The Mendele
Review: Yiddish Literature and Language
(A Companion to MENDELE)
---------------------------------------------------------
Contents of Vol.
11.010 [Sequential No. 187]
Date:
"There are some who consider its early disappearance by no means a
certainty." [Helena Frank in 1906]
1) This issue of TMR (ed).
2) Helena
Frank's 1906 Y.-L. Perets Volume
3) Leo Wiener's Predictions, 1899
4) Mendl Man's Historic Volume of Verse, Communist
5) New Volume of Poems by Boris Karloff,
2007 (ed.)
6) The Incredible Rose Bilbool (ed.)
1)---------------------------------------------------
Date:
From: ed.
Subject: This
issue of TMR
* Yiddish has often been the victim of wobbly predictions. In
1906 Helena Frank, the first translator of Yiddish into English, saw the
possibility of a flourishing Yiddish culture in a "Free Russia" where
in her day the great mass of Jews were Yiddish-speakers. For a brief period
Yiddish did flourish in the
2)----------------------------------------------------
Date:
From: ed.
Subject: Helena Frank's 1906 Perets Volume, reprinted
1936
In the "Preface" to her Perets
translations, Helena Frank recomments Leo Wiener as a
source of information on Perets. Unlike the author of
our first systematic history of Yiddish literature, she is hesitant in
predicting the demise of Yiddish: "The future of Yiddish in a Free Russia
is hard to tell. There are some who consider its early disappearance by no
means a certainty." She cites Perets' metaphoric
appeal for Jews to cultivate their own soil, words that express a widespread
cultural nationalism but not Zionism. Mendl Mann in
an historic volume of verse discussed below employs the same equally ambiguous
agricultural imagery. Frank's projection of a "Free Russia" -- in
which she was far from alone in 1906 -- proved to be one of the most tragic
illusions of all times.
3)----------------------------------------------------`
Date:
From: ed.
Subject: Leo Wiener's Predictions
In The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century (London:
John C. Nimmo, 1899), Harvard professor Leo Wiener
wrote in his "Preface": The purpose of this work will be attained if
it throws some light on the mental attitude of a people whose literature is
less known in the world than that of the Gypsy, the Malay, or the North
American Indian." [p. xi] In his
"Introduction" he wrote: It is hard to foretell the future of Judeo-German.
In
Wiener's speculations invite the following comments:
1.) There is today an extensive literature – texts, criticism, multi-media – on Yiddish literature, language and culture.
2.) Yiddish is taught in many universities the world over. 3.) Yiddish
is now a universally accepted name and Judeo-German is no longer used
(except by a few specialists who are uncomfortable with Western Yiddish.
4.) Yiddish has been in decline but there are still many speakers. In any
event, "extinction" does not appear imminent. 5.) Mass influx of
immigrants to
4)-----------------------------------------------------
Date:
From: ed.
Subject: Mendl Man's Historic Volume of Verse,
Communist
In Mendl Man's Di shtilkeyt mont; lider un baladn (The Quiet Demands its Due; Poems and Ballads), Lodz: Borokhov Farlag, 1945 [aroysgegebn bay der mithelf fun ts(entral) k(omitet)
fun der yidisher arbeter-partey "poyl-tsien"
in Poyln], Nakhmen Blumental (1905-1983), the Holocaust researcher, writes in
the "Foreword" (p.4): "Di shtilkeyt mont iz dos ershte yidishe bukh, vos dershaynt
in nay-oyfgeshtanenen Poyln.
Vi shver s'zol
nisht zayn dos itstike lebn oyf
di khurves fun poylishn yidntum, muzn mir ober
shtrebn oyftsushteln umatum dos, vos iz tseshtert gevorn.
Farheyln di vunden. Deriber batrakhtn mir dos dershaynen fun dem bukh yidishe
lider vi an onheyb fun der banayung fun dem yidishn literarishn shafn in poyln." [The
Quiet Demands Its Due is the first Yiddish book to appear in
newly-restored
מענדל מאַן
מײַן תּפֿילה
אָ גאָט! װאָס האָסט מײַן פֿאָלק אױסדערװײלט צום
רום,
כּדי דער פֿײַנט זאָל אונדז אױסװײלן צום אומקום.
האָסט אונדז געגעבן קלאָרע און ליכטיקע אױגן,
כּדי פֿינסטערניש זאָל אײביק אױף זײ לױערן.
מיר האָבן אין דײַן נאָמען ליבע צו מענטשן
געטראָגן
און געװען – דער אָנזאָג פֿון העלן מאָרגן,
און ס'האָט דאָס סאַמע שװאַרצטע פֿון דער נאַכט
דאָס פֿאָלק – דײַן אױסדערװײלטס אומגעבראַכט.
ס'ברענט די שׂינאה – צו די אײנצל-געבליבינע פֿון
מײַן פֿאָלק,
װי אַ ניט פֿאַרלאָשענער שײַטער.
אָ, גאָט! הער מײַן קול.
איך װיל מער ניט זײַן דער אױסדערװײלטער!
אָ גאָט! אױב ביסט דאָ,
גיב מיר פֿון יעדן פּשוטן פּױער די רו,
װאָס אַקערט דורות
די זעלבע ערד פֿון אורזײדעס.
בענטש מײַנע הענט צו שװערסטע מי,
אױף מײַן אײגענעם פּלײן,
פֿון זײַן מיט זיך און דיר אַלײן,
אַז ס'זאָל מײַן שפּאַן ניט אָפּשטײן
פֿון אַלעמענס טריט,
אַז ס'זאָל ניט אומעטיקער קלינגען מײַן ליד.
אָ, גאָט!
פֿאַרלעש די שׂינאה – דעם נאָך ניט דערברענטן
פֿלאַם!
נעם אַראָפּ מיר די לאַסט פֿון אַן אױסדערװײלטן
שטאַם!
אױב ביסט דאָ,
אוּן מײַן תּפֿילה דו הערסט,
גיב מיר פֿון יעדן פּשוטן פּױער די רו,
וואָס אַקערט זײַן אײגענע ערד.
(ז' 38)
--------------------------
mayn
tfile
o got! vos host mayn folk oysderveylt tsum rum,
kedey
der faynt zol undz oysveyln
tsum umkum.
host undz gegebn klore un likhtike oygn,
kedey
finsternish zol eybkik oyf zey
loyern.
mir hobn in dayn nomen libe tsu mentshn getrogn
un geven – der onzog fun heln morgn,
un s'hot dos same shvartste fun der nakht
dos folk – dayn oysderveylts umgebrakht.
s'brent di sine – tsu di eyntsl-geblibine fun mayn folk,
vi a nit farloshener shayter.
o, got! her
mayn kol.
ikh vil mer nit zayn der oysderveylter!
o got! oyb bist do,
gib mir fun yedn poshetn poyer di ru,
vos akert doyres
di zelbe erd fun urzeydes.
bentsh mayne hent tsu shverste mi,
oyf mayn eygenem pleyn,
fun zayn mit zikh un dir aleyn,
az s'zol mayn shpan nit opshteyn
fun alemens trit,
az s'zol nit umetiker klingen mayn lid.
o, got!
farlesh di sine – dem nokh nit derbrentn flam!
nem
arop mir di last fun an oysderveyltn shtam!
oyb
bist do,
un mayn tfile du herst,
gib mir fun yedn poshetn poyer di ru,
vos akert zayn eygene erd.
5)-----------------------------------------------------
Date:
From: ed.
Subject: New Volume of Poems by Boris Karloff (ed.)
Boris Karloff. Katoves on a zayt. Nekhtike lider
1993-2001. [I
kid you not! Poems of Yesteryears]. Jerusalem: Farlag "Eygns", 2007.
Foreword by H. Binyamin. Photo on front
cover by Artur Fratczak (Tulchin, May 2007), 62 pages.
ISBN-978-965-7188-45-3.
In "A tfile" ('A
Prayer') the father asks for protection from the "mayler"
('mouths') that often embitter the life of talents greater than theirs. "Bashirem mir," he
pleads, "Protect me." In "Shir
ha shirem" ('Song of the Umbrella'
), the son plays on the biblical name of "The Song of Songs" –
Shir haShirim,
relaxedly turning a song into an umbrella, an
instance of his verbal playfulness. Against unsympathetic academic voices he
musters his irony, the katoves of the title
and his poetic wit. We see this in "In flug":
"Ikh un professor shmeruk,/Mir kenen zikh,
dakht zikh, shoyn yorn, --" and "Di zibn heldn":
"In undzer sheyner un farshemter dire/Hobn zikh pasyelet zibn
voyle ire…" Karloff's
ear for dialecticisms joins his filial piety in the moving "Itset. In "Far fri,"
the poet leaves the petty world behind and, with the control often seen in the
verse of Kerler senior, pens a fine lyrical
meditation.
Karloff feels free to
soak up clichés from many sources and readers will respond differently
to this quirk. A native English speaker inevitably hears the poet's "Kh'ob mayn harts forlorn in Khlandidno" ('I lost my heart in Llandudno
Junction') as a worn-out phrase and will free-associate to the many popular
songs beginning with the line "I lost my heart in..." In defence of this practice one can argue that Karloff consciously makes his verse contemporary and will Yiddishize English words and names as he sees fit – e.g. Dzhankshon ('Junction').
This issue began on the theme of "wobbly predictions"
for the future of Yiddish. The kind of vitality Yiddish poetry calls for in
2007 is not forthcoming in large servings, but Karloff's
latest slim volume makes one almost optimistic.
Father: Yoysef Kerler's "A tfile"
יוסף
קערלער
אַ
תפֿילה
רבונו של עולם, דײַן גנאָד
און דײַן חסד!
צי
בין איך דאָס װערט און צי קאָן איך פֿאַרגעסן׃
צעפֿליקט, מיט
דײַן הילף, כ'האָב די קנעכטישע פּענט,
בשלום
אַרױס פֿון גזלנישע הענט,
אַ הײם
האָסט געבראַכט מיר מיט קינד
און מיט װײַב
און
ברױט כ'האָב צו זעט און אַ מלבוש צום לײַב,
נאָר טאַטעניו־פֿאָטער,
מײַן ליכטיקער האַר,
היט אױס מיך אַצינד פֿון אַ נײַער געפֿאַר׃
בײַ קײנעם
ניט מאַך אין די אױגן מיר גרױס,
פֿאַרפּאַנצער מײַן האַרץ קעגן קלײנלעכע פֿײַלן
–
פֿון
גױישע הענט כ'בין בשלום אַרױס,
באַשיץ און באַשירעם פֿון ייִדישע מײַלער!
[אַלמאַנאַך ייִדישע שרײַבער פֿון ירושלים, 1973, ע'
63.]
[כלל-שפּראַך׃ פּענטעס]
Son: Boris Karloff's "Far fri"
פֿאַר פֿרי
קום
שפּעט בײַ נאַכט פֿון שטוב אַרױס
װען קײנער קערט
ניט הערן
און
קוק זיך צו װי אײַן און אױס
עס זשומען
קלאָר די שטערן.
און
װען דערזען דו װעסט דעם זשום,
װעסטו פֿאַר זיך געפֿינען
דעם שאַ־און־שטיל
פֿון שטערן־שפּיל,
פֿון
אײביקן נגינה.
און
װען דער קלאָרער
שטערן־טרעל
װעט
טרײסטן דיך ביז טרערן,
װעסט דאַן דײַן האַרץ
װי
ס'האַרץ פֿון װעלט
דערשפּירן און דערהערן.
קום
שפּעט בײַ נאַכט פֿון זיך אַרױס
װען קײנער קערט
ניט שטערן
און
האָרך זיך אײַן –
װעלט אײַן,
װעלט אױס –
אין
זשום פֿון זײַן און װערן.
Note:
I have taken the liberty to diverge
from the authors' spelling in a few particulars (indicated by red-coloring), as
required by the Takones fun yivo .
Thus I give bay nakht and far fri as separate words. I
distinguish tsvey yudn
(ey) from pasekh tsvey yudn (ay). It is
important to be able to see the difference between leyb
(lion) and layb (body), between eyn and ayn. Native
speakers do not require the Takones to
understand and read Yiddish aloud, but even for them a single widely accepted
rational spelling system is a desideratum.
6)-----------------------------------------------------------
Date:
From: ed.
Subject: The Incredible Rose Bilbool (ed.)
Roz Bilbool. Be-guf rishon: ma'ase be-ma'asim. mi-siget
le-yerushalayim, בעריכת
רותי זקוביץ
[Rose Bilbool. Personally Speaking: Deeds Recounted
from Siget to
I know of no
one in the world of Yiddish studies who is more deeply involved in extensive,
time-consuming research projects than Hebrew University Professor of Yiddish Yechiel Szeintuch, keen student
of the writings of Yoysef Tunkl
(Der tunkeler), Ka-Tsetnik, Yitskhok Katsenelson Yeshayohu Shpigl, Arn Tseytlin,
Yankev Fridman, Mortkhe Shtrigler and others. Yet
this scholar, together with a small band of diligent helpers, spent months and
months interviewing an elderly woman whose métier was in no way
connected with Yiddish, but -- exotic though this may sound – with
the papaya plant, of whose multiple medicinal and cosmetic applications she may
justly claim to be the world leader. Interviewing Rose Bilbool,
whose very name excites speculation, was a self-powering experience for the
interviewer who framed the questions and taped the replies (in Hebrew), the
transcriber of over a year's accumulation of tapes, the ground editor of the
bulk work who brought it into orderly shape and, finally, the style editor who
swept away inconsistencies. In her mid-nineties while this adventure in
autobiography proceeded, it developed into a gripping personal history, which
is also a mirror of the larger events in which it has been enacted.
Rose Bilbool, as a quick internet check via Google will
show, is no obscure personage. Much is known of her papaya work in
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
End of The
Mendele Review Vol. 11.010
Editor, Leonard
Prager
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://yiddish.haifa.ac.il/tmr/tmr.htm
Yiddish Theatre Forum archives can be reached at: http://yiddish.haifa.ac.il/tmr/ytf/ytf.htm
Mendele on the web: http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~mendele/index.utf-8.htm
***