idealists) which later studies of careful researchers corroborate. Written in Yiddish for a deeply responsive and concerned audience, the book conveys a sense of history-in-the-making that could not have been more vivid in that post-World War II period of recovery and reconstruction were it composed in any other language. In addition to being a working journalist, Izban was a prolific imaginative writer. He published a dozen or so short stories as well as review essays in the prestigious (now defunct) _Di goldene keyt_. Perhaps he is one of the many Yiddish writers of the past century who need to be systematically revisited. Our thanks to Samuel Klausner for rediscovering Izban's book on aliya bet. [Note: Izban's books can still be bought. The Y.L. Perets Publishing House (14 Brener St., Tel-Aviv 63826, Israel / tel. 972-03-5281751 / fax 972-3-5257983) offers his _a valfish in yafo -- dertseylung_ for $10.00.-- ed.] 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 30 September 2001 From: Samuel Z. Klausner Subject: Review of Shmuel Izban's 1948 _Umlegale: yidn shpaltn yamen_ Izban, Shmuel [Isban, Samuel]. _Umlegale: yidn shpaltn yamen: di geshikhte fun an umlegale rayze keyn erets-yisroel ("Illegal": Jews Ply the Seas: The History of an Illegal Transport to Palestine). Buenos-Aires: Tsentral farband fun poylishe yidn in argentina, 1948. Reviewed by Samuel Z. Klausner Isban was an eyewitness to the voyage of the _Hatikvah_ from Southern France to Genoa and to Haifa. He accompanied its 1500 passengers who were transferred to detention camps in Cyprus. Why review a book more than half a century after its publication? Because it has not appeared on any of the AVI [_American Veterans of Israel_] bibliographies of works on aliya bet [illegal immigration].(1) Isban, author of around twenty books on Zionism and Israel, all in Yiddish, accepted an assignment from the New York newspaper; _Der morgn-zhurnal_, to report on efforts to bring Jews into Palestine in the face of the British blockade. His tale begins at an art gallery in New York where young Jews, "the best of American youth," had gathered as volunteer sailors, "sea wolves," along with young gentiles eager to defend Jews. The flames of Maidanek, Isban writes, not only burned six million of Israel's children but also ignited the enthusiasm and resoluteness of a portion of Jewish youth in America, The ship, built in 1896, was bought in Baltimore by American supporters of the Haganah and sent to Miami for conversion. Originally, the ship had served as a Co ast Guard patrol vessel but had, in its dotage, been carrying Hudson River cargo. A stormy Atlantic crossing brought it to Southern France where Isban, guided by members of the Haganah, boarded. It would sail to Genoa where, with the help of Italian dock workers, it picked up its human cargo of survivors of concentration camps, "the living dead." Sidney Yellin from Baltimore was the captain. His crew included Sidney's brother Sol Yellin, Hugh MacDonald, a Catholic from San Francisco and a Stanford and Harvard graduate, Adrian (Abraham) Phillips from New York, trained as a mechanical engineer, who served as Second Engineering officer. Isban said Phillips knew no Yiddish and dressed like an opium smuggler. Harold Katz, born in Rumania and brought to the United States as an infant, was raised in Indiana and followed his rabbi father to a pulpit in Newport. Katz had been a naval officer in World War II. Norman Lewis, a product of Yeshivas Eyts Khayim in Brooklyn, hoped to remain in Palestine. He was a fireman aboard the ship. Joseph Gilden had served four years in the U.S. Army and intended to join a kibbutz, Herman J. Braverman, a former commander in the maritime service, became Chief Engineer. Murray (Mordechai) Greenfield, also a merchant marine veteran, fulfilled a number of shipboard duties including cooking. Bernard Lerner, Second Mate, was a veteran of the Lincoln Brigade in Spain and hated England. August Labeczewski, a Polish Catholic, had had nine years of shipboard experience. He fulfilled a variety of duties. Aboard, but not a crew memher, was a Catholic priest representing the Christian Committee for a Jewish Palestine. Off the coast of Lebanon, the _Hatikvah_ was surrounded by six British warships, two of which drew alongside and, after a warning, threw up a bridge between the ships. British troops swarmed aboard and were met by a stiff resistance from the passengers. Some were veterans of Stalingrad and ghetto fighters. Using tear gas and truncheons the British managed to take control of the engine room and the wheel and tuned the ship toward Haifa. The passengers were disembarked there and transferred to a transport to Cyprus. Isban relates how he accompanied the [maapilim] to the detention camp in Cyprus. He was discovered and brought back to Haifa for interrogation about his contacts in Europe and jailed. Isban tells of being brought to Lod airport for deportation His guard was an Arab policeman who argued that the Jews and Arabs could live together in peace were it not for the British. The book was completed in 1947 before the UN Partition plan and the declaration of a Jewish state. Thus, Isban brings a picture of aliya bet unaffected by the experience of the War of Independence and the shift to the view of the Arab as enemy. Samuel Z. Klausner ------------------------ 1. [_The AVI Newsletter_ (Summer 2001), 4,6]. American Veterans of Israel; Volunteers in Israel's War of Independence; United States and Canadian Volunteers, 130 East 39th Street, New York, N.Y., 10016. http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~sklausne/aviweb.html ____________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ 05.012 Leonard Prager, editor Subscribers to _Mendele_ (see below) automatically receive _The Mendele Review_. Send "to subscribe" or 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/tmrarc.htm