_The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Language and Literature (A Companion to _MENDELE_) --------------------------------------------- Contents of Vol. 01.001 April 13, 1997 1) Introductory remarks (Leonard Prager) 2) _The Stories of David Bergelson_ (Larry Rosenwald) _____________________________________________ 1) Introductory remarks Dear Mendelists: _TMR_ has been brooded over for some time by a number of Mendelists and the egg has more or less hatched itself (though much of the necessary warmth was provided by our shames). The projected publication is designed to fulfill a number of functions which _Mendele_ has somehow either wholly neglected or attended to only sporadically. We Mendelists have failed not only to review new Yiddish books and books in the field of Yiddish in various languages, we have not even developed a systematic way of listing them. We have made virtually no effort to revaluate older works, reconsider the existing canon of Yiddish writers, explicate difficult Yiddish poems, analyze Yiddish short fiction, films and plays, report on currect live performances of Yiddish music and drama, or scrutinize translations from Yiddish. We have heard only occasionally from the linguists, the sociolinguists, the onomasticians about new books and dissertations in their fields which touch on Yiddish. Reports on books dealing with Hebrew, Aramaic, Judezmo and other Jewish languages and reports on research in East European Jewish history, social and economic life, religion and culture can only illuminate Yiddish studies. The linguistic dimension of the Shoah, in all its shades and colors, needs to be examined. We have not only neglected bibliography; we have forsaken the Yiddish book itself, ignoring the bibliophilic dimensions of printing and illustration. No one in _Mendele_ has ever reported on a private Yiddish book collection. We have missed extended, essay-length discussion of individual words, names, idioms, phrases, proverbs, curses, folkways -- with, if possible, lists of references (and pointers to past mention in _Mendele_). There is a need for biographical sketches of writers, journalists, editors, actors, directors, composers, lyricists, prompters, preachers, publishers, printers, teachers, activists and others in the Yiddish world -- whose names are missing or poorly reported in existing encyclopaedias and handbooks. _TMR_ will not replace _Mendele_ or usurp any of its unique qualities, including its unlimited coverage (in the great British "Notes and Queries" and great Jewish "shayles-tshuves" traditions) of virtually anything related to Yiddish language, literature, folklore, music and the culture from which they arose. The sheer scope of _Mendele_ has precluded its being a more "normal" review. There are a lot of Mendelists who want a "review" and the _TMR_ (the suggested short title) is a response to this collective wish. I sincerely hope that those who opposed the idea of _Mendele's bifurcation will learn to like the _TMR_, where _derkherets_ will be the rule and polemics and personal attacks will have no place. TMR's success depends on all of us returning to the Yiddish word and making it an important part of our lives. Lomir zikh nemen tsu der arbet. Mit di beste grusn, Leonard Prager, Editor Technical information _TMR_ is a copyrighted publication and reproduction of any of its contents (short quotations excepted) requires written permission. _TMR_ is a refereed publication and all submissions will be read by qualified readers. Submissions (book reviews, essays) will be in ASCI via email or on PC diskettes via post. Letters to the editor will be published subject to limitations of space. For further questions regarding style and format, write to the editor. _____________________________________________ 2) The Stories of David Bergelson: Yiddish Short Fiction from Russia (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1996), translated and with an introduction by Golda Werman, foreword by Aharon Appelfeld. Aharon Appelfeld writes in his preface to this volume that "David Bergelson is the most important Yiddish writer, following the three classical authors who established modern Yiddish literature" (ix). Some readers will share this view, others will not; but clearly Bergelson is a big figure in the landscape of Yiddish literary history. Dan Miron, in _A Traveler Disguised_, calls him "in many respects the most accomplished and significant writer of Yiddish fiction after the three 'classics'" (21). Sol Liptzin, in his _History of Yiddish Literature_, calls his early novel, _Nokh Alemen_, "the tenderest masterpiece of impressionistic writing" (196). The sober prose of the _Nayer Leksikon_ states that Bergelson "created exemplary works of impressionistic, psychological, and sociological narrative art," and quotes Bal Makhshoves' claim that "Bergelson's" style was a special accomplishment, distinguished for restraint, subtlety, and innovative imagery." So a new translation of three of Bergelson's stories would seem to be cause for rejoicing: these three stories, we would say, are now available to readers who cannot read Yiddish, or cannot read it well, and they have thus become part of the case that as lovers of Yiddish literature we wish to make on behalf of that literature to the readers and critics of the literary world. And these particular three stories would seem to reveal three different aspects of Bergelson's talent. The first of them, "Remnants," is like some heartwarming story by Perets, but is more ironic and even grotesque than Perets' stories usually are; the second, "Impoverished," is like a miniature Chekhov play, centered on expected visits from exalted relatives that take place without gratifying anyone's expectations; and the third and longest (it takes up 130 of the book's 157 pages of text), "Departing," is like some great Russian novel that has gotten condensed into a collage of vignettes, pieced together to tell the whole story of several lives in their movements between the city and the shtetl, and between tradition and modernity But such rejoicing would depend on our being able to say that the translation adequately represented the original text; and if we look closely at a representative passage of the translation, and compare it with the original, we shall, I think, find it difficult to say that. I believe that God is in the details; accordingly, I beg the indulgence of MENDELE's readers and quote the beginning of "Departing" (Opgang) in extenso; I follow it with Werman's translation, and then with an alternative translation of my own. (My thanks to Dovid Braun for help with my translation.) TEXT (_Ale verk_, Buenos Aires: Ikuf, 1962, vol. 2, pp. 181-182) Shpet nokh halbn tog hot men mekaber geven Meylekhn oyfn kleynshtetldikn rakitner besoylem. Ale zaynen avekgegangen aroyf barg mit der bokhersher levaye, un in shtot, vos ligt, vi in a nest, oysgebet tsvishn grine baarbete berg, iz demolt akegn a por sho geven azoy shtil, glaykh in ir iz mer keyner nisht geblibn. A poshete goyishe fur iz demolt ongelofn barg-arop mit tseyogte ferd un hot aylndik durkhgeshvindlt tsvishn di tsvey shures topoln, vos in onheyb berizhinetser veg; ire reder hobn geshvind geyogt iber der hiltserner greblie, vos in eyn ek shtot, un zeyer treysldike klaperay hot opgehilkht biz der hiltserner greblie, vos in tsveytn ek. Dort, in ot dem tsveytn niderikn ek, hot a vaserl shtil gemurmelt arum a shteyn; a goye hot gevashn gret, an eplboym iz geshtanen un geblit, un gor nisht - keynem hot nisht geart, vos der himl iz tsu shvues tsu gantse teg farvolknt. Plutsem hobn zikh derhert gleklekh klingen. Iber der shtot hot zikh geshvind farshpreyt di yedie, az fun vokzal iz ongekumen Meylekhs shvester, di fremdshtetldike provizorin. M'hot vegn dem gegebn tsu visn oyfn besoylem, m'iz mit Meylekhs shvester ahin aroyfgeforn un di kvure hot zikh farhaltn. Ale hobn zi demolt gezen tsum ershtn mol, ot di fremdshtetldike shvester Meylekhs. Zi iz geshtanen tsvishn di yunge karshnbeymer nebn ofenem keyver un hot geveynt. Un alemen iz dortn baglaykh fremd geven say ir ponim, say ir kol. WERMAN TRANSLATION We buried Melech in the late afternoon. Everyone in the shtetl was at the small cemetery on top of the hill and for a few hours Rakitne looked like a ghost town. The only sign of life was a droshky rattling between the rows of poplar trees on the Berizshinets Road. We could hear the wheels clattering over the wooden dam in the shtetl. The droshky passes an apple tree in bloom and a small rippling brook in which a peasant woman is beating her laundry over a stone. The day is cloudy and gray and unusually chilly for this time of year. It is almost the Pentecost Holiday. Suddenly the shrill sound of a whistle pierces the air. The train bringing Melech's sister from a distant province has arrived and the funeral is delayed while a delegation goes down to meet her. She is a stranger to us, standing over the open grave near the young cherry tree, crying. MY TRANSLATION Late in the afternoon, they buried Meylekh in the cemetery of the small town of Rakitne. Everyone had gone up the hill with the young man's funeral; and in the town, couched, as if in a nest, between green cultivated hills, it was, for a few hours, as quiet as if no one lived there any more. A simple peasant wagon came down the hill, its horses spurring along, then zig-zagged in a rush between the two rows of poplars at the beginning of the Berizhinets Road; its wheels hurried quickly over the wooden dam at one end of the town, and their clattering echoed as far as the wooden dam at the other end. There, at the other, lower end, a stream gurgled quietly around a stone; a peasant was washing her laundry, an apple tree stood in bloom, and there was no reaction - no one cared - that with Shavuot near, the sky was covered with clouds for whole days at a time. Suddenly the ringing of bells was heard. The news spread quickly over the town that Meylekh's sister, a pharmacist from out of town, had arrived from the train station. This was made known at the cemetery; Meylekh's sister was accompanied up the hill; and the burial was halted. They all saw her for the first time, this out-of-town sister of Meylekh's. She stood among the young cherry-trees, by the open grave, and wept. And to everyone there her face and her voice were those of an outsider. * * * To me, it seems that Werman's translation significantly alters Bergelson's text. To begin with, it rearranges Bergelson's paragraphing, which is one of his expressive instruments. His paragraphing shapes the story: 1) a single-sentence paragraph on the funeral; 2) a paragraph contrasting the funeral in the cemetery with the empty town; 3) a paragraph on the peasant wagon; 4) a paragraph of suggestive landscape-painting; 5) a paragraph on the arrival of Meylekh's sister. Of these five paragraphs, the only one Werman leaves unchanged is the fifth. What is her rationale for this reconfiguration? Moreover, Werman's translation omits information that Bergelson's narrator wants to tell us. It leaves out, for example, the situation of the town, nested between green hills; the configuration of the town, stretching from one wooden dam to another; the fact that the inauspicious weather does not matter to anyone; the movement of the news of Meylekh's sister's arrival through the town; and the fact that the townspeople are seeing Meylekh's sister for the first time. Of the information that is retained, a lot is presented in an order other than the one Bergelson designed. When, for example, should we learn that the name of the town is Rakitne? Bergelson says, in the first sentence; Werman says, in the second. In what order should we see the images described in Bergelson's fourth paragraph? Bergelson says, first the stream, then the peasant woman doing her washing, then the apple tree in bloom. Werman says, first the tree, then the brook, then the woman. Bergelson wants to tell us twice, emphatically, in two non-contiguous sentences, that Meylekh's sister is a stranger to the town; Werman condenses these two sentences into a single phrase. Werman also makes some things up. It is she, and not Bergelson, who says that the wagon is "the only sign of life"; she, and not Bergelson, who says that the weather is "unusually chilly for this time of year." It is she, and not Bergelson, who chooses to make the narrator a member of the town, and thus shapes an important aspect of the narrative viewpoint, not only by translating the Yiddish "m'hot" as "we buried" (a possible rendering), but also by adding in two gratuitous "we"'s where the Yiddish gives no occasion for them. Finally, there are what seem to me arbitrary rewritings. Werman replaces Bergelson's bells with her whistles; she speaks of the arrival of a train, where Bergelson speaks of the arrival of Meylekh's sister from the train station; Werman has "a delegation" go down from the cemetery to meet Meylekh's sister, where Bergelson has some people (Yiddish "m'iz") go up with Meylekh's sister to the cemetery. Now Werman offers a rationale for her mode of translation in her introduction, and it is necessary to look at it before venturing a final judgment on her work. She writes, "Bergelson's Yiddish syntax is complex; his language is both rich and precise; and he uses musical devices, including sound patterns and repetition. The problems of capturing the rhythms of the original language in another tongue are legion. When rendered faithfully, these constructions often grind painfully on the English reader's ear. Since my goal was to make Bergelson's work live in English as it does in Yiddish, I had to make compromises. I had to render Bergelson's flowing Yiddish into readable English and, at the same time, keep as close to the essence of Bergelson's work as I could without making the translation sound foreign" (xxxii). But this is not, I think, a sound rationale, either theoretically or practically. First, theoretically: the idea that a translation must not sound foreign is a familiar orthodoxy, but it is not for that reason true. It is most eloquently criticized by Bergelson's contemporary Franz Rosenzweig, the great German-Jewish philosopher and translator, who in defending what was criticized as the excessive Hebraism of the Bible translation he did with Martin Buber, writes as follows: "if we believe that not only a passage called to our attention by a particular circumscribed doctrine but any human utterance may conceal the possibility that one day, in his time or in my time, God's word may be revealed in it, then in that case the translator must, so far as his language permits, follow the peculiar turns of that potentially revelation-bearing utterance" (_Scripture and Translation_ 64). Bergelson's work is not the Bible, of course; but what Rosenzweig says here of the Bible, namely that revelation may be carried by any turn, any detail of the text, seems to me true of Bergelson's writing and of any great literary writing whatsoever; and if every turn of the text may carry revelation, then every turn of the text insofar as possible should be retained, even if that makes the text sound foreign. In a way, though, this theoretical argument is beside the point. The fact is, Werman's "compromises" are in practice simply unnecessary. Nothing in the more literal rendering of Bergelson's text that I tentatively propose would "grind painfully on the English reader's ear." Nothing there is any odder, any more "foreign," than what any reader of literary prose is already used to. What in a more literal rendering of Bergelson's text is any more "foreign" than, say, the wonderful first sentence of Cynthia Ozick's "Envy, Or, Yiddish in America"? "Edelshtein, an American for forty years, was a ravenous reader of novels by writers 'of' - he said this with a snarl - 'Jewish extraction.'" We need to trust the readers of translations, as we trust readers of literature, to accept the challenges that writers of literature present them with. A translation that alters its original as Werman's does, and that does so without any compelling rationale for its alterations, is in my judgment not so much bad as unusable. I do not think we can tell readers ignorant of Yiddish that reading these translations will give them a sense of Bergelson's art; and we cannot use these translations as part of our case for Yiddish literature. If we wish to make these stories part of our case for that literature, we shall, in my judgment, have to translate them again. I'd like to conclude on a personal note. _Mendele_ is a remarkable community, of which, as I know, Golda Werman and I are both parts. And I know that a review like this can put some strain on such a community. But I have not written this review ad feminam. I would be happy to be corrected, if I have made errors in points of Yiddish. I would be happy to be disagreed with in points of theory. And above all I would be happy if one effect of this review were to make judgments of translations more central to our Yiddishist community. I think we tend to greet all new translations from Yiddish literature in the way that the Wall Street Journal greeted the Penguin Anthology of Modern Yiddish Verse: "this is the best kind of holocaust memorial, because . . . it resurrects the culture that Hitler did his worst to kill." And we should of course continue to greet new translations in that way. But I think we can, and should, begin to ask harder and more productive questions about the translations actually produced, because I think such questions will in the end enrich our community. Larry Rosenwald 28 March 1997 __________________________________________________________________ The Mendele Review Editor: Leonard Prager 13/35 Dr. Kauders St. Haifa 35439, Israel email: RHLE302@uvm.haifa.ac.il _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Language and Literature (A Companion to _Mendele_) --------------------------------------------- Contents of Vol. 01.002 April 20, 1997 1) _Farvos lakht di kale?_ (Leonard Prager) _____________________________________________ Ester Bar-Chayim. _Farvos lakht di kale?_/_Yerushalmer tipn_. Introduction by Professor Dov Noy; Foreword by Sima Skurkovitsh. Jerusalem: Farlag "Mabua", 1992, 211 pp., illus. Reviewed by Leonard Prager I suspect that a favorite fantasy of secular Yiddishists is that out of some one of the ultra-Orthodox fastnesses of fluent native Yiddish will emerge a bright new talent capable of reinvigorating a literature which is thirsty for fresh young voices. Grandmotherly Ester Bar-Chayim may not satisfy this wish, but she will give every Yiddish-lover real pleasure. For many years Ester Bar-Chayim read her poems to entertain Yiddish clubs in Jerusalem and elsewhere, gradually developing a substantial repertoire and refining her major theme: the innocence of the ultra-Orthodox bride who is thrust into marriage without preparation and yet somehow undergoes successful initiation into married life. Ester Bar-Chayim's subjects are based on her direct acquaintance with Jerusalem's Mea Shearim quarter, where she was born and raised. But of course even the fixed rhythms of that fortress of tradition have been touched by change and today a comic artist of the charedi wedding would be more likely to portray the groom as clumsily innocent and the bride as earthy and realistic -- which is the classical constellation of the married couple in our greatest humorist, Sholem Aleykhem (cf. Menakhem Mendl and Sheyne Sheyndl). In the typology of religious affiliaion current in Israel, Bar-Chayim is a "dati" rather than a "charedi", and this is clear from the nature of her work and from the very fact of her being a writer of a _book_ (not a _seyfer_). She does not mock her subjects but she sees the comedy as well as the pathos implicit in their innocence, of which she is gently critical. Her poems, with their subtle erotic touches, show an acceptance of facets of the modern world which the ultra-orthodox, at least in the years the poet was growing up, attempted to block out. The poet-performer was encouraged to publish her repertoire of comic and satiric verse by the distinguished Israeli folklorist Professor Dov Noy and by others who recognized her originality on the one hand and her place in the still-living batkhn tradition on the other. Employing batkhn-like rhyming freely, sometimes writing couplets and sometimes rhyming alternative lines, she writes verses of varying length in what is claimed to be colloquial Old Jerusalem Yiddish, a distinct variety of Land of Israel Yiddish.(1) While one is grateful to have these poems in writing, one needs to remember they are "performance poems" whose effectiveness is enhanced by skilful dramatic declamation in a good native Yiddish (the Litvak whom I heard recite them was excellent, despite her remoteness from the original dialect). A number of the poems were written to be sung to traditional tunes and the scores are provided for eleven of them. Bar-Chayim's volume is divided into two "books", the first entitled _Farvos lakht di kale?_ ('Why is the Bride Laughing?'), in which the humor of misprision (or of naivete) is most successfully realized in "Di ershte nakht" ('The First Night') and its following companion piece, the longest in the book, "Di freylekhe nakht" ('The Merry Night'). The second "book," _Yerushalmer tipn_ ('Jerusalem Characters'), covers a variety of themes, all of which are tied to the old Mea Shearim characters being portrayed. The book has a lighly moralistic bent, the author's motivation being at least partly rooted in the desire to serve a social purpose. In one of the two mottos in the front of the book she writes: "Oyb eyn kale vet hobn a nuts / Fun dem bukh, oder eyn lezer / Vet gebn a shmeykhl, iz dos mayn bester loyn" ('If just one bride finds a use / For this book, or if it helps a single reader / Smile, that is my best recompense').(2) And, indeed, a mentsh volt gedarft zayn a shteyn not to smile on hearing the bride's plaint, probably at the wedding hall, seeing her parents about to leave: "Mame, vos? / Ir geyt aheym?... / Tate, ir lozt / Mikh iber aleyn?" ('What, Mother? / You're going home? / Father, you are leaving / Me all alone?)(3) At which moment, "Di mamen vert kalt vi ayz, / Un der tate geyt shir nit oys... / Un sha-shtil eyntsikvayz... / Sharen zey zikh shtil aroys..." ('The mother turns cold as ice, / And the father almost expires... / And one by one in a hush ... / They quietly shuffle out...')(4) The couple is left alone and the hapless groom says; "Ee ... kale ... ikh meyn... / Ee... ee ... kum mekayem zayn / Di mitsve shoyn." And the poem continues: In zayn kop zikh misht umru,(5) Fregt di kale: "Vos far a mitsve?..." Zogt der khosn: Fun peru urevu..."(6) Zogt di kale vi tsemisht: "Vos iz dos pruv un vu...(7) Veys ikh nisht, Nor oyb a mitsve, glust zikh dir, Zay dos mekayem... frank un fray... Du darfst onkumen tsu mir?... Ikh hob mayne mitsves dray...(8) Darf ikh hobn mit dir fir?... Zog mir lemay?..." -- "Kale, zog mir: Du veyst fun gornisht?" -- "Khosn, zog mir: Fun vanen veys ikh Tsi ikh veys fun gornisht, Az ikh veys gornisht Fun velkhn gornisht Du redst?..." Un azoy heybt zikh on A mayse fun a gornisht!...(9) (His mind is swivelling round; "What _mitsve_?," asks the bride; "Be fruitful and multiply," he says. Replies the bride in a flurry: What is this "pruv" and "vu"...(7) I don't know, But if it's a mitsve that you want, Feel free to do it as you wish; What do you need me for? I have my three mitsves...(8) Because of you do I need a fourth? Tell me why..." -- "Bride, tell me: You know nothing?" -- "Bridegroom, tell me: How should I know I know nothing, When I know nothing As to which nothing You are talking about?..." And so begins A story of nothing!") "Di freylekhe nakht" is a continuation of "Di ershte nakht" and finds the bride irate and uncomprehending at her husband's behavior. I will quote her opening words in this, the longest and most risque section of the book: "Vey iz mir, dos darf men shoyn kenen... Dos iz dayn mitsve, fun pruv un vu?... Paskudnyak, megst zikh dokh shemen. Vu hostu aza mitsve gehert?... Fun vanen fun vemen?..." Zogt zi in kaas, "Na dir aza Meshugas!" ("Woe is me, this is something, This mitsve of yours, this _pruv_ and _vu_... Scoundrel, you should be ashamed of yourself. Where did you hear about such a mistsve?... >From where, from whom?" She says angrily, "I'll give you A Madness!") This same meshugas continues to move the world and is acknowledged in the most unlikely places. A non-professional poet-reciter, Ester Bar-Chayim also followed the venerable tradition of Jewish writers and scholars in the manner of hawking her wares. On the back of the title page is her home address, from which she offers her book for what strikes me as barely enough to cover the cost of printing (there has already been a second printing). Those who are interested can write to Ester Bar-Chayim, 6 Ha-Shoshana St., Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem 96106, Israel. Her telephone no. is 02-6540696.(11) Endnotes (1) Professor Dov Noy describes her writing as "mechuraz be-sfat yidish ha-yerushalmit, badialekt ha-meyuchad shel safa chaya umedaberet ba-ir ha-kodesh" ('rhymed in Jerusalem Yiddish, the special dialect of the living vernacular of the Holy City') (p. 7). It would be good to have one of our linguists identify the dialectal features manifest in the printed poems. (2) To be charitable regarding such sentimentality it is helpful to recall that even America's great (perhaps greatest) nineteenth-century poet, Emily Dickinson, could write: "If I can stop one Heart from breaking / I shall not live in vain / If I can ease one Life the Aching / Or cool one Pain /# Or help one fainting Robin / Unto his Nest again / I shall not live in Vain." 3) "Di ershte nakht," p. 76. A correspondent who knows the charedi world tells me that sometimes the bride's parents will go home with the newlyweds to help them along. 4)Idem. 5) A London correspondent tells me he has heard constructions such as "zikh misht" (as distinct from _misht zikh_) from Israelis and thinks it reflects Hebrew influence. He also remarked on Bar-Chayim's "iz dos" (as distinct from _dos iz_) Such inversions are of course common in verse. 6) A reference to the passage "Peru urevu umilu et haarets" ('Be fruitful and multiply and inhabit the earth!') (Genesis 1:28) 7) The bride mishears _peru urevu_ as _pruv_ ('attempt') and _vu_ ('where'). 8) Nide, khale and likht-bentshn. 9) Ibid, pp. 76-77. 10) "Di freylekhe nakht," p. 78. 11) I thank David Herskovic for his many helpful suggestions. __________________________________________________________________ The Mendele Review Editor: Leonard Prager 13/35 Dr. Kauders St. Haifa 35439, Israel email: RHLE302@uvm.haifa.ac.il _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Language and Literature (A Companion to _Mendele_) --------------------------------------------- Contents of Vol. 01.003 May 4, 1997 1) Current Yiddish bibliography (Iosif Vaisman) _____________________________________________ Date: Sun, 4 May 1997 02:54:39 -0400 (EDT) From: iiv@mmlds1.pha.unc.edu Subject: Current Yiddish bibliography Several months ago Noyekh Miller, Hugh Denman and others raised the question of current Yiddish bibliography. Below are the results of my attempt to compile a list of references for recent and forthcoming books. The list includes books in Yiddish, about Yiddish, and translated from Yiddish, that are published (or will be published) in 1996 and later. The list does not include book chapters, periodicals, audiovisual, and computer-based materials. Entries are classified under several subheadings: Language and Culture, Religion, Folklore, Literature and Literary Critisism, Theater, Music, Biography, History, and Gender Studies. On-line version of this bibliography will be available in Shtetl later, all additions and corrections would be gratefully accepted and incorporated. Iosif Vaisman Yiddish Bibliography (1996-) ---------------------------- Language and Culture (incl. Textbooks and Dictionaries) ======================================================= AUTHOR: Estraikh, Gennadii TITLE: Intensive Yiddish / PLACE: Oxford, England : PUBLISHER: Oksforder Yidish Press : Oxford Institute for Yiddish Studies, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: xviii, 255 p. ; 26 cm. ISBN: 1897744072 AUTHOR: Fishman, David E., 1957- TITLE: Shaytlekh aroysgerisn fun fayer : dos oprateven Yidishe kultur-oytsres in Vilne / PLACE: Nyu-York : PUBLISHER: Yidisher visnshaftlekher institut - YIVO, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 20, 20 p., [4] p. of plates : ill., ports. ; 26 cm. ALT TITLE: Embers plucked from the fire, the rescue of Jewish cultural treasures in Vilna AUTHOR: Goldberg, David, 1944- TITLE: Yidish af Yidish : gramatishe, leksishe, un shmues-materyaln farn tsveytn un dritn lernyor / PLACE: New Haven ; London : PUBLISHER: Yale University Press, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: xvi, 271 p. : ill., 1 facsim., 1 map, music ; 26 cm. SERIES: Yale language series ISBN: 0300064144 AUTHOR: Goldsmith, Emanuel S., 1935- TITLE: Modern Yiddish culture : the story of the Yiddish language movement / PLACE: New York : PUBLISHER: Fordham University Press, YEAR: 1997 FORMAT: 321 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. ISBN: 0823216950 AUTHOR: Kerler, Dov-Ber TITLE: The Origins of Modern Literary Yiddish PUBLISHER: New York : Oxford University Press, 1997 FORMAT: 388 p. : ill. ISBN: 0198151667 SERIES: Oxford Modern Languages & Literature Monographs AUTHOR: Kogos, Fred TITLE: The Dictionary of Popular Yiddish Words, Phrases, & Proverbs PUBLISHER: Carol Publishing Group, 1997 FORMAT: 224 p. ISBN: 0806518855 TITLE: Mamme dear : a turn-of-the-century collection of model Yiddish letters / PLACE: Northvale, N.J. : PUBLISHER: J. Aronson, YEAR: 1997 NOTES: Translation of 112 model letters from Blaustein's brivnshteler. ISBN: 0765759829 (alk. paper) ALT TITLE: Bloshteyn's brivnshteler. English. Selections. OTHER: Glinert, Lewis. AUTHOR: Nachama, Andreas, 1951- TITLE: Jiddisch im Berliner Jargon, oder, Hebraische Sprachelemente im deutschen Wortschatz / 4. Aufl. PLACE: Berlin : PUBLISHER: Stapp Verlag, YEAR: 1996 [1994] FORMAT: 78, [2] p. : ill. ; 19 cm. ISBN: 3877764177 AUTHOR: Peltz, Rakhmiel, 1945- TITLE: From immigrant to ethnic culture : American Yiddish in South Philadelphia / PLACE: Stanford, Calif. : PUBLISHER: Stanford University Press, YEAR: 1998 SERIES: Stanford studies in Jewish history and culture ISBN: 0804730202 (cloth : alk. paper) 0804731675 (paper : alk. paper) AUTHOR: Werses, Samuel, 1915- TITLE: Mi-lashon el lashon : yetsirot ve-gilgulehen be-sifrutenu (From language to language) PLACE: Yerushalayim : PUBLISHER: Hotsaat sefarim a. sh. Y.L. Magnes, ha-Universita ha-Ivrit, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 526 p. : facsims. ; 23 cm. SERIES: Sidrat "Kinus" ISBN: 9652238732 TITLE: Yiddish in Italia : carte ritrovate : manoscritti e antiche edizioni a stampa in yiddish di area italiana : [Biblioteca nazionale Braidense : Milano, 19 febbraio-2 marzo 1996] / YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 76 p. ; 30 cm. NOTES: Exhibition catalogue. Text in English and Italian. OTHER: Timm, Erika; Turniansky, Chava Religion ======== TITLE: Dos Yidishe yor : tekst bukh far religyeze meydl shules : nemt arum dos Yidish religyeze lebn fun a gants yor : minhogim ... geshikhte un biyografyes fun gdoyley Yisroel ... PLACE: Bruklin : PUBLISHER: Hotsaat Tiferet, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 252 p. ; 24 cm. AUTHOR: Frenkel, M. TITLE: Dertseylungen tfiln un barmitsve : oysgeveylte dertseylungen far eltern un kinder ... / PLACE: Yerushalayim : PUBLISHER: M. Frenkel, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 373 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. TITLE: Hasidic wisdom : sayings from the Jewish sages / PLACE: Northvale, N.J. : PUBLISHER: Jason Aronson, YEAR: 1997 ISBN: 0765799723 (alk. paper) OTHER: Raz, Simcha; Elkins, Dov Peretz; Elkins, Jonathan. TITLE: Hilkhos tefilin : in Yidish / PLACE: Brooklyn : PUBLISHER: N. Unger, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 137 p. ; 24 cm. OTHER: Unger, Naftali. AUTHOR: Kahan, Aharon Yisrael. TITLE: Or ha-mitsvot : meyusad al pi darko shel Sefer ha-Chinuch : kolel taryag mitsvot lefi seder ha-parashiyot bi-leshon yidish : im Parperaot la- mitsva she-hem taame ha-mitsvot ve-divre musar ... / PLACE: Bruklin, N.Y. : PUBLISHER: [Shema beni], YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 427 p. : charts ; 25 cm. ISBN: 0916135756 OTHER: Aaron ben Joseph, ha-Levi, b. ca. 1235. Sefer ha-hinukh. AUTHOR: Kirkhhan, Henleh, 1666-1757. TITLE: Seyfer Simchas ha-nefesh, Yidish / PLACE: B'klyn, N.Y. : PUBLISHER: Simha le-ish, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 272 p. : facsims. ; 24 cm. OTHER: Elhanan Hendel ben Benjamin Wolf Kirchhan TITLE: Megilas Ester un khoydesh Oder dertseylung : far yunge kinder in a laykhte shprakh / PLACE: [Monsi : PUBLISHER: A. Brisk, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 124 p. : ill. ; 25 cm. OTHER: Brisk, Aharon. TITLE: Melodies from my father's house : hasidic wisdom for the heart and soul / PLACE: Princeton, N.J. : PUBLISHER: Growth Associates, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 151 p. : ill. ; 22 cm. ISBN: 0918834155 OTHER: Raz, Simcha; Elkins, Dov Peretz. AUTHOR: Rymanower, Menahem Mendel, d. 1815. TITLE: The Torah discourses of the Holy Tzaddik Reb Menachem Mendel of Rimanov, 1745-1815 / PLACE: Hoboken, N.J. : PUBLISHER: KTAV Pub. House, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: xxxiii, 775 p. ; 24 cm. ISBN: 0881255408 OTHER: Levine, Dov. AUTHOR: Sears, Dovid. TITLE: The path of the Baal Shem Tov : early chasidic teachings and customs / PLACE: Northvale, N.J. : PUBLISHER: Jason Aronson, YEAR: 1997 FORMAT: xxvii, 239 p. ; 23 cm. ISBN: 1568219725 Folklore ======== AUTHOR: Berger, Arthur Asa, 1933- TITLE: The genius of the Jewish joke / PLACE: Northvale, N.J. : PUBLISHER: Jason Aronson, YEAR: 1997 FORMAT: xvi, 184 p. : ill. ; 21 cm. ISBN: 1568219776 (alk. paper) AUTHOR: Forest, Heather TITLE: A Big Quiet House; A Yiddish Folktale from Eastern Europe PUBLISHER: Little Rock, Ark. : August House Publishers, 1996 FORMAT: 32 p. : ill. OTHER: Greenstein, Susan; ill ISBN: 0874834627 AUTHOR: Lebanon, Abraham. TITLE: Kolirte perl : Yidishe shprikhverter = Peninim tsivoniyot : pitgamim be-Yidish / PLACE: Yerushalayim : PUBLISHER: Rivlin farlag, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 17, 334, x p. : ill. ; 25 cm. ISBN: 9652291617 AUTHOR: Simon, Solomon, 1895- TITLE: The wise men of Helm and their merry tales / PLACE: West Orange, NJ : PUBLISHER: Behrman House, Publishers, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 136 p. : ill. ; 26 cm. ISBN: 0874414695 ALT TITLE: Heldn fun Khelm. English AUTHOR: Weinreich, Beatrice S. TITLE: Yiddish Folktales PUBLISHER: New York : Schocken Books, 1997 ISBN: 0805210903 TITLE: Yiddish wisdom = Yiddishe chochma [i.e. Yidishe khokhme] PLACE: San Francisco : PUBLISHER: Chronicle Books, YEAR: 1996 ISBN: 0811812022 OTHER: Swarner, Kristina. Literature and Literary Critisism ================================= AUTHOR: Bergelson, David, 1884-1952. TITLE: The stories of David Bergelson : Yiddish short fiction from Russia / PLACE: Syracuse, NY : PUBLISHER: Syracuse University Press, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: xxxii, 157 p. ; 22 cm. SERIES: Jewish traditions in literature, music, and art ISBN: 0815604025 (paperback : alk. paper) 0815627122 (cloth : alk.) OTHER: Werman, Golda, 1930- AUTHOR: Berliner, Yizhak, 1899-1957; Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957. TITLE: City of palaces : poems / by Isaac Berliner ; drawings by Diego Rivera. [Shtot fun palatsn. English] PUBLISHER: Basking Ridge, NJ : Jacoby Press, 1996. FORMAT: xii, 127 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. ISBN: 096496340X AUTHOR: Bertsky-Zweig, Sarah TITLE: Onions & Cucumbers & Plums; 46 Yiddish Poems in English PUBLISHER: North Stratford : Ayer Company Publishers, [new edition] FORMAT: 259 p. ISBN: 0836960025 AUTHOR: Elberg, Yehudah. TITLE: The empire of Kalman the cripple / Yehuda Elberg ; translated from the Yiddish by the author. [Kalman kalikes imperye. English] PUBLISHER: Syracuse, NY : Syracuse University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0815604483 (cloth : alk. paper) AUTHOR: Grade, Chaim TITLE: My Mother's Sabbath Days : A Memoir PLACE: Northvale, NJ : PUBLISHER: Jason Aronson, YEAR: 1997 ISBN: 1568219628 AUTHOR: Heyblum, Yosef. TITLE: Mentshn-salat : satirish-humoristish / PLACE: Tel Aviv : PUBLISHER: Farlag Y.L. Perets, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 162 p. ; 24 cm. ISBN: 9657012031 AUTHOR: Levita, Elijah, 1468 or 9-1549. TITLE: Pariz un Viene : mahadura bikortit be-tseruf mavo, hearot ve-nispahim / PLACE: Yerushalayim : PUBLISHER: ha-Akademyah ha-leumit ha-Yisreelit le-madaim, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 340, vii p. : ill. ; 25 cm. SERIES: Mekorot u-mechkarim bi-techum leshonot ha-Yehudim ISBN: 9652081256 OTHER: Shmeruk, Chone; Timm, Erika. AUTHOR: Shavit, Zohar. TITLE: Deutsch-judische Kinder- und Jugendliteratur von der Haskala bis 1945 : die deutsch un hebraischsprachigen Schriften des deutschsprachigen Raums : ein bibliographisches Handbuch / PLACE: Stuttgart : PUBLISHER: J.B. Metzer, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 2 v. (1495 p.) ; 25 cm. ISBN: 3476014215 OTHER: Ewers, Hans-Heino. AUTHOR: Kronfeld, Chana. TITLE: On the margins of modernism : decentering literary dynamics / PLACE: Berkeley ; London : PUBLISHER: University of California Press, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: xvi, 294 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. SERIES: Contraversions ; 2 ISBN: 0520083466 (cased) : 0520083474 (pbk) AUTHOR: Mendele Moykher-Sforim, 1835-1917. TITLE: Tales of Mendele the Book Peddler : Fishke the Lame and Benjamin the Third / PLACE: New York : PUBLISHER: Schocken Books, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: xxiii, 400 p. ; 21 cm. SERIES: Library of Yiddish classics ISBN: 0805241361 OTHER: Miron, Dan. Frieden, Ken, 1955- TITLE: My dear Roisele : Itzig Manger, Elieser Steinbarg : jiddische Dichter aus der Bukowina / PLACE: Uxheim : PUBLISHER: Rose Auslander-Dokumentationszentrum, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 174 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. SERIES: Schriftenreihe der Rose-Auslander-Gesellschaft e.V. ; Bd. 6 ISBN: 3931826074 AUTHOR: Passow, David, 1918- TITLE: The prime of Yiddish / PLACE: Hewlett, N.Y. : PUBLISHER: Gefen, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 122 p. ; 25 cm. ISBN: 9652291528 SUBJECT: Niger, Samuel, -- 1883-1955. AUTHOR: Shnittser, H. Y. TITLE: Noent un vayt : a shpanende gesheenish fun yunge meydlekh un zeyere interesante iberlebenishn fun di hayntike tkufe / PLACE: Bruklin, Nyu York : PUBLISHER: ha-Meir le-Yisrael, YEAR: 1996 PUB TYPE: Book FORMAT: 289 p. ; 24 cm. NOTES: Young adult fiction, Yiddish. AUTHOR: Sholem Aleichem, 1859-1916. TITLE: Sofrim Yehudiyim / PLACE: [Tel Aviv] : PUBLISHER: ha-Moatsah ha-tsiburit le-tarbut ule-omanut, ha-Mifal le-targum sifre mofet : Sifriyat poalim : Yediot acharonot : Sifre Hemed, YEAR: 1996 PUB TYPE: Book FORMAT: 430 p. ; 22 cm. SERIES: Ketavim ISBN: 9654482363 OTHER: Aharoni, Aryeh. AUTHOR: Sholem Aleichem, 1859-1916. TITLE: A treasury of Sholom Aleichem children's stories / PLACE: Northvale, N.J. : PUBLISHER: Jason Aronson, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: xviii, 346 p. ; 23 cm. ISBN: 1568219261 (alk. paper) OTHER: Shevrin, Aliza. AUTHOR: Sholem Aleichem, 1859-1916. TITLE: The song of songs / PLACE: New York : PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster Editions, YEAR: 1996 PUB TYPE: Book FORMAT: 112 p. : col. ill. ; 21 cm. ISBN: 0684814862 (alk. paper) AUTHOR: Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904- TITLE: Mayn tatns bezdn-shtub : [hemsheykhim-zamlung] / PLACE: Yerushalayim : PUBLISHER: Hotsaat sefarim al shem Y. L. Magnes, ha-Universita ha-Ivrit : ha-Universita ha-Ivrit, ha-Hug le-Yidish, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 20, 345, xvii p. ; 22 cm. SERIES: Sifrut Yidish ISBN: 9652239321 AUTHOR: Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904- TITLE: Namietnosci / PLACE: Gdansk : PUBLISHER: Wydawn. ATEXT/Wydawn. MARABUT, YEAR: 1996 1991 FORMAT: 270 p. ISBN: 8385156720 (pbk.) 8385893482 ALT TITLE: Passions, and other stories. Polish AUTHOR: Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904- TITLE: The collected stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer. PLACE: New York : PUBLISHER: Noonday Press, YEAR: 1996 1982 FORMAT: viii, 610 p. ; 24 cm. NOTES: Translated from the Yiddish by Saul Bellow and others. ISBN: 0374517886 AUTHOR: Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904- TITLE: Shosha / PLACE: New York : PUBLISHER: Noonday Press, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 277 p. ; 21 cm. ISBN: 0374524807 AUTHOR: Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904- TITLE: Rodzina Muszkatow / PLACE: Warszawa : PUBLISHER: MUZA SA, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 2 v. ; 21 cm. SERIES: Biblioteka Bestsellerow NOTES: Translation of: The family Moskat. ISBN: 8370795331 (tom 1) 8370796249 (tom 2) AUTHOR: Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904- TITLE: Satan in Goray / PLACE: New York : PUBLISHER: Noonday Press, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: xlviii, 239 p. ; 21 cm. NOTES: Translated by Jacob Sloan. ISBN: 0374524793 OTHER: Sloan, Jacob; Wisse, Ruth R. AUTHOR: Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904- TITLE: The golem / EDITION: Sunburst ed. PLACE: [New York] : PUBLISHER: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, YEAR: 1996 1982 FORMAT: 83, [2] p. : ill. ; 22 cm. ISBN: 0374427461 OTHER: Shulevitz, Uri, 1935- ill. AUTHOR: Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904- TITLE: Zjawa / PLACE: Gdansk : PUBLISHER: Wydawn. Atext : Wydawn. Marabut, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 286 p. ; 20 cm. SERIES: Piorko ISBN: 8385893490 8385156836 ALT TITLE: Image and other stories. Polish AUTHOR: Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904- TITLE: The topsy-turvy Emperor of China / PLACE: New York : PUBLISHER: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 1 v. (unpaged) : col. ill. ; 25 cm. ISBN: 0374376816 OTHER: Jusim, Julian, ill.; Shub, Elizabeth AUTHOR: Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904- TITLE: Le Spinoza de la rue du marche : nouvelles / PLACE: Paris : PUBLISHER: Denoel, YEAR: 1997 FORMAT: 267 p. ; 21 cm. SERIES: Collection Empreinte. ISBN: 2207241564 ALT TITLE: The Spinoza of market street. Francais. OTHER: Bay, Parie-Pierre. AUTHOR: Sutzkever, Abraham, 1913- TITLE: Laughter beneath the forest : poems from old and recent manuscripts / by Abraham Sutzkever ; translated from the Yiddish by Barnett Zumoff ; with an introductory essay by Emanuel Goldsmith. [Fun alte un yunge ksav-yadn. English & Yiddish] PUBLISHER: Hoboken, NJ : KTAV Publishing House, 1997. ALT TITLE: Fun alte un yunge ksav-yadn. English & Yiddish on facing pages. ISBN: 0881255556 AUTHOR: Peretz, Isaac Leib, 1851 or 2-1915. TITLE: Selected works of I.L. Peretz / PLACE: [Malibu, Calif.] : PUBLISHER: Joseph Simon/Pangloss Press, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: xxv, 485 p. : ill. ; 25 cm. SERIES: The three great classic writers of modern Yiddish literature ; v.3 ISBN: 0934710252 OTHER: Zuckerman, Marvin S. Herbst, Marion, 1932- TITLE: Trocha rozinek a mandli / PLACE: Praha : PUBLISHER: Argo, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 402 p. ISBN: 8072030167 SUBJECT: Short stories, Yiddish -- Translations into Czech. OTHER: Markovic, Jakub. AUTHOR: Zeitlin, Aaron, 1898-1973. TITLE: Terre brulante : PLACE: Paris : PUBLISHER: L. Levi, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 397 p. ; 21 cm. SERIES: Domaine yiddish. ISBN: 2867461472 : OTHER: Sion, Ariel. Theater ======= AUTHOR: Avisar, S. TITLE: ha-Machaze veha-teatron ha-Ivri veha-Yidi / PLACE: Yerushalayim : PUBLISHER: R. Mas, YEAR: 1996 PUB TYPE: Book FORMAT: v. <1 > ; 22 cm. ISBN: 9650900659 ALT TITLE: History of Hebrew and Yiddish theatre AUTHOR: Guinsburg, J. TITLE: Aventuras de una lingua errante : ensaios de literatura e teatro idiche / PLACE: Sao Paulo, SP, Brasil : PUBLISHER: Perspectiva, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 507 p. : ill. ; 23 cm. SERIES: Colecao Perspectivas ISBN: 8527300907 AUTHOR: Mazower, David. TITLE: Yiddish theatre in London / EDITION: 2nd, rev. ed. PLACE: London : PUBLISHER: The Jewish Museum, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 92 p. : ill., facsims., 1 map, ports. ; 21 x 22 cm. NOTES: Previous ed.: London : Museum of the Jewish East End, 1987. ISBN: 0951161393 (pbk) AUTHOR: Larrue, Jean-Marc. TITLE: Le theatre yiddish a Montreal / PLACE: Montreal : PUBLISHER: Editions Jeu, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 166 p. : ill. ; 31 cm. ISBN: 2920999044 AUTHOR: Sandrow, Nahma. TITLE: Vagabond stars : a world history of Yiddish theater / PLACE: Syracuse : PUBLISHER: Syracuse University Press, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: xi, 443 p. : ill., map ; 24 cm. SERIES: Judaic traditions in literature, music, and art ISBN: 0815603290 (paper : alk. paper) TITLE: ha-Teatron ha-Yehudi bi-Verit ha-Moatsot : mechkarim, iyunim, teudot / PLACE: Yerushalayim : PUBLISHER: ha-Merkaz le-cheker ule-teud Yahadut Mizrach Eropah, ha-Universitah ha-Ivrit bi-Yerushalayim, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 335 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. OTHER: Altshuler, Mordechai. Music ===== AUTHOR: Ben-Amots, Ofer. TITLE: Shtetl songs : for voice and piano, 1985-86 / [Musical Score] PLACE: Philadelphia : PUBLISHER: Kallisti Music Press, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 1 score (43 p.) ; 28 cm. AUTHOR: Gebirtig, Mortkhe TITLE: Mayn fayfele PLACE: Tel-Aviv: PUBLISHER: Keren Avrom-Y. Lerner un Farlag "Yisroel-bukh" YEAR: 1997 FORMAT: 199 pp. NOTES: ed. Nosn Gros, ill. Aleksander Bogen TITLE: Jiddische Lieder gegen die Nazis : kommentierte Liedertexte mit Noten (auch transponiert fur Klarinette in Bb) / PLACE: Witterschlick/Bonn : PUBLISHER: M. Wehle, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 56 p. : music ; 24 cm. ISBN: 3895730602 OTHER: Ortmeyer, Benjamin. AUTHOR: Lemster, Moshe, 1946- TITLE: A Yidisher regn : lider / PLACE: Tel-Aviv : PUBLISHER: Farlag Y.L. Perets, YEAR: 1996 PUB TYPE: Book FORMAT: 110 p. : port. ; 22 cm. ALT TITLE: Jewish rain AUTHOR: Sapoznik, Henry TITLE: Yiddish Melodies in Swing; A Century of Klezmer Music in America 1895-1995 PUBLISHER: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1998 FORMAT: 300 p. ISBN: 002864574X AUTHOR: Slobin, Mark. TITLE: Tenement songs : the popular music of the Jewish immigrants / EDITION: Illini Boos ed. PLACE: Urbana : PUBLISHER: University of Illinois Press, YEAR: 1996 1982 FORMAT: 213 p., 30 p. of plates : ill. ; 23 cm. SERIES: Music in American life ISBN: 025206562X : TITLE: Wenn der Rabbi singt : Jiddische Lieder / [Musical Score] PLACE: Gutersloh : PUBLISHER: Gutersloher Verlagshaus, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 159 p. of music : ill. ; 19 cm. SERIES: GTB Gutersloher Taschenbucher ; Siebenstern 721. ISBN: 3579007211 OTHER: Frankl, Hai; Frankl, Topsy. Biography ========= AUTHOR: Allison, Alida. TITLE: Isaac Bashevis Singer : children's stories and childhood memoirs / PLACE: New York : PUBLISHER: Twayne Publishers, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: xvii, 167 p. : ill., facsims. ; 22 cm. Twayne's United States authors series ; TUSAS 661. ISBN: 0805792260 (cloth) AUTHOR: Hadda, Janet. TITLE: Isaac Bashevis Singer : a life / PLACE: New York : PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press, YEAR: 1997 SERIES: Studies in Jewish history ISBN: 0195084209 (cloth) AUTHOR: Lewin, Samuel, 1890-1959. TITLE: A distant voice : an autobiography of Samuel Lewin / PLACE: New York : PUBLISHER: Cornwall Books, YEAR: 1996 ISBN: 084534854X (alk. paper) OTHER: Leftwich, Joseph, 1892- AUTHOR: Maggs, Peter B. TITLE: The Mandelstam and "Der Nister" files : an introduction to Stalin-era prison and labor camp records / PLACE: Armonk, N.Y. : PUBLISHER: M.E. Sharpe, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 1 v. (various pagings) : ill. ; 24 cm. NOTES: Contains photostats of official Soviet documents with parallel translation in English. ISBN: 1563241757 (alk. paper) History ======= TITLE: Khurbm Ungarn : di megilas Eykhe fun khurbm fun Ungarishn yidntum un di geshikhte fun di deportatsyes in Ungarn / PLACE: Nyu York : PUBLISHER: Aroysgegeben durkh Makhon le-cheker churban medinat Hungarya : Farlag "Tiferet", YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 3 v. : ill. ; 24 cm. OTHER: Daytsh, Sender. TITLE: Churban Yahadut Teman : di biter tragishe geshikhte ... : di Yemener Yidn zenen nebekh gevorn opgerisen fun Toyre un emune ... PLACE: Nyu York : YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 319 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. AUTHOR: Menkes, Heershadovid. TITLE: Misnagdishe mayses : fun Vilner gubernye / PLACE: Yerushalayim : PUBLISHER: Farlag Yerushalaymer almanakh : [Dovid Katz], YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 204 p ; 24 cm. AUTHOR: Meierkevitch, Abraham. TITLE: Kheyder, yugnt, milkhome : Avraham Meyerkevitsh ; redagirt Yaakov Shofet. PLACE: [Tel-Aviv] : PUBLISHER: Yaron Golan, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 390 p., [2] p. of plates : ill. ; 22 cm. AUTHOR: Kahan, Arcadius. TITLE: Eseyen / PLACE: Melborn : PUBLISHER: "Undzer gedank", YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 129, 55 p. : ill., port. ; 21 cm. AUTHOR: Nirenberg, Yankl. TITLE: Zikhroynes fun Lodzher geto / PLACE: [Buenos Aires] : PUBLISHER: Khavershaft kultur gezelshaftlekhe grupe : M.Nirenberg, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 118 p. : ill. ; 24 cm. AUTHOR: Lubelski, Benjamin. TITLE: Af Gots barot / PLACE: Tel-Aviv : PUBLISHER: H. Leyvik-farlag, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: 192 p. : port. ; 23 cm. AUTHOR: Pliskin, Zelig TITLE: N'Tzor L'Shoncha; Guard Your Tongue in Yiddish PUBLISHER: Brooklyn : Moshe Birnhack, 1996 FORMAT: xxxxiii, 284 p. OTHER: Rosenbaum, M. G.; trl ISBN: 0965470202 AUTHOR: Wetzlar, Isaac, d. 1751. TITLE: The Libes briv of Isaac Wetzlar / PLACE: Atlanta, Ga. : PUBLISHER: Scholars Press, YEAR: 1996 FORMAT: x, 151, 78 p. ; 24 cm. SERIES: Brown Judaic studies ; no. 308 ISBN: 0788502689 (alk. paper) OTHER: Faierstein, Morris M. Gender ====== AUTHOR: Seidman, Naomi. TITLE: A marriage made in heaven : the sexual politics of Hebrew and Yiddish / PLACE: Berkeley, Calif. : PUBLISHER: University of California Press, YEAR: 1997 SERIES: Contraversions ; 7 ISBN: 0520201930 (alk. paper) AUTHOR: Shavelson, Susanne Amy TITLE: From Amerike to America: Language and identity in the Yiddish and English autobiographies of Jewish immigrant women DEGREE: Ph.D. Thesis, The University of Michigan; 0127 YEAR: 1996 ADVISER: Chair: Anita Norich SOURCE: DAI, VOL. 57-07A, Page 3090, 00201 Pages AUTHOR: Solomon, Alisa, 1956- TITLE: Re-dressing the canon : essays on theatre & gender / PLACE: London ; New York : PUBLISHER: Routledge, YEAR: 1998 ISBN: 041515720X (hbk) 0415157218 (pbk) __________________________________________________________________ The Mendele Review Editor: Leonard Prager 13/35 Dr. Kauders St. Haifa 35439, Israel email: RHLE302@uvm.haifa.ac.il _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Language and Literature (A Companion to _Mendele_) --------------------------------------------- Contents of Vol. 01.004 May 4, 1997 1) "Traduttore, traditore" (Leonard Prager) 2) Pru urvu and not peru urevu (Leonard Prager) 3) An identifying footnote to TMR.001 (Leonard Prager) 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 10:30:03 +0300 From: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il Subject: "Traduttore, traditore" Larry Rosenwald's review (TMR 01:001) of Golda Werman's recent translation of three David Bergelson stories (Syracuse University Press, 1986) has, hopefully, sent us back to the Yiddish text and has set us rethinking the subject of translations from Yiddish literature generally. Only a handful of Yiddish authors have enjoyed any kind of success in translation and a great many translations from Yiddish literature are problematic in regard to their fidelity to the original. It is rare to find a translator who knows Yiddish and is intimately acquainted with what the late Irving Howe called "the cultural aura" of Yiddish(1), as well as writing English with grace and imagination. The renditions of such a translator are generally aimed at a minority audience. Verse translations are especially problematic. Here a team of two or more may be engaged rather than a single lone translator: one prosaic translator/scholar provides a literal rendering of the Yiddish poem; one (sometimes distinguished) poet or competent stylist transforms this raw material into a finished English poem.(2) In the case of prose fiction there may be one or more editors who adjudicate between what the literal translator says the text "says" and their own imaginative and sometimes remote-from-the-text's plain-sense creative reconstruction. These improbable procedures often work very well, as evidenced in such teams of two as Irving Howe and ELiezer Greenberg, Benjamin and Barbara Harshav). All translations feel the pull between the poles of fidelity and felicity -- fidelity to the original and felicity of expression in the target language. Syntactical and even sound similarity is achievable if translating, say, from one Romance language to another; the matter is more complex if one is rendering a Slavic text into a Semitic one, or a Finno-Ugric one into a Germanic one. Yet Teodor Gutmans, in comparing translations of Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos tepl" ('The Little Pot') in English, German, Hebrew, Russian and Ukrainian, found the two Slavic ones closest to the spirit of the Yiddish original, reflecting the world of the story. Moreover, he found the Ukrainian translator stayed closest to the Yiddish text and unlike all the others (and especially the Russian), never sacrificed accuracy in the name of stylistic elegance.(3) Prose, unless it is highly rythmical and otherwise veers towards verse, is easier than most verse to translate, regardless of language, but verse translations that are poems-in-their-own-right are relatively rare. For every John Keats swayed into ecstasy by Chapman's Homer, dozens have concurred with Matthew Arnold that, (I add, especially in translation), "Homer nods." MANN AND PROUST Few of the giants of modern literary translation have retained their eminence. Many of us were nurtured on H.D. Lowe-Porter's English translations of Thomas Mann (_The Magic Mountain_, _Doctor Faustus_, etc.) and C.K. Scott Moncrieff's of Marcel Proust (e.g._Remembrance of Things Past_). (We may even have felt they were equal to the original texts!) But these two household names have been replaced by others, their work now seen as inadequate in some respect. The challengers, too, have not won full acceptance.(4) Discovery of better manuscripts, closer lexicological analysis are but two of the causes for such revisions. Always there is the fact that language constantly changes, yesterday's apposite verbal equivalents today sounding archaic or quaint or even obsolete. In biblical translation there is permanent revolution; the Greek and Latin classics are not far behind. Though requiring great talents, translation has rarely been generously rewarded, financially or otherwise. There are, of course, exceptions. Alexander Pope (assisted by a small factory of helpers) made a fortune and reaped reknown translating Homer into brilliant heroic couplets ("Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring / Of woes unnumber'd, heav'nly Goddess, sing! / That wrath which hurl'd to Pluto's gloomy reign / The souls of mighty chiefs untimely slain: / Whose limbs, unburied on the naked shore, / Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore....'" _The Iliad_, Book I, lines 1-6). It is not known in the annals of Yiddish literature that M.-L. Petshinik got rich from his Yiddish version of the _Odyssey_ (Warsaw: Yidishe universal-biblyotek, 1937; 3 volumes in 1, 469 pp.). Translation has often fallen into the hands of hacks or of able writers who simply had to work too fast to turn out competent work. Many of the best translators today are poets and scholars who translate for the love of the craft and of the texts they interpret rather than for pay, which can almost never recompense the translator for the time and effort he or she invests. When one considers the enormous role of translation in the history of civilization, one is struck by the disparity between its influence and importance and its actual status. SHALOM ASCH Only two Yiddish writers have won a wide readership outside of Jewish circles: Shalom Asch (Y.: Sholem Ash) a half-century ago and Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis Singer (Y.: Yitskhok Bashevis) in the past few decades. Both these authors have been translated into many languages. Asch has largely been forgotten but his Christological novels (_The Nazarene_, etc.) were very popular in their day. At least three of Asch's novels (_Three Cities_, _Salvation_, _Mottke_) were translated by Willa and Edwin Muir from the German and Yiddish was not even mentioned in the front material. _Af tsu lokhes_ these may be among the more readable of Asch's novels in English.(5) MAURICE SAMUEL Asch had some of his novels translated by Maurice Samuel, who knew, loved and respected Yiddish (see his splendid _In Praise of Yiddish_, 1971, which makes Leo Rosten's _The Joy of Yiddish_ 1968, look like a shmate), and was a consummate English stylist. Samuel also translated I. J. Singer's very popular (mainly among Jews) _The Brothers Ashkenazi_ (1936) and several other of his books. Samuel's work as translator deserves serious study. For some reason, in dealing with the ancient biblical world in Asch's _Moses_ (1952), he fell into a wooden style, his characters sounding as though they were acting in a Sunday School play: "And when Dan ben Joseph had received the pyx of solidified perfume, which the Egyptians carried on their heads, so that it might melt and drip over their bodies, he turned again to his lord: 'Hast thou not thought of a sheep, a calf, a young steer, a pair of ducks and geese? Thou wouldst not have me appear empty-handed before my God, and have Him send scorpions into thy house. Thou rememberest the frogs, dost thou not?'"(6) In the past five decades the measured prose of the King James Version of the Bible has lost much of its authority and aping it the length of an entire novel inevitably sounds silly. But was it equally silly fifty years ago? Moreover, when a high-status novelist hires a translator, the latter is often no more than a proletarian-with-a-pen who must satisfy the boss's whims. Maurice Samuel may have been commissioned by Asch to give his _Moses_ a biblical ring and he did his best, laughable though it may now seem to us. In dealing with a realistic novel of the modern period, Samuel captures I.J. Singer's plain, often staccato style. Here is the ending of Chaper 55, "The Soviets", in the above-mentioned _The Brothers Ashkenazi_: "There came over him the abysmal despair, the dark, impenetrable wretchedness which had assailed him long ago, when the Polish workers had changed a May Day demonstration into a pogrom against the Jewish weavers of Balut. #He crawled wearily into his tiny room, threw himself on his narrow bed, buried his head in the pillow, and sobbed for the great triumph he lived to salute and which he was not permitted to share. #All night long, shots rang in the streets of Petrograd."(7) ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER When we turn to Yitskhok Bashevis, the translation problem becomes very complicated. At an international conference on his work in London several years ago, a small group of participants, this writer among them, maintained that the Yiddish Bashevis was often radically different from the English and translated-from-English Isaac Bashevis Singer. Irving Sapoznik years ago registered the point that the endings of the Yiddish and English versions of _The Family Moskat_ were completely different.(8) I showed that the hero of the Yiddish _Der knekht_, in harmony with the physical world and nature largely through his union with the gentile woman Wanda, discovered and affirmed the value of physical resistance to oppression; whereas the hero of the English _The Slave_ and all the translations made from this version, is a pacifist, a veritable disciple of Mahatma Gandhi. We know that in his last years Bashevis participated in translating his own works (despite the fact that he did not know English well), often writing a story from Yiddish notes rather than a finished Yiddish text. His editors shaped much of his fiction; intimidated by their supposed sophistication, he let their guesses stand. He may actually have believed that his writing was more impressive in English than in Yiddish. It is of course true that Saul Bellow's version of "Gimpl Tam" (mistranslated "Gimpel the Fool") is a very catching piece of English prose. Does that make it a "good translation"? SHOLEM-ALEYKHEM IN HEBREW In Israel today there continues to flicker and sometimes even to flame, the discussion as to which version of Sholem-Aleykhem in Hebrew is most "authentic." The great humorist's son-in-law, Y.-D. Berkovits, is in the eyes of many who grew up on him, the only purveyor of the true Sholem-Aleykhem -- even though it has long been known that whenever the talented _eydem_ struck an irredeemably idiomatic even passage, he simply skipped it. The principal contemporary exponent of Sholem- Aleykhem in Hebrew, Arye Aharoni, whom some readers shy away from and others salute, bravely confronts the entire text. The scholar-poet Benjamin Harshav has also tried his hand at this impossible feat. There can never be total agreement as to the translation of Sholem-Aleykhem in Hebrew.(9) SHOLEM-ALEYKHEM IN ENGLISH Sholem-Aleykhem in English is a reputation -- not a little owing to the popularity of _Fiddler on the Roof_, but is he read? Judging from the recent spate of reprints and new translations one is encouraged to believe there is growing interest in our greatest comic writer. Is it possible for Sholem-Aleykhem's writings to live in English translation? Forty years ago, Rhoda S.Kachuk in a pioneer study, argued (p. 80) that "The 'most untranslatable of writers', Sholom Aleichem, can be rendered in English with a great deal of success by earnest, competent translators."(10) Yet the tradition of untranslatability refuses to disappear. Perhaps Hillel Hankin, among the latest brave souls to attempt the task, is among these successful translators; but many readers may still exclaim "Reboyne-sheloylem!" at hearing his Tevye say, "So what does the good Lord do?" (p. 4) If Sholem-Aleykhem is not better known in depth, perhaps we are all at fault -- for not sustaining public discussion of his works, for not assuring that his English translations are widely reviewed and effectively promoted. DAVID BERGELSON We have made a good start in stimulating interest in a writer, David Bergelson (Yiddish: Dovid Berglson) who is regarded by our best critics as a major figure, ranked not far behind the great triumvirate Mendele, Perets and Sholem-Aleykhem. Larry Rosenwald has given us an acute analysis of several paragraphs of a single Bergelson story, a skilful sample translation of these sections, and Golda Werman's translation of these same paragraphs. Rosenwald concluded that Werman's translation, although not necessarily "bad," was "unusable." We may welcome Rosenwald's analysis without accepting his concluding categorical judgement. (What are the constituents of usableness? Some very curious things turn out to have uses and there are some very curious uses for many things. Nor need one be "right" to be useful: T.S. Eliot's famous view that Shakespeare's _Hamlet_ is "an artistic failure" and Lev Tolstoi's moralistic disapproval of Shakespeare's tragedies are two splendid examples of immensely useful wrongheadedness). In terms of Rosenwald's criteria, Werman's Englishing of Bergelson is acutely defective -- because of omissions, additions and rearrangings -- the very strategies of effective composition. The ancestor of Rosenwald's recommended methodology is the _taytsh_ tradition of literal word-for-word translation. Werman's procedure belongs to a respected genre of translation encapsulated in Hilaire Belloc's "... any hint of foreignness in the translated version is a blemish;... the translated thing should read like a first-class native thing."(11) Fortunately, the history of literary translation argues for the utility of _multiple_ translations of individual works. A translation is like a conductor's interpretation of a musical work. The score does not determine all; there is always room for the individual artist's play of invention and understanding. Various audiences with varying capacities and standards require different translations. Thus, for people who have never read Homer before, it is wise to begin with Lawrence of Arabia's prose _Odyssey_.(12) This version captures the narrative sweep of the epic and leaves many other elements by the wayside. Surely what matters in a translation of fiction is the total reading experience it affords, the degree to which it allows the reader to enter the story's world. How the translator chooses to achieve these ends is for him to decide. Innovative translators will inevitably meet with our instinctive conservative response, but we must train our sympathies to be receptive to those who dare to "make it new." Irving Howe's deservedly famous anthology _A Treasury of Yiddish Stories_ (New York: The Viking Press, 1955), which includes a Bergelson story, set a new standard for readability and accessibility of Yiddish short fiction, but close readings today a la Rosenwald might reveal not a few lapses on the fidelity side (a bibliography of the Yiddish originals should have been provided). We may discover many shortcomings in these translations, but they have undeniably reached many thousands of readers and helped raise interest in Yiddish and Yiddish literature.(13) Bergelson has been around in English for some time, yet without making a significant impression anywhere in the English-speaking world. It would be well for us to continue to examine what has been done in the way of translation (and of criticism too) up until now. Perhaps we can better examine Werman's work in the light of this corpus(14) and judge it more equitably on the basis of its total effect. Endnotes 1) Irving Howe wrote: "In working on our anthology, one of the main things I learned was the extent to which translations from Yiddish depend on more than linguistic skill. It depends above all on a command of what I can only call the cultural aura, the buzz and hum of the implications of Yiddish." "Translating from Yiddish," _Yivo Annual of Jewish Social Science_ 15 (1974), 233. 2) Irving Howe (ibid., pp. 233-4) describes how he and Eliezer Greenberg proceeded with _A Treasury of Yiddish Poetry_ (New York, Chicago, San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969): "Sometime we used a method which in principle I cannot defend. We had some American poets of considerable gifts who do not know Yiddish. Greenberg and I would work out a very precise and literal prose translation and then we did a great deal of notation, such as description of the syntax, the form, the meter. Then these poets did an English version which we checked back against the original Yiddish. We tried to be strictly accurate in these cases. We did not want 'imitations', we wanted translations. What we established here in effect was a cultural chain. First, from these translators to myself, who am an amateur in this field, and whose knowledge of the Jewish tradition is severely limited and whose knowledge of Yiddish is fairly limited. Then, from myself to Greenberg, a veteran Yiddish poet, and then of course, from Greenberg to the whole Yiddish tradition itself. This chain is terribly precarious." 3) Teodor Gutmans. "Sholem-Aleykhem in di royvarg-shprakhn: heores tsu di iberzetsungen fun 'Dos tepl' af ukrainish, daytsh, hebreish, english un rusish," _For Max Weinreich on his Seventieth Birthday: Studies in Jewish Languages, Literature, and Society_. The Hague: Mouton: 1964, pp. 499-477. 4) Thus, in his review of John E. Woods's translation of Thomas Mann's _The Magic Mountain_ ("Heights unscaled", TLS 25 October 1996, p. 27), Timothy Buck writes: "John E. Woods's translation of novels by Thomas Mann are a considerable improvement on those which were made earlier this century by H.T. Lowe- Porter. Written in polished American-English prose, free from eccentricities and uncalled-for archaisms, they are likely to be more palatable to the present-day reader. They are, moreover, characterized by generally greater precision in rendering Mann's texts.... But, although it reads well, Woods's _Magic Mountain_ (like his _Buddenbrooks_, reviewed in the _TLS_, October 13, 1995) is marred by major errors." And he concludes: "The English-speaking reader continues to be denied the authoritative translations of Mann's novels that are needed, to match David Luke's renderings of the short stories. John Woods's very readable versions could possibly achieve that status, if only the many errors could be identified and weeded out." 5) The Muirs were high-powered translators who also Englished Franz Kafka's _Metamorphoses_ for Schocken. 6) Shalom Asch. _Moses_, London: Macdonald, 1952, p. 148. 7) I.J. Singer. _The Brothers Ashkenazi_, London: Putnam, 1936, p. 617. Note the easy flow and raciness of Samuel's translation of I.J. Singer's _Yoshe Kalb_ (New York: Harper and Row, 1965 [originally published by Liveright as _The Sinner_, 1933]. p. 119): "Young apprentices, full of high spirits, steered the carts among the pedestrians and the heavywagons of the rich landowners. As they rolled by the wattled hedges of farms and villages, they waved to the peasant girls and shouted in Yiddish: 'Hey, calf's foot, did you ever taste a piece of _kosher_?' #The older people turn on them angrily: 'Blackguards! Keep your mouths shut! Are you looking for trouble?'" 8) Irving Saposnik. "Translating _The Family Moskat_: the Metamorphosis of a Novel_," _Yiddish_ 1:2 (1973), 26-37. 9) See Ann Weiss, _Berkowitz's Hebrew Translation of Sholem-Aleykhem: A Critical Study -- Particular Emphasis on Tevyeh Hacholev_. PhD dissertation, New York University, 1973. 10) R.S. Kachuk, "Sholom Aleichem's Humor in English Translation," _Yivo Annual of Jewish Social Science_ 11 (1957), 39-81. Sholem- Aleykhem started out badly in English, getting stuck with a veritable leech who wanted exclusive translator's rights though her renditions were pathetic. Here is a sample of Hannah Berman's version of _Stempenyu_ ("Authorized Version"), London: Methuen, 1913, pp. 31-32): "The waiters and waitresses were running up and down like frightened hares. The relatives of both parties were so excited that they did nothing but shout aloud at the top of their voices. How long more were they going to carry on the preparations? Surely, it was already time to finish the bride's toilette? Why should she and the bridegroom be kept fasting the whole of the day? The cry, 'It is time! It is time!' became more general, but no one even attempted to do anything whatever. Isaac-Naphtali ran here and there, in a velveteen jacket, under the tails of which he kept his hands locked within each other, as if her were a preacher. And, his wife, Dvossa-Malka, also made a terrible noise, an uproar. / Everybody who could ran backwards and forwards, stumbling over one another in their haste, and holding their hands out in front of them, as if they were ready to set to work at anything, but were not given the work to do." 11) Cited by Kachuk, ibid,. pp. 45-6. 12) T.E. Shaw, _The Odyssey of Homer_, 1932, 1955. 13) In Britain, as late as 1963, Gerda Charles saw fit to include only one Yiddish story in her collection _Modern Jewish Stories_ (London: Faber and Faber, 1963). The quality of translation from Yiddish in Britain was always poor and this is reflected in the position of Yiddish in that country as compared to the USA. In the Charles anthology, Bashevis's "Gimpel the Fool" (translated by Saul Bellow) represents Yiddish (Hebrew has two stories, Russian one and English eleven). Ironically, it has happened that several weak translators have actually had a large influence. Thus 3 of the 19 stories in Hannah Berman's translation of Sholem-Aleykhem's _Jewish Children_ (New York, 1922) were selected for translation into Chinese. See Irene Eber, "Translation Literature in Modern China: The Yiddish Author and His Tale," _Asian and African Studies_ 8:3 (1972) 291-314. 14) BERGELSON IN ENGLISH: A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST, 1935-1996 (Note: I have placed question marks where the facts are missing and I either leave the slot blank or guess.) "The Revolution and the Sussmans," translated by ????? in Leo W. Schwartz, _The Jewish Caravan_, New York: ??????, 1935, pp. 663-680. "In a Backwoods Town," translated by Bernard Guilbert Guerney, in Irving Howe and Eliezer Greenberg, _A Treaury of Yiddish Stories_, New York: The Viking Press, 1954, pp. 471-504 [reprinted Schocken 1973]. "The Witness," translated by Rae Lobel and Joseph King, in _"Jewish Life" Anthology, 1846-1956_, New York, 1956, pp. 159-169. "Story's End" translated by Jacob Sloan, _Commentary_ (May 1960), 413-425 [from _Shturemteg_, Kiev, 1927]. _At the Depot_, translated by Ruth Wisse in Ruth Wisse, ed., _A Shtetl and Other Yiddish Novellas_, New York: Behrman House, 1973, 79-139. "The Witness," translated by Joseph Leftwich in Joseph Leftwich, ed. _An Anthology of Modern Jewish Literature_, The Hague/ Paris: Mouton, 1974, pp. 55-64. "At Night," translated by Joachim Neugroschel in Joachim Neugroschel, ed. _Yenne Velt, the Great Works of Jewish Fantasy and Occult_, vol. 1, New York: Stonehill, 1976; London: Pan, 1978, pp. 243-245. _When All is Said and Done_, translated by Bernard Martin, Athens: Ohio State University, 1977. "Joseph Schur," translated by ?????; "The Hole Through Which Life Slips," translated by Reuben Bercovich; "Civil War" translated by Seth Wolitz; Irving Howe and Eliezer Greenberg, _Ashes Out of Hope; Fiction by Soviet Yiddish Writers_, New York: Schocken, 1977, pp. xx-xx, 74-83, 85-123. _When All Is Said and Done_ (extract) translated by Gerald Stillman in _Jewish Currents_ 30 (September 1978), ??-??. "The Convert," _When All is Said and Done_, "Joseph Schur," translated by Joachim Neugroschel in Joachim Neugroschel, ed. _The Shtetl; a Creative Anthology of Jewish Life in Eastern Europe_, New York: Richard Marek Publishers, 1979, pp. 269-272, 377-394, 399-450. "Among Refugees," translated by Joachim Neugroschel in David Roskies, ed. _The Literature of Destruction; Jewish Responses to Catastrophe_, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1988, 1989, pp. 263-274. TRANSLATION YIDDISH TITLE TRANSLATOR 1. Among Refugees Tsvishn imigrantn JN 2. At Night Baynakht JN 3. At the Depot Arum vokzal RW 4. Civil War Birger-krig SW 5. In a Backwoods Town In a fargrebter shtot BGG 6. Joseph Schur Yoysef Shur ??,JN 7. Story's End ??? Sof mayse JS 8. The Convert Di meshumedes JN 9. The Hole Through Which Der lokh durkh velkhn eyner RB Life Slips hot farloyrn hot farloyrn 10.The Revolution and the ??? Di revolutsye un di ?? Sussmans mishpokhe zusman 11.The Witness An eydes RL/JK,JL 12.When All is Said and Done Nokh alemen BM,JN,GS 13.Departing Opgang GW 14.Impoverished Yordim GW 15.Remnants Droyb GW TRANSLATORS (ALPHABETICAL LIST) WORKS ABBREV. NAME ??????? 10 ?? Reuben Bercovich 9 RB Bernard Guilbert Guerney 5 BGG Joseph King (with Rae Lobel) 11 JK Joseph Leftwich 11 JL Rae Lobel (with Joseph King) 5 RL Bernard Martin 12 BM Joachim Neugroschel 1,2,6,8,12 JN Jacob Sloan 7 JS Gerald Stillman 12 GS Golda Werman 13,14,15 GW Ruth Wisse 3 RW Seth Wolitz 4 SW Leonard Prager 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 24 Apr 97 12:42:17 IST From: rhle302@uvm.haifa.ac.il Subject: Pru urvu and not peru urevu My friend Hugh Denman has called my attention to a small yet significant romanization error in _TMR_ 2. I wrote there that the groom said to the bride, "peru urevu," but it is clear that he must have said, "pru urvu." Partial proof of this is that the bride replies that she does not know what this "pruv" and "vu" mean. The typical Mea Shearim yeshive-bokher would use Ashkenazic Hebrew pronunciations in quoting Hebrew while speaking Yiddish. These days his more worldly bride, who would know Israeli Hebrew better, might very well have "Israelized" some of her pronunciations of terms from the Hebrew-Aramaic component of Yiddish. But in this instance the pronunciation in both Ashkenazic Hebrew and Israeli Hebrew would be "pru urevu." Romanization of words from the Hebrew-Aramaic component of Yiddish pays attention to sound rather than spelling; thus the _e_s in "peru urevu" don't belong there. Leonard Prager 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 03 May 1997 22:38:47 +0300 From: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il Subject: An identifying footnote to TMR.001 Larry Rosenwald teaches English at Wellesley College. He has written about diaries, about the relations between words and music, and about translation, and has made translations of literary and scholarly texts from French, German, Latin and Yiddish. his address is LRosenwald@Wellesley.edu Leonard Prager ______________ The Mendele Review Leonard Prager, editor Please address all correspondence to: Leonard Prager 13/35 Dr. Kauders St. Haifa 35439, Israel email: rhle302@uvm.haifa.ac.il _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Language and Literature (A Companion to _Mendele_) --------------------------------------------- Contents of Vol. 01.005 May 13, 1997 1) Reflexions on the Yiddish lexeme _mentsh_ (Leonard Prager) _____________________________________________ 1) Reflexions on the Yiddish lexeme _mentsh_ The prestigious Israeli daily newspaper _Ha-arets_ of 3 March 1995 (p. 5b) carried a half-page article by Avi Katsman entitled "'Mentsh' be-iro" ('A "Mentsh" in His City'). Why, the author asked, had almost 300,000 mourners followed the funeral bier of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Yiddish: Ha-Rov Shloyme-Zalmen Oyerbakh), a rather colorless and uncharismatic religious scholar, minor yeshiva head, but immensely respected halachic _posek_ ('decider of halachic questions'). No halachic liberal or reformer, Rabbi Auerbach issued rulings with unquestionably orthodox rigor; his decisions were universally accepted in the charedi world. He was especially noted for his personal modesty and his eschewal of honors and perquisites. His halachic judgements revealed an uncommon sensitivity to human needs. Thus we find Rabbi Ram HaCohen saying that Rabbi Auerbach possessed the fifth part of the _Shulchan aruch_, a work which only has four parts: "Ha-chelek ha-chamishi hu ha-adam." ('The fifth part is humanity/the human person/mankind.') Many non-charedi Jews, and not secularists alone, would fail to be impressed by the humanity of a rabbi whose last acts included, for example, a call for an end to physical education in the charedi _talmud tora_ (see Shachar Ilan, "Ha-rabanim ha-charedim osrim hishtatfut banim bechugey amanut umalechet yad," _Ha-arets_ 5 March 1995). But whether or not Rabbi Auerbach was a _mentsh_ by this or that criterion is not for discussion here. My focus is purely lexicological. Narrow though it be, however, it has several parts: 1) What brought a Hebrew newspaper in Israel to use a Yiddishism in an article heading? 2) How did an epithet expressing the quintessence of humanistic _yidishkayt_ get tagged to a representive of the most rigorous ritualistic Judaism? 3) How and when and where did _mentsh_ with the sense 'very decent human being' arise? For the sake of brevity and to help sharpen the debate I will propose a hypothesis for which I frankly do not possess adequate proof. A proper historical account of the word _mentsh_ in Yiddish reqires a large corpus of examples in context, attention to the translation of Hebrew _ish_ and _odom_ in khumesh-taytsh, and equal attention to both Germanic and Slavic cognates. It also requires an intimate knowledge of the social history of Yiddish in the New World. My hypothesis is that the ideal sense of _mentsh_, while latent in earlier Yiddish was born and and further nurtured in American Jewish English. From Jewish English it was reborrowed into American Yiddish and it reached Israeli Hebrew through Israelis who assumed, like the American Jews from whom they learned it, that it was Yiddish. I claim that _mentsh_, which seems so authentically Yiddish in the sense 'extremely decent human being' is a relatively recent denizen of the Yiddish lexicon, not perhaps as young as the favorably-colored Jewish-English (and increasingly General American) _chutzpa_ (to be contrasted with the higly negative Yiddish _khutspe_ and Hebrew _chutspa_). But in Israel I have already heard Israelis using -khutspe- in the Jewish-English sense! That words are dynamic creatures who alter their meanings we know full well. _Mentsh_ is especially interesting because it illustrates both pejoration and melioration, the depths of physical humiliation and the heights of spiritual self-mastery -- two poles of human experience. Perhaps a useful starting point for our investigation is Uriel Weinreich's main entry for _mentsh_ in his splendid _Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary_, a copy of which every Mendelist should own (if only to save us from repeated elementary queries!). UW gives four sense categories: man, human being; person; responsible/mature person; helper, employee. He also gives the phrases _zayn a mentsh_ ('behave well, act one's age'), _vern a mentsh_ ('settle down'), _vern oys mentsh_ ('collapse, go to pieces'). In the 1950s, I dimly recall, there was a comic routine in which a speaker of "broken-English" says "Tenk yu veramentsh" mimicking English "Thank you very much!" and presumably transcending his linguistic handicap by a kind of ethical superiority. This is probably not the first time we meet "Ver a mentsh!" qua ethical imperative, but it is surely significant that in UW, the only meaning for "Ver a mentsh" is implacably "bourgeois" or at least pragmatic, conformist and largely materialistic. And in Yiddish, when you cease to be a mentsh, when you become _oys mentsh_, you do not behave immorally or unfeelingly, you simply stop functioning, physically or mentally. In UW's four sense categories, only the first two are possible candidates for linking with highly positive characterological traits. The third sense is closely linked to the phrase "vern a mentsh" and its usual context refers more to realizing one's own needs rather than sensitivity to those of others. UW's fourth category "helper, employee' is underreported and deserves a chapter in itself, one which has great ethical significance but not of the sort one might expect. It is difficult to miss the recurrent use of the word _mentsh_ 'employee of lowest order' in stories by Dovid Pinski and others where class struggle or inequality are the themes. This word had another sound for former generations and signalled dependency and inferiority. Most Jews loathed the idea of being someone's _mentsh_. Khane at the end of Pinski's "Oysgefirt" wishes to say something as hurtful as possible to her husband's humiliators: "Zi hot zey alemen gevolt vintshn, zey zoln arbetn af fremde vershtatn, zayn 'yenems a mentsh'." ('She wanted to wish that all of them would go to work in stranger's workshops, be "somebody's mentsh"'.) I thought I had made an interesting discovery in Pinski's use of the word, until I learned that Khayim Liberman had written an essay on the subject seventy some years earlier (see Khayim Liberman, "'Mentsh' in Pinski's dertseylungen," _Dikhter un veltn_, Berlin, 1923, pp. 139-147). Ironically, English-speaking Jews today regard the word _mentsh_ as almost talismanic, the quintessence of humanistic Judaism as incorporated in the injuction "Zay a mentsh" ('Be a decent human being'). At a certain point this sense of the word pushed the other back, or social conditions altered and there was less need for the other sense. Once workers were organized in unions they were employees and not somebody's "mentsh." If you look at the forty-nine proverbs with _mentsh_ in Ignaz Bernstein's _Yudishe shprikhverter un redensartn_ (Waraw 1908), you will see that all but one refer to _mentsh_ in the primary sense of a human as distinct from an animal being, with virtually no ethical overtones or affect. Most are critical, satirical, cautionary, pious or reflective about humankind. Thus we have sayings like "A mentsh iz vi a flig" (15) and "Der mentsh iz dokh nor a boser-vedom,"(24) which acknowledge man's weakness. The sole proverb suggesting that the human condition possesses value in itself is the ambiguous "A mentsh is umetum a mentsh."(12) Human value is explicitly undermined in "Volt der mentsh nor azoy fil vert gevezn, vi got ken helfn" (35). We find only one proverb with the admonition "Ver a mentsh!" and it is addressed to a spoiled child, promising him that if he behaves he will get to sit in the sukkah at Sukkot time: "Zay a mentsh, vest du zitsn in suke." (41) In early Yiddish literature I have never found an instance where "Zay a mentsh" is an appeal for decency or goodness as distinct from behavior becoming an adult. Since I'm determined to be iconoclastic I will extend my hypothesis (I don't have a shred of evidence for the following). I suspect that secular American Yiddishists who were critical of orthodoxy saw _mentshlekhkayt_ as a higher _madreyge_ ('spiritual level') than mere _yidishkayt_. Rousseauean ideas of the basic goodness of man had been absorbed into the highly literate Jewish anarchist movement and to a lesser extent the Jewish socialist movement. If Man was fundamentally good, the quintessential man, the _mentsh_, was certainly so. The abstract noun _mentshlekhkayt_ seems to have entered Yiddish from both New High German and Slavic, containing the main senses from these cognates. One who possessed_mentshlekhkayt_ was a _mentsh_, which word gradually became an honorific, especially in Jewish English. The lect which we call Jewish English (or Yinglish), behaving like an organism, instinctively understood it could not digest a large Yiddish lexicon and so it selected items it regarded as comic, gustatory, phonotactic or as idealizing the culture of parents once mocked. It was inevitable that _mentsh_, alongside _shlep_, _nosh_, kvetsh, _beygl_, etc. would play a major role in Jewish English and help propagate the notion (illusory?) that Jewish culture is profoundly ethical. Afterword: I believe that _mentsh_ is the single most discussed word in _Mendele_ in all six years of its existence. There is, I have learned by scanning past volumes, an academic piece on the word by Mark Kaminsky (which I confess I have not read). The following list of mentions of _mentsh_ in _Mendele_ is not complete, many of the _mentsh_ 'person' instances being omitted. But there is a small database of information and opinions in the following corpus. Vol1 : 25, 31, 151, 165, 166. Vol2 : 73, 75, 143, 157, 161, 164, 166, 167. Vol3 : 10, 16, 28, 38, 80, 91, 141, 148, 150, 160, 163, 246, 248, 255, 272, 280, 282, 322, 345. Vol4 : 25, 41, 78, 82, 92, 103, 104, 115, 141, 142, 146, 239, 305, 310, 312, 320, 321, 324, 325, 329, 331, 339, 340, 346, 371, 373, 417. Vol5 : 70, 72, 88, 111, 158, 167, 305. Vol6 : 38, 41, 43, 45, 48, 61, 78, 101, 107, 189, 272, 301. ***** Leonard Prager __________________________________________________________________ The Mendele Review Editor: Leonard Prager 13/35 Dr. Kauders St. Haifa 35439, Israel email: RHLE302@uvm.haifa.ac.il _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Language and Literature (A Companion to _Mendele_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.006 May 15 1997 1) Versions of _Ashkenaz_ by Seth L. Wolitz _________________________________________ 1) Versions of Ashkenaz The recent exchanges in _Mendele_ on Ashkenaz, that magical Yiddishland which tickles cartological urges -- and perhaps hidden national ones? -- as we pronounce the names of shtetlekh whose national flag in fantasy might have been a page of Talmud, a Zionist banner or a red flag (but were none of these), underscores that Ashkenaz is an intellectual construct, a state of mind with ideological and methodological implications. These invaluable exchanges reveal how diverse are the views in interpreting Eastern European Jewish cultural life and how little positions have changed over the years. For heuristic purposes I construe ideal positions from the sparse statements offered thus far (see the notices on "Ashkenazic Studies" in _Personal Notices_ of 12 March 1997 and in _Mendele_, vol.6, nos. 285-288) and consider their implicit theoretical, methodological and ideological bases. If "Ashkenazic Studies" are to become a recognized academic discipline, these bases will define their parameters. 1. Center and Periphery The call for a conference on Ashkenaz in Cracow for next summer 1998 frames the coming Congress in a linguistic/sociological model: center and periphery. The center or centers of Eastern European Jewry, especially the great cities of the Respublica Polonicae plus Kiev and New York in this passing century serve as foci and dissemination points to the Kresy and other peripheries such as Lipkan and Kharkov and to the provinces. From this kukvinkl, Eastern European Jewry constructed for itself a unique identity: the putative Ashkenaz (the intellectual construct of David Neal Miller et al.), with evolving and mutating centers and peripheries but continually identifiable on evident geo-political bases, the Polish Respublica, the Czarist Regime, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and later Rumania. Center and Periphery therefore is a geometric epitome of a theoretic vision of the unity of the Eastern European Jewish worldview. The methodology is descriptive and permits an historical mapping. Its ideological assumptions are drawn on Bundist principles of cultural autonomy, (and not forgetting the Folkists and other friends of Yiddish, Nokhem Shtif, the Weinreichs, etc.), the uniqueness of the Eastern European experience as a distinct entity as opposed to a Zionist integrative perspective. The influence of Dubnov is not far away and the perspectives of the leading Austrian socialists who found room for national culture in socialist universalism. This theoretical and methodological approach, center and periphery, privileges the Jewish folk (and Yiddish) and its cultural production in toto as opposed to legitimizing only the elite production in Hebrew/Aramaic texts. That the conference will be a joint Ohio State and Jagellonian University undertaking adds further confirmation of ideological factors at work. Poland today, like other Eastern European nations, perhaps learning from modern Spain, has discovered the convivencia, the idea that early states were amalgams of peoples and nations and not nation-states, in which various peoples lived side by side in various conditions of harmony across time. Jagellonian University in Cracow has both an academic interest in the topic of "Jews in Ashkenaz" as well as an ideological claim as a Polish institution to reenforce for today's needs the image of the past "convivencia." Thus there is a felicitous conflation of doyiker ideology and Polish contemporary ideology to wish to site "Ashkenazic" studies in the Polish Center. Poland becomes suddenly the Center of (and claims) Ashkenaz and positions Jewry deeply anchored to the Diaspora-a very Bundist ideal! [And a penchant of Prof. Miller!] Poland then becomes the de facto center of Ashkenaz for the last six hundred years reenforcing the ideological interests of this Bundist-derived perspective which melds so well with contemporary Polish political, cultural and economic interests. 2.The Positivist-Historical Approach The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York position on the putative Ashkenaz in New York (the Prof. Roskies voice) embraces a modernised positivist historical perspective which derives from Comtian and Tainian models, the celebrated: race, moment, milieu structure. The literary and social history proffered by its champions is prescriptive rather than descriptive. The historical linearity of this approach privileges the religious inheritance as the signifying practice and accomplishment of the culture. This methodology, formed from an organicist perspective, sites and positions the study of Eastern European Jewry as a sui generis experience. Its ideological rootings tie it to a cultural Zionist perspective of an evolved Ahad Ha'amian school which favors elite cultural production and considers the Eastern European Jewish Existenz as merely another variant in the on-going Jewish whole. Whereas the fulcrum for Miller's position depends on the Vilna/Warsaw axis, Roskies' position posits a continuous historical "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem...", Jerusalem as ompholos and source of Eastern European validity and significance. The metaphysical over the physical. The Yiddish accomplishment is subsumed in the general Judaic fact joining the Muser works, khsides and responsa etc. The secular aspect is accomodated willy-nilly in the reality of the evolving Jewry but hidden in its theoretical and methodological assumptions lie a sacral history and mission. 3. The Post-Colonial Stance From a YIVO voice (Prof. Steinlauf), a post-colonialist perspective proffers the cross-cultural interpretation of Eastern European Jewry. Jews and their culture cannot be studied sui generis but as a national people in a contextualized condition often facing transgressive forces which must be accomodated. The Jewish culture is necessarily evolutionary in its continuous encounters with the Other, be it hegemonic or co-equal. Its parameters and core structure re-configure the intellectual and material factors in its condition. This theoretical position derives from neo-marxist thought, subaltern studies, gender theory, and the post-existentialist anti-colonialism of Frantz Fanon and Albert Memmi and possibly Homi Bhabha. The approach, while descriptive, refuses the attempt at definition of a "pure" culture but considers hybridization as the norm in an evolutionary fashion. Transmutation and metamorphosis of culture underline the Post-Colonialist approach to Eastern European Jewish life which is conceived as a projective historical appreciation rather than as essentialist which, at base, dominates the JTS position and hovers over the Ohio State model. The Post-Colonialist position ultimately situates Eastern European Jewish culture in its Slavic context , recognizes the centrality of hybridization and promotes a multi-cultural legitimacy which fearlessly hints at an ultimate universalism given the ideological underpinings rooted in marxist thought. [The new summer Yivo program in Yiddish in Warsaw hypostasises this view.] This theoretic position tends to dominate most cultural historical studies today. It determinately places the Ashkenazic experience as part of the Third World encounter with Western modernity and insists more on the commonalities of the cultures than their signifying differences. All three theoretical approaches display elements of occlusion and cannot be considered holistic efforts today. Their overlappings do not prepare some future harmonization but rather sharp differences of perspective which are driven by theological/ideological practices. (The Miller position could ultimately accomodate the Steinlauf position by accepting "hybridization" of the Ashkenazic culture and thus dilute its "ideal tyoe" purity!) Their variety should be a source of satisfaction for the diversity in Jewry. Unfortunately, variety is never traditionally applauded either by the Jewish intelligentsia or in the folksmasn. The JTS position makes this evident. Each perspective attempts to re-position the Eastern European Jewish experience inside its own system but the multiple focalizations yield a more complex, rich and nuanced appreciation of the whole. Each approach necessarily foregrounds its own parti pris: 1. Miller emphasizes place; 2. Roskies continuity; 3. Steinlauf/Baker interaction. All derive from Western models and do not provide a particular Jewish perspective evolved from Jewish scholarly sources. The contributions of each methodology yield meaning in terms of Western scholarly practices mistakenly passed off as universal. These efforts contribute to an accumulated body of abstract knowledge about Eastern European Jewry without much echo. Is this scholarship a mere anthropological exercise to preserve a lost community? Can it serve to help re-configure a new Jewish people and culture? Does it do both? Naturally both would be the ideal but these ideologically-driven methodologies go little further than the nineteenth century Wissenschaft des Judenthums for these scholarly undertakings produce artifactual labellings as in any Western anthropological exhibit: a "show and tell" on a higher level of abstraction but not one whit less difference than the Vancouver Museum dedicated to preserving the artifacts of Kwakiutl culture or the Musee de l'Homme's collection of Berber culture. These approaches seal the culture. Its descendants, if descendants still exist, either remain in their "tribal" reserves or have joined supposedly the universal fabric of Westernism. The culture therefore is appreciated as part of the human whole but with closure. These approaches serve Western ideological interests and reduce the Jewish experience and culture to an earlier condition not unlike traditional Chrtistian theological thinking which would admit to the Jews its discovery of the one God concept but insists that its fulfillment is elsewhere. The theoretical options therefore may be appreciated for awakening interest in Eastern European Jewish culture but these approaches are methodologies at the service of the Other, not of the subject studied! It is one more object, in fact, no different than studying Easter Island culture, the Mayan one or Bulgarian one. To argue that in a university setting the above methodologies provide the only appropriate structure is to accept a hegemonic practice. That the Jewish condition, Jewish culture, Judaism, etc., cannot find easily its own sovereign housing like English, French, Chinese or Russian in academe evidences the hidden reality that it is not a "normative" object of study and may reflect more on the Other, Western Civilization in its academic garb, that there are tensions which have not yet been flushed out. Jewish "Programs" only finally emerged after Israel became a reality. (Judaism was with Biblical Hebrew relegated for decades to the theological schools.) Yiddish became "legitimized" when it was found profitable: Jewish benefactors paid for its presence and German and Middle East Departments saw it providing an increased body count. The study of Eastern European Jewry and its Yiddish fact and accomplishments succeed in holding its legitimacy by the objectification of the field of study as merely a past to be ingathered as mere artifacts. Modern Eastern European Jewish scholarship which includes Yiddish culture at its heart must not be allowed the academic closure to fit "higher" ideological perspectives of Western "universalist" practices. The transmutation of Yiddish culture, for example, need not conclude on the Shoah but can be argued to be in a metamorphosed state: the great majority of what is "American" cultural production by Jews could well be argued in Foucauldian terms as Ashkenazic culture in its new hybridization: witness the prose of Bellow or Ozick etc. (If Prof. Harshav could argue in his Introduction to American Yiddish Poetry that the poetry is American poetry in Yiddish, it is even more true that it is Yiddish poetry in America!) The cultural descendants are no less carrying in a reconfiguration the inheritance by giving consent to their cultural, intellectual and biological descent no matter how re-configured or re-positioned. These aforementioned methodological optics serve Western perspectives seeking closure whereas new approaches are needed to provide and recognize the open space for continuous Jewish cultural growth within and without of Western Civilization. Ashkenaz. in short, was not wiped out by history but its geographical location has been relocated, rehybridized and reconfigured. Israel and most of North America is its "progeny" -- and perhaps the new sprouts in Russia and Ukraine (to use an organicist metaphor). Yiddish, as the major language of recent Ashkenazic culture, has surely been given a death knell but even in its outrunners, Argentina, South Africa, Australia, Israel, France and Quebec, its metamorphosis is not less the inheritance and continuity of Ashkenaz. We still lack fresh scholarly theories and methodologies which provide optics to interpret and serve the living culture by valorizing the Jewish past for the valid present Jewish cultural existence. Until Jewish oriented academic theories emerge as is happening in African and Asian academic and cultural circles, Jewish academic scholarship will remain a subaltern production of Western Civilization. If this is wanted, it means that the Shoa did bring to a closure a unique civilization. Seth L. Wolitz University of Texas at Austin ______________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ vol. 01, no. 006 Leonard Prager, editor Please direct all correspondence to: Leonard Prager 13/35 Dr. Kauders St. Haifa 35439, Israel email:lprager@research.haifa.ac.il _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.007 12 June 1997 1) "Evigingo" by Leyzer Volf ------------------------------------------ Editor's Note: This long poem by the Vilna poet Leyzer Volf (1910-1943) was written in Vilna on the 2nd to the 4th of November 1934 in Latin letters and published "in a small booklet bound in thin rose-colored paper" (Shalom Luria) by the Vilna publisher Gerangl in 1936. No copies of this Latin-letter text are extant (a picture of the title page may be seen in the poet's _Lider_ [New York, 1955], p. 21). Fortunately, the poem had been transcribed into Yiddish letters by the late Leyzer Ran and was thus preserved. The Yiddish text in Yiddish letters given in _Chulyot_ 3 (1996) is here re-romanized, restoring the poem to its approximate original form. The poem appears here with the permission of _Chulyot_, the Israeli Hebrew-language journal devoted to Yiddish studies. To assist the reader, proper names are capitalized (though Yivo practice capitalizes minimally). The glossary only includes words 1) not in the Weinreich 1960 or Harkavi 1928 dictionaries, or 2) of Hebrew-Aramaic origin. Background materials for this poem will appear in _The Mendele Review_ vol. 01.008. Explications of "Evigingo" are invited. 1) "Evigingo" by Leyzer Volf 1. In di faykhte, tife zhunglen*, *UW has _zhonglen_ Oyf* di zumpn Zhabatshuko, *spelled "oyf", pronounced /af/ Bay dem shvartsn vaser Tshungo, Vos in veykhn tol Amiko -- 5. Lebt der alter Gutamingo, Voynt der alter Gutamingo. Esn est er alte shlangen, Feygl-eyer, blinde-verim, Zhabes, fish mit grine oygn, 10. Veverkes vos kenen flien, Mayzlekh, vos dertseylen mayses, Malpes, vos farshiltn skeynim. Nit gehat hot er keyn yugnt- Tsayt der alter Gutamingo. 15. Zumpn hobn im geborn Alterheyt mit krume beyner, Zhabes zaynen zayne oygn, Bushlen -- zayne fis fun fleker, Zayne hent -- vi alte shlangen, 20. Zayne hor -- vi groe derner. Shteyendik in vaser shloft er, Ven er geyt, di malpes lakhn: -- Oto geyt er, Gutamingo, Der tsedreyter alter flokn! 25. Un di vevriklekh di shtifers, Varfn nislekh im in ponim: Nor der groer Leyb der eltster Hot nokh farn altn opshay Un der alter Gutamingo 30. Klogt far im in tifn ovnt: -- Vey tsu mayne alte yorn! Shver iz mir shoyn umtsushprayzn In di zhunglen, oyf* di zumpn, pronounced /af/ Zukhn shpayz far mayne tseyner, 35. Vos tsebreklen zikh fun altkayt. Shver iz mir shoyn ayntsushlingen A butshan* in dem frimorgn UW has _botshan_ Un a yungn ber in ovnt. Kh'darf shoyn brenen oyfn* fayer pronounced /afn/ 40. Far mayn zun in roytn fayer Darf ikh zayn a shtik gebrotns -- Vey tsu mir ikh hob keyn zun nit! Ver vet mayne beyner lekn, Zey tsevarfn in di zumpn, 45. Shtorkhn zoln nemen shprotsn Hoykh fun mayne alte beyner? Ver vet mayne oygn leygn In di toln arum felzn, Laykhtn zoln zey far groe 50. Blinde velf oyf* nakht-geyegn? *pronounced /af/ Ver vet mayne hor farflantsn Tsvishn derner, harte grozn, Tomer vet a foygl faln, Zol er nit tseshtokhn vern? 55. Ver vet mayne tseyn farzetsn Oyf* di berglekh, vaksn zoln * pronouncd /af/ Vayse, shlanke, zise boymlekh -- Yunge kales far di vintn? Vey tsu mir, ikh hob keyn zun nit! 60. Vey tsu mir, ikh hob keyn zun nit! Un der groyer Leyb der eltster Iz gezesn lang, geshvign, Mitn ek geklapt, gezhmuret Mit di gele, kalte oygn 65. Un zikh plutslung opgerufn Mit a kol, fartoybt fun altkayt: -- Draysik nekht oyf* dorem-mizrekh * pronounced /af/ (last reminder) Gey on opru un on vaser, Vestu trefn zibn berglekh, 70. Eyner hekher fun dem tsveytn: Oyf a felz fun hekhstn bergl Zitst di sove Anakumis, Zibn oygn in ir shtern, Draytsn finger oyf ir horn. 75. Zog tsu ir eyn vort pamelekh, Gor pamelekh: E v i g i n g o! -- Un du vest geholfn vern. Gey mit glik, un zorg nit, alter. Hot der alter Gutamingo 80. Lang geglet dem Leyb dem groen, Im gedankt un zikh gezegnt, Zikh gelozt oyf dorem-mizrekh Geyn on opru un on vaser. Draysik nekht zaynen avek shoyn. 85. Un nito di zibn berglekh Un di sove Anakumis. Berglekh zaynen do, nor akhtsik, Shpitsike, vi sharfe tseyner. Un oyf zey, geyt um Levone, 90. Tokhter fun der nakht, Levone: -- Tokhter fun der nakht, Levone -- Zogt der alter Gutamingo -- Efsher veystu, libe tokhter, Vu di zibn berglekh zaynen 95. Fun der sove Anakumis? Kh'darf zi hobn, kh'muz zi fregn: E v i g i n g o! E v i g i n g o! E v i g i n g o! Ruik entfert di Levone, Geyendik oyf gele fislekh: 100. -- Vu di vintn zaynen draytsn, Oyf di hoyle tseyn fun korn Vu di Libe veynt gelasn, Oyf a faygn-boym baym vaser, Vu di shtern tantsn shiker, 105. Glaykh un glaykh, durkh zump un zorgn, Eyernekhtn oyf a flokn, Zitst di sove Anakumis, Zog ir zikher: E v i g i n g o! Dankt der alter un er lozt zikh 110. Vayter geyn di sove zukhn. Shteyndldik der veg, di faylen Zhumen giftik in der luftn. Royte vintn, bloye felzn, Melkt der teyl (zikh?) in a kerbl. 115. S'efnt zikh di erd mit fayer Un farmakht zikh mit a duner. Mid iz Gutamingo, s'vign Zikh di kni vi shvere shiflekh, S'noygt zikh tsu der erd zayn shtern 120. Un er flistert: E v i g i n g o!... Plutslung: a farbrenter zhungl. Oyf di gliendike tsvaygn Fun a grobn boym in faln Flit a ku mit dine herner 125. Un di federn fun zilber. -- -- Libe Ku, du gute getin, Vos du gist gor milkh dayn soyne. Zog mir, efsher veystu vu di Sove Anakumis nekhtikt? 130. Kh'muz zi hobn, kh'muz zi fregn: Evigingo... Evigingo... S'hot di ku gehat rakhmones Oyfn hartn, blindn zokn, Un zi hot im milkh gegebn 135. Fun ir fuln, vaysn ayter, Un zi hot gezogt gelasn Kayendik di shvere verter: Zibn vegn fun albaster Kreytsn iber akht fun gingold, 140. Yogn zikh tsum Palats Bonum Fun der getin Atenada. Un der palats iz fun marmor* UW _marmer_; see _Oytser_ 204 Vays vi shoym fun vaserfaln; In ir sod di shvere epl 145. Laykhtn vi levones fule; Ire brist -- vi zilber-koyln Ven di zun geyt oyf* in mizrekh, *spelled "oyf", pronounced /uf/ Ire hor fun heln honik, Ire oygn -- nakht un samet, 150. Ire hent vi tsarte shlangen Arum Libesgot farflokhtn: 'Cupid'; see NHG Liebesgott Vestu faln afn shtern, Nont tsu ire kleyne fislekh (_Nont_= _Noent_) Un aroysklogn gelasn: 155. Evigingo... Evigingo... Dankt der alter un er lozt zikh Oyf di vegn fun albaster, Mide shlofn oyf di vegn, Ayngeshpant in purpur-vogns, 160 Eyzlen, blut un shveys un tsirung, Shtet un templen, zayln, geter, Blut, gelekhter, gold un shande, Yogn zikh nokh rum un koved, Yogn zikh tsum Palats Bonum, 165. Fun der getin Atenada; Un der palats iz fun marmor, Nor in blut un flamen shteyt er, Un in palats oyf di kishns Ligt di sheyne getin shiker, 170. Fun a krankhayt ufgefresn Vi a shlang fun ferd tsetrotn. Arum ir di shvartse meydlekh Tsitern in shrek un trern. Falt der alter tsu di fislekh 175. Fun der durkhgefoylter getin Un er flistert un er bet zikh: Evigingo... Evigingo... -- Evigingo -- tsit di getin Vi a hemshekh fun ir kholem, -- 180. Heyln tunkele un lange, Derner un neshome-laydn, Bloe libe on a grenets, On a guf un on a zinen, Tslomim shvartse, vundn royte, 185. Mantlen-nakht un hertser-fayer, Hayzer shpitsike vi shpizn, Tirn, fenster -- shmol vi finger -- Un in kalter vant farmoyert, Mitn markh tsum shteyn geshlosn, 190. Oyf di fis -- a keyt fun ayzn Un dos harts in tash fun Tayvl -- Evigingo... Evigingo... Dankt der alter un er lozt zikh Vayter zukhn Evigingon. 195. Vegn tsien zikh geflastert Vegn-vald un vegn-vaser, Un er geyt durkh koridorn Ful mit bikher un monakhn, Durkh di harte gratn kukt er 200. Oyf di hoykhe kloyster-shpitsn. Gleker klingen, bleter klogn, Shayter-hoyfns oyf di pletser, Betndike hent in fayer Un der oylem in hislayves 205. Oyf di kni aropgeboygn. Geyt der alter un er veys nit Vemen fregn, vemen betn; Ale hobn epes moyre Verter afn lip tsu brengen. 210. Rayter oyf di ferd bapantsert, Shtekhn zikh mit lange shpizn, Tomer redstu, tomer fregstu, Tomer vilstu epes visn. Diner, ferd un knekht, baronen 215. Filn oys di shtet un derfer. In di shenken -- vayn un vayber, Oyf di felder -- blut un baytshn. Zitst der alter Gutamingo Eyn mol in a kleynem shenkl; 220. Mid iz er fun veg. Di torbe Leygt er unter zikh arunter Un er bet a glezl roytvayn Ontsuvaremen di glider. Plutslung zetst zikh a parshoyn tsu 225. Tsu zayn tishl mit a glezl Ful mit vayn, tsi gor mit fayer; Epes a fardekhtik-hoykher, In a hoykhn hut mit zibn Pave-federn vi bloe 230. Lange dine flater flamen; Oyf di finger trogt er ringen Ful mit groyse eydlshteyner Regnboygndik tseblitste; Shmole hoyzn trogt er, grine, 235. Durkhgevebt mit zilber-fedem Un in hant -- a baytsh fun leder, Ayngeshmidt in bronz un kuper. Shiker iz er kentik zeyer; Oyf di grobe, frekhe lipn 240. Shpringt arum a faykhter shmeykhl, Vi a zhabe oyf a bretl. -- Her Baron fon Pan Pantofl! -- Shtelt er for zikh farn altn, Klapndik zayn gloz on glezl 245. Fun dershtoyntn Gutamingon, Trinkt er hilkhik, nokher zogt er: -- Vos iz dayn bager? -- un kh'gib dir! Ikh bin itst in a zeyer zeyer Ufgeleygter, guter shtimung 250. Un dayn yetvider farlang vet Momental farvirklekht vern... Shtamlt Gutamingo shoyn vi Durkh a nepl fun fargesung: Evigingo... Evigingo... 255. -- Evigingo? -- fregt er iber Der parshoyn Baron Pantofl -- Vos iz dos?... Aza min khaye? Prehistorye?... Mitlelter?... Evi... gingo... evig... evig... 260. A germanish vort... ikh veys shoyn... Germanistik... gut, bakumst es! Kh'vel dir onshraybn a brivl Tsu mayn fraynt Gehaymrat Gete, Homonukulus un Her Faust. (_homunculus_+ extra syllable for meter) 265. Nokh a shtempl vestu geyn tsum Mesye Napoleon fun Frankraykh, Kinig iber Praysn, Shpanye, Un Katara Blindekishke; Di tseteylung fun Eyrope 270. Vet dikh fertlen in Shvetsarye, / Fu, es dreyt zikh mir in kop shoyn Vi di erd arum di zun-shayn!/ Nokh der letster ekspeditsye, In a fleshl fun shampanyer, 275. Fest farkorkevet in Poyln Fun a vildn vitse-kenig Iber Afrikaner Lite, Bay Napoleon in vestl, Oyfn indzl Krankekhyene -- 280. Ligt er un er drimlt ruik In di vikelekh fun khemye, Oyf a shlitn fun a genets -- Evigingo... Evigingo... Gutamingo hot genumen 285. S'brivl tsum Gehaymrat Gete Un gelozt zikh oyf di vegn Keyn Germanye un keyn Vaymar, Nor der veg iz lang un glitshik Un er firt arop in toln. 290. Gete iz shoyn lang geshtorbn, Karl Marks iz shoyn gekumen, Arbeter in royte bluzes Flatern in kamf oyf gasn. Felker greytn tsu milkhome, 295. Pantser-shifn, toyt, shigoen. Gutamingo iz farmatert Shoyn fun langn gang, er vil shoyn, Oystsien di kalte beyner, Shlofn, shlofn, toyb un eybik. 300. Nor di erd -- zi lozt nit shlofn, Fil iz zi mit groyl un fayer. Meysim-berg oyf ale felder, Shteyt in mentshn-fleysh farzunken. S'klogt di erd, geshendt, der himl 305. Veynt mit bombes un mit shifn. Eyn sekund nor vert es heler -- Moskve flit -- a fayer foygl, Fliglen-breyte finf-yor plener Un der ek -- a shvere fone 310. Ayngenetst in blut fun heldn. Mitn shtoyb fun toyznt vegn Kumt keyn Moskve Gutamingo. Oyfn Roytn Plats in ovnt Shteyt er farn toytn Lenin 315. Un er shmeykhlt un er flistert: Evigingo... Evigingo... Vos-zhe redstu? Vos-zhe shiltstu? -- Zogt der vakh-soldat tsum altn -- Voser Mingo? Velkher Shmingo? 320. Do iz nor der khaver Lenin Un ikh hit im! Trog zikh vayter. Gey tsum Khaver Mirograyev, Er vet dir shoyn alts derklern... Evigingo... Evigingo... 325. Dankt der alter un er lozt zikh Tsum Profesor Mirograyev. Ale veysn un men vayzt im: Dortn afn hoykhn bergl Shteyt a zayl, a riz, a turem, 330. Dreyen zikh arum di volkns. Ineveynik in dem turem Geyen tishn, mentshn, kinder, Fun metal, fun pelts un vate. Der profesor in a peltsl 335. Est a floym fun der levone, Redt zikh mitn Mars un vitslt Zikh mit der planet Venere. Oyf a shpulik bay zayn oyer Dreyt zikh undzer erd arumet, 340. Shtern kukn in di fenster, Shitn zikh un lakhn likhtik. -- O, vos makhstu, Gutamingo? Alt-getrayer fraynd, vos makhstu? Un vos makht dayn zun, der liber 345. Mitn nomen Evigingo? Gut, ikh vel dir makhn yinger. Zets zikh, ru zikh op a rege -- Un er efent oyf a kastn Ful mit lebedike hertser: 350. Klayb zikh oys a harts, mayn liber, Klayb zikh oys a harts, nu gikher: Fartik! Itster verstu yinger! Kreftiker, gezinter, frisher, Shtel zikh tsu der arbet, flinker! 355. Bist an arbeter gevorn! Itster vilstu fliglen? -- bite! Nor vos darfstu, khaver, fliglen? Zets zikh in harmat, ikh gib a Shos -- Du flist tsu alde heln! 360. Ot bistu oyf der levone, Smetene iz do der bodn, Un ot bistu oyf der zun shoyn, Zis iz zi un gel vi honik. Kh'tunk dir op in vundervaser -- 365. Un a kind bistu a nakets, Kleyne fligelekh vi bletlekh -- Un du flaterst tsvishn shtern Biz du verst aleyn a shtern. Itster kum tsurik arunter 370. Oyf der proster erd a bisl. Kh'flants dir ayn di frishe drizn, Ufgehodevet in vinum Gumilekmirum kadokhes Un du verst a riz, a giber, 375. Du tseraybst di erd oyf arbes Un du kokhst an arbes-kashe, Un du gist a bloz -- farleshn Zikh di shtern, di levone; Mit der zun vi mit a zeneft 380 Raybstu ayn dayn kranke pleytse. Finster vert in ale roymen, Gornisht, nor dayn kranke pleytse. Un du bist mir shoyn deresn, Nem ikh un ikh gib dir shmekn 385. Shmekmir um etumarumet -- Un es vert fun dir a graypl Un fun graypl vert a pulver, Un fun pulver vert a vintl, Un fun vintl vert an otem, 390. Un fun otem vert a blezl, Un fun blezl vert a burbl, Un fun burbl blaybt a shoyml, Shoyml-shimer-gorgl-gornisht; Gornisht verstu in dem gornisht 395. Un ikh makh a nayem gornisht, Erd un vaser, zun un fayer, A levone fun a blekhl Un a yingl fun a bebl. Vert mir umetik -- tsemakh ikh, Vert mir troyerik -- bashaf ikh Erd un himl, 400. Meydl -- yingl, Gutamingl, Evigingl.** ** My thanks to Hugh Denman for double-checking my romanization -- ed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Glossary burbl (back formation from _burbele_ 'bubble'?) no citation found fleker (s.: flokn) 'poles' flistert v. _flistern_ 'to whisper' cf. NHG. _fluestern_ gezhmuret p.ppl. of v. _zhmuren_ 'to squint' giber (pl.: giboyrim) 'hero' hislayves (< Hebrew _hislahavus_) 'enthusiasm';cf.Mod. Heb._hitlahavut_ kadokhes 'ague, fever; nothing' levones (s.: levone) 'moons' mayses (s.: mayse) 'stories' meysim (s.: meys) 'corpses' rege (pl. reges) 'minute' shigoen (pl.:shigonen / shigoynes) 'madness' shpulik (variant of_shpulke_in Vilna acc.to Shalom Luria)no cit.found skeynim (s.: zokn) 'old men; old people' tslomim (s.: tseylem) 'crosses' zokn (pl.: skeynim) 'old man' ______________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ vol. 01, no. 007 Leonard Prager, editor Please direct all correspondence to: Leonard Prager 13/35 Dr. Kauders St. Haifa 35439, Israel email: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.008 12 June 1997 From _Kalevala_ to "Evigingo": Background Materials for Leyzer Volf's "Evigingo" 1) About Leyzer (born Mekler) Volf (Lazer Wolf) (1910-1943) 2) The "Finnish trochee": M.L. Gasparov 3) The trochaic foot in English: D.S. Parker 4) _Kalevala_: excerpt from the Yiddish translation by Hersh Rozenfeld 5) Henry David Longfellow's "The Song of Hiawatha" (13:1-23; 18:1-21) 6) Yehoyesh's translation of "The Song of Hiawatha": (13:1-23;18:1-21) 7) Shmuel Halkin's revision of Yehoyesh's "Song of Hiawatha":(as above) 8) Reading "Evigingo": ed. ------------------------------------------ 1. About Leyzer Volf: a. "Fun di kleyne fardinstn shport Leyzer op etlekhe zlotes un er git aleyn aroys in 1936 zayn poeme "E v i g i n g o." A Leyzer Volfisher fantastish-filosofisher peyresh oyf di eybikayt-zukhenishn fun mentsh. Geshribn in stil fun Longfelos "Hayavatha," vos iz, in Yehoyesh's iberzetsung, populer un balibt bay der yidisher shul-yugnt in Vilne...." "Grod vert demolt fun etlekhe bale-khaloymes banayt A. Vayters a farvorfener pruv (fun arum 1905), 'aroystsufirn yidish loshn in der breyter velt', durkhn farbaytn dem 'umfarshtendlekhn' yidishn alef-beys oyf dem 'fun-kekhol-hagoyim-farshtendlekhn' lataynishn alfavit...." "Di lataynishe shrift, far dem azoy oykh nisht tsu laykhtn Hayavatha-imitirtn loshn, makht di poeme nokh veyniker tsugenglekh. Vi kleyn Leyzers ershtes zekhtsn zaytik lider-bikhele zol nisht hobn geven, di oprufn fun di leyener un literatur-kritiker zaynen geven nokh klener." (pp. 12-13) "Di grunt-kharakteristik fun Leyzer Volfs lid iz der origineler pruv davke tsu porn satire mit romantik un lirishn troyer mit sarkazm. Derfar iz Volf bazunder originel in zayne grotesk-lider." (p. 14) (Leyzer Ran, "Leyzer Volfs lebnsveg," in Leyzer Volf, _Lider_, collected by Leyzer Ran and selected and edited by H. Leyvik. New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, 1955). b. "Hagam es frest mikh oyf a farakshenter pesimizm iz mayn batsiung tsu der tsukunft fun der mentshhayt a mer-veyniker optimistisher... Mayn vayter ideal iz: Di mentshhayt -- eyn folk. Di velt -- eyn land." (Leyzer Volf, "Autobiografye," dated 4 July 1932, concluding lines. Leyzer Volf's was the winning entry in the Yivo autobiography competition for young people in 1934. Reprinted in Leyzer Volf, _Lider_, p. 42). c Du prekhtiker shtamling fun Iev un Motke Khabad, Gevaksn oyf yidishn gas, oyf an erdenem toyer, -- Ver hot dikh fartoyznteynnakhtikt in hek Ashkharad, Farhungert mit sheynkayt, tsu shtarbn on keynems badoyer? (Avrom Sutskever, "Tsu Leyzer Volf," Vilne 1945, first stanza.) d "Lazer Wolf wrote expressionist, sometimes almost surrealist lyrics, with jangling rhythms and images, which deal with themes of boredom and deracination; his dominant tone of voice is satiric but in a suppressed, almost cryptic way." (_A Treasury of Yiddish Poetry_, edited by Irving Howe and Eliezer Greenberg. New York, Chicago, San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969, p. 51. This anthology includes four poems by Volf (here called Lazer Wolf): "Why," "No Child With Honey Heart," Songs," "A Murder," all translated by Nathan Halper, pp. 222-224). e "Leyzer Volf wrote in a mocking, antiromantic vein... that reflects the darker side of his nature. His poetry often tends to black humor and the grotesque: without leaving Vilna, he parodied his own images of cosmopolitan Europe." (_The Penguin Book of Modern Verse_, ed. by Irving Howe, Ruth R. Wisse and Khone Shmeruk. Penguin, 1988, p. 619. This anthology includes three poems by Volf: "The Coarse Old Maid," "I Am Not a Honey-Hearted Child," "Montefiore in Vilna," all translated by Robert Friend, pp. 620-632.) 2. The "Finnish trochee" "... in 1775 the first collection of Finnish verse appeared. For the most part the contents were imitations of Swedish and German syllabo-tonic hymns; but it is not by chance that the greatest attention was given to the trochaic tetrameter, the measure most approximate to the folk octosyllable...." "It was only in the Romantic period that the metrical aspect of Finnish verse was finally defined. On the one hand, Elias Loennrat published the _Kalevala_ (first edition 1835) and the _Kanteletar_ (1840-1), the genuine structural regularities of the folk syllabic-metrical octosyllable were made clear, and this line was exploited in a large number of literary imitations. The _Kalevala_ became extremely widely known in German trochaic translations, and its 'Finnish trochee' was even to become the model for Longfellow's _Song of Hiawatha_." (M.L. Gasparov. _A History of European Versification_. Translated by G.S. Smith and Marina Tarlinskaja. Edited by G.S. Smith and Leofranc Holford-Strevens. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996, p, 260). 3. The trochaic foot in English "...by itself it has never been a favorite in English, owing no doubt to the difficulty of finding words or phrases to begin the line with a stressed syllable... Used mechanically, as in _Hiawatha_, the trochee becomes monotonous; but in short passages it is often handled with success." (Douglas S. Parker in Alex Preminger, ed. _Princeton Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics_, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1974, p. 870). 4. _Kalevala; folks epos fun di finen_, yidish fun Hersh Rozenfeld. New York: Marstin Press, 1954. An 1852 German translation of the _Kalevala_ became the basis for many others. Rosenfeld, who actually learned Finnish at Columbia to facilitate his task, worked from translations in several languages. He translated the first 18 (of 50) cantos (which he calls "runes.") Though Leyzer Volf was a voracious reader there is no certainy that he knew any of the translations of the _Kalevala_. And, of course, the partial Yiddish translation here illustrated came years after Volf's death. (Lovers of the Yiddish book will especially prize this product of the master printer Israel London and his Marstin Press. This work is introduced by Yankev Shatski and ornamented by several artists.) An excellent introductory essay to the _Kalevala_ and a summary of its contents together with a biographical sketch of its author, Elias Luennrot, may be seen at http://www.vn.fi/vn/um/finfo/english/kalevala.html. ______________________________________________________ The third rune begins as follows: Un der alter Vaynamoynen Hot a tsayt gelebt tsufridn Af* di felder fun Vaynola, *spelled phonetically: alef+lange fey Af di Kalevala pleynen: Dort gelebt zikh un gezungen Zayne lider ful mit khokhme: Gantse teg hot er gezungen, Gantse nekht adurkhgezesn Un bazungen alte doyres, Un bazungen velt-bashafung. Nit keyn kinder, nit keyn heldn Zingen ot-di lider itster, In di troyerdike tsaytn, Bay dem dor, vos geyt shoyn unter. 5. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Song of Hiawatha" Entire text may be found at: http://hs1.teachersoft.com/Library/poetry/longfellw/contents.htm a. XIII. Blessing the Cornfields (lines 1-23) Sing, O Song of Hiawatha, Of the happy days that followed, In the land of the Ojibways, In the pleasant land and peaceful! Sing the mysteries of Mondamin, Sing the blessing of the Cornfields! Buried was the bloody hatchet, Buried was the dreadful war-club, Buried were all warlike weapons, And the war-cry was forgotten. There was peace among the nations; Unmolested roved the hunters, Built the birch canoe for sailing, Caught the fish in lake and river, Shot the deer and trapped the beaver; Unmolested worked the women, Made their sugar from the maple, Gathered wild rice in the meadows, Dressed the skins of deer and beaver. All around the happy village Stood the maize fields green and shining, Waved his soft and sunny tresses, Filling all the land with plenty. b. XVIII. The Death of Kwasind (lines 1-21) Far and wide among the nations Spread the name and fame of Kwasind; No man dared to strive with Kwasind, No man could compete with Kwasind. But the mischievous Puk-Wudjies, They the envious Little People, They the fairies and the pygmies Plotted and conspired against him. "If this hateful Kwasind," said they, "If this great outrageous fellow Goes on thus a little longer, Tearing everything he touches, Rending everything to pieces, Filling all the world with wonder, What becomes of the Puk-Wudjies? Who will care for the Puk-Wudjies? He will tread us down like mushrooms, Drive us all into the water, Give our bodies to be eaten By the wicked Nee-ba-naw-baigs, By the Spirits of the water!" 6. Yehoyesh, "Dos lied fun Hayavatha," New York: "Yehoyesh" Ferlag, 1910, pp. 160-161; 224-5. a. XIII. Dos benshen fun di kukuruze-felder (lines 1-25) (bentshn) Zing, o lied fun Hayavatha. (lid) Fun di gute teg vos zaynen, Oyf dos land fun di Odzhibveys, Oyf dos shene land gekumen. (sheyne) Zing di heylige minhogim, (heylike) Fun Mondamin un dos benshen, (bentshn) Fun di kukuruze-felder. M'hot di blut'ge hak bagroben, (blutike...bagrobn) Un dem moyre'digen krigs-shtok, (moyredikn) M'hot bagroben ale vafen, (bagrobn... vafn) Un dem shlakhts-geshrey fargesen, (fargesn) Eyn folk friedlekh mit dem tsveyten. (fridlekh...tsveytn) Ruhig umgehn flegt der yeger, (ruik... umgeyn) Boyen zikh zayn birken-shifel, (birkn-shifl) Fangen fishen in di taykhen, (fangn... fishn... taykhn) Shisen hirshen, khapn* bibers; *with khes (shisn hirshn, khapn) Ruhig flegt di froy dem tsuker, (ruik) Zamlen fun di tsuker-boymen, Kleyben vilde rayz in lonke, (kleybn) Garben hirsh- un biber-felen. (garbn... -feln) Grin arum dem ruh'gen derfel, (ruikn derfl) Hot geglantst der kukuruze, Hoben zikh gevigt di federn, (hobn) Un di gold-loken Mondamin's, (goldlokn Mondamins) Filendig dos land mit shefe. (filndik) b. XVIII. Kvasind's toyt, lines 1-20 Vayt un breyt bay ale felker, Hot geshemt der nomen Kvasind's; Kvasinds Keyner nit gekent hot ranglen Oder mesten zikh mit Kvasind. mestn Di Pok-Vodzhes nor di shlekhte, Zey, di karlikes, farbunden farbundn Hoben zikh akegen Kvasind. hobn... akegn Zey gezogen hoben: Oyb Kvasind, gezogn hobn Der farhaster riez der frekher, riz Zol azoy zikh vayter fihren, firn Raysen alts tsu vos er rihrt zikh, raysn... rirt Brekhn yede zakh in shtiker, Un di velt mit vunder fillen -- filn Vos vet zayn fun di Pok-Vodzhis? Ver vet darfen di Pok-Vodzhis? darfn Er vet unz vi shvemlikh treten, undz... shvemlekh tretn Vet fartrayben unz in vaser, fartraybn undz Un mit unz're layber shpayzen undzere laybn shpayzn Vet di beyze Ni-be-no-beygs, Vet di gayster fun'm vaser. funem 7. Henri Longfelo. _Dos gezang fun hayavatha_, iberzetst fun Yehoyesh, ibergearbet -- Sh. Halkin. Moskve: Emes, 1937, pp. 120-121; 167-168. XIII. Dos bentshn di kukuruze felder (lines 1-26) Zing dos lid fun Hayavatha, Loyb di teg fun glik un fridn, Vos es zaynen ongeshtanen, In dem land fun di Odzhibveys, In dem libn land fun sholem; Loyb di heylike minhogim, Dem Mondamin soydesfuln, Loyb di brokhe af di felder. M'hot di blut-hak tif bagrobn Un dem groyzamdikn krigs-shtok, Yedes shlakht-gever bahaltn Un dos krigs-geshrey fargesn -- Fridn hersht dort tsvishn felker. Ruik umgeyn kon der yeger, Boyen zikh zayn birkn-shifl, Fangen fishn in di taykhn, Shisn hirshn, khapn bibers; Ruik kon di froy do zamlen Zaftn fun di tsuker-beymer, Klaybn vildn rayz in lonke, Hirsh- un biber-feln garben. Rund arum dem shtiln derfl Hot geglantst di kukuruze, Hot gegrint in breyte feder Un in goldlokn Mondamin, Shenkndik dem land zayn shefe. *** XVIII. Kvasinds toyt (lines 1-23) Vayt un breyt ba ale felker Hot geshemt der nomen Kvasind; Keyner hot dervegt zikh ranglen Tsi farmestn zikh mit Kvasind. Nor di karlikes Pokvodzhis, Nor di beyze nit-farginer Hobn gegn shtarkn Kvasind A geheymen bund geshlosn Un gezogt: "Oyb ot der Kvasind, Ot der frekher giber Kvasind, Zol azoy zikh vayter firn, Alts tseshtern, alts farnikhtn, Alts, tsu vos er rirt zikh tsu nor, Zol keyn ort keyn gantss nit blaybn, Un az gor di velt zol gafn, Fun zayn vunder-kraft zol shtoynen, -- Vos vet zayn fun di Pokvodzhis? Ver vet darfn di Pokvodzhis? Er vet undz nokh, vi di shvemlekh, Eynmol mit di fis tsetretn, Undzer fleysh un blut zol shpayzn Ale beyze Nibe-nobeygs, Ale gayster funem vaser." 8. Reading "Evigingo": ed. The main parodic strain in Volf's complex and fantastic "Evigingo" derives from its use of the trochaic tetrameter which immediately suggests Longellow's _Hiawatha_. Like _Hiawatha_, it's substance is legendary and mythic. The childless and aged hero, Gutamingo, searches for a promised son, Evigingo, through whom he hopes to realize a dimly-defined goal, perhaps eternity (Evigingo < _eybik_ 'eternal'). He sets forth on a long and arduous search. He is advised to travel to Weimar and to consult Goethe (enlightenment, Western culture) but by the time he arrives there, times have changed and Marx is the reigning philosopher. He does an aboutface and treks to Moscow. At the Red Square he visits Lenin's Tomb and is chased away by an indifferent guard, who also directs him to Professor Mirograyev (< Russian _mir_ 'world' + igrat 'play'), who will answer all his questions. Mirograyev is magician, seer, all-knowing sage and embodiment of Soviet science. He offers Gutamingo a number of directions, all of which prove false. His final words incorporate the author's own Thomas Hardian perspective, which sees in the meeting of "meydl-yingl" the only hope: Yonder a maid and her wight Come whispering by: War's annals will cloud into night Ere their story die.* (*Thomas Hardy, "In Time of 'The Breaking of Nations'") ------------------------------------------------------------ End of _The Mendele Review_ vol. 01, no. 008 Leonard Prager, editor Please direct all correspondence to: Leonard Prager 13/35 Dr. Kauders St. Haifa 35439, Israel email: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.009 12 June 1997 1) Additions to Iosif Vaisman's "Yiddish Bibliography (1996-)" by Hugh Denman 1)---------------------------------------------------- Additions to Iosif Vaisman's "Yiddish Bibliography (1996-)" (in _TMR_01.003) In _TMR_ 01.003 Iosif Vaisman provided us with a very useful bibliography of books in Yiddish, about Yiddish and translated from Yiddish, that were published in 1996 and the earlier part of this year. As procedures for compiling such a listing are still in their infancy, it is not surprising that his list was not exhaustive. By way of a modest contribution to this endeavour, I list below some 40 odd titles that have come to my notice and which Iosif Vaisman overlooked. Doubtless there are further titles of which both of us are still unaware. His list does not include book chapters, periodicals, audiovisual and computer-based materials and nor does mine (the festscrift for Gideon Goldenberg excepted), though I believe that we should in future attempt to compile an annual (or more frequent) 'one-stop' Yiddistica bibliography that is as comprehensive as humanly possible. This has long been a pressing desideratum in our field and with Iosif Vaisman's pioneering listing it has come a step closer to being realised. The number of books, articles and other materials published each year in our field is relatively modest when compared to many other disciplines. However, the highly multinational and polyglot character of Yiddish Studies makes it very difficult to achieve a conspectus of the work being done without an unacceptably long time-lag. This being so, it would seem that team-work is the answer. Various questions will require discussion. Who should have overall responsibility (presumably Iosif)? How and to whom will the general editor delegate sections of the work? What subheadings, if any, should be used and what is the most useful format? It is normal practice in bibliographic compilations to employ subheadings (cf. _RAMBI_, _The Year's Work in Modern Languages_, _Germanistik_, _MLA Bibliography_ etc. Iosif Vaisman divides his material into: Language and Culture, Religion, Folklore, Literature and Literary Criticism, Theatre, Music, Biography, History and Gender Studies. However, there is necessarily much overlapping of such categories and with a relatively low number of entries it may be easier to locate a specific item in an alphabetically arranged single list which is the procedure I have adopted below. Iosif presented his bibliographical citations in the form of traditional pre-printed library cataloguing cards with the headings AUTHOR, TITLE, etc. I'm not sure whether he created this format himself or whether it resulted from performing a search in some on-line bibliography. Certainly, for the compilers themselves to arrange the material in this manner would make for extra work without any discernible advantage. Furthermore, this format would seem to hinder rather that facilitate ready absorption into the end-user's own records. The bibliographical facts should, I believe, be presented in as succinct a format as possible so as to permit downloading with as little editing as possible, whether for personal use, for the production of student bibliographies or to create accession lists for the libraries of our institutions. I would provisionally propose that the citations should be in the format currently favoured by the majority of academic publishers, namely in Chicago University Press humanities 'style' [see: _The Chicago Manual of Style_, 14th ed. (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1993), 517-80]. The only major feature of this style that cannot currently be reproduced in the e-mail medium is the use of italics for titles of independent publications. Here italics are replaced by what has now become the established electronic publishing convention of setting flanking underlining. Italics can be restored very quickly by the user who needs them. OTHER is too vague. Editors, translators, authors of introductions etc. need to be specifically referred to as such. Price, a not insignificant factor for most users, should in future be incorporated whenever possible. We should also give some thought to what we regard as the best form of Romanisation for titles of both Yiddish and Hebrew works. This is a somewhat more thorny problem than immediately meets the eye. Attentive readers of _Mendele_ will know that I have definite views on the topic. However, this is not the place to go into detail. In a nutshell, for Yiddish I advocate YIVO transcription, not the Library of Congress system. For those who want an informed introduction to the complexities of the topic (though sadly no definite solutions) I recommend Bella Hass Weinberg, "Ambiguities in the Romanization of Yiddish," _Judaica Librarianship_ 9:1-2 (Spring 1994-Winter 1995), 58-74. Whether our bibliography is disseminated by _TMR_ or whether it is also accessed on-line, as Iosif sensibly suggests that in the future it should be, for the time being we shall lose not only the use of italics for the titles of independent publications but also diacritics in the case of French, German, Polish translations, the transcription of Hebrew, etc. Similarly, for a while yet, we will not be able to cite bibliographical information in the original Yiddish and Hebrew and ideally our bibliography should cite works in these languages both in the original script and in the best possible Romanisation. This problem is presumably on the verge of being solved by the introduction of Unicode, now promised for 1998. YIDDISH BIBLIOGRAPHY (1996- ): Additions to Iosif Vaisman's Listing in _TMR_ vol. 01.003 Ayznman, Ts(vi). _Bleter fun a farsmalyetn pinkes: dertseylungen un bilder_. Tel Aviv: Y.L. Perets, 1996. Bar-Asher, Moshe, ed. _Massorot; Studies in Language Traditions and Jewish Languages_ Vols. IX-X-XI (= Gideon Goldenberg Festschrift), Jerusalem, 1997, XLVII + 577 + 26 pp. (Publications of the Hebrew University Center for Jewish Languages and Literatures / Language Traditions Project) (ISSN: 0334-1674) [Hebrew with English abstracts]. Bashevis Singer, Isaac. _Die kleinen Schuhmacher: Erzaehlungen_. Trans. Wolfgang von Einsiedel. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rohwolt, 1996. Bekerman-Gershtnkorn, Rokhl. _Lider zingen shtern_, Tel Aviv: Y.L. Perets, 1996. 102 pp. (ISBN: 965-7012-06-6). Beider, Alexander. _A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Kingdom of Poland_. Teaneck N.J.: Avotaynu Inc., 1996. Bordin, Hanan. _Vort ba vort_. Jerusalem: HUJ/Magnes, 1996. 232 pp. (ISBN: 965-223-961-5). Bronshteyn, Arn Sh. _Lider_. Tel Aviv: Y.L. Perets, 1997. 55 pp. (ISBN: 965-7012-08-2). Bruenel, Gabriele, Maria Fuchs, and Walter Roell, eds. _Die "Hiob-Paraphrase" des Avroham ben Schemuel Pikartei in Handschriftenabdruck und Transkription_. _jidische schtudies_, no. 6. Hamburg: Buske, 1996. Council of Europe. _Yiddish Culture: Report of the Committee on Culture and Education_. Doc. 7489. Rapporteur, Emanuelis Zingeris (Lithuania, European Democratic Group). Strasburg, 1996. _Di froyen; Women and Yiddish / Tribute to the Past Directions for the Future_. Conference Proceedings. New York: National Council of Jewish Women New York Section / Jewish Women's Resource Center, 1997, 122 pp. (ISBN: 1-879742-50-0). Drachler, Norman. _A Bibliography of Jewish Education in the United States_. Detroit: Wayne, 1996. 750 pp. [with a section on Yiddish secular schools]. Elberg. Yehudah. _The Empire of Kalman the Cripple_. Trans. from Yiddish by the author. Syracuse: Syracuse U.P., 1997 (ISBN: 081560448-3) [= _Kalmen kalikes imperye_]. Fridman, Yankev. _Di shire fun yankev fridman_. Tel Aviv: Der reyna-kosta tsenter far yidish-limudim, Bar-Ilan University, 1996. 120 pp. (ISBN: 965-430-031-1). Gelber, Mark H., Hans Otto Horch, and Sigurd Paul Scheichl, eds. _Von Franzos zu Canetti: Juedische Autoren aus Osterreich, Neue Studien_. _Conditio Judaica_, no. 14. Tuebingen: Niemeyer, 1996 [incl. J.H. Kruse. "Ein jiddisches Gedicht von R. Auslaender"]. Gorshman, Shire. _On a gal: dertseylungen, skitses, zikhroynes_. Tel Aviv: Yisroel-Bukh, 1996. 197 pp. Guterman, Simkhe. _Bleter funem fayer_. Tel Aviv: Y.L. Perets, 1996 (ISBN: 965-7012-07-4). Jendrusch, Andrej, ed. and tr. _Federmenschen: Jiddische Erzaehlungen und Gedichte ueber Feuervoegel, Luftreisen, Ungluecksraben und gestuerzte Engel_. Berlin: Klaus Wagenbach, 1996. 240 pp. Jendrusch, Andrej, ed. _Doss lid is geblibn: Tage der jiddischen Kultur 1987 bis 1996_. Published as 'Begleitheft' for the activities of the Berliner Tage der jiddischen Kultur in the framework of the UNESCO 'world decade'. Berlin, 1996. Jendrusch, Andrej, ed. _Jiddische Kultur in Russland: 100 Jahre Arbeiterbund_. Published as 'Begleitheft' for the activities of the Berliner Tage der jiddischen Kultur in the framework of the UNESCO 'world decade'. Berlin, 1997. Kaner, Tsvi. _Opgegebn broyt_. Tel Aviv: Y.L. Perets, 1996. Karpinovitsh, Avrom. _Geven, geven amol vilne_. Tel Aviv: Y.L. Perets, 1997. 174 pp. Kiefer, Ulrike. _Gesprochenes Jiddisch: Textzeugen einer europaeisch-juedischen Kultur_. _Beihefte zum Language and Culture Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry_, no 1. Tuebingen: Niemeyer, 1996. xiv, 382 pp. (ISBN: 3-484-73101-X). Klepfish, Heshl [= Klepfisz, Heszel]. _Der kval fun doyres: yidish mizrekh-eyrope, eseyen_. Tel Aviv: Y.L. Perets, 1997. 608 pp. Krishtalka, Shifra Shtern. _Yidish: a lebedike shprakh_, Part B. Montreal: Jewish People's and Perets Schools of Montreal, 1996. Kruk, Herman. _Diary of the Vilna Ghetto_, augmented ed. Trans. Barbara Harshav, with introduction by Benjamin Harshav. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press (forthcoming, due for publication fall 1997). Kulbak, Moishe. _Der Messias vom Stamme Efraim: Eine juedische Legende_. Trans. and with afterword by Andrej Jendrusch. Berlin: Volk und Welt, 1996. 150 pp. (ISBN: 3-353-01048-3). Lebanon, Avrom. _Kolirte perl: yidishe shprikhverter_. Jerusalem: E.R.V., 1996. 334, x pp. (ISBN: 965-229161-7). Levita, Avrom. _Yidishe shprikhverter un glaykhverter_. Tel Aviv: Yisroel-Bukh, 1996. 280 pp. (ISBN: 965-430-028-1). Loewy, Henno and A. Bodek, eds. _Les vraies riches - Notizen am Rand: Ein Tagebuch aus dem Ghetto Lodz (Juni bis August 1944)_. Leipzig: Reclam, 1997 (quadrilingual diary: German, English, Yiddish, and Polish in German translation with a facsimile of the original). Mlotek, Chana and Yosl Mlotek. _Lider fun dor tsu dor_. Introductions by Elie Wiesel and Dov Noy. New York: Arbeter-ring, 1997. Niborski, Yitskhok. _Vi fun a pustn pas (lider un dertseylungen)_. Paris: Niborski, 1996. Perl, Joseph. _Revealer of Secrets: The First Hebrew Novel_. Modern Hebrew Classics. Trans. and with introduction by Dov Taylor. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1997. 377 pp. (ISBN: 0-8133-2312-5) [The Yiddish version was published by YIVO in 1937]. Rawitsch, Melech. _Das Geschichtenbuch meines Lebens_. Ed. and trans. Armin Eidherr. Salzburg: Otto-Mueller-Verlag, 1996. 235 pp. Reershemius, Gertrud. _Biographisches Erzaehlen auf Jiddisch: Grammatische und diskursanalytische Untersuchungen_. _Beihefte zum Language and Culture Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry_, no 2. Tuebingen: Niemeyer, 1996. viii, 423 pp. (ISBN: 3-484-73102-8). Schaechter, Mordkhe. _Kurs fun yidisher ortografye_, 4th ed. New York: League for Yiddish, 1996. Schechtman, Elie [= Elye Shekhtman]. _Tristia (troyer): yidishe literatur_. Tel Aviv: Yisroel-Bukh, 1996. 480 pp. (ISBN: 965-430-035-4). Scholem Alejchem. _75000 und andere Geschichten um Gott, Gelt und Glueck_. Ed. and trans. Dan Wiener. Leipzig: Reclam, 1997. Sela-Saldinger, Eliyahu. _Meytar kerua rotet bealta_ / A tseplatste strune tsitert in der finster. Tel-Aviv: H. Leyvik, 1996, 2 vols., 488 pp. IS 128. [A monograph on Yankev Fridman (1910-1972) of Bukovina and later of Israel, and a collection of his poems from 1927-1937. Yiddish poems opposite their Hebrew translations]. Shavit, David. _Hunger for the Printed Word_. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1997 [concerning Jewish libraries in Eastern Europe before the war, their destruction at the hands of the Nazis, rescue attempts with focus on Herman Kruk, founder of the Vilna Ghetto Library]. Steinhoff, Thorsten. _Zeitgenoessische jiddische Lyrik Odessaer Autoren: Studien ueber Gedichte und Liedtexte von Aleksandr A. Bejderman und Aleksandr A. Rojsin_. _Regensburger Skripten zur Literaturwissenschaft_, no.1. Regensburg, 1996. Timm, Erika (in collaboration with Gustav Adolf Beckmann), eds. _Paris un Wiene. Ein jiddischer Stanzenroman des 16. Jahrhunderts von (oder aus dem Umkreis von) Elia Levita_. Tuebingen: Niemeyer, 1996. cli, 249 pp. (ISBN: 3-484-60174-4). Tsanin, Mordkhe. _Shluf nit mameshi_. Tel Aviv: H. Leyvik, 1996. Zucker, Sheva. _Answer Key to Yiddish: An Introduction & English-Yiddish Verb Key_. Durham, NC: Zucker, 1997. 73 pp. Zychlinski, Rajzel. _Gottes blinde Augen: Ausgewaehlte Gedichte_. eds. Karina Kranhold and Siegfried Heinrichs. Berlin: Oberbaumverlag, 1996 [bilingual Yiddish / German ed.]. ***** Hugh Denman (h_denman@maier.vol.at) ______________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ vol. 01.009 Leonard Prager, editor Please direct all correspondence to: Leonard Prager 13/35 Dr. Kauders St. Haifa 35439, Israel email: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.010 22 June 1997 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor 2) _Chulyot_: English abstracts* 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 From: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il Subject: YIDDISH MATTERS: FROM THE EDITOR --The tenth no. of _The Mendele Review_ On the occasion of this tenth number I am happy to announce that _The Mendele Review_ [companion to _Mendele_] and _Chulyot_ ('Links') [the Hebrew language journal of Yiddish language and literature edited by Shalom Luria and Haya Bar-Itzhak of Haifa University] have entered into a cooperative relationship and will from time to time reprint one another's articles. The long poem "Evigingo" by Leyzer Volf which appeared in _The Mendele Review_ 01.007 was romanized from the Yiddish version in _Chulyot_ 3. Readers who enjoyed reading the romanized version may at some time wish to read the poem in its Yiddish-letters garb. --On romanized texts Reading Yiddish texts that are romanized according to the Standard Yiddish Romanization (which is based on the Standard Yiddish Orthography) is often a useful exercise in learning Standard Yiddish. There are a number of Mendelists who are beginning students of Yiddish that have not yet mastered the Yiddish _alefbeys_. They are generally grateful to have access to extended texts in romanized Yiddish. Articles in _Chulyot_ in Hebrew will (with permission from living contributors) be translated into English; Yiddish articles and texts from _Chulyot_ will be romanized and possibly translated as well. --Things to Come in _The Mendele Review_ _The Mendele Review_ recognizes that its highly variegated international body of readers come to Yiddish with divergent backgrounds and diverse linguistic/cultural baggage. There is no reason why any truly interested reader should be discouraged from taking his fill at any repast _The Mendele Review_ can offer. During the coming months we will publish both linguistic and literary essays by writers and scholars from the past (e.g. Moyshe Nadir, Noyekh Prilutski, Nokhem Shtif, Hilel Tseytlin) and the present (e.g. Mortkhe Shekhter, Dovid-Elye Fishman, Ariela Krasni). --On bibliographical lists Bibliographical lists such as appeared as separate numbers of _The Mendele Review_, e.g. vols. 01.003 [by Iosif Vaisman] and vol 01.009 [by Hugh Denman] may not properly belong in an electronic journal intended principally as a vehicle for essays and reviews. With increased experience and closer contact with its readership, _The Mendele Review_ will learn how best to organize its varied interests. Ideally, all material of a reference nature should be separately proferred and so placed as to be conveniently accessed. Let me take this opportunity to thank the many readers who sent email messages expressing their appreciation for vols. 01.003 and 01.009. These seemingly dry lists apparently meant a good deal to some of our readers. More on _Kalevala_ in Yiddish from Zachary Baker Both _Mendele_ and _The Mendele Review_ are implements for extending our knowledge of the still largely uncharted sea of Yiddish bibliography. New facts are constantly coming to light. In the wake of _TMR_ 01.008 I received from Zachary M. Baker, Head Librarian of Yivo the following tidbit that was a total revelation to me: "Have you seen the selection for children published in Vilna before WW2?: _Kalevala: finisher epos: 15-te rune_. Yidish: Hersh Rozenfeld. Vilne: Naye Yidishe Folksshul, 1929. 14 pp. (Baveglekhe khrestomatye). It goes to show that Hersh Rozenfeld had the _Kalevala_ on his mind for some time before the longer version came out." Gathering isolated facts makes possible at a later stage the composition of a rich mosaic. __Norman Zide's Query A small and hearty band of Mendelists were not deterred by the 402 lines of Longfellowish trochaic tetrameter (vol. 01.007) nor by the pedagogic pantry which followed (vol. 01.008) and even had sufficient energy to spare to email their impressions and criticisms. Norman Zide wrote: "Yiddish Longfellow! Interesting stuff. Could Leyzer Volf have been familiar with any of the numerous parodies of Hiawatha? Were there any in Yiddish? German? Leyzer Volf has temperamental -- and metrical -- affinities (I can say nothing of influence -- did he read English?) with Edward Lear, e.g. (I don't have a copy of his poems at hand), the poem about the Yonghy Bonghy Bo that begins: On the coast of Coromandel / Looking eastward to the sea...." The affinities beween Lear and Volf are real and their basis is the strong surrealistic strain in both poets. Volf was familiar with several European literatures but does not appear to have known English or to have read English writers. Whether Volf knew of Yiddish or German parodies of _Hiawatha_ -- such parodies surely existed -- I do not know. "Evigingo," of course, is itself partially a parody of Longfellow's _Hiawatha_ as rendered in Yiddish by Yehoash. __Seth Wolitz on "correcting" Yehoash Seth Wolitz, while appreciative of vol. 01.008, objected to the regularization of Yehoash's obsolete spellings: "The critical apparatus provided is a lovely task well executed indeed. My only concern is your 'correcting' Yehoash's translation into 'correct' Yiddish. In fact it is time we put aside any thing called correct Yiddish which never took shape actually until after World War II when it was a little too late and not accepted fully in any case. By having the variety we have, we see what a rich fertile state Yiddish really was as it sought its channels and voice. But like France in the 16th Century the variety does it no harm but reveals the width and liveliness of the language and culture." As a declared partisan of the Standard Yiddish Orthography on which the Standard Yiddish Romanization is based, I can only disagree with this view. What is described as "a rich fertile state" is more aptly called chaos and disorder. Shakespeare in the 16th century may have signed his name seven different ways (and not, like the Yiddish writer who writes "Noyekh mit zibn grayzn," out of ignorance). Should we boycott the presently accepted _Shakespeare_ as narrowly constrictive, suppressive of the creative potential of the English language? I think not. We should of course not tamper with the spelling of Old Yiddish texts (except for correcting obvious scribal errors and omissions) . For certain scholarly purposes it is legitimate to present modern Yiddish texts in their original spellings. But if one is at all interested in the continued use of Yiddish as a communicative medium and the preservation and cultivation of modern Yiddish literature, then a standardized spelling and other standard conventions are useful and desirable. The issues raised here, however, are important and should be discussed more thoroughly. __Cooperative relationships with other journals In this issue of _The Mendele Review_ I am happy to give the English abstracts of the soon-to-be-published _Chulyot_ 4, hopefully thus promoting the international and multilingual character of Yiddish studies, as well as making better known the contribution of Israeli scholars to Yiddish studies. _The Mendele Review_ will seek cooperative relationships with other journals devoted to Yiddish studies. Indeed, in today's mail I received the happy news that _Oyfn shvel_ (New York), a journal especially valuable for essays on contemporary Yiddish, grants _The Mendele Review_ permission to reprint articles from its pages. --How to order _Chulyot_ _Chulyot_ 4 (1997) [as well as nos. 2 and 3] can be purchased from _Chulyot_ c/o Department of Hebrew Literature, Haifa University, Eshkol Tower, Mt. Carmel, Haifa 31999, Israel. The price is $15 (postage included). --Homework for the summer months: Abraham B. Yehoshua's new novel, _Masa el tom haelef: roman bishlosha chalakim_ ('Voyage to the End of the Millenium: a Novel in Three Parts') [Tel Aviv: Hakibuts hameuchad, 1997] touches significantly on the themes of Yiddish and Ashkenaz as well as, centrally, that of Israeli identity. Miri Rubin writes: "Yehoshua's deference to the 'oriental' is evident, above all, in his robust portrayal of the tanned, sunny patriarch Ben-Atar and the throaty arabesqes of his language, compared with the northern dialect, embryonic Yiddish, which is characterized as 'a local language, muddy, Teutonic, into which he also scatters a few Hebrew words, broken and lachrymose'. Indeed, the novel is full of images of pairs, dichotomies and contraries...." ("Ben-Atar's wives," _TLS_, The Times Literary Supplement, London, 13 June 1997, p. 26) Scholars can tell us little about the Yiddish of 1000 years ago, but a writer -- for purely esthetic ends -- can construct a fictional image of proto-Yiddish to satisfy a wide range of fantasies and prejudices. What should we think of Yehoshua's medieval, yet metaphorical, Yiddish and Ashkenaz? 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 From: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il Subject: _Chulyot_: English abstracts Abstracts of _Chulyot_ 4 (1997) --Mendele Moykher-Sforim, "My (Last) Journey" This is one of the very last texts in the Mendele archives to be published. Its subject is Mendele the Bookseller in an hour of extreme financial need when he is forced to consider selling his hungry and exhausted old companion, his horse. But when he encounters the foul talk of the horsedealers at the market, he pulls back, ashamed and full of pity for his barely breathing four-legged friend. Reprinted from _Shtern_ (Minsk, 10 July 1939, 1-4) and translated into Hebrew. --Arn Vorobeytshik, "From Mendele Moykher-Sforim's Laboratory" Arn Vorobeytshik (1895-1941), who worked in the Alukrainisher Muzey far Yidisher Kultur Oyf Mendeles Nomen (Mendele All-Ukrainian Institute for Jewish Culture) in Odessa and edited the miscellany _Mendele un zayn tsayt_ ('Mendele and His Times') (1939), and was undoubtedly an expert on Mendele's manuscripts, sketches the relationship between Mendele's story "My (Last) Journey" and his later plans and works. He argues for a connection between the story and Mendele's famous novel _Di kliatshe_ ('The Mare'). --Khone Shmeruk, "A Foreign Work Recast from German or An Original and Innovative Italian Variant?" This essay deals with a brief period in the history of Yiddish literature, mainly in the 16th century. A new freshly innovative work somehow broke into the established literary traditions. Epic works such as the _Shmuel-bukh_ and the _Melokhim-bukh_ exemplify the system of reworking style and content from German originals, a system that held sway in the second half of the 14th century. Jews understood the _daytshmerish_ texts quite well. And then unexpectedly appeared Elye Bokher's _Bove-bukh_, a long chivalric romance in Italian ottava rima meter. Elye Bokher (1468-1549) founded a new literary school, whose most interesting production is _Pariz un viene_ ('Paris and Vienna'), written either by Elye Bokher or by one of his students. The works of the new school are also from a foreign source, but their original treatment is abundantly clear. --Chava Turniansky, "_Pariz un viene_ -- a 16th-Century Yiddish Literary Work from Italy" The post-World War Two discovery of a number of Old Yiddish books and manuscripts has radically altered the view of Old Yiddish literature held by the older scholarship. Our new understanding of Old Yiddish literature is in large measure the work of Khone Shmeruk. In addition to his fundamental research on Old Yiddish literature, especially that of Renaissance Italy, he has now given us a critical edition of the recently discoverd complete text of _Pariz un viene_ (Verona 1594). Here is given a brief summary of the contents of this work, illustrating the literary qualities which explain its exemplary position in Old Yiddish literature. --Shlomo Berger, "On Abraham Levy's Travelogue (Amsterdam 1764)" The West Yiddish travelogue of Abraham Levy ben Menachem Tall is a rare Jewish exemplar of the popular 18th century _grand tour_. Levy's descriptions of his travels through Germany, Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, and Italy between 1719 and 1723 show how a Jewish young man perceived both Jewish and Christian environments, what matters occupied him and what he hoped to achieve from his long trip. Living in a period of significant changes in the Jewish world and needing to understand Christian modern society as well, Abraham's medieval and modern attitudes intertwined. We see how he reacts to East European Jews, how he describes gentile society, where he places the boundaries dividing Jew from gentile. In such descriptions as that of Vienna, he shows how one can harmonize two different worlds. He is able to describe the gentile world in a neutral manner. Ultimately he returns to his own world. --Shmuel Werses, "Women's Voices in the Yiddish Weekly _Kol-Mevaser_" The importance of _Kol-Mevaser_ (Odessa and St. Petersburg, 1862-1871) in the development of Yiddish fiction in the nineteenth century has been long acknowledged. The present essay details the periodical's particular role as an outlet for women's voices and concerns in Russia and Poland in the 1860s, discussing women as readers, as writers of essays and letters-to-the-editor, and as translators. The periodical reflects the position of women in the family and in education in its frequent -- and heretofore insufficuently noted -- discussion of these themes. --Ziva Shamir, "Bialik's Apocalyptic Prophecies _Dos letste vort_ and _Davar_" The bulk of Bialik's prophetic poetry is a typical product of the first decade of the twentieth century and forms one of the undoubted peaks of his literary career. However, the figure of the prophet as poetic speaker was almost exhausted within Russian and Yiddish poetry of the last decades of the nineteenth century. Bialik at the turn of the century wrote a dramatic dialogue in Yiddish, _Dos letste vort_ (1901), whose speaker is a suffering apocalyptic prophet. The critics and scholars who greeted his well known Hebrew poem _Davar_ as his first prophetic poem were uninformed. _Davar_, in fact, is a synthesis of motifs and topoi to be found in the works of many of Bialik's predecessors and in many of Bialik's own poems, such as his unpublished juvenile "Belev hayam" ('In the Midst of the Sea') or his poem of reproof "Achen chatsir ha'am" ('Surely the People is Grass'). The prophet in Bialik's poems combines uncompromising opposites: fierce public orator and individualist romantic poet; aristocratric leader and vulgar commoner; fighter for justice and timid escapist. Though Bialik used a conventional persona rooted in the 19th century, he did so with his typical ingenuity, creating an original poetic figure. This paper traces the creation of this figure within the corpus of Bialik's collected works. It surveys its precedents, both in Yiddish and Jewish-Russian poetry; it explores the revolutionary innovations introduced by Bialik despite reliance on traditional characterizations. It concludes that the pseudo-prophetic poem _Davar_ is an impossible combination of elevated Biblical language and commonplace problems. It reflects the disorientation confronted by the poet and his contemporaries in 1904 owing to the death of Herzl, the Uganda crisis, the weakening of Ahad Ha'am's influence, and the approaching 1905 revlution. In order to express this sense of complete disorientation of all values, Bialik made intentional use of ambiguous words and phrases of both high and low levels of meaning, words that had gradually become pejorative though not originlly such. Total disorientation is expressed through the generic patterns of the _danse macabre_, the poem closing with a picture of a disreputable creature, lame and vulgar, staggering slowly toward death. This is Bialik's description of a decademt nation that refuses redemption, his reply to the traumas and atrocities faced by Man in a godless world. -- Max Erik. "Kasrilevke" Alongside Tevye the Dairyman and Menakhem-Mendl, Kasrilevke is the third of Sholem-Aleykhem's three great characterizations, the work of the last fifteen years of his life (1901-1915). This essay examines Sholem-Aleykhem's Kasrilevke, comparing it to Mendele Moykher-Sforim's shtetl repertoire. Sholem-Aleykhem created two opposing Kasrilevkes, one facing the past and the other the present; one is drawn romantically and the other realistically. The two Kasrilevkes contradict one another and are internally contradictory as well. According to Erik's Marxist analysis, the source of these multiple contradictions lies in the vacillations and lack of direction of the petty-bourgeois author himself. --Avidav Lipsker, Joseph Bamberger, "Rabbi Amram's Coffin" "Rabbi Amram's Coffin" is a story found in the Old Yiddish _Mayse Bukh_ (first edition Basel, 1602). The present thematological study examines this relatively rare attempt to judaize a Christian story of the death of St. Amram, a semi-historical 7th-century figure who was tortured to death and buried in Regensburg; a church was erected over his grave. The Jewish variant relates a similar tale of a Rabbi Amram of Cologne who asked to be interred in Worms and a boat magically carried his body to Mainz (in another variant: to Regensburg) and the Christians built a church over his grave. The Jews of the city stole the corpse and buried it according to Jewish law. This tradition of conflict between Christianity and Judaism over ownership of a holy place and over hagiographic legend also inspired Yoysef Opatoshu's _Eyn tog in Regensburg_ ('A Day in Regensburg') (1933), a novel which expresses contemporary facets of an age-old struggle between conflicting cultures. --Michael Astour, "Zalmen Reyzen (1878-1941) -- (A Memoir)" The Yiddish original of this essay appeared in _Oyfn shvel_ (October-December 1985). Its author spent his youth in Vilna in the cultural sphere of Zalmen Reyzen, under whose editorship he began his literary activity. The essay tries to draw the main lines of Reyzen's many-sided character and personality: pioneer of Yiddish philology, historian of Yiddish literature, organizer and exponent of secular Yiddish culture, biographer of Yiddish authors, editor of one of the most important Yiddish daily newspapers in Poland. The essay also casts new light on the last two years of Reyzen's life spent in Soviet jails and terminated with a bullet. --Yechiel Szeintuch [Yekhiel Sheyntukh], "Aaron Zeitlin's Sojourn in Erets-Yisrael" The Erets-Yisrael chapter in Aaron Zeitlin's [Yiddish: Arn Tseytlin] life and literary works remain unknown to this very day. Aaron Zeitlin's spiritual biography is conceptually and realistically connected to life in Erets Yisrael in the early 1920s, when the author, together with his younger brother Elchanan, settled in and then had to leave the country nine months later. The article deals with one aspect of Aaron Zeitlin's biography in Erets Yisrael, as well as with his spiritual struggles there and their reflection in his Hebrew poem "Kedem" ('East'). Additionally, the article deals with the year 1920/1921, the Zeitlin brothers' life in Jaffa, Jerusalem and Zichron Yaakov. The experiences of this period are later reflected in Aaron Zeitlin's literary works in Hebrew and Yiddish, which include, among others: the drama _Brener_ ('Brenner'), the comedy _Di yidishe melukhe oder Veytsman der tsveyter_ ('The Jewish Kingdom or Weitzman the Second') and especially his novel _Brenendike erd_ ('Burning Earth'). One may add to the list his Hebrew and Yiddish Erets Yisrael poems, as well as his Hebrew dramatic writings. The issues dealt with in this article introduce both the Erets Yisrael chapter in Zeitlin's Hebrew and Yiddish writings and his written correspondence. The latter will soon be published in the volume _Birshus harabim ubirshus hayachid -- Arn Tseytlin un di yidishe literatur: briv un dokumentn tsu der yidisher kultur-geshikhte tsvishn beyde velt milkhomes_ ('Public and Private: Aaron Zeitlin and Jewish Literature -- Letters and Documents of Jewish Cultural History Between the Two World Wars') (Jerusalem 1997). --Shalom Luria, "Alter Kacizna (1885-1941), Artist of Many Genres" This essay aims to acquaint the Hebrew reader with the creative world of an extraordinary artist, one of the most talented of the young men who grouped around Y.-L. Perets in Warsaw and who after his death became prolific writers. Alter Kacizna [Yiddish: Katsizne] wrote plays, poems, stories, a novel, feuilletons and other works. He even published his own journal, _Mayn reydndiker film_ ('My Talking Film') and filled it from A to Z by himself. This Polish Yiddish writer was cruelly murdered by Ukrainian collaborators at the Jewish cemetery of Tarnopol. --Alter Katsizne [Kacizna], "Boris Arkadyevitsh Kletskin" The Vilna publisher and community activist Boris Kletskin was known throughout the Jewish world for his dedication to Yiddish literature and to everything which was daily created in Yiddish. He published hundreds of books and periodicals and he assisted Yiddish writers, teachers and scholars to develop secular-Yiddish cultural values. Alter Kacizna was a close personal friend of Kletskin's and knew him intimately. In this essay Kacizna records his impressions of this Yiddish magnate and revolutionary who went bankrupt subsidizing an entire culture. --Dov Sadan, "On Moyshe Valdman [Moshe Waldman] the Poet" This essay initiates a new feature in _Chulyot_: fragments and quotations in and about Yiddish from Dov Sadan's huge literary estate. This is Sadan's introduction to the major collection of Waldman's poems, _Fun ale vaytn_ ('From All Distances') (Tel Aviv, 1980). It includes, in addition to an evaluation of Waldman's poetic achievement, translations of two of his poems. --Shalom Luria, "Exemplary Yiddish Poems" Another new feature of _Chulyot_, this section undertakes to present outstanding specimens from the boundless stores of Yiddish poetry, to translate them into Hebrew, and to comment on them briefly. The selections in this issue include H. Leyvik's "Oyf di vegn siberer," Moyshe Kulbak's "Di vile in der Nyeman" (a section of his poem _Raysn_ ['Belorussia']) and Avrom Sutskever's "Ikh tor nit" (the third poem in his cycle of poems "Ineveynik." --Chaya Fisherman, Yiddish in Israel: Appearance and Reality Research on the status of Yiddish in present-day Israel reflects an interesting sociolinguistic phenomenon, namely that the use of this language, which was once the instrument of a large segment of the Jewish people, has declined and the language has become converted into a value. In Israel prior to 1948 Yiddish was the most used mother tongue of those spoken in the country, competing with Hebrew. The lower the mastery of Hebrew, the more was Yiddish used among the older population of European origin. Today it is spoken in the homes of many families from Eastern Europe, but it is not perceived as a language competing with Hebrew. Among ultra-Orthodox Jews it served and still serves as the everyday language in all domains. Yiddish has an additional function beyond its being an instrument, namely that of being a symbol of Jewish identity. It is a bridge to _yidishkayt_ for a large section of the Jewish people. The study is based on replies to a questionaire regarding attitudes to Yiddish from 80 students aged 16 to 18 and 52 students and teachers aged 20 to 50. There was no significant difference in the replies of the two groups. Those who knew or were studying Yiddish had a more positive attitude to the language than the rest. Even those who did not speak Yiddish but were studying it found value in the language. In the associative dimension Yiddish was perceived in a more negative light than in the cognitive dimension. Aspects such as Yiddish being the language of the aging, an old-fashioned and diaspora language, emerged more in the associative dimension, whereas in the cognitive dimension the prominent aspects were the nostalgia and humor in Yiddish and its being the lingua franca of the Jewish people. The associative dimension reflects feelings that have not undergone filtering and selection in order to meet normative expectations. A correlation is found between the two dimensions in the issue of Jewish identity as symbolized by the language. --Isaac Ganuz, "'The Wicked Woman': A Yiddish Folktale" The author presents and briefly comments on a folktale he discovered in the Yiddish weekly _Lider vokh_ of 30 November 1932. The story tells of an old bachelor, a scholar, who would marry no one but a wicked woman, thus assuring his entrance to _gan-eydn_ ('Paradise'). The ending of the story is almost ludicrous: the husband dies from the wife's malevolent goodness. The story is also given in Hebrew translation. --Jacob Zeifter, "The Town of Ushpitsin" In his memoirs the author describes the Jewish community of Ushpitsin (Polish: Oswiencim; German: Auschwitz). He is impelled to express his grief and shock at the horrors of the Auschwitz death factory, but he also wishes to recapture the sweet memories of his childhood and youth in a place to which history has decisively allotted a singular association. The essay appeared in Yiddish in _Seyfer Ushpitsin_ ('The Ushpitsin Book') (Jerusalem 1977, pp. 355-361). --Simon Bruner, "There was something magical about it" The author discusses the literary, folkloristic and scholarly dimensions of Jacob Zeifter's essay on the Jewish community of Ushpitsin, a rich and wondrous amalgam of history and legend. Prior to the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939, Jews formed 40% of the town's general population. The Jewish community was deeply rooted, culturally and religiously vibrant, a center of saints and scholars, home of the near-legendary Rabbi Abele Shnur. --Dalia Kaufman, "A Poet Who Lived Before His Time" The author compares two Yiddish translations of Krilov's proverbs: one, virtually unknown and rare, by Sh.-Y. Katsenelenbogen (Vilna, 1861) -- a copy of which she was able to find in St. Petersburg through clever detective work -- and another by Tsvi-Hirsh Raykerson (Zvi Hirsch Reicherson) (Vilna, 1879). Both translators were _maskilin_ ('enlighteners'). Katsenelenbogen's work had a foreword in biblical Hebrew in which he wrote that "it was time to take action for my people and write for them in the disparaged Yiddish language, the only language they know." The author reviews thematic treatment, linguistic components, figurative language, folkloric expressions, rhyme and versification, monologue and dialogue forms, use of myth, and modes of judaization. She finds Katsenelenbogen's text close to the original, idiomatically rich, integrating relatively few German and Russian elements. Raykerson's text on the other hand, while close in content to the original, is decorated with German words, adopts Russian elements (mainly from the original) which appear next to simple Yiddish with a Lithuanian ring. Katsenelenbogen employed a syllabo-tonic meter, unusual in Yiddish verse at the time; Raykherson used rhymed prose and sometimes rhymed in foreign languages. --Franz Kafka, "A Talk about Yiddish" This is a talk given by Kafka in 1912 in honor of his friend, the Yiddish actor Jaques Levi (1887-1942), who that evening gave a performance of speeches from the Yiddish dramatic repertoire to a largely assimilated Prague Jewish audience. Kafka is not strong here on the history of Yiddish, but he does communicate his deep feeling for the language. --Khaym Grade, "Ariel of Yagur" (reprinted from _Tsukunft_, New York) --Arye Sarid, "How the Poem 'Ariel of Yagur' Was Composed" In 1945 the author was sent to Poland by the Hechaluts movement in Palestine to organize collectives and training farms for _aliya_ candidates. He encountered numerous Jewish orphans hidden by Polish families in the years of the Nazi occupation. Rescuing these children and helping them reach Erets-Yisrael became a passion of his life. The poet Khaym Grade observed this drama closely and poured out his feelings in the poem "Ariel of Yagur." The Ariel of the poem was none other than Arye Sarid, who at that time was a member of Kibbutz Yagur. --Eliyahu Binyamini, "Lyube Vaserman, a Forgotten Yiddish Poet" Leafing through the journal _Sovetish heymland_ the author uncovered several delicately wrought poems of Lyube Vaserman, whose last years were spent in Biro-Bidjan but who had actually begun her literary career in Palestine. He found the scarce little book of her poems, _Farnakhtn_ ('Evenings') (Tel Aviv, 1931) and argues she is an unjustly forgotten poet. Three of her poems illustrate his argument. *Edited (and/or translated) by Leonard Prager ----------------------------------------------- End of _The Mendele Review_ vol. 01.010 Leonard Prager, editor Please direct all correspondence to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.011 4 July 1997 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) "Tsi darf men lernen yidish?" (Nokhem Shtif) 3) _Yivo-bleter_ (n.s.) III English abstracts (Dovid Eliyohu Fishman) 4) On the Standard Yiddish Orthography (SYO) (Seth Wolitz) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Friday, 4 July 1997 From: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il Subject: YIDDISH MATTERS: FROM THE EDITOR --Cooperative relationship with _Yivo-bleter_ (n.s.) The central organ of Yiddish research in Yiddish, the renewed _Yivo-bleter_, has entered into a cooperative relationship with _The Mendele Review_ and in future issues -- guided by reader requests -- we will translate or summarize selected articles. In the present issue of _The Mendele Review_ we are happy to reproduce the English abstracts of _Yivo-bleter_ (new series), Vol. III. This volume is the first to be edited jointly by Dovid Eliyohu Fishman and Avrom Novershtern; vols. I and II appeared in 1991 and 1994 respectively and were edited by Dovid Eliyohu Fishman. The main theme of the third volume is "Khurbn lite" (which we translate as 'The Shoa in Lithuania' while remembering that Yiddish _Lite_ is not precisely present-day Lithuania). The issue is especially rich in materials relating to the late Max Weinreich, one of the great figures of Yivo both in Vilna and in New York. Copies may be ordered for $18 (eighteen dollars) from the Workmen's Circle Book Center, 45 East 33rd Street, New York, NY 10019. __ About Nokhem Shtif and his _Yidn un yidish_ _Yidn un yidish_ attempts in its 118 pages to explain in the simplest language what such abstruse terms as "Yiddishism" and "Hebraism" mean. (The first edition carried the title _Yidish und yidn oder ver zaynen "yidishistn" un vos viln zey? poshete verter far yedn yidn_). The author demonstrates his skill in making complex and theoretical matters clear and concrete. He uses folk sayings, folk songs, proverbial expressions -- the entire idiom of everyday speech -- to register his arguments. We give here the "Introduction" and the section "Do Jews Have to Study Yiddish?" The latter reminds us that four generations ago the charge that Yiddish was not a language, that it possessed no grammar was common among large sectors of supposedly educated Jews. Such absurdities are still heard -- but rarely from _educated_ persons. In 1919 when the book was written, the Yiddishist movement had gathered considerable momentum since the 1908 conference in Tshernovits and Shtif writes with confidence. He instructs his readers in some of the basic principals of linguistics -- a language is neither less nor more of a language by virtue of its having a written grammar. In 1919 there were many millions of Yiddish-speakers but no contemporary book-length grammar; today we have a number of fine grammars (though Yiddish has not yet been fully described), but sadly lack millions of speakers. Starting out as a Zionist, Shtif later became an influential socialist-territorialist and ended his days in academic (and politically vulnerable) work in the Soviet Union, where he never found his place. Of the four main founders of the Yivo in Vilna in 1925 (Zalmen Reyzn, Nokhem Shtif, Eliyohu Tsherikover and Max Weinreich), Nokhem Shtif (1879-1933) is the acknowledged initiator. The author of _Yidishe stilistik_ ('Yiddish Stylistics') and the editor of the Kiev linguistic journal _Di yidishe shprakh_ (from 1926-1930) and its successor _Afn shprakhfront_ (from 1931-1933), he wrote widely (sometimes under the name Bal-Dimyen) and was a prolific translator as well. His essays are scattered in many publications and form a body of some of the most interesting (and in the case of many of the Soviet-period essays, controversial) philological and linguistic work in Yiddish. Above all he was an accomplished Yiddish stylist. --Standard Yiddish Orthography The above selections by Nokhem Shtif were regularized to conform to the Standard Yiddish Orthography, the spelling standard followed today by the leading Yiddish journals. There seems little point to write "yoren hoben yiden geret" (as Shtif does) simply because this was the practice before spelling reform arose and before we learned to write "yorn hobn yidn geredt." Max Weinreich once summed up the main reasons for a standardized spelling: comprehension, orderliness and _shprakhikayt_ ('being as "regular" as any other accepted language'). Time may have dulled some of these reasons but there remain esthetic, pedagogical and practical ones. Moreover, it seems idle to refight yesterday's orthographic wars when so many more important issues claim the attention of all those interested in Yiddish language and literature. But scholars like Seth Wolitz deserve a fair hearing for their doubts about the spelling issue. He is certainly right that for certain purposes one wants an old-spelling text and not a regularized one. For such special purposes, agreed, the text must be let alone. 2)-------------------------------------------------- Date: Friday 4 July 1997 From: Leah Krikun (leyim@netvision.net.il) Subject: Nokhem Shtif, "Hakdome" and "Tsi darf men lernen yidish?" from his _Yidn un yidish_ 2nd ed. (Warsaw 1920). Hakdome ('Introduction') Hunderter yorn hobn yidn geret yidish, gefreyt zikh un gedayget oyf yidish, gehandelt un gevandlt, a velt oysgeven oyf zeyer shprakh -- oyf yidish. Mames hobn mit "Unter Soreles vigele" kinder farvigt, oyf yidish hot men gelernt in khadorim, in yeshives, in kloyzn un bote-medroshim, toyre un sforim fartaytsht, oyf yidish hobn rabonim un geonim toyre un muser gezogt far dem oylem, oyf yidish zenen geven geshribn muser-sforim, a gants helft fun dem yidishn folk, undzere mames, hobn dem yidishn khumesh, dem _Tsenerene_ geleynt, oyf yidish hobn zey afile zeyere hartsike tfiles, tkhines, gezogt. A kitser oyf yidish hobn yidn a velt oysgefirt, un keynem iz nisht ayngefaln optsufregn, tsi iz rekht azoy, tsi iz take yidish undzer sprakh un tsi darfn mir efsher gor hobn an ander shprakh? Avade yidish! Vos den? Avade kon men a velt oysfirn nor oyf der shprakh, vos yidn hobn zi fun dor-doyres in moyl, un vos ale yidn farshteyen. Iz den shayekh tsu fregen, lemoshl, tsi iz rekht, vos a mentsh geyt oyf zayne fis, tut mit zayne hent, kukt mit zayne oygn ukhdoyme? Avade azoy, dos iz dokh der derekh hateve! Hobn yidn take nisht gefregt keyn vilde kashes un getun zikh zeyers, un take oyf zeyer shprakh, oyf yidish. Vorum yidish hot gegebn a velt tsu zen. Tsi hobn yidn, lemoshl, gevust fun a velt tsu zogn, eyder s'zenen oyfgekumen yidishe tsaytungen? Ersht, az m'hot ongehoybn drukn tsaytungen un bikhlekh vegn der hayntiker velt oyf yidish, hot a yid gekont visn, vos es tut zikh in politik, in miskher, tsvishn yidn, in lender un tsvishn felker, bikhlal vos tut zikh oyf der gorer velt. Yidn hobn zikh gekont dervisn vos di tsayt fodert fun undz, vi halt es mit yidn, mit zeyere parnoses un mit zeyere gaystik lebn. Vos darfn yidn farlangn, vos tut men az m'zol yidn nit baavlen, az zey zoln oysbesern zeyer matsev ukhdoyme. Haklal, durkh yidish iz a yid geven farknupt un farbundn mit yidn un mit a velt, azoy vi yeder ander ume durkh ir shprakh, un hot gekont zukhn mitlen, vi avoy nisht tsu blaybn hintershtelik fun a velt. Azoy hot zikh gefirt undzer yidish veltl keminhogo, yidn hobn gehaltn, az azoy darf zayn. Vi farvundert darf es itst zayn a yid fun a gants yor, ven mit a mol hert er di letste yorn vegn "yidishistn" un "hebreistn," vegn a "kamf" vos kumt for tsvishn tsvey makhnes in der shul un in talmetoyre, in di bildungs-khevres un kehiles! Vos zol er zikh klern, ven "hebreistn" nemen mit a mol im aynredn, az "Yidish" iz nisht keyn shprakh, nor a shande, a "zhargon," vos m'darf fun im, vos gikher, poter vern? Vos zol er zikh trakhtn, ven er hert vi "hebreistn" zenen maresh-oylemes, az "yidishistn" viln oysmekn undzer gantsn "over" mit der toyre, mit der gantser guter yidishkayt, firn shir nisht tsu shmad? Un zey, di "hebreistn," veln shoyn rateven dos folk Yisroel, ale yidishe kinder veln mit a mol onheybn redn hebreish, vi a vaser, un zey, di "hebreistn," veln undz araynzetsn a naye, koshere hebreistishe neshome! Darf men oyfklern di zakh, az yeder yid zol farshteyn, vos iz dos azoyns "yidishistn," vos men makht zey itst far oykhrey-Yisroel, fun vanen nemen zey zikh, vos viln zey? Un vayter, vos iz dos azoyns "hebreistn," vos far an avles shteln zey oys di "yidishistn" un vos viln zey oysfirn? Zol di zakh arop fun di hoykhe himlen fun partey-khkire oyf dem maymed fun poshetn farshtand, zol yeder visn, fun vos do ret zikh. Vos tsu ton, vet er shoyn aleyn farshteyn. (Nokhem Shtif, "Hakdome" to _Yidn un yidish_, 2nd ed. [Warsaw, 1920], pp. 5-7.) ***** "Tsi Darf Men Lernen Yidish?" (pp. 60-66) by Nokhem Shtif Shteln mir zikh aza frage: m'darf ibergebn ale limudim oyf yidish, der gantser shul-shteyger, lerer mit kinder, kinder tsvishn zikh, darf zayn oyf yidish. Nu, un vos iz mit yidish -- mit der shprakh gufe? Tsi darf men yidish als shprakh far-zikh lernen in der shul? Der seykhl-hayosher zogt deroyf: Avade yo! Vi den andersh? Vil men nutsn di shprakh in azoy fil faln, vil men, az zi zol undz azoy fil dinen in undzer bildung un in lebn, muz men take di shprakh gufe ernst lernen -- mit kinder in di shuln, mit eltere oyf ovnt-kursn ukhdoyme. Kon den a bal-melokhe rekht kenen zayn melokhe un rekht ton a shtikl arbet, az er ken nisht zayn getsayg, az er ken nisht, oder halt nisht reyn, nisht ongesharft zayn hubl, zayn hak, zayn shlayfmeser? Un yidish iz dokh a getsayg, a gaystik getsayg, vos durkh dem kumen mir a velt tsu zen. Kon men den kukn oyf der velt durkh farshtoybte, farshmutsikte fentster? Azoy zogt der seykhl-hayosher. Ober hebreistn zenen dokh nisht mekhuyev tsu geyn mit'n glaykhn veg, leykent men, vi der shteyger iz: yidish? Gor! Ver ken nisht yidish? A yidene in mark kon dokh dos oykh, -- vos iz do faran vos tsu lernen? Un ven hot men es bay yidn gelernt yidish? Iz takhles leygt-zikh dos epes oyfn seykhl: take beemes, ver ken nisht keyn yidish? Der gantser koyekh fun yidish shtekt dokh, eygentlekh, in dem, vos m'ken es. Darf men, heyst es bavayzn, az yidish darf men yo lernen. Nor frier a por verter vegn der shayle fun de hebreisten: ven hot men es bay yidn gelernt yidish? Deroyf kon men entfern: nu, un ven hot men es bay yidn gelernt hebreyish? Yidn hobn bikhlal in khadorim, in yeshives keyn shprakhn nisht gelernt, yidn hobn gelernt khumesh, gemore, veyniker shoyn neviim uksuvim, nor nisht keyn hebreish als a shprakh far-zikh. Dikduk mit melitse, mit metodes, dos hot men nisht gelernt. Yidn hobn fun shprakhn bikhlal keyn vezn nisht gemakht, vorum toyre iz geven vikhtiker un hekher iber alts, memeyle hot men zikh nisht opgegebn spetsiel mit yidish. Fundestvegn darf men zogn, az epes hot men yo gelernt. M'hot, lemoshl, in di khadorim oft gelernt kinder shraybn yidish, m'flegt gebn an afir (a shure-griz) nokhshraybn, s'flegn arayngeyn aheym shraybers, vos flegn lernen yidish, derhoypt meydlekh heyst es, az lernen yidish, leyenen un shraybn, iz afile altmodishe yidn nisht gor fremd, darhoypt, in balebatishn grad. Itst vegn der tayne: ver ken nisht keyn yidish, un vos iz do faran tsu lernen? Oyb m'zol geyn mit di drokhim iz dokh a kashe, tsu vos lernen rusn in zeyere shuln rusish, polyakn lernen -- poylish un dem glaykhn? Vos far a rus ken dos keyn rusish nisht; vos far a polyak ken keyn poylish nisht? Fundestvegn lernen zey yo zeyer shprakh. Iz den a velt meshuge? Nor a velt is take nisht meshuge, un an eygene shprakh darf men take fort lernen, khotsh m'ken zi. Vorum kenen tsu kenen iz nisht glaykh! Shprakh tsu shprakh iz nisht glaykh. S'iz faran a shprakh fun a poshetn, nisht gelerntn mentshn, un a shprakh fun a gebildetn man; s'iz faran a markshprakh un s'iz faran bikhershprakh. M'zogt bay undz oyf eynem, vos ret sheyn: "Perl shitn zikh im fun moyl." Heyst es, az in folk farshteyt men, vos heyst kenen shprakh, un az nisht ale kenen. Un viln mir, az a mentsh zol beemes kenen zayn shprakh, darf men zi mit im lernen, er zol visn ir tifkayt un ir sheynkayt, ir koyekh un breytkayt. A hubl bay a genitn bal-melokhe in der hant, vos ken rekht di melokhe un zayn shtikl getsayg, iz nisht dos zelbe, vos a hubl bay a lernyingl, oder gor an umgenitn mentshn in der hant. Az mir leyenen a bukh fun a yidishn shrayber, fun a Mendele Moykher-Sforim, oder a Sholem-Aleykhem, vos yeder yid kon im, filn mir epes a modne zakh: dakht zikh undzer shprakh, ot dos, vos mir redn tomid, un dokh epes an ander shprakh. Yener iz a shrayber, a talant, a gots gob, veyst er dem sod fun der shprakh, un mir geveynlekhe mentshn darfn zikh lernen dos, vos im kumt fun talant. Vorum beemes haltn mir shtendik in eyn lernen di shprakh, mir bamerken es afile nisht. Eltere lernen kinder, vayzn zey, az aza vort past nisht tsu zogn, in aza gezelshaft darf men azoy redn. Eltere lernen zikh oykh eyns fun dem andern. Zey khapn a vort, an oysdruk, a vertl, m'nasht fun a bukh, -- farvos zol a shprakh zayn erger far a shukh? Un ven hayntike tsaytn farshteyt shoyn yeder, az m'darf geyn a gantsn shukh, un a reynem shukh, farvos zoln mir umgeyn mit an umreyn moyl un shlekht redn, beys m'kon derlangen sheyn redn, sheyn shraybn? Un vi zol men dos oysfirn, ven m'lernt zikh nisht un m'zogt, as m'ken shoyn? Un vider nokh a zakh: der seykhl, der farshtand, hot oysgeshlayft un shlayft vayter di shprakh; vos der mentsh iz kliger, gebildeter, alts raykher un shener iz zayn shprakh, un dos eygene farkert: di shprakh shlayft undzer seykhl, undzer gefil, durkh der shprakh kumen mir tsu banemen a velt mit ir groyskayt un sheynkayt. A kind, az s'dergeyt a nay vort take in zayn gut-bakanter shprakh, a naye vendung, dergeyt es nisht stam a vort, nor a nayem gedank, epes a faynem kneytsh: Es derzet epes a nayem far-zikh, un s'kumt im epes tsu oyf lebn-lang. M'darf lernen di literatur fun a shprakh; dos, vos m'hot geshribn un gedrukt bikher oyf a shprakh. Un oyf yidish iz dokh oykh epes geshribn-gevorn, nisht tsu farzindikn. Kumt men lesof aroys mit dem emesn meyn: Ale sphrakhn -- yo, darf men take lernen, dort iz do vos tsu lernen, ober yidish iz nishto vos! Di alte tayne, vos mir hobn shoyn frier zi gehert: Yidish iz keyn shprakh nisht, s'iz _a zhargon_ a _fardorbn daytsh_, a simen, -- yidish hot keyn gramatik (dikduk) nisht, vegn dem, tsi iz yidish _a zhargon_, a _fardorbn daytsh_, hobn mir shoyn frier gehert un s'loynt nisht ibertsukhazern. Di tayne iz a bilbl oder ameratses. Dos eygene oykh di tayne, az di yidishe shprakh hot keyn gramatik nisht. Reyshis, zenen shoyn avek di tsaytn, ven in a shprakh, derhoypt nokh in a muter shprakh, hot men gezen dem iker-lemud di gramatik. Haynt is dos bikhlal di letste dayge, ver shmuest nokh in a folksshul, vos m'lernt dort alts praktish, un teoryes geyen bikhlal nisht on. Sheynis, iz di gantse mayse, az yidish hot keyn gramatik nisht, a vilde narishkayt. Dos iz dos eygene, vi m'zol zogn, az a yid hot keyn harts nisht, keyn markh nisht, keyn khut-hashedre nisht, vayl s'iz nisht faran keyn anatomye oyf yidish. Keyn bukh vegn anatomye, keyn bukh vegn dem, vi iz geboyt dem mentshns guf, iz nisht faran oyf yidish, ober a yid hot ale eyvrim glaykh mit andere. Vorum nisht dem mentshns kerper shtelt zikh tsunoyf loyt der anatomye, nor farkert di geshribene anatomie iz a bild, a fotografye fun dem mentshns kerper. Anatomye tut nisht oyf keyn shum nayes, zi kukt zikh tsu tsum mentshns guf un bashraybt getray, vos dort tut zikh, vos dort iz beemes faran. Di geshribene anatomye bayt zikh; vos mer di visnshaft kukt zikh tsu un shtudirt flaysik dem guf, zet zi alts mer, alts beser. Der guf, ober, blaybt der zelbiker ale tsaytn. Dos eygene oykh a shprakh un gramatik. Nisht di shprakh lernt zikh bay der gramatik, nor farkert, di gramatik lernt zikh bay der shprakh. Di gramatik bashraybt nor dos, vos zi zet tsu bay der shprakh, nisht mer, punkt azoy vi de anatomye bashraybt dem mentshns guf. A geshribene gramatik, a bukh vegn gramatik, meg nisht zayn, un dokh hot yede shprakh ir gramatik. Azoy vi s'meg nisht zayn keyn bukh vegn anatomye, un derfun vet nisht tsukumen un nisht gemindert vern keyn eyver in a mentshns guf, un azoy vi yede shprakh, di daytshishe, di rusishe un andere zenen geven shprakhn afile damols, ven keyn geshribene gramatik iz nokh nisht geven, dos eygene oykh mit yidish. Yidish kon zayn a shprakh un meg nisht hobn keyn geshribene gramatik, vayl s'hot zikh nokh nisht gefunen der baln, vos zol di shprakh shtudiren un onshraybn di klolim, vos shtekn in der shprakh. Tsi zoln mir zogn, az in der tsayt fun di neviim, ven keyn geshribener dikduk iz nokh nisht geven, hot hebreish keyn gramatik nisht gehat? Tsi derfar, vos s'iz keyn geshribene gramatik nishto, redn oder shraybn yidn an ander shprakh? Ale redn un shraybn glaykh, vorum andersh kon nisht zayn, vorum: dos iz shoyn di teve fun a shprakh. Azoy vi, yeder lebedik bashefenish, vos hot zikh ire feste simonim un klolim. Vos zhe kon es beemes bataytn, ven m'zogt, az yidish hot keyn gramatik nisht? Dos kon hobn nor eyn taytsh: yidish farmogt nokh nisht keyn bikhl, vos oyf dem zol shteyn ongeshribn: _Yidishe gramatik_. Azoy meynen take beemes a sakh yidn, iz dos, ober, oykh a grintlekher toes: yidish hot shoyn maymorim un bikhlekh vegn yidisher gramatik ariber dray hundert yor. Mentshn fun visnshaft, derhoypt, daytshishe gelernte, shtudirn di gantse tsayt di yidishe shprakh un hobn geshribn yidishe gramatik. Gor di letste tsayt zenen geshribn gevorn bikhlekh oyf yidish: _Yidishe gramatik_. Heyst es, yidish iz shoyn kosher lekol hadeyes! Di yidishe shprakh iz geveynlekh fun dem nisht beser, nisht erger gevorn, ober di letste tayne kegn yidish is shoyn oykh opgefaln. Azoy volt es badarft zayn, ven m'zol es beemes meynen ernst mit gramatik. Dos umglik, ober, iz, az m'hot epes faynt, zukht men zikh. Vi zingt zikh in a yidish lidl fun der umgliklekher shnur, vos di shviger zukht oyf ir shtendik khesroynes: Gey ikh pamelekh, Zogt zi: ikh krikh; Gey ikh gikh, Zogt zi: ikh rays di shikh. Ober, lomir arop fun de hoykhe himlen oyf unzer zindiker erd: oyslernen a folksmentsh, er zol konen leyenen a bikhl un onshraybn a brivl oyf yidish, darf men? Heyst es, az m'muz lernen yidish in der shul. Di hebreisten, oder zey leykenen es gor, m'kumt op mit a pizmen, vos iz do faran tsu kenen? Oder m'vil es opkumen beshie-pie: Kh'veys, lernt men dort a sho, oder a por sho in vokh _zhargon_ mit meydlekh. Un tsvishn yo un neyn dershtikt men eyne fun di vikhtikste zakhn far dem folksmentsh, vos on dem kon er zikh nisht bageyn. (Nokhem Shtif, "Tsi Darf Men Lernen Yidish?," _Yidn un yidish_, 2nd ed. [Warsaw, 1920], pp. 60-66) ***** [Romanization by Leah Krikun] 3)-------------------------------------------------- Date: Friday 4 July 1997 From: dafishman@jtsa.edu Subject: _Yivo_bleter_ (n.s.) III: English abstracts Abstracts of _Yivo-bleter_ (n.s.) III (1997) _Khurbn Lite_ The Shoa in Lithuania _Yivo-bleter_ (Naye serye) _Yivo-Bleter_ (New Series) Band III Volume 3 Redaktirt fun Edited by Dovid Eliyohu Fishman David E. Fishman un Avrom Novershtern and Abraham Novershtern Yidisher visnshaftlekher institut Yiddish Scientific Institute -- Yivo. YIVO Nyu-york, 1997 New York, 1997 THE FATE OF YIVO AT A HISTORICAL TURNING POINT (1939-1941) by Israel Lempert New archival sources shed light on the administration and activity of YIVO under Soviet rule. In late 1940, YIVO was incorporated into the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, as the Third Museum and Library of the Institute for Lithuanian Studies. The complex relations between YIVO's Soviet-appointed Curator, Moyshe Lerer, and the President of the Academy of Sciences, V. Kreve-Mickevicius, are examined. DIARY OF THE VILNA GHETTO (FRAGMENT) by Zelig Kalmanovitch Prepared for publication by Shalom Luria Yiddish translation by Avrom Novershtern Kalmanovitch was one of the directors of pre-War YIVO, and a leading intellectual figure in the Vilna Ghetto. This recently discovered fragment of his diary covers the period between May 16 and July 19, 1942, and supplements the previously published portion (available in English in YIVO Annual, volume 8). The new segment chronicles events in the ghetto and Kalmanovitch's forced labor for the Germans as a researcher, translator, and sorter of Judaica books. The entries are interspersed with reflections on God and Jewish historical destiny. AT THIS MOMENT: DR. TZEMACH FELDSHTEIN'S EDITORIALS IN THE VILNA GHETTO (1942-1943) Prepared for publication by David G. Roskies An annotated publication of all extant editorials in _Geto-yedies_ ('Ghetto News'), the officially sanctioned, typewritten weekly in the Vilna Ghetto. In his introduction, David G. Roskies considers the newspaper's editor, Tzemach Feldshtein, and his views on the problems facing the ghetto. Feldshtein was more than a mouthpiece for the policies of Jacob Gens, the German-appointed head of the ghetto; he gave voice to the communal values of mutual responsibility, perseverance, and self-sufficiency, which were held by Lithuanian and Vilna Jewry. HISTORY OF THE KOVNA GHETTO POLICE (SELECTIONS) Preface by Esther Mayerovich-Shvartz Prepared for publication by Dov Levin In August 1941, the Jewish Council of the Kovna ghetto established the ghetto police force to maintain order and enforce the regulations regarding mandatory labor. In 1943, the staff of the ghetto police composed an in-house history of its operations from its establishment until December 1942. The history includes detailed statistics on police personnel, arrests and crime in the ghetto, a digest of police operating procedures, and an account of a public swearing-in ceremony in November 1942, at which each officer vowed "to devote all my energy and experience to the welfare of the Jewish community in the ghetto." OBSERVATIONS ON WEINREICH'S ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF JEWISH STUDIES by David E. Fishman Max Weinreich, the only scholar with formal academic training among the founders of YIVO, was committed to the integration of Yiddish studies, and of Jewish studies at large, with the methods of the modern social sciences. At the same time, he struggled to strike a balance between his elitist academic orientation, and his desire that YIVO be embedded in Jewish communal and cultural life in Poland. MAX WEINREICH - IN SEARCH OF A LIVING PAST by David G. Roskies Weinreich's studies on Old Yiddish literature, published in the 1920's, cultivated awareness of a centuries-old secular Yiddish literary tradition, and had a profound impact on the writing of Itzik Manger, Isaac Bashevis, and Abraham Sutzkever. However, in his post-War magnum opus, _History of the Yiddish Language_, Weinreich retreated from his previous dichotomies between secularity and religion, Yiddish and Hebrew, and forged an integral view of Ashkenazic Jewish culture. MAX WEINREICH: STRUCTURAL LINGUIST AND HISTORIAN OF YIDDISH by Edward Stankiewicz One of Weinreich's prime achievements was the combination of diverse methods and disciplines in the study of language (sociology, Jewish history, historical and structural linguistics). Weinreich's main findings regarding the contribution and role of each of the four components of the Yiddish language (Hebrew-Aramaic, Romance, Germanic and Slavic) are reviewed and evaluated. REMEMBERING DR. MAX WEINREICH by Dina Abramowicz, Abraham Brumberg, Eleanor Gordon-Mlotek, Gabriel Weinreich, Beatrice Silverman-Weinreich, and Joshua A.Fishman Memoirs by Weinreich's students, family members, and YIVO staff provide a multi-faceted portrait of his life and work in Vilna and New York. Several of the essays focus on Weinreich at home and in informal settings, and on the impact of the Holocaust on his personality. YIDDISH FROM A LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE by Max Weinrich The text of an unpublished chapter of Weinreich's _History of the Yiddish Language_, written in 1954. Weinreich later decided to integrate certain portions of this manuscript into various chapters of his _History_. SUPPLEMENT TO MAX WEINREICH'S BIBLIOGRAPHY by Eleanor Gordon-Mlotek and Shmuel Goldenberg A listing of over 600 articles which Weinreich contributed to the Yiddish press, and other items not included in the 1963 bibliography of his works. Of these, the majority are articles published in the _Jewish Daily Forward_ between 1919 and 1959 under various pseudonyms. THE RETURNED PORTION OF THE VILNA YIVO'S ARCHIVE by Marek Web and Eleanor Gordon-Mlotek A survey of the contents of the 63 cartons of YIVO archival materials which were received from Lithuania in February 1995 and January 1996, in accordance with an agreement with the Lithuanian Central State Archives. The bulk of the materials belong to the collections of the YIVO administration, Vilna 'kehile' (Jewish community board), Yiddish Actors' Union, E.R. Kaminski Theatre Museum, Yiddish literature and language, and YIVO's Ethnographic Commission. 4)------------------------------------------------- Date: Friday, 4 July 1997 From: slwolitz@mail.utexas.edu Subject: Standard Yiddish Orthography (SYO) Standard Yiddish Orthography (SYO) I believe that the modern orthography does provide a standardization, but I have found in doing scholarly work in Yiddish that by using the original text with all its orthographical variants, I encounter regionalisms better, the sense of the era and the freedom at play of an emerging literature and language not yet codified and finding its way. The codified orthography came too late! -- only after the war, although Poland provided a standard more or less accepted in the thirties. But even there it was a compromised solution given that the Orthodox agreed to participate so long as the Hebrew-derived word was untouched from its base in Hebrew or Aramaic. The _Musterwerk_ series in Argentina conforms to the new orthography and while it makes reading easier, it also has lost the variants of tone and region of the original published text. I am quite aware that the printer had a hand in how the _oysleyg_ appeared but that too is important. Yiddish belongs to history today and enforcing a standard constructed after the terrible events of its history to make believe that it is still a triumphant living tongue expresses of course determination and nobility but also a refusal to deal with the realities of its fading existence. All editions of Yiddish today are really scholarly editions, for the readers today are students who pour over the text with love and intelligence seeking meaning of a world that was. Standardization is merely an attempt to legitimize the language as a language and eschew the fear that haunted it that it was only a dialect. Ancient Greek in its various practitioners from Homer, Sappho to Aeschylus and later used different _oysleyg_ and even different words and no one attempts really to standardize their Greek. Bashevis uses different articles in many cases from the so-called standard "correct" gendered nouns. And Sholem Aleykhem used so many Ukrainianisms which a Perets must have thought barbarous. But those variants of words as _oysleyg_ has given the linguistic culture of Yiddish its added authenticity. It was a young literature in its writing and it dies a slain young hero. Standardization is an effort to conform to an ideal the language never really achieved in its living glory. The recent spate over the versions of Joyce's _Ulysses_ should be the parallel to our problem. The first version for all its flaws as even Joyce admitted in typos etc. contains the edition which the master saw. Had he corrected the edition, then it would be standardized. But he didn't! And the latter versions are scholarly hunches. Let us not tamper with the Yiddish _oysleg_ today. Let those who still write in Yiddish today use the standard _oysleg_ if they so desire as the expression of their age, but let us not force Mendele or Der Nister to conform to our vision of the true _oysleg_. Anyone who wishes may well see that a Bergelson edition in Soviet _oysleyg_, Berlin _oysleyg_ and Vilna _oysleyg_ each has a different _tam_! Which one is the true one? I would look first at the manuscript. If that does not exist, then I believe the first edition provides the safest course or the one that the author had the most direct hand in editing. Such should be the realities of standardization for our unique culture and language facts. Seth Wolitz ------------------------------------- End of _The Mendele Review_ vol. 01.011 Leonard Prager, editor Please direct all correspondence to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.012 [Dedicated to the Memory of Chone Shmeruk] 7 July 1997 ____________________________________ [ ] [ In Memory of ] [ Professor Chone Shmeruk ] [ ] [ (1921-1997) ] ------------------------------------ 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) _Motl Peyse dem Khazns_ Part I, chapters 7 and 8 (Sholem-Aleykhem) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 07 Jul 1997 16:48:09 +0300 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters ---Professor Chone Shmeruk, z"l News has just reached us in Israel of the death in Warsaw of Professor Chone Shmeruk, the leading Yiddish literary historian of our generation. Professor Shmeruk died on Saturday evening, the 5th of July, and his funeral will take place tomorrow, July 8th, in Warsaw. The memorial week [shive] will be held in Jerusalem. I confess I am too shaken by this tragic news to compose a fitting eulogy and I ask the reader's indulgence if I quote at length from my review of the 1993 _festschrift_ in honor of Professor Shmeruk(1): The editors of this _festscrift_ salute the scholar they chose to honor as "_the_ historian of Yiddish literature," a caption which in its mention of history and Yiddish literature encompasses the two major areas of Chone Shmeruk's manifold research enterprise. Chava Turniansky's extremely useful bibliography of Shmeruk's publications from 1953 to 1992 richly supports this accolade. For Shmeruk has indeed accomplished much: he has helped bring coherency to Old Yiddish studies; he has written many chapters of what is becoming a comprehensive history of Yiddish literature; he has edited texts at the highest standard; he has shown the intricate relations between Yiddish texts and classic Hebrew-Aramaic ones; he has brought order into study of the Yiddish Biblical play; he has illuminated Soviet-Yiddish writing. He has brought to his examination of the Yiddish text, whether Old Yiddish or twentieth-century, an eye for allusions, sources, influences, relationships to other texts and to the life of the author and his period."(2) To this there is much, indeed very much, that one needs to add. Briefly, touching only on some of Professor Shmeruk's freshest contributions, one must mention the critical edition of the recently discovered full text of the Old Yiddish novella _Paris un vienna_ ('Paris and Vienna'), edited together with Erika Timm. His edition of the first volume of the critical edition of the works of Sholem-Aleykhem, the full text of Parts I and II of _Motl Peyse dem Khazns_ [a selection from which is given below--LP], has just been published by Magnes Press, which is about to announce publication of his volume of essays on Sholem-Aleykhem. Professor Shmeruk's solid achievements in Yiddish scholarship have raised the level of Yiddish studies the world over. He will not be forgotten. (1) _Studies in Jewish Culture in Honour of Chone Shmeruk_, eds. Israel Bartal, Ezra Mendelsohn, Chava Turniansky. Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Center for Jewish History, 1993. (2) Leonard Prager, [Review of above], _Studies in Contemporary Jewry_ 11 (1995), 297. ---A New Modern-Spelling Edition of _Motl Peyse dem Khazns_(1) Fifty years after the Moscow "Der emes" edition(2) and 55 years after the hitherto "standard" New York Forverts edition(3) of this classic Sholem-Aleykhem work, we now have the Hebrew University's Magnes Press edition with modern spelling, textual notes, a glossary and a critical afterword. Professor Chone Shmeruk edited the text, wrote the afterword and compiled the textological section. Vera Solomon prepared the text for publication and constructed the glossary. The book was published with the help of the Joseph and Ida Berman Yiddish Publications Fund of Montreal, to whom all lovers of the Yiddish book may be deeply grateful. As Professor Shmeruk explains in "A vort frier" ('Preface'), preparation of a critical edition of all of Sholem-Aleykhem's works was undertaken as a joint project of the Hebrew University and Hebrew Union College, represented respectively by Professor Shmeruk and Professor Herbert Paper. A comprehensive Sholem-ALeykhem bibliography was prepared and, with the cooperation of Yivo (New York), the National and University Library (Jerusalem) and Bet Shalom-Aleychem (Tel-Aviv) all of the great humorist's published and unpublished works and letters were collected. Publication of the _Motl Peyse dem Khazns_ volume augurs well for a project which has been stalled for too many years and which, regrettably, continues to lack adequate funds. The volume is the product of a collective effort, and special thanks go to Vera Solomon, Professor Chava Turniansky and Dr. Nathan Cohen for their roles in the project. Publication of the selections below is by permission of the Magnes Press and the Department of Yiddish of the Hebrew University, joint owners of the copyright of the edition. My warm thanks to the Managing Director of the Magnes Press and to Professor Chava Turniansky of the Department of Yiddish. My thanks, too, to Claus Buryn, who romanized the texts from a Soviet edition and thus did the lion's share of the work. His text has been edited to conform to the 1997 Magnes Press modern-spelling edition, which differs from older editions also in small but cumulatively significant ways -- and in more than just spelling. In the critical edition Professor Shmeruk has restored readings from the earliest newspaper versions of the text. An outstanding example, the only one I will trouble the reader with at this time, is when Motl says (in the Forverts version, vol. 1, p. 108): "Es tut mir bang, vos ikh bin nit geboyrn gevorn beser a meydl. Ershtens, volt ikh farshport davnen yedn tog, s'iz mir nimes gevorn." In the corrected critical edition we read -- and here we see an instance of the author's tragic-comic genius: "Es tut mir bang, vos ikh bin nit geboyrn gevorn beser a meydl. Ershtens volt ikh farshport zogn kadish nokhn tatn. S'iz mir nimes gevorn."(p. 55) (1) Sholem-Aleykhem. _Motl peyse dem khazns_. Editsye, nokhvort un tekstologisher aparat: Khone Shmeruk. Tsugegreyt tsum druk un tsunoyfgeshtelt dem glosar: Vera Solomon. Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, 1977, 360 pp. [ISBN 965-223-955-0] (2) Sholem-Aleykhem. _Motl peysi dem khazns; ksovim fun a yingl a yosem_. Moskve: Melukhe-Farlag "Der Emes", 1947. Illustr. Hershl Inger. 192 pp. (3) _Ale verk_, Vol. 1, pp. 3-292; 3-228 (New York: _Forverts_, 1942). 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 07 Jul 1997 16:48:09 +0300 From: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem's _Motl Peyse dem Khazns_ Part I, chapters 7 and 8 Chapter 7. "Mir farfleytsn di velt mit tint" (pp. 55-63) [= chapter 8 in the Forverts edition] [Alef] Oy, bin ikh geven a nar! Derfar vos ikh hob farkoyft nit aza gutn kvas, hob ikh gemeynt, az me vet mikh kepn! Tsum sof -- gornisht. Umzist ibergeshrokn. Yente meg farkoyfn kheylev far gendznshmalts? Un Gedalye der katsef hot nit gehodevet di shtot a kaylekhik yor mit treyfe fleysh? Azoy hot undzer shkheyne Pesye oysgeredt mayn mamen dos harts. An aktsie mit mayn mame! Alsding nemt zi zikh tsum hartsn. Derfar hob ikh lib mayn bruder Elye. Mayn bruder Elye falt nit arop ba zikh dermit, vos mir hobn zikh opgebrit oyfn kvas. Abi er hot dem bukh, iz im gut. Er hot gekoyft a bukh far a rubl. Dos bukh heyst: "Far a rubl hundert!" Er zitst un lernt im oyf oysnveynik. Dortn zaynen do on a shier retseptn, vi azoy me makht tint, vi azoy me makt shuvaks, vi azoy me traybt aroys mayz un tarakanes un andere mieskaytn. Er rekhnt koydem-kol zikh nemen tsu tint. Tint, zogt er, iz a guter artikl. Ale nitsn haynt tint. S'iz haynt, zogt er, a kluge velt. Ale lernen zikh shraybn. Er iz a baln geven fregn bay Yidl dem Shrayber, vifl geyt avek bay im tint? Zogt er: A farmegn! Yidl der Shrayber hot efsher zekhtsik meydlekh, vos er lernt zey shraybn. Yinglekh lernen nit ba im. Me hot far im moyre. Er shlogt zikh. Er shlogt mit a vire iber di hent. Meydlekh kon men nit shlogn. Shmaysn avade nit. Es tut mir bang, vos ikh bin nit geboyrn gevorn beser a meydl. Ershtns, volt ikh farshport zogn kadish nokhn tatn. S'iz mir nimes gevorn. Ale tog eyn zakh. Haynt volt ikh nisht gevust fun keyn talmetoyre. A halbn tog gey ikh in talmetoyre. Lernen lern ikh oyfn shpits meser, nor petsh khap ikh on a shier. Ir meynt funem rebe? Dafke fun der rebitsn. Ir eysek vos ikh hodeve di kats! Ir zolt onkukn ba ir a kats! -- a Gots rakhmones! Tomid iz zi hungerik. Nyavken nyavket zi shtilerhayt, mit a geveyn, vi lehavdl a mentsh. Es rayst oys a shtik harts! Bay zey iz ober nito keyn kap rakhmones. Vos hobn zey tsu ir? Loz zi tsugeyn tsu emetsn a shmek ton -- tut men oyf ir a geshrey: a tpruss! Flit zi avek vu der shvartser fefer vakst. Keyn kop lozt men ir nit oyfheybn. Anumltn iz zi gor farfaln gevorn oyf etlekhe teg. Ikh hob gemeynt, az zi iz kholile gepeygert. Tsum sof hot zi zikh geketslt... Ikh ker mikh um tsu mayn bruder Elyes tint. [Beys] Mayn bruder Elye zogt, az di velt iz gevorn gor nisht dos, vos a mol. A mol, az me flegt makhn tint, hot men, zogt er, badarft koyfn golish-epfelekh, di golish-epfelek tseklapn, nokh dem kokhn zey oyfn fayer, veys ikh vifl, nokh dem araynvarfn kupervaser: un bikhdey di tint zol glantsn, hot men nokh gemuzt tsugebn a shtikl tsuker -- a gantser tareram! Haynt, zogt er, iz aza khies! ikh koyf mir, zogt er, in der apteyk a "proshik" azelkhn mit a fleshl "glitserine", mish dos oys mit vaser, a zid oyfn fayer - un fartik tint. Azoy zogt mayn bruder Elye. Er iz avek in der apteyk un hot gebrakht a guzme "proshkes" un "glitserine" a gantse flash. Nokh dem hot er zikh farshpart in alker un hot epes geton. Vos -- veys ikh nit. S'a sod. Alsding iz ba im a sod. Az er darf zogn der mamen, lemoshl, zi zol im gebn dos eybershte funem shtoysl, ruft er zi op oyf a zayt un zogt ir shtilerheyt: "Mame! dos eybershte funem shtoysl". Di "proshkes" mit der "glitserine" hot er oysgemisht in a gants groysn top (a nayem top gekoyft). Dem top mitn gemishekhts hot er farrukt in oyvn un hot gebetn di mame shtilerheyt, zi zol farkeytlen di tir. Mir ale hobn gemeynt, mi-yedeye vos. Di mame hot ale minut gekhapt a kuk tsum oyvn. A ponem, zi hot moyre gehat, der oyvn zol nit tsefaln vern oyf shtiklekh. Nokh dem hot men arayngekatshet in shtub arayn dos fesl fun kvas. Nokh dem hot men pavolinke aroysgenumen dem top funem oyvn un me hot pavolinke arayngegosn dos gemishekhst in fesl arayn. Nokh dem hot men ongehoybn gisn in fesl arayn vaser. Az dos fesl iz gevorn ongefilt hekher halb, hot mayn bruder Elye a zog geton: "Genug!" -- un hot zikh genumen tsum bukh vos heyst "Far a rubl -- hundert". Gekukt, gekukt un geheysn shtilerheyt zikh brengen a frishe pen mit a vaysn boygn papir. "Vos me shraybt proshenies" -- hot er a zog geton shtilerheyt der mamen oyfn oyer. Ayngetunken di pen in fas un gegebn a shrayb epes oyfn vaysn boygn papir mit a dreydl un mit a tsuk. Dos ongeshribene hot er tsugetrogn frier tsu der mamen, nokh dem tsu mayn shvegerin Brokhe. Di beyde hobn gegebn a kuk arayn un a zog tsu im: -- Se shraybt! Bald nokh dem hot men zikh genumen vider tsu der frieriker arbet. Ongegosn nokh a por emer vaser, hot mayn bruder Elye oyfgehoybn di hant: "Genug!" Vider a mol ayngetunken di pen in fas, vider a mol gegebn a shrayb arayn in vaysn papir arayn un vider a mol tsugetrogn dos ongeshribene frier tsu der mamen un nokh dem tsu mayn shvegerin Brokhe. Di beyde hobn vider gegebn a kuk arayn in papir arayn un a zog: -- Se shraybt. Ot azoy, etlekhe mol, biz dos fas iz gevorn ful vi an oyg. Es iz shoyn nit geven vuhin tsu gisn vaser. Demolt hot mayn bruder Elye gegebn a heyb oyf di hant; "Genug!" -- un mir ale fir hobn zikh gezetst esn. [Giml] Nokhn esn hobn mir zikh genumen tsum tsegisn di tint in flesher. Flesher hot mayn bruder Elye tsunoyfgebrakht fun der gantser velt. Alerley flesher un fleshlekh. Groyse un kleyne. Flesher fun bir, flesher fun vayn, flesher fun kvas, flesher fun bronfn. Un glat flesher. Un propkes hot er ayngehandlt alte, s'zol kostn velveler. Un a "like" hot er gekoyft a naye un a kvertl a blekhns oyf tsu gisn di tint fun fas in di flesher. Do hot er vider ayngeroymt der mamen a sod, zi zol farkeytlen di tir. Nokh dem hot men zikh ale fir genumen tsu der arbet. Di arbet iz geven ayngeteylt dafke gut. Mayn shvegerin Brokhe hot di flesher durkgeshvenken un ibergegebn tsu mir in di hent arayn. Ikh hob nor badarft araynshtekn in flash arayn di "like" un tsuhaltn mit eyn hant di "like," mit der anderer di flash. Un mayn bruder Elye hot gehat eyn arbet: onnemen mitn kvertl fun fas un gisn tsu mir iber der "like." An arbet iz dos zeyer a voyle, a freylekhe. Eyn khisorn nor: s'iz tint, es flekt di finger, di hent, di noz, dos gantse ponem. Mir beyde, ikh un mayn bruder Elye, hobn zikh gemakht shvarts vi di sheydim. Dos ershte mol ze ikh, mayn mame zol lakhn. Fun mayn shvegerin Brokhe shmuest men nit: yene iz shier tsezetst gevorn far gelekhter. Mayn bruder Elye hot faynt, az me lakht fun im. Beyzert er zikh oyf mayn shvegerin Brokhe un fregt zi, vos zi lakht. Lakht zi nokh shtarker. Vert er nokh mer in kas, lakht zi nokh mer. Ale minut khapt zi on a spazme. Mamesh zi nemt ayn a mise-meshune! Biz di mame hoybt zikh on betn, es zol hobn a sof, un undz zogt zi, mir zoln zikh aynvashn. Mayn bruder Elye hot ober keyn tsayt nit. Im krikht nit in kop vashn zikh. Im ligt der kop in di flesher. Oysgegangen ale flesher. Nito keyn flesher! Vu krigt men nokh flesher? Er ruft op mayn shvegerin Brokhe oyf a zayt, git ir gelt un roymt ir ayn a sod, zi zol geyn nokh flesher. Hert zi im oys, tut im a kuk in ponem arayn un shist oys a gelekhter. Vert er in kas un ruft avek di mame oyfn zelbn sod. Di mame geyt avek koyfn flesher, un mir nemen zikh gisn vaser in fas arayn. Farshteyt zikh, nit mit a mol -- bislekhvayz. Nokh yedn emer vaser tut er a heyb oyf di hant un a zog tsu zikh aleyn: "Genug!" Nokh dem tut er a tunk ayn di pen in fas un a shrayb arayn in vaysn papir arayn un a zog tsu zikh aleyn: -- Se shraybt! Un azoy etlekhe mol, biz di mame kumt tsu geyn mit a nayem transport flesher. Mir nemen zikh vider tsu der frieriker arbet: gisn tint fun fas in flash. Biz mir blaybn vider on flesher. - - Biz vanen iz der shier? - - tut a zog mayn shvegerin Brokhe. - - Keyn aynore nit! - - makht di mame, un mayn bruder Elye tut oyf Brokhen a beyzn kuk, vi eyner redt: - - Bist mir take a vayb, nor a beheyme bistu, zol zikh Got derbaremen! [Dalet] Vifl tint mir hobn -- kon ikh aykh nit zogn. Ikh hob moyre, oyb nit toyznt flesher! Nor vos kumt aroys -- s'iz nito zey vu ahintsuton. Mayn bruder Elye iz geven umetum. Farkoyfn lakhodim, fleshlekhvayz -- iz nisht keyn plan. Azoy zogt mayn bruder Elye tsu undzer shkheynes man, Moyshe der Aynbinder. Az er iz arayngekumen tsu undz un derzen, kenehore, azoy fil flesher, hot er zikh dershrokn un zikh gegebn azh a vorf tsurik. Derzet mayn bruder Elye, un es kumt for tsvishn di tsvey a modner shmues. Ikh gib aykh iber do dem shmues vort bay vort: Elye: Vos hot ir zikh azoy dershrokn? Aynbinder: Vos iz bay dir in di flesher? Elye: Vos zol zayn? Vayn! Aynbinder: Voser vayn? S'iz dokh tint! Elye: Haynt vos zhe fregt ir? Aynbinder: Vos vestu ton mit azoy fil tint? Elye: Trinken. Aynbinder: Neyn, ikh meyn on katoves. Vest farkoyfn lakhodim oykh? Elye: Vos bin ikh, a meshugener? Az farkoyfn, vel ikh farkoyfn tsen flesher, tsvantsik flesher, fuftsik flesher. Dos vert ongerufn "hurt". Ir veyst vos heyst "hurt"? Aynbinder: Ikh veys vos heyst hurt. Vemen vestu farkoyfn? Elye: Vemen? Dem rov! Un mayn bruder Elye geyt avek tsu di kremer. Gekumen tsu eynem, a groysn hurtovnik, heyst er zikh brengen a fleshl. Er vil es onkuken. Dem andern hot er gebrakht a flash tint, vil er nit nemen in di hent arayn, vayl s'iz on a kvitl. Oyfn fleshl darf zayn, zogt er, a sheyn kvitl mit a tsatske. Zogt im mayn bruder Elye: "Ikh makh nit keyn tsatskes, ikh makh tint". Entfert er im: "Makht gezunterheyt". Hot er zikh a vorf geton tsu Yidl dem Shrayber. Hot im Yidl der Shrayber gezogt epes zeyer a mies vort. Er hot shoyn, zogt er, zikh ongekoyft mit tint oyf a gantsn zumer. Fregt im mayn bruder Elye: "Vifl flesher tint hot ir dos ayngehandlt?" Zogt im Yidl der Shrayber: "Flesher? Ikh hob gekoyft a flash tint, vel ikh hobn un hobn, biz s'vet oysgeyn, vel ikh koyfn nokh a flash..." Ot hostu dir a gesheft! A shrayberuk kon! Frier hot er gezogt, az oyf tint geyt ba im avek a farmegn; itst koyft er a flash tint, vet er hobn un hobn!... Mayn bruder Elye iz nebekh oys mentsh. Er veyst nit, vos zol er ton mit azoy fil tint? Frier hot er gezogt, az lakhodim farkoyft er nit keyn tint, nor hurt. Itst iz er beser gevorn. Er vet shoyn onheybn, zogt er, farkoyfn lakhodim. Ikh volt shoyn a baln zayn visn, vos heyst "lakhodim"? Ot vos "lakhodim" heyst. Ir megt dos horkhn. [Hey] Mayn bruder Elye hot gebrakht tsu trogn a groysn boygn papir. Er hot zikh avekgezetst un ongeshribn mit groyse sider-oysyes: Do farkoyft men tint hurt un lakhodim gut un volvl Di tsvey verter "lakhodim" un "volvl" zaynen geven azoy groys, az zey hobn farnumen kimat dem gantsn boygn. Az dos ongeshribene hot zikh oysgetriknt, hot er dos papir ouysgehangen bay undz oyf der tir fun yener zayt. A sakh mentshn zaynen durkgegangen un hobn zikh opgeshtelt kukn. Ikh hob es gezen durkhn fentster. Mayn bruder Elye kukt oykh in fentster arayn un brekht di finger. A simen, az er iz tsetrogn. Er makht tsu mir: -- Veystu vos? gey umistne, shtel zikh avek bay der tir un her zikh tsu, vos zogt men? Mikh darf men lang nit betn. Ikh shtel mikh avek bay der tir un ze, ver es geyt farbay, ver es shtelt zikh op un vos me redt. Opgeshtanen akegn a halbe sho, kum ikh arayn tsurik in shtub. Mayn bruder Eli geyt tsu tsu mir un fregt mikh shtil: - Nu? - Vos nu? - Vos hobn zey gezogt? - Ver? - Di mentshn, vos zaynen gegangen farbay. - Zey hobn gezogt, az s'iz sheyn ongeshribn. - Un mer gornisht? - Mer gornisht Mayn bruder Elye ziftst. Vos ziftst er? Di mame fregt im oykh dos zelbe. - Vos ziftsstu, narele? Vart oys a kap. In eyn tog, vilstu, zol oysfarkoyft vern di gantse skhoyre? - Khotsh a petshatek!.. - zogt ir mayn bruder Elye mit trern in haldz. - Bistu a groyser nar, zog ikh dir. Vart oys, mayn kind, du vest im yirtse hashem, hobn a petshatek oykh. Azoy zogt tsu im di mame un greyt tsum tish. Mir vashn zikh un geyen esn. Mir shparn zikh tsunoyf ale fir ineynem. Iber di flesher iz eng in shtub -- sakones. Nor vos mir hobn gemakht hamoytse, loyft arayn a bokherl. A tshikave bokherl. Er iz shoyn a khosn. Ikh ken im. Kopl heyst er. Der tate zayner iz a shnayder. A damske shnayder. - Do farkoyft zikh tint lakhodim? - Yo, vos iz den? - Ikh hob gevolt a bisl tint. - Vifl darfst du tint? - Git mir far a kopeke tint. Mayn bruder Elye iz oyser zikh. Er zol zikh nit shemen far der mamen, volt er ot dem khosn Kopl frier durkgepatsht un nokh dem aroysgevorfn fun shtub. Er halt zikh ayn un gist im on far a kopeke tint. Es geyt nit avek keyn fertl sho, kumt arayn a meydl. Dos meydl ken ikh nit. Zi kalupet mitn finger di noz un redt tsu mayn mamen: - Do makht men tint? - Yo, vos iz den? - Di shvester hot gebetn, tomer kont ir ir layen a bisl tint? Zi darf avekshraybn a brivl keyn amerike tsu ir khosn. - Ver iz dayn shvester? - Basye di Neytorin. - A? Ze nor, vi zi iz oysgevaksn! Kenehore! Ikh hob dikh gor nisht derkent. A tinterl hostu? - Vi kumt tsu undz a tinterl? Mayn shvester hot gebetn, tomer hot ir a pen, zi vet nor onshraybn dos brivl keyn Amerike, git zi aykh op tsurik di tint un pen. Mayn bruder Elye iz nishto bam tish. Er iz in alker. Er geyt arum mit shtile trit, kukt arop un bayst di negl. [Vov] Vos hostu ongemakht azoy fil tint? Host, apo nem, gevolt farzorgn di velt mit tint. Tomer vet zayn a hunger oyf tint? Azoy hot im gezogt undzer shkheynes man, Moyshe der Aynbinder. A modner Yid, ot der aynbinder! Er hot aykh a teve zaltsn yenem oyf di vundn. Azoy iz er, dakht zikh, nishkoshe fun a mentsh, nor a bisl a nudnik. Hot lib zikh aynesn yenem in der gargeres. Mayn bruder Elye hot im ober gut gegeben! Er hot im gezogt, az er zol beser akhtung gebn oyf zikh aleyn, er zol nit farbaytn di yoytsres. Nit bindn a hagode mit a slikhe ineynem... Moyshe der Aynbinder veyst shoyn, vos der shtokh badayt! Er hot a mol genumen a shtikl arbet bay a Yidn a balegole. A hagode hot im der balegole gegebn aynbindn. Hot zikh getrofn an umglik: Al-pi toes, hot der aynbinder arayngebundn in der hagode a shtik fun a fremder slikhe. Der balegole volt zikh efsher nit khapn, hobn di shkheynim derhert az onshtat "shfoykh khomoskho al hagoyim" hot der balegole gegebn a zing oys mit a veynendikn nign fun slikhes "Haneshomo lokh vehaguf pooleykh"... S'iz gevorn zeyer a groys gelekhter. Oyf morgn iz der balegole gekumen tsu undzer shokhn dem aynbinder un hot im gevolt tseraysn oyf tsveyen. -- Gazlen, vos hot ir gehat tsu mir? Lemay hot ir arayngehakt in mayn peysekhdiker hagode a khometsdike slikhe? Ot rays ikh aykh aroys di kishkes fun boykh!... Yo, mir hobn gehat demolt a freylekhn peysekh. Nor hot keyn faribl nit, vos ikh bin arayn mit a fremder mayse. Ikh ker mikh bald um tsurik tsu undzere goldene gesheftn. Chapter 8. "Nokhveyenishn fun der tint-farfleytsung" [= chaper 9 in the Forverts edition] [Alef] Mayn bruder Elye geyt arum in eyne tsores. Vos tut men mit der tint? -- Vider a mol tint? -- zogt im di mame. -- Ikh red nisht fun keyn tint! -- entfert ir mayn bruder Elye. -- Khapt der ruekh di tint! Ikh reyd fun di flesher! Es ligt a kapital in di flesher! Me darf zen oysleydiken di flesher un makhn fun zey gelt!... Fun altsding makht er gelt! Un es blaybt, az me darf di tint oysgisn tsu al di shvartse yor! Shlekht iz nor eyn zakh: Vuhin gist men oys azoy fil tint? Es iz poshet a bizoyen!... -- Es vet zikh nit helfn -- zogt mayn bruder Elye. -- Me vet muzn tsuvartn biz bay nakht. Bay nakht iz fintster, vet keyner nit zen. Koym derlebt nakht. Oyf tsulokhes, shaynt di levone, vi a lantern. Demolt ven me darf, vet zi zikh bahaltn. Itst iz zi do. Me hot geshikt nokh ir!... Azoy zogt mayn bruder Elye, un mir trogn aroys a flash nokh a flash -- un plyukh in droysn aroys. Fun gisn in eyn ort vert a taykh. Me darf nisht gisn keseyder oyf eyn ort. Azoy zogt tsu mir mayn bruder Elye, un ikh folg im. Ikh zukh oys alemol a frish ort. Yede flash hot ba mir an ander ort. Der shkheynes vant -- pliukh! Dem shokhns parkan -- pliukh! Tsvey tsign lign akegn der levone un male-geyren -- pliukh! -- Hayntiks mol genug -- zogt mayn bruder Elye, un mir geyen shlofn. Shtil un fintster. Es lozt zikh hern der tshirkun. Fun hintern oyvn hert zikh a mruken fun der kats. A groyse peferin: tog vi nakht volt zi zikh nor gevarmt un gedrimlt. In hoyz, oyf yener zayt tir, hern zikh shtile trit. Efsher a nit-guter?... Di mame shloft nokh nit. Zi shloft, dakht zikh, keyn mol nit. Ikh her zi shtendik, vi zi knakt di finger, ziftst un krekhtst un redt tsu zikh aleyn. Aza teve ba ir. Ale nakht taynet zi zikh oys a bisl. Zi dertseylt ire groyse tsores. Mit vemen redt zi dos? Mit Got?... Ale minut lozt zi oys mit a krekhts: - - Oy, Got! Got! [Beys] Ikh lig nokh oyf mayn geleger, oyf der erd, un her funem shlof a hu-ha. Es lozn zikh hern alerley bakante koyles. Bislekhvayz efn ikh oyf di oygn -- s'iz shoyn groyser tog. Di shayn fun der zun hot zikh arayngerisn durkhn fentster. Ruft mikh in droysn aroys. Ikh vil mikh dermonen, vos iz geven nekhtn - - Aha! Tint!... Ikh khap mikh oyf un tu zikh on oyf gikh. Mayn mame iz farveynt (ven iz zi nit farveynt)? Mayn shvegerin Brokhe iz in kaas (ven iz zi nit in kas?). Un mayn bruder Elye shteyt in mitn shtub, dem kop arop, khotsh melk im oys. Vos iz di mayse? Nit eyn mayse, nor etlekhe mayses! Undzere shkheynim zenen oyfgeshtanen in der fri, hot zikh ongehoybn a khasene -- me hot zey gekoylet. Eynem hot men opgeshpritst di gantse vant mit tint. Dem andern hot men opgegosn dem parkan, a nayem parkan. Der driter hot gehat tsvey vayse tsign. Hot men zey im gemakht shvarts, nisht tsu derkenen. Dos alts volt nokh geven tsu derlaydn, ven nit dem shoykhets zokn. A naye por zokn, vayse zokn, hot di shoykhetke oysgehangen ba undzer shkheyne oyfn parkan, hot men fun zey gemakht a tel. Emetser hot zi gebetn, zi zol oyshengen zokn oyf a fremde parkan? Di mame hot ir tsugezogt opkoyfn a por naye zokn. Abi s'zol zayn shtil. Vos zhe vet zayn mit der vant? Mitn parkan? S'iz geblibn, az mayn mame mit mayn shvegerin Brokhe zoln mekhile zikh avekshteln mit tsvey bershtlekh un mit vayser leym un farshmirn di flekn. [Whitewashing walls in the shtetl seems often to have been the woman's chore -- see _Mendele_ 6:100 -- LP] -- Ayer glik, vos ir hot ongetrofn oyf erlekhe shkheynim. Ven ir treft mit ayer tint oyf Menashe dem Royfes gortn, volt ir gevust vos far a Got mir hobn! Azoy zogt undzer shkheyne Pesye tsu mayn mame. -- Vos zhe meynt ir? Tsu shlimazl badarf men oykh hobn mazl! -- entfert ir di mame un kukt oyf mir. Vos meynt zi dermit a shteyger? [Giml] -- Itst vel ikh shoyn zayn kliger, -- makht tsu mir mayn bruder Elye. -- Loz nor vern nakht, azoy trogn mir op di flesher tsum taykh. Gerekht, vi ikh bin a yid! Vos kon zayn nokh kliger derfun? Say vi say gist men in taykh arayn kol hapaskudstves! Dort vasht men gret, dort bodt men ferd, dort plyusken zikh khazeyrim. Ikh bin mitn taykh a noenter mekhutn. Ikh hob aykh shoyn a mol bashribn, vi ikh khap dortn fish. Derfun vet ir laykht farshteyn, vi ikh hob oysgekukt oyf der minut, ven mir veln geyn tsum taykh. Es iz nor gevorn nakht, hobn mir ongepakt fule koyshn mit flesher un genumen trogn zey tsum taykh. Oysgegosn di tint, opgetrogn di leydike flesher aheym un ongenumen vider a mol fule flesher. A gantse nakht hobm nir azoy gearbet. Ikh hob shoyn lang nisht gehat aza gute freyklekhe nakht. Shtelt aykh for: di shtot shloft. Der himl iz oysgeshternt. Di levone shaynt arop in taykhl arayn. S'iz shtil -- mekhaye. Dos taykhl iz a lebedik taykhl. Kumt nokhpeysekh, az es tsegeyt dos ayz, arbet dos maysim! Blozt zikh on, tseshpreyt zikh un tsegist zikh. Vos vayter vert dos klener, shmeler un platshiker. Tsum sof zumer vert dos gor antshvign. Es khapt a dreml. Emetser oyfn dno in blote makht: bul-bul-bul. A por zhabkes rufn zikh op fun yener zayt: kva-kva! S'iz a bizoyen, nit keyn taykh! Ir kont farshteyn, az ikh kon im ibergeyn tsu fus fun breg tsu breg nisht oysgeton di hoyzn! Fun undzer tint iz dos taykhl gevorn a bisl greser. A kleynikayt, efsher toyznt flash tint! Derfar ober hobn mir zikh ongehorevet vi di oksn. Antshlofn gevorn zaynen mir vi di gehargete. Oyfgevekt hot undz di mame mit a geveyn: -- Farfintstert bin ikh gevorn un vey iz mayn velt! Vos hot ir geton azelkhes mitn taykh?... Es hot zikh aroysgeshtelt, az mir hobn umgliklekh gemakht a gantse shtot: Di vesherins hobn nit vu tsu vashn gret. Di balegoles hobn nit vu ontsutrinken di ferd. Di vaserfirer... ot veln zey zikh tsunoyfnemen ale in eynem un veln kumen zikh rekhenen mit undz. Azoy zogt undz on di mame a psure. Mir ober viln oyf zey nit vartn. Mir viln nit zen, vi azoy vaserfirers veln zikh mit uns rekhenen. Ikh un mayn bruder Elye nemen di fis oyf di pleytses un marsh tsu zaynem a khaver Pinye. -- Dort lozn zey undz zukhn, az zey badarfn!... Azoy zogt mir mayn bruder Elye, nemt mikh far a hant, un mir lozn zikh gikh un geshvind barg-arop tsu zayn khaver Pinye. Az mir veln zikh zen, vel ikh aykh a mol bakant makhn mit mayn bruder Elyes khaver Pinye. S'iz keday, ir zolt zikh mit im bakenen: er hot oykh in zikh gute gedanken. **** Romanization by Claus Buryn( 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.014 [Arn Tseytlin Pre-Centennial Issue, Part One] 24 July 1997 ARN TSEYTLIN [Aaron Zeitlin] 1898-1973(1) Part One 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) Biografye: (Yekhezkl Lifshits) [Ezekiel Lifschutz] 3) Arn Tseytlins Eseyen: Yitskhok-Bashevis Zinger [Isaac Bashevis Singer] 4) Arn Tseytlin z[ikhrono]"l[ivrokho]: Eli Vizel [Eli Wiesel] 5) Arn Tseytlin on Himself: Arn Tseytlin [Aaron Zeitlin] 6) Bamerkungen funem tsuzamenshteler: (Y. Lifshits) [Ezekiel Lifschutz] ** Endnotes Part Two (Vol. 01.015) 7) "Dernenterung un noentkayt tsvishn yidish un hebreish: Paraleln un batrakhtungen" (Arn Tseytlin) **Endnotes (continued) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 25 July 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters --Arn Tseytlin Pre-Centennial Issue What is this strange notion of a "pre-centennial" issue of _The Mendele Review_? One would think there were enough literary anniversaries to celebrate without anticipating one of them by a year. The idea is not to celebrate now and save the trouble later. Rather to begin to prepare today for the proper commemoration next year, a year in which many important celebrations will be crowded out by the central occasion of the 50th anniversary of the State of Israel. The principal justification for all this, however, is the fact that a great many of those who have come to Yiddish in the past few decades do not know the works of Arn Tseytlin, a major Yiddish writer. It is suggested that Yiddish reading circles study Tseytlin's works, that he be properly emphasized in university courses in modern Yiddish literature, that symposia and conferences on him be organized, that collectors and general readers search for and acquire his writings. To those owners of the copyright of selections included here whom I have not succeeded in reaching, my sincere apologies if I have in any manner whatsoever trespassed on their rights. [LP] 2)------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri., 25 July 1997 From: Leah Krikun Subject: "Biografye": Yekhezkl Lifshits [Ezekiel Lifschutz] [Arn Tseytlin's biography was not included in vol. 7 of the _Nayer leksikon fun der yidisher literatur_ (1968) where it belonged. The reason for this was that Arn Tseylin would not cooperate with a project financed by German restitution funds. This explains why in 1980 Yekhezkl Lifshits included a biographical sketch in the volume of Tseytlin's collected essays. Berl Kagan's entry on Tseytlin in his _Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers_ (New York: [privately printed] cols. 460-465) complements that of Lifshits. [L.P.] "Biografye"(2) by Yekhezkl Lifshits Tseytlin, Arn-Eliezer, yidish-hebreisher poet, dramaturg, publitsist un eseyist. Geboyrn gevorn in 1899(1) in Uvarovitshi, Vaysrusland. Zun fun Hilel Tseytlin. Biz 1907 hot er farbrakht in Homel un Vilne. In ot dem yor hot zikh zayn mishpokhe aribergeklibn keyn Varshe, vu er hot gelernt baym foter un in a kheyder-mesukn; hot farendikt a hebreish-poylishe gimnazye un bazukht hoykhshul-kursn. In 1920 iz er, tsuzamen mit zayn yingern bruder Elkhonen, avek keyn Erets-Yisroel. Er hot zikh umgekert keyn Varshe in 1921. Oyfn veg aheym hot er bazukht etlekhe eyropeyishe lender. Tseytlin hot ongehoybn shraybn vi a kind. In 1911 hot er shoyn farefntlekht kinder-zakhn in dem Odeser kinder-zhurnal _Prochim_, vos iz redagirt gevorn fun Livnern un oykh in a tsveytn kinder-zhurnal _Hashachar_, vos iz redagirt gevorn fun Gleb Revutski. Zayn ershte literarishe shafung _Di matroynise_ hot er opgedrukt in _Der yidisher velt_ in (April) 1914, unter der redaktsye fun Sh. Niger. Fun di frie 1920er yorn hot er zikh bateylikt in yidishe un hebreishe tsaytshriftn in Poyln, Erets-Yisroel un Amerike, vi _Undzer ekspres_ (vu er iz oykh geven der redakter fun der literarisher opteylung), _Bikher velt_, _Literarishe bleter_, _Teater-tsaytung_, _Varshever almanakh_, _Varshever shriftn_, _Globus_ (vos er hot geshafn un redagirt), _Hashiloach_, _Hatekufa_ (vu er iz a tsayt geven mitredakter un redakter); in dem ilustrirtn khoydesh-zhurnal far kinder, _Shibolim_, vos er hot redagirt: _Morgn-zhurnal_, _Tog-Morgn zhurnal_, _Forverts_, _Tsukumft_, _Inzikh_, _Yidisher kemfer_, _Svive_, _Kinder-zhurnal_, _Hadoar_, _Zamlbikher_, _Davar_, _Folk un Tsien_, _Di goldene keyt_, _Letste nayes_ ukhedoyme. In bukhforem: _Matatron_, Farlag Alt-Yung, Varshe 1922, 64 zaytn; _Shotns oyfn shney_, lider, Farlag Beletristn-fareynikung baym Fareyn fun Yidishn Literatn un Zhurnalistn, Varshe 1923, 135 zaytn; _Yankev Frank_, drame in zeks bilder, Farlag B. Kletskin, Vilne, 1929, 108 zaytn; _Brenendike Erd_, roman, Farlag Yidishe Universal-Bibliotek, Varshe 1937, 335 zaytn; _Brener_, dramatishe dikhtung in 3 aktn, Varshe 1929, 143 zaytn; _In kamf far a yidisher melukhe_, Nyu-York 1943, 31 zaytn; _Gezamlte lider_, Farlag Matones, 3 bender, Nyu-York 1947-1957; _Ale lider un poemes_, Farlag Bergen-Belzen, Nyu-York 1970, 529 zaytn; Gezamelte drames, Farlag Y.L. Perets, Tel-Oviv 1974, 372 zaytn; tsuzamen mit Y.-Y. Trunk, _Antologye fun der yidisher proze in poyln tsvishn beyde velt-milkhomes (1914-1939)_, Nyu-York, 1946, 637 zaytn; _Beyn haesh vehayesha_, poema dramatit, Yavne, Tel-Oviv, 1957, 391 zaytn; _Min haadam vemaale_, shtey poemot dramatiot, Yavne, Tel-Oviv, 1964, 239 zaytn; _Ruach mimetsula_, shirim, Yavne, Tel-Oviv, TaShL"H, 489 zaytn. In Marts 1939 iz Tseytlin farbetn gevorn keyn Amerike fun Moris Shvartsn, vos hot zikh gegreyt oyftsufirn zayn pyese _Esterke_. Mit etlekhe yor far dem hot dos Kunst-Teater oyfgefirt Tseytlin's _Khelemer khokhomim_, vos iz geshpilt gevorn mit groys derfolg. Akhuts zayn literarishe un publitsistishe arbetn iz er oykh geven an ofter redner oyf literarishe tsunoyfkumen un mesibes. Er iz oykh geven profesor fun hebreisher literatur inem lerer-institut baym yidishn teologishn seminar in Nyu-York. Er hot bakumen di hekhste literarishe prizn fun der hebreisher un yidisher literatur, tsvishn zey di H. Leyvik-Premie fun Kultur-Kongres. Er iz geshtorbn in New-York dem tsveytn tog Rosh Hashone TaShLa"D un iz gekumen tsu keyver Yisroel in Medines Yisroel. Zayn foter -- Hilel Tseytlin -- hot geshribn Nigern in 1914, ven er hot farefntlekht in der _Yidishe velt_ Arns ershte literarishe shafung, az zayn zun "hot geshribn (un gut geshribn) beshas er hot nokh gelernt in kheyder-mesukn" un "bshas er iz alt geven 10 yor hot er on mayn yedie geshikt dray zeyer sheyne zakhn tsu H[er] Levner un H[er] Levner hot zey ale opgedrukt in _Haprochim_. Shpeter hot H[er] Gleb Revutski (Ben Eliezer) opgedrukt zayne zeyer a sheyne zakh in _Hashachar_. Nor di gedrukte zakhn gibn nit afile dem mindstn bagrif fun zayn shafn... vilt ir alzo visn vos ikh denk vegn im, iz ot vos: Er iz nit nor a 'talant', nor a _groyser_ dikhter, zeyer a groyser. Er vet in zayn perzon fareynikn Perets un Byalik tsuzamen un oyb nit nokh hekher." (_Pinkes_ 3, Nyu-York 1975, zayt 426). Zayn fraynd Yitskhok Bashevis-Zinger halt im far eynem fun di greste dikhter funem tsvantsikstn yorhundert. "Er iz geven a mentsh mit groys visn, a gaystiker riz.... Tseytlin hot geleynt on a shir. Er iz geven a boki in Gete, Shekspir, Milton, in der rusisher, poylisher, hebreisher, frantsoyzisher, daytsher literatur. Er hot dos alts geleynt in original. Er hot antdekt shrayber un denker.... Bay dem alemen iz zayn lid geblibn original. Er hot keynem nisht nokhgemakht, vayl er hot gehat eygene kvaln un vayl er aleyn iz oft geven greser fun yene vos er hot shtudirt_ (_Forverts_, 10tn un 16tn Feb. 1978). Sh. Niger hot sheyn vegn zayn ersht verk _Matatron_ geshribn: _Vu hobn mir in der poezye fun di hayntike tunkele tsaytn aza klorkayt, aza likhtikayt fun zen?_ (_Der tog_, New-York, 10 Sept. 1922). Der hebreisher literatur-kritiker Dr. D. A. Fridman shraybt in an araynfir tsu _Matatron_ az "Es shpirt zikh in im a velt a groyse, gezen mit yidishe oygn; Es hert zikh in im dos vilde gepilder fun di tsaytn, oyfgenumen durkh yidishe oyern.... Derfar farkhapt ertervayz der otem leynendik, vorem azoy redt a _zeer_." 3)------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri., 25 July 1997 From: Leah Krikun Subject: "Arn Tseytlin's Eseyen": Yitskhok-Bashevis Singer Yitskhok-Bashevis Zinger "Arn Tseytlin's Eseyen"(3) Arn Tseytlin hot gehat dos glik geboyrn tsu vern in a shtub vu di problemen fun literatur -- stil, shilderung, dialog -- zenen ale mol geven aktuel. Zayn foter, Hilel Tseytlin, iz geven a barimter yidisher zhurnalist, shriftshteler, un ikh kon oykh tsugebn, gelernter, hagam er aleyn hot deroyf nisht pretendirt. Hilel Tseytlin hot mitgebrakht mit zikh fun zayn shtot Homel, vu er iz dertsoygn gevorn, di gantse yidishe yerushe. Er hot gelernt in khadorim, yeshives, in besmedresh. Er hot laykht gekont vern a rov bay yidn. Er hot fri aroysgevizn an interes tsu kabole un oykh tsu khsides, nisht azoy vayt dos poylishe khsides, nor tsu dem khsides fun Reb Shneyer Zalmen fun Lyadi, der mekhaber fun dem seyfer _Tanye_, der grinder fun Chabad. Hilel Tseytlin hot oykh durkhgemakht oyf zayn eygenem shteyger di epokhe fun haskole -- nisht yene haskole vos hot gepreydikt asimilatsye, nor di haskole vos hot geshtrebt bald fun onheyb zikh umtsukern tsu di yidishe vortslen -- tsu hebreish un erets-yisroel. Hilel Tseytlin hot oykh shtudirt rusish, daytsh un geven a tsayt an onhenger fun Fridrekh Nitshe. Loyt ale umshtandn hot Hilel Tseytlin gedarft vern a kegner fun yidish, vi es zenen geven di merste maskilim. Ober an instinkt, vos iz shtarker geven fun ale aynflusn, hot im gezogt az men ken zikh nisht umkern tsu di vortslen fun toyznter yor tsurik un farvorlozn di vortslen fun di letste finf oder zeks hundert yor yidishe geshikhte in mizrekh-eyrope. Hilel Tseytlin iz gevorn oyf zayn shteyger a _yidishist_. Der zelber instinkt vos hot untergezogt Hilel Tseytlinen nisht mevatl tsu zayn yidish, hot im oykh gezogt az yidish aleyn, di bloyze shprakh, kon keyn mol nisht ophaltn dem yid fun asimilatsie.. Dos zelbe iz oykh giltik vegn der hebreisher shprakh un afile vegn a hebreisher medine. Tsu blaybn a yid, muz men zayn tsugebundn tsu der baze fun yidishkayt: gloybn in Got, in der toyre un in der spetsifisher misye fun yidishn folk. Ver es vil zayn kekhol hagoyim, vert a goy. Hilel Tseytlins ideyen hobn zikh nisht arayngepast nisht in tsienizm un nisht in yidishizm vi Hertsl, Vaytsman, Ben Gurion, Zhitlovski un di andere tsienistn un yidishistn hobn dos farshtanen. Tseytlin hot gevis zikh nisht gekont araynpasn in der moderner ortodoksye vos hot zikh ongehangen mit layb un lebn in yedn kutse-shelyud, in yeder khumre fun doyres rabonim. Hilel Tseytlin hot zikh farmishpet bald fun onhoyb tsu aynzamkayt un tsu kegnershaft fun ale shikhtn. In di shpetere yorn, ven yidishe bokhoyrim hobn gepruvt makhn di yidishe shprakh far an instrument fun marksizm un fun lenenizm un stalinizm, iz Hilel Tseytlin aroysgetretn vi an aktiver kemfer in der yidisher prese in Varshe. Er hot oykh gekemft kegn dem fardorbenem stil fun di linke shrayber, zeyere puste melitses, zeyer falshn kuk oyf literatur. In aza shtub is dertsoygn gevorn der grester yidisher dikhter, Arn Tseytlin. Er hot efsher nisht farmogt aza groyse yerushe fun yidishkayt vi zayn foter, ober dos vos er hot gehat hot er baraykhert mit di yorn. Vos shaykh zayn visn in filosofye un in velt-literatur, hot er vayt ibergeshtign zayn foter. Er iz oykh geven a greserer kener fun hebreish fun zayn foter, hagam Hilel Tseytlins hebreish iz geven nenter tsu loshn-koydesh un bemeyle tsu di mekoyres. Ikh hob geshribn vegn Arn Tseytlin bay farshidene gelegnhaytn. Alts vos ikh vil do zogn iz, az Tseylin der eseyist is nisht geshtanen keyn hor nideriker vi Tseytlin der Got-gebentshter poet. Tseytlin hot bavizn az men ken zayn tif un klor -- azoy in zayn poezye un azoy in zayne eseyen. Es iz geven in Hilel Tseytlin un in Arn Tseytlin a sort problem vos nisht der foter un nisht der zun hobn gekent leyzn. Zayn farbundn mit di mekoyres, visn vegn zey un zey lib hobn, iz nisht genug oyftsuhaltn yidishkayt. M'hot gedarft in zey gleybn. Ober nisht der foter un der zun hobn ingantsn gekont farzen dem fakt az a sakh fun de mekoyres (efsher ale) zenen di verk fun mentshn, nisht direkt fun Got. Gleybn in Got un gleybn in antplekung zenen tsvey bazundere zakhn. Avade hot Got gekont zikh antplekn. Ober hot er zikh virklekh antplekt? Hot er vorhaftik ongezogt di ale khukim tsu Moyshe Rabeynu, di neviim un ale yene vos zenen gekumen nokh zey? Beyde, Hilel un Arn, hobn tsu fil gevust vegn bibl-kritik, vegn der antviklung fun mentsh un khaye, vegn der geshikhte fun min mentsh, tsu konen zen shtrenge ortodoksn. Zey hobn oykh nisht gekent zen reformirte yidn, konservative yidn (vi men farshteyt dos in Amerike) un afile ortodoksn in fuln zin fun vort. Zeyer emune in Got is geven shtark, ober zeyer emune in mentshn, oytoritetn, iz geven ful mit sfeykes. S'hot andersh nisht gekent zayn. Zey hobn gemuzt zen di stires fun shtrengn religyezn kuk, di mentshlekhe shvakhkaytn un narishkaytn vos bagleytn ale religyes un oykh di yidishe. Hilel un Arn zenen faktish geven Got-zukher, nisht Got-gefiner. Zeyer Got iz geven a shvayger, nisht a reder, a keyn mol nisht basheydt retenish. Oyb maysim zenen zayn shprakh, iz dos a shprakh aza groyse, azoy ful mit umfarshtendlekhe verter un bagrifn, az men ken zi keyn mol nisht derlernen. Beyde, foter un zun, hobn zikh voyl opgegebn a khesbm vegn dem dozikn gaystikn matsav zeyern, ober aroyskumen un zogn dos ofn hobn zey nisht gekent, vayl dos volt geheysn gisn eyl oyf dem fayer fun de ateyistn. Der doziker vidershprukh iz in a zin di klole fun yedn modernem religyezn denker, saydn er hot dem mut tsu zogn ofn: Mayn Got hot zikh tsu keynem nisht antplekt; ikh veys nisht vos er iz un hob nisht keyn anung vos er vil. Mayn gantse religyezitet iz nisht mer vi a pruv tsu trefn epes, vos lozt zikh nisht trefn, a shtendik tapn in der finster.... Di Tseytlins hobn dos nisht gekent zogn, vayl emotsionel zenen zey geven tsugebundn tsu yidishkayt mit toyznt fedem. Arn Tseytlin hot in zayne lider gehaltn in eyn farentfern dem Reboyne-shel-oylem, in eyn pruv oyfvayzn, az er iz a Got fun khesed un rakhamim hagam er hot tsugelozt tsum Hitler-khurbn. Tseytlin hot nisht gekent tsulozn oyf keyn rege az Got iz glaykhgiltik oder, kholile vokhas, oyf der zayt fun di roytskhim. Arn Tseytlins Got hot gelitn in de kontsentratsye-lagern fun Hitler, er iz gezesn in Stalins tfises. Er iz a Got a yid, a Got vos hot farbrakht tsvey toyznt yor in goles. Der leyner vet gefinen di ale vidershprukhn un iluzyes un farentferungen far Got in di dozike eseyen, vos yeder fun zey iz a muster fun logik, stil, oysgehaltnkayt. Es iz nisht di shuld fun Arn Tseytlin vos Got farborgt zayn ponim. On der doziker farborgenish volt nisht ekzistirt keyn bkhire un di gantse bashafung fun min mentsh volt geven an umzin. Nisht tsu zayn oyf dem tsad fun toyevoye, hot Arn Tseytlin gemuzt bashafn Got loyt zayn, Tseytlins furem -- a Got fun gerekhtikayt, khesed; a Got vos ken baloynen far ale laydn un vos zayn vezn iz khokhme un genod. 4)------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri., 25 July 1997 From: Leah Krikun Endnotes (1) Zalmen Reyzn in his _Leksikon fun der yidisher literaur_, vol.3, col. 297 (Vilna 1929) gives the date of Arn Tseytlin's birth as 1899. This date is repeated in many places, including the 1980 _Literarishe un filosofishe eseyen_ volume. Berl Kagan puts the matter right in his _Leksikon fun yidish-shrayber_ (New York, 1986, col. 600) where he gives the precise birthdate as May 22, 1898. (2) Arn Tseytlin, _Literarishe un filosofishe eseyen_. Mit a forvort fun Yitskhok Bashevis Zinger [Isaac Bashevis Singer] un a nokhvort fun Eli Vizel [Elie Wiesel]. Tsunoyfgeshtelt fun Y[ekhezkl] Lifshits [Ezekiel Lifschutz]. Tsugegreyt tsum druk: Y. Birnboym. New York: Alveltlekher Yidisher Kultur-Kongres [Congress for Jewish Culture], 1980, pp. 386-388. ["Gevidmet dem ondenk fun Arn Tseytlins ben-yokhid Hirsh-Berele vos iz umgekumen mit der gantser mishpokhe Tseytlin al-kidush-hashem durkh di daytshishe natsis y"sh."] ["The preparation and publication of this volume was made possible with the help of Mrs. Rachel Zeitlin, New York; The Atran Foundation, New York; The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, New York; The Aaron Zeitlin Book Committee'] ["Copyright 1980 by Congress for Jewish Culture, 25 East 78th Street, New York, N.Y. 10021"] 3) Tseytlin, 1980, pp. 3-6. 4) Ibid., pp. 379-381. 5) Ibid., pp. 382-385. 6) _Khalyastre_ ('The Gang') refers both to the periodical of that name (Warsaw 1922; Paris 1924) and some of the writers grouped around it (Perets Markish, Meylekh Ravitsh, Y.-Y. Zinger, Oyzer Varshavski). 7) Yitskhok [Ignacy] Schiper (or Schipper) (1884-1943). Historian, communal activist, author of important studies in Yiddish on Yiddish theater, on Jewish economic life and on other subjects. 8) This is apparently a reference to T. S. Eliot's famous essay "Tradition and the Individual Talent" (1917). 9) Yekhezkl Lifshits, to whom we are indebted for compiling Tseytlin's _Literarishe un filosofishe eseyen_, was Yivo archivist from 1954 to 1973. He also edited _Bibliography of American and Canadian Jewish Memoirs and Autobiographies in Yiddish, Hebrew and English_ (New York: Yivo, 1970) and, together with Mordechai Altshuler, _Briv fun yidishe sovetishe shraybers_ (Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1980). His biography is lacking from the _Nayer leksikon_ (vol. 5, 1963), but a full entry can be found in Berl Kagan's _Leksikon fun yidish shtrayber_, cols. 338-340. ______________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.014 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.015 [Arn Tseytlin Pre-Centennial Issue, Part Two] 25 July 1997 ARN TSEYTLIN [Aaron Zeitlin] 1898-1973(1) Part One (Vol. 01.014) 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) Biografye: (Yekhezkl Lifshits) [Ezekiel Lifschutz] 3) Arn Tseytlins Eseyen: Yitskhok-Bashevis Zinger [Isaac Bashevis Singer] 4) Arn Tseytlin z"l: Eli Vizel [Eli Wiesel] 5) Arn Tseytlin on Himself: Arn Tseytlin [Aaron Zeitlin] 6) Bamerkungen funem tsuzamenshteler: (Y. Lifshits) [Ezekiel Lifschutz] **Endnotes Part Two 7) "Dernenterung un noentkayt tsvishn yidish un hebreish: Paraleln un batrakhtungen" (Arn Tseytlin) [Aaron Zeitlin] **Endnotes 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri., 25 July 1997 From: Leah Krikun ______________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.015 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.016 [Special Lokshn Issue, Part One] 19 August 1997 Special Lokshn Issue, Part One [Please send queries and brief comments about The Mendele Review materials to _Mendele_ and lengthy articles to _The Mendele Review_.] 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) "Lokshn" (Noyekh Prilutski) [Noah Prilutski] 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 August 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters: _Loksh_ and _Lokshn_ in Israel and Elsewhere Yiddish-origin _loksh_ has penetrated informal Israeli Hebrew deeply and widely, developing its own plural noun form with _-im_ (e.g. _lokshim_) and semantic variations unknown in Yiddish. Most Israelis say _lokshim_ rather than _lokshn_ (which can also be heard at times). Until recently all Israeli wage-earners received payslips which were long thin strips of paper, the cut-off bottom portion of a larger sheet. The payslip was known as a _loksh_ by virtue of its physical resemblance to a noodle (in regard to its length and, in comic exaggeration, its width). In the past few years computerized pay reports on larger sheets of paper have rendered obsolete the decades-old _loksh_, but the term has long been extended in popular speech to any payslip, regardless of size. I am not aware that _loksh_ 'payslip' was used anywhere in the diaspora and my guess is that it came into use in Erets-Yisrael at least as early as the 1920s or 1930s modelled perhaps on the use in parts of Poland in the 1920s of _lokshn_ to mean 'dollars' (see Prilutski's footnote 37 below). The sense of _loksh_ that was transferred directly into Hebrew from Yiddish and which is still current is that of 'a tall person', where its synonym is the Yiddish-origin _langer_. The common Yiddish phrase _langer loksh_ 'long noodle' is still heard but it has also been split into two separate expressions, _loksh_ and _langer_. Whereas in Yiddish a _langer loksh_ referred to an individual male, in Israeli slang we find _langer-lokshit_, _langer-lokshim_and _langer-lokshiot_ -- male and female singular and plural forms. Cf. the similar-sounding words _duksh_/_dukshi_/_dukshit_/_dukshim_/ _dukshiot_ where the notion of stoutness is added to that of tallness. The most indigenous usage of _loksh_ in Israel, generally in the plural form _lokshim_ means 'lie; deception', as in "Al tesaper li lokshim." ('Don't fool me.' [literally 'Don't tell me noodles.']). Another version of this sense comes coupled with the words 'to feed', e.g. "Al taachil oti loksim" ('Don't lie to me') [literally 'Don't feed me noodles']; 'to eat', e.g. "Hu achal loksh" (He swallowed the deception'] [literally 'He ate the noodle']; 'to swallow', e.g. "Hu bala et haloksh" ('He believed the story' [literally 'He swalled the noodle']. The expression "Hu chataf loksh." ('He caught hell') [literally 'He caught a noodle'] is semantically removed from the former group in that the _loksh_ here is not something deceptive that others are attempting to pass off on one but bad treatment, punishment, deserved or otherwise -- suggestive of the _cat-o'-nine tails_, or _kantshik_, known to many an American-Jewish child of earlier days by the Yiddish-English mongrel coinage _lokshn-strap_ (pronounced by our parents as /lokshn-strep/ and hardly ever called a _baytsh_ or a _kantshik_). Alexander Harkavy in his _English-Yiddish Dictionary_ (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., 1910 [11th ed.], 1893 [1st ed.]), p. 65, defined _cat-o'-nine-tails_ as "a baytsh mit nayn lederne lokshn" ('a whip with nine leather noodles') and the second sense of _thong_ as 'a loksh [a ledernem pasik tsum shmaysn]'. In his counterpart _Yiddish-English Dictionary_ (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., no date [22nd ed.], 1898 [1st ed.], p. 182, Harkavy defines _lokshn_ as 1) 'macaroni' and 2) 'whip, cat-o'nine-tails'. This sense is obviously based on the physical similarity between noodles and the thongs of a whip. Nokhem Stutshkov (_Der oytser fun der yidisher shprakh_, New York, 1950, section 604) lists _lokshn_ as synonymous with _kantshik_. The association between _lokshn_ and _shmaysn_ is an old one in Yiddish, but the Israeli phrase implying punishment is always singular _loksh_ and may stem from another source. In Israel for many years salaries were based on a complicated (and sometimes questionable) system of linkage of one sector of the economy to the other; moreover, salary statements were often constructed so as to avoid payment of taxes for certain perks. All of this may have reinforced the association of payslip with falsehood. But the most likely source for _noodle_ = 'lie' is Russian and perhaps other Slavic usage. Thus "Vyesnat lapSHU na ushi." ('To hang noodles on ears') [infinitive form] = To lie. "Nye vyeshai mne lapSHU na ushi." ('Do not hang noodles on my ears') [imperative form] = Don't lie to me! In American English _to use your noodle_ is 'to use your head' but the principal meaning of _noodlehead_ and _noodle_ is 'dope'; on the other hand _to noodle_ is 'to goof off pleasantly', which is hardly a dumb idea. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 August 1997 From: Leah Krikun Subject: _Lokshn_ by Noyekh Prilutski _Lokshn_ by Noyekh Prilutski [Noyekh Prilutski, _Dos gevet; dialogn vegn shprakh un kultur_, Warsaw: Kultur-lige, 1923. Ershter Dialog [pp. 1-7]; Onmerkungen [Notes: pp. I-VIII]; Kleyne hesofes tsum ershtn dialog, [p. LXII]. Abbreviations [p. XCII]]. Romanized by Leah Krikun (= LK). Prilutski's numbered notes in ( ) at end; editor's notes in Latin letters in [ ] following Endnotes. All notes in square brackets [ ] are by the editor. Romanization of this poorly printed and poorly organized article and, especially, the eye-straining footnotes, was a Herculean task for which Leah Krikun deserves high praise. Romanization was not made easier by Prilutski's eccentric spelling (e.g. _loksh_ with a vov and khoylem rather than komets alef). The dialog itself is easily digested; the truly hearty will go on to the notes. -- LP] SENDER: Zay mir moykhl, vos kh'vel dir shtern in der arbet, dertsu nokh azoy shpet.... KALMEN: Vos iz der mer? SENDER: Bist dokh epes a filolog -- farentfer mir a shayle: Iz _lokshn_(1) a yidish vort? Ikh darf dos visn mitn lebn. KALMEN: Mitn lebn?! SENDER: S'iz a gevet.... Mir zaynen haynt zalbedrit geven oyf kolatsye.... KALMEN: Meynst avade: oyf nakhtmoltsayt(2).... SENDER: A fayn vort, kh'lebn.... Vu hostu dos genasht? KALMEN: In a shundbikhl: _Di beyze mume oder di shlekhte shvegerin; A hekhst interesanter roman in tsvey teyln_, farfast fun Moyshe Marakhovske (Varshe 1883)[a]. Zayt 46: "Der kuzin mit zayn froy zitsn in [sic] esn nakhtmoltsayt".... A zaytl vayter afile: "Di vetshere(3) hobn mir shoyn opgegesn".... Heyst es, zent ir geven zalbedrit oyf nakhtmoltsayt? SENDER: Berl, Avrom un ikh. Avrom hot loy oleynu a bisl tsu ton mitn mogn, hot er zikh geheysn gebn zup. M'derlangt: a teler mogere yoykh, un oyfn dno(4).... KALMEN: Oyfn dek(5), vilstu gevis zogn, oder oyfn boydem(6), vi di poylishe yidn rufn dos.... SENDER: Zol zayn vi du zogst.... Shvimen etlekhe shvindzikhtike lokshn.... Avrom nemt a lefl in moyl arayn, farkrimt zikh un ruft zikh on:.... "Ersht yetst ze ikh, az lokshn zenen an emes yidish maykhl: yidn kokhn dos, ken men es esn; do hot es dem mindstn tam nisht." Berl iz dokh a "Moyshe-Kapoyer,"(7) vil er dafke punkt farkert: oyb in a kristlekher gorkikh kokht men lokshn, iz im a simen, az dos gerikht iz nisht bloyz yidish; mer nisht: di yidn makhn dos beser. Gehert a mayse! -- lokshn mit yoykh -- dos traditsionelishe yidishe gerikht, fraytik tsu nakhts, ven di bentshlikht brenen in reyn oysgeputste laykhter, un der tish iz gegreyt mit portselayene teler un di koyletshn ibergedekt mit a geshtikt tishtekhl.... Gedenkst di idilye(8) in _Fishke dem Krumen_? KALMEN: Fishke dertseylt dortn: "Ikh hob bay itlekhs shtikl fish, bay itlekhn zup lokshn, bay itlekhn bisn fleysh un tsimes mikh dermont in ir, ver veyst, oyb zi nebekh hot dort aza voyltog vi ikh...."(8) SENDER: Y.-L. Perets in "Farshtertn shabes"(9): "Halb shabes! A bergl mist bay der tir -- tsum aroysvarfn. Di lokshn lign opgeshvenkt in shisl, m'darf zey nor bagisn mit a lefl yoykh, zey zoln zikh nit tsuzamenklebn...." KALMEN: In _Vintshfingerl_: "Der tandetnik iz shoyn nisht mer keyn hunt, er iz a prints, epes hot er bakumen a naye neshome, a naye hoyt. Er makht kidesh, vasht zikh, zetst zikh tsum tish, dos vayb di printsesn un di kinder arum im, m'shtupt dem gopl, dem lefl un m'khapt a shtikl fish, a loksh, a beyndl, a bisl tsimes -- azelkhe maykholim, vos m'hot es a gantse vokh in di oygn nisht gezen...."(10) Sender: In der hakdome tsu _Shloyme Reb Khayims_: "Iz es den vu gehert gevorn, az in a geviser sho, fraytik tsu nakhts, a shteyger, zol a folk yidn esn fish, lokshn un tsimes?"(11) Nu, un nokh dem ales zoln lokshn nisht zayn a yidishe eygntimlekhkayt un a yidish vort?(12) Berl is ober an akshn. Neyn un neyn un neyn. KALMEN: Vos zenen zayne argumentn? SENDER: Koym, zogt er, iz _lokshn_ nishto in daytshishn verterbukh, iz es nisht keyn yidish vort. Ikh vayz im oyf. Nar eyner, ot ze: "Es nit di lokshn far shabes!," vornt a yidish glaykhvertl(13) (Dos heyst, 'Banuts nisht keyn zakh far der tsayt'). An ander glaykhvertl dertseylt fun a baleboste a shlimazlnitse, az zi hot amol oysgeshrign: "Iber di zindike lokshn hob ikh di libe heylike shul fargesn!"(14). Ven eyner kumt tsurik funem veg mit a farshpetigung un "makht a shnit in shabes," vi m'ruft es, heyst es: "Er iz gekumen mitn dishl in di lokshn arayn."(15) Ven bay a zakh iz do a sakh tsu ton, un mamoshesdiks hot men veynik derfun, zogt men(16): "A sakh zmires un veynik lokshn."(17) Ken den gemolt zayn, az a gegnshtand un zayn nomen, vos zenen azoy geknipt un gebundn mitn shabes-koydesh, zoln zayn nisht yidish?! KALMEN: Der khsidisher rebe in Yisroel Aksnfelds _Genarter velt_(18) est "lokshn mit yoykh" oykh in mitn vokh.... SENDER: Nokh beser! I shabes i in der vokhn, iz es dokh mekolsheken a yidish zakh! KALMEN: Khap nisht, s'iz nisht keyn heyse lokshn! -- zogt men in Kremenits eynem, vos iz azoy umgeduldik vi du. SENDER: Nokh a vertl mit _lokshn_! Kalmen: Faran mer.... "Ot azoy kokht men lokshn!," zogt men katovesdik, ven m'hoybt on tsu farshteyn a zakh, velkhe m'hot zikh frier nisht gekent derklern(19). -- Kh'hob amol gefregt a yid oys Druye [Druisk??], ven treft men im in der heym, hot er mir geentfert: "Kk'zol azoy visn fun beyze lokshn!" -- Vegn a naiven, vos nemt alts on far reynem emes, zogt men in Kremenits un in andere shtet: "Er meynt, s'iz toyres loksh." ('Er meynt, az dos, vos der un der hot im gezogt [oder vos m'hot im geshribn; dos, vos er hot geleynt, ukhedoyme] iz toyres loksh'.) Ergets andersh heyst es: _toyres lokshn_(20). _Loksh_ is dos ershte glid in etlekhe tif yidishe tsunoyfgeshtelte verter. _Lokshn top_(21) heyst in a sakh yidishe kanten di kli, in velkher m'bakt dem kugl, -- efsher derfar, vayl der balibster fun ale minim dos dozike gerikht iz der lokshn kugl(22).... In Kremenits fregt men oyf katoves kleyne kinder: "Farvos iz a lokshn top oybn breyt un untn shmol, halevay volt er geven untn shmol un oybn breyt?" M'zogt dos gikh, dos kind khapt zikh nisht un farentfert di kashe: "Der kugl volt nisht gekent aroys!" In voser yidisher shtub iz nishto keyn _lokshn bret_(23), ot yener varshtat, oyf velkhn m'knet dos teyg, m'velgert oys a lokshnblat un m'brokt lokshn(24), farfl ukhedoyme -- Az m'tret a varshever yidn on oyfn fus un m'zogt im "Psheprasham!" [Pol. _przepraszam_ 'excuse me' ] entfert er: "Psheprasham iz a lokshn bret!" -- un gey, farshtey, farvos! [any explanations? --LP] Eyner fun Mortkhe Spektors perzonazhn(25) trogt in porttabak "a bisl lokshn tabak." _Loksh_ iz oyf yidish nisht bloyz makaron. Der vokabel hot bavizn ontsunemen in der yidisher gas oykh andere taytshn. _Loksh_ heyst a langer oysergeveyntlekh mogerer mentsh, mit umnatirlekh lange hent un fis. M'zogt nokh shtarker: _a langer loksh_. Dermit vert shoyn oykh gemeynt, az er iz 'nisht keyn groyser khokhem un nisht keyn kleyner nar'(26). _Loksh_ heyst in Volin bikhlal a shoyte, a lekish(27), a lemishke(28), a yokton(29). a megege(30), a shmoyger(31), a shmende-pigutske(32), a petekh(33) -- un eyner fun di klasishe tipn, vos der yidisher folks humor, velkher shoynt [shanevet] gornisht, afile di kley koydesh nisht, hot bashafn, der tip fun a rov a tipesh, heyst: _Reb Yoysef Loksh oys Drazhne in Poyln_.... SENDER: Azoy heyst an oysgetseykhnt folksbikhl(34), velkhes kh'hob amol geleynt. KALMEN: _Loksh_ kumt for in interesante spetsifish yidishe rednsartlekhe oysdrukn. In Mendele Moykher-Sforims _Dos kleyn mentshele_ (Vilne, 1879), oyf zayt 62 leynen mir: "Azoy yung un ken shoyn tsunoyfirn plotkes loksh boydem puletse!" -- _loksh, boydem, puletse_ iz do dos eygene, vi 'zakhn, vos nisht geshtoygen nisht gefloygen'; 'zakhn, vos klebn zikh nisht eyns tsum tsveytn'; 'bobe mayses, ligns', ukhedoyme. In zayn _Yudl_ (Vilne 1875) zayt 67: "Gloybt in sheydim, in tayere metsotse, Gloybt in loksh, in boydem, in hotse-klotse".... Dos heyst: in shtusim, narishkaytn. Tevye der Milkhiker dertseylt:(35) "Un ver shmuest shabes bin ikh dokh gor a meylekh, kuk arayn in a yidishn seyfer, a parshe khumesh, a bisl targum, tilim, perek, dos, yents, loksh, boydem".... _dos, yents, loksh, boydem_ iz glaykh vi 'un azoy vayter', 'et cetera', 'ukhedoyme', 'un dos glaykhn'.... SENDER: Merkvirdik! Un fun vanet, zog mir, nemt zikh dos, az vild fremde verter, vi _loksh_, _boydem_, _puletse_, vern tsunoygeshmit in eyn kerper, oyf nisht tsu sheydn zikh, azoy tsu zogn, vern a rednsart, a gangbare shprakh-matbeye, oystsudrukn a bagrif, a gedank, an ideye, vos hot gor nisht keyn shaykhes tsu keynem fun zey? KALMEN: Vi andere enlekhe rednsartn, muz oykh di zayn an iberblaybenish fun epes a folks-maysele, a folks-humoreske, a folks-anekdot, vos iz der shlisl tsu ir. Nisht kenendik dos maysele, di humoreske, dem anekdot, di rednsart hobn mir oykh nisht di meglekhkayt tsu detsifriren di rednsart; vos klingt deriber in undzere oyern azoy oysterlish.... SENDER: Kh'fal dir arayn in di reyd, veln mir hobn a sakh freyd....(36) Dakht zikh, tsi nisht in yor 1905, in peterburger _Fraynd_ iz geven gedrukt a felyeton.... KALMEN: Fun Aleksander Rabinovitsh. SENDER: Yo, yo, mitn nomen "Lokshn." S'iz geven a politishe alegorye: oyf di tsarishe nahayke ['whip'].... KALMEN: Vorn _lokshn_ heyst oyf kheyder loshn _rebns kantshik_.... (37) Er hot nokh a nomen: _tsipline_....(38) SENDER: Haklal, kurts gebrayet, lokshn.... KALMEN: Iz a tif yidish vort.... SENDER: Un ikh hob gevunen.... KALMEN: .... un du host farhspilt dos gevet. SENDER: ?! KALMEN: Formelish genumen, iz Berl gerekht. Lokshn iz loyt der opshtamung nokh a _fremdvort_. Di poylishe shprakh hot mundartlekh: _l/okszyn_ (ein tsol), _l/oksiny_ (mer tsol), _l/okszyna_ (eyn tsol), _l/okszyny_ (mer tsol), in topeler taytsh: 1) _lokshn_ ('makaron'), 2) _kantshik_ (39). In kleynrusishn [Belorussian]: _l/okschyna_(40), _l/okscha -- in Kremenits hob ikh gehert a vertl: _koyli Marina_(41) _lokshiniila_?!(42) (_Ven hot Marina gegesn lokshn_?!) Dos heyst: 'Vi kumst dos tsu im?' 'Fun vanet zol er hobn a hasoge derfun?' 'Fun vanet zol er dos kenen un visn?' 'Vu hot er dos gekent zen (hern)?' 'Far zayn shtand, far zayn shteyger iz dos tsu a hoykhe zakh'. Ukhedoyme. -- Dos vertl iz a noenter mekhutn mit: "Vu hot a hunt a hoyz?" In rusishn: _lokscha_(43) (in kursker kant), _lokschiny_(44) (in dorem un mayrev Rusland), in taytsh: _shidowskaja lapscha_, _lapscherdak_ (45). Der tate fun di ale vokablen iz dos terkishe _laktsche_, _laksche_ (46). Dos yidishe geshtalt, vi dos kleynrusishe, iz noenter tsum terkishn, vi di poylishe geshtaltn. Meglekh, az di poylishe shtamen fun yidishn -- fun loshn rabim (deroyf vayst on der _kh_ in poylishn loshn yokhid). S'ken oykh zayn, az dos terkishe iz arayn in yidishn durkh dos ukrainishe, hagam di iberzetsung, velkher der vokabel bakumt bay Daln, ken dinen far a vunk, az gikher farkert: Dos vort is oys dem yidishn ariber in dos ukrainishe. Di terkishe furmen vider hobn a persishe geze.... [see Endnotes in _The Mendele Review_ vol. 01.017] ______________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.016 Leonard Prager, editor Send articles to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il The editor of _TMR_ can also be reached via _Mendele_'s homepage: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/. 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.017 19 August 1997 Special Lokshn Issue, Part Two 1) _Lokshn_ Additions to Prilutski (Moyshe Lerer) 2) _Lokshn_ (Ignacy Bernstein) 3) _Lokshn_ (Yulyan Shvarts) 4) Abbreviations in_Dos gevet_ (Noyekh Prilutski) 5) Endnotes to First Dialog in _Dos gevet_(Noyekh Prilutski) 6) Editor's Notes 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 August 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: _Lokshn_ Additions to Prilutski (Moyshe Lerer) [Moyshe Lerer in his "Miluim tsu Noyekh Prilutski's _Dos gevet_" (_Yidishe filologye_ 1 [Jan-Feb 1924], 72-74) makes additions (many from his hometown of Chelm) to Prilutski's book. I list here only those related to _lokshn_. -- LP] Kinderlidl: "Ver vil...?" -- "Yekh!" "Kokh lokshn!" -- "Farbren dekh!" "Ze nur [nor] di kitofli [kartoflye] mitn loksh," zogt men fun a nisht glaykh porfolk: a kleyn vaybele mit a hoykhn man, uleheypekh. Bay undz zogt men: Kyedi Marinya lokshi yila? (Kiedy Marynia l/okszy jil/a?) [l/ = Polish letter following regular l] Lokshn-kugl: "shoklt zikh / treset zikh vi a lokshn-kugl" 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 August 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: _Lokshn_ (Ignacy Bernstein) [from Ignats Bernshteyn. _Yidishe shprikhverter un rednsartn_, Warsaw 1908] Bernshteyn, p. 16. _Emes_8. "Emes vi toyres moyshe." Als parodye zogt men oykh: "Emes vi toyres lokshn" ven me vil gebn ontsuheren, az eyner zogt a lign. Bernshteyn, p. 47. _Dishl_. "Er iz gekumen mitn dishl in di lokshn arayn." _Dishl_ = p. dyzsel ['wagon shaft'] "Zogt men fun eynem, vos kumt on funem veg fraytog-tsunakhts shpet, az men est shoyn di lokshn." Bernshteyn, p. 68. _Dales_5. "Dales! Kokh lokshn. -- Nit do keyn eyer." "Scherzhaft, wenn man von jemandem etwas verlangt, wozu ihm di Mittel fehlen." Bernshteyn, p. 138. _Loksh_. 1. Ot azoy kokht men di lokshn! "Azoy zogt men shertshaft, ven men heybt on tsu farshteyn a zakh, velkhe men hot zikh frier nit gekent derklern." 2.Iber di zindike lokshn, hob ikh di libe heylike shul fargesn. "Dos hot amol gezogt a baleboste a shlim-mazlnitse." 3.Es nit di lokshn far shabes. "Dos heyst, benuts nit keyn zakh far der tsayt. Farglaykh _Khale_3 ["Men tor nit esn di khale far der hamoytsi."] Glossar, p. 41: _Loksch_, m. _lokschen_ pl. (klr. _loksha_, r. _lapsha_). 'Nudel zur Suppe'. -- Figuerl. 'ein langer, hagerer auch einfaeltiger Mensch'. 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 August 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: _Lokshn_ (Yulyan Shvarts) Yulyan Shvarts, "Marmoresher yidishe verter bay Volf Tamburn," YS XXX, 80 [expressions which Yulyan Shvarts found in Tamburn's _Mayn heym: dertseylungen_, Siget, 1940]: _Vareme lokshn_ [a yontefdike maykhl]: "Bay R' Yoslen est men, farshtey, haynt vareme lokshn, hobn di shkheynim geshmuest tsvishn zikh. S'iz afile geven a groyser sod. M'hot ober gezen a fremdn bokher, az Fayvish iz epes plutsem arupgekumen funem vald in mitn der vokh, un az der tate hot zikh ongetun Fayvishes a hut, hot men zikh gemerkt, az bay undz iz tnoim" (p. 58). "M'hot gevuntshn mazl-tov di mekhutonim, m'hot zikh gevashn un gezetst tsum tish tsu di vareme lokshn."(p. 62) 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 14 August 1997 From: Leah Krikun Subject: Abbreviations in Noyekh Prilutski's _Dos gevet_ Farkirtsungen [Abbreviations] (p. XCII) [for greater legibility I expand many of Priltski's abbreviations and rearrange them alphabetically; * = items I have not seen --LP] Ah"d Althochdeutsch Berditshev Berditshev Bernshteyn Ignats Bernshteyn. _Yidishe shprikhverter un rednsartn_, Warsaw 1908. b"v bayvort [adjective] g. gubernye [region] GM S.M. Ginzburg and P.S. Marek, _Yiddish Folksongs in Russia_ Warsaw, 1908. Dal* Vladimir Dal. _Verterbukh fun der lebediker groysrusisher sprakh_. Der _seym_* Avrom-Ber Gotlober, _Der seym_, Zhitomir, 1863. Dreyzin I. Dreizin. _Russko-Novoevreiskii Slovar_, Warsaw 1894. f. Nokh a tsol (=dos folgende zaytl) ff. Di folgendike zaytlekh Harkavi Harkavi's _Yidish-English verterbukh_ Harkavi 2 Harkavi's _English-Yidish verterbukh_ Hurvits* _Yidish loshn-koydesh verterbukh_ fun D. Hurvits. h"v hoyptvort [=noun] k. krayz Kluge Friedrich Kluge, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der Deutschen Sprache_, Berlin, [edition?]. Kons Noyekh Prilutski, _Yidishe konsonantn_ 1. Lexer M. Lexers _Mittelhochdeutsches Taschenwoerterbuch_. Lifshits* Y-.M. Lifshits. _Yidish-rusish verterbukh_. Lifshits 2 O.-M. Lifshits._Russko-Novoevrejskij Slovar [Zhitomir1869]. m. mol [= times] Mh"d Mittelhochdeutsch m"ts mertsol [= plural] Nh"d Neuhochdeutsch Pavlovski* _Rusish-daytshish verterbukh_, Riga, 1900. Pv"b* _Verterbukh fun der poylisher shprakh_ fun Karlovitsh, Krinski, un andere. Pisk* _Piskunov's ukrainish verterbukh_. pl. plural Sp-Yehoyesh _Yidish verterbukh_ fun Kh. Spivak un Yehoyesh, NY, 1911. Tiander* K. Tiander's _Daytsh-rusish verterbukh_. ts"v tsaytvort [=verb] Tsy"v Noyekh Prilutski, _Tsum yidishn vokalism_ 1. Varshe Varshe [Warsaw/Warszawa] Volf* Volfson's _Poylish-rusish-yidish verterbukh_. Vilne Vilne [Vilna/Wilno/Vilnius] z. zaytl [page] z"z zaytlekh [pages] Zam Error for Zan[ders]? I have so treated it [LP] Zanders* Daniel Sanders,_Handwoerterbuch der deutschen Sprache_1869. Zshv"b _Sieben=sprachen=woerterbuch_ Deutsch, Polnish, Russisch, Weissruthenish, Litauish, Lettisch, Jiddish. Leipzig, 1918. Di rusishe verter zenen transkribirt daytshish; der klang zsh [zh] iz ibergegebn mit _sh_. **** 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 August 1997 From: Leah Krikun Subject: Endnotes of First Dialogue in _Dos gevet_ (Noyekh Prilutski) Onmerkungen tsum ershtn dialog[3] ['Commentary on the First Dialogue'] 1) Lifshits; Lifshits 2:142; Hurvits; Harkavi; Dreyzin 53, 222. Der vokabel [ Subject: Editor's Notes (Leonard Prager) [a]. Moyshe Marakhovski (sometimes spelled Marakhovske) is cited in Zalmen Reyzen, _Leksikon_ 2:325 and _Nayer leksikon_ 5:476. His popular five-stanza song "Borkhu" with the refrain "Gebentshter got! Makh shoyn likhtik di fintstere velt" is included in M. Basin's _Antologye_ (1917), pp. 187a-187b. ("Di lid darf men zingn mit dem nusekh fun borkhu vi men zingt yontef tsu mayrev.") Batkhn and author of several published collections of satirical poems and songs, Marakhovski's fiction-writing is apparently not mentioned anywhere outside of Prilutski. The single source Reyzen gives is: Salomon Bikherfreser in Sholem-Aleykhem's _Di yudishe folks-bibliotek_ 1 (1888). "Salomon Bikherfreser" is obviously a pen name, but it is not listed in any dictionary of pseudonyms. [b] Aleksander-Ziskind Rabinovitsh [AZ"R] (1854-1945). "Di tsushnitene lokshn (a mayse fun a talmetoyre yingl)," Odes: Di bihn, 1905 [according to _Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur_ [= NL], 8:288, this political allegory was translated twice into Russian and once into Hebrew and is to be found in volume 3 of the author's collected Hebrew works. Prilutski refers to its publication in _Fraynd_ (St. Petersburg), which may have preceded separate publication. Rabinovitsh did write for _Fraynd_ around this time. [c] Sources for Prilutski's examples [*** not identified, readers' help is desired]: Aksnfeld, Yisroel. " " _Dos shterntikhl_. (Leipzig 1861). " " _Ershter yidisher rekrut_. (Leipzig 1861). " " _Di genarte velt_. (Odessa, 1870). ***B., Sh. _Der rikhtiker shpigl_ (Vilne 1898). " " . _Markus der bukhhalter_ (Vilna 1904). [Could this be Shimen Bekerman? See NL 1:375-6.] Ben-Ami, Khayim-Mortkhe. _Di kindershe yorn_ (1888). [see NL 1:349] " " . _Di ershte nakht fun khanike_. (Odessa, 1893) ***_Bintshe di tsadeykeste_ . Bloshteyn, Oyzer. _Der goylem_ (Vilna, 1896). Dik, Ayzik-Meyer. _Ben-yokhed_ Gotlober, Avrom-Ber. _Der seym oder di groyse aseyfe in vald, ven di khayes hobn oysgeklibn dem layb far a meylekh_, a satirish fabl-poeme, 1842, tsum ershtn mol gedrukt in Zhitomir, in 1863 [see NL 2:12]. Gordon, Y.-L. _Sikhas khoylin_ 15. ***_Higayon bekinor_ _Kitsur amudey geula_ (Cracow, 1564). Lederer, Sh. _Der shreklekher farbrekher_ (Vilna, 1897). Lifshits, Y.-M. "A volveler bisn" (Vilna, 1892). Linetski, Yitskhok-Yoyl. _Dos khsidishe yingl_ (Vilna, 1897). Makman, Gustav 39: [NL 5:474] _Di geheymnise fun yener velt, oder der tkies-kaf_ Warsaw: N.-A. Yakobi, 1891. Matlis, Leyb. _R' Yoysef Loksh oys Drazhne in Poyln_. Warsaw, 1883; reprinted 1889, 1911; Vilna, 1911. Mendele Moykher-Sforim. " " . _Dos vintshfingerl_ (Warsaw 1862 [final version 1889] " " . _Fishke der Krumer_ (Zhitomir, 1869) [1868-1888] " " . _Yudl_ (Vilna, 1875). " " . _Kitsur masoes Binyomin Hashlishi_. (Vilna, 1878) " " . _Dos kleyn mentshele_ (Vilna, 1879). " " . _Der priziv_ (Warsaw, 1911) " " . _Shloyme ben-Khayims_ (Cracow, 1911) ***---_Der oylem hatoyeik_ [Same as next item? This is apparently 'The Chaotic World' rather than 'The Erring World', i.e. _toye-voye_ 'chaotic'.] ***_Der oylem in Amdor ukhedoyme hatoyenik_. ***"Oyzer Tsinkes un di tsig" Perets, Y.-L. "Farshterter shabes,"_Ale verk_(Warsaw 1911) [***not seen] " " _Shriftn_ VII (Warsaw 1912) Rabinovitsh, Aleksander. See Note [2] above. Shatskes, Moyshe-Arn. _Der yidisher farpeysekh oder mineg yisroel_. Warsaw, 1881; 2nd ed. Warsaw, 1884. Sholem-Aleykhem. _Stempenyu_ (1888) " " . _Yosele Solevey_ (1888) " " . _Tevye der milkhiker_ (Warsaw, 1895) " " . _Ale verk_ (Cracow, 1903). _Sipurey masiyos_ (Warsaw 1881) [apparently the stories of Rabbi Nakhmen Braslaver] Spektor, Mortkhe. _Der modner shuster_ (Vilne, 1894). ***_Di treyst fun dem himl_, Lemberg, 1891 ***_Yankl bokher_. ------------------------------------------------------------------- End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.017 Leonard Prager, editor Send articles to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il The editor of _TMR_ can also be reached via _Mendele_'s homepage: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/ 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.018 1 September 1997 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) Review of Michael Steinlauf, _Bondage to the Dead_: Poland and the Memory of the Holocaust_ (Samuel Kassow) [Yiddish and English] 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 01 Sep 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters: Mendele Bookmart --Mendele Bookmart "Dos yidish vort" is at the center of Yiddish culture and there is good reason for concern at the present condition of Yiddish publishing, printing, bookselling, bookbuying, and book collecting. For centuries Hebrew books were sold by the system of _prenumerantn_, pre-publication subscriptions. An indigent author would visit the elite of a town or village and, with luck, garner one or two subscriptions (see the monumental work by the late Berl Kagan, _Seyfer haprenumerantn; vegvayzer tsu prenumerirte hebreishe sforim un zeyere khoysmim fun 8,767 kehiles in eyrope un tsofn-amerike_ Nyu-York: Bibliotek fun Yidish-Teologishn Seminar, 1975). Yiddish authors have for generations scrounged for subsidies from cultural and political organizations or paid for their books from their own pockets. Today many Yiddish books continue to be published at their authors's expense or with private, communal and institutional subsidies. There continue somehow to be Yiddish authors; there continue somehow to be Yiddish publishers and printers (desktop publishing has in many ways simplified Yiddish publishing). A farmhouse in Wales astonishes us periodically with the stunning appearance of its Yiddish publications. Yiddish, indeed, has more lives than a cat. All this has to do with the making of new Yiddish books. Once made how do they reach their readers? And who are their readers? With regard to both new and used books, one truth is manifest: there are no efficient channels to bring the Yiddish book to the Yiddish reader. We are actually ignorant about this (phantom?) being -- the Yiddish reader. The National Yiddish Book Center makes large collections available to university libraries. The Yiddish chairs at Trier and Dusseldorf order virtually everything published by the Y.-L. Perets Bibliotek. But where are the solitary readers of Yiddish books? Apparently there are still such creatures spread around the world. How do they find Yiddish books? Young students of Yiddish come to New York, Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, Paris, London eager to explore "the Yiddish bookstores." But alas the Yiddish bookstores are no more. In Israel they face the further disappointment that there are hardly _any_ bookstores that merit the name. Eighty percent of Israelis who buy books buy them in outdoor fairs during the week-long Book Week; moreover the books they buy are mainly children's books, cook books and the like. Fifteen percent of all books sold in Israel are sold during Book Week. Aside from M. Pollak's in Tel Aviv there is no true antiquarian bookshop anywhere in Israel. The used book stores of Israel are dreary places. People of _the_ Book, yes, but not people of books. If lovers of the Yiddish book now turn to cyberspace, it is because the bookstore of our desires does not exist anywhere. There are of course a lot of books at the National Yiddish Book Center, but it is not an easily accessible browsable _bookstore_. It is no problem to acquire any book in English on a Yiddish-related subject. Amazon of Seattle claims to have two and a half million titles on line and they don't appear to be exaggerating; Barnes and Noble are not far behind. Ira Krakow (at www1.shore.net/~ikrakow/yiddish.html) confidently declares "Buy Any Book About Yiddish in Print." But what about the _Yiddish_ book? Will the NYBC with its reputed million or so Yiddish books (fifty thousand titles? less?) become the Yiddish Amazon, supplying books by electronic order to all the world? Will the recently announced D-book company (a lame play on _Dybbuk_ and _the book_) for Hebrew books on the Hebrew-language internet sell any but the relatively few Israeli university Yiddish items? Where will the peripatetic visitor linger over a curious title? In the great Yiddish libraries (Jerusalem, Yivo, New York Public, Library of Congress, Klau in Cincinnati) you need to know what you want before you order it. Where will the young Yiddish student see Yiddish books? Only in university libraries? Happily, more and more Judaica book dealers throughout the world are discovering that there is a demand for Yiddish books. Many of these dealers work out of their homes, which can be visited by special arrangement. Established Judaica bookstores (e.g. Hollander of San Francisco) and auction houses (e.g Bloomsbury in London) are also carrying more and more Yiddish titles. This is a positive development for the Yiddish book. A bookstore such as Y.-L. Perets in Tel-Aviv (which is also a publisher) with an almost exclusively Yiddish stock is today a rarity. The stout-hearted individuals who manage the Y.-L. Perets Bibliotek, now open five mornings a week, are volunteers in their eighties. This bookstore's future is not secure. The Mendele Bookmart turns to all publishers, booksellers, book collectors, librarians and assorted book people who have a connection to the Yiddish book. Publishers (of records, cds, cassettes, books, magazines, newspapers) are invited to make informational announcements. Individuals, companies and institutions with Yiddish books to sell are invited to publish their names, addresses and titles of catalogs or lists. Individuals, companies and institutions may advertise the sale of new or used books in Yiddish or new and used books in any language related to the field of Yiddish. Want lists will be accepted for books _not found_ at the most prominent of the Yiddish booksellers (the National Yiddish Book Center, the Workman's Circle in New York and Y.-L. Perets in Tel Aviv). _The Mendele Review_ thus offers itself as an international bulletin board for listing _hard-to-find_ Yiddish books. Such listing can help to determine the scarcity -- and therefore the price -- of many Yiddish books. The increasingly greater number of Judaica bookdealers selling Yiddish items need guidance. Helping them improve their service means furthering trade in Yiddish books. The Bookmart will occasionally publish bibliophilic items of the sort one sees in _AB_ (_Antiquarian Bookman_) -- without in any way attempting to compete with that remarkable publication. It is very much in the interests of Yiddish booklovers to make Yiddish books commercially viable objects. While prepared -- at least experimentally -- to publish Yiddish want lists, the _TMR_ will not list individual items for sale unless they are thought to be scarce or difficult to find. Moreover, the following statement will appear in every issue featuring the Mendele Bookmart: "_The Mendele Review_ cannot engage in or be responsible for any commercial transactions based upon information posted in this electronic journal. Nor can _The Mendele Review_ check information posted here." I do not see how Yiddish cultural life can be sustained without efficient instruments for distributing new and used Yiddish books. Perhaps this frankly experimental "Mendele Bookmart" feature of _The Mendele Review_ can be of some help. Readers' suggestions are welcome. --Introducing Samuel Kassow In this issue of _TMR_ Professor Samuel Kassow of Trinity College, Hartford, reviews, in Yiddish and in English, Michael Steinlauf's new book on the Polish response to the Shoa. Professor Kassow is the author of _Students, Professors and the State in Tsarist Russia_ (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), and together with Edith W. Clowes and James L. West, edited _Quest for Public Identity in Late Imperial Russia_ (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991). He is currently writing a book on Emanuel Ringelblum. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 From: Samuel Kassow Subject: Review of Michael Steinlauf, _Bondage to the Dead: Poland and the Memory of the Holocaust_. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1997 [Modern Jewish History Series, Henry L. Feingold, Series Editor] Shmuel Kasov [Samuel Kassow] [The Yiddish and English reviews below are similar, but one is not an exact translation of the other.] Retsenzye fun Mikhoel Shteynloyfs _In farshklafung tsu di umgekumene: Poyln un der zikorn funem khurbm_, Sirakyuz: Farlag fun Sirakyuzer Universitet, 1997. [Dershinen in gerem fun der serye fun der moderner yidisher geshikhte, Henri Fayngold, redaktor]. Es iz shver tsu gefinen a teme vos ruft aroys mer broygez un farbiterung vi di ongeveytikte geshikhte fun di poylish-yidishe batsiungen. Tsum shverstns bakumt zikh di diskusye fun der khurbm tkufe, ober heyse debates kumen for oykh benegeye andere temes: lemoshl, der mehus fun dem poylishn antisemitizm, di lage fun di yidn in der tkufe tsvishn di beyde velt milkhomes, un der shoyderlekher keltser pogrom fun 1946. (Nokh der milkhome zaynen in Poyln derharget gevorn arum 1500 yidn.) A sakh yidn bikhlal, un di sheyres-hapleyte bifrat, viln zikh nisht araynlozn in velkhe es iz "obyektive diskusyes": tsulib farshtendlekhe sibes viln zey keyne zkhusim oyf di polyakn nisht gefinen: S'rov yidn vos hobn amol gelebt in Poyln haltn az di polyakn hobn zey faynt gehat: a raye dertsu, zogn zey, iz der fakt vos gor veynik polyakn hobn zikh ongenumen far zeyere yidishe mitbirgers. Di sheyres-hapleyte shtraykht unter di negative momentn fun dem poylish-yidish tsuzamenlebn: vi azoy di polyakn flegn zikh fun zey opkern in an eys-tsore, vi azoy zey flegn zey farfolgn. Di faktn zaynen gut bakant. Far der milkhome hobn farsheydene poylishe regirungen gefirt a "kaltn pogrom" kegn di ekonomishe pozitsyes fun der yidisher bafelkerung. In di 30er yorn zaynen onfaln oyf yidn in di universitetn un in di merk gevorn an ofte dershaynung. S'rov yidn vos hobn ibergelebt di milkhome haltn az tsum merstn teyl zaynen di polyakn geven glaykhgiltik tsu zeyere laydn un hobn afile gehat a farborgene hanoe derfun, vos a dank Hitlern hobn zey gekont poter vern fun zeyere farhaste shkheynim. A plog fun shmaltsovnikes ['blackmailers'] hobn nokhgeyogt di yidn vos hobn zikh vi es iz oysbehaltn un ot di shantazhistn hobn zikh nisht gedarft shrekn, az di AK, di Poylishe Untererdishe Armey, vet zey shtrofn. Vos an emes hot di AK yo kondamnirt etlekhe shantazhistn, ober dos iz shoyn geven tsu shpet tsu hobn a mamoshesdikn badayt. Vos an emes zaynen yo geven polyakn vos hobn zikh ayngeshtelt far di geroydefte yidn un hobn zey oysbahaltn. Ober a sakh lebn geblibene yidn dermonen zikh, az ot di polyakn hobn moyre gehat, tomer zeyere shkheynim veln zikh dervisn vegen dem -- afile nokh der milkhome! Un mit vos ken men derklern di merderayen un pogromen vos zaynen forgekumen nokh der milkhome? Un di megile shlept zikh adayem: 1968; der sikhsekh vegn dem karmelitn konvent in Oyshvits; un azoy vayter un azoy vayter. Un dokh, tsvishn ale ranglenishn un sikhsukhim kumt oykh for a shtiler, men ken afile zogn a benimesdiker dialog tsvishn poylishe un yidishe gelernte.. In di letste yorn zaynen forgekumen etlekhe konferentsn; es dershaynen zhurnaln oyf a hoykhn visnshaftlekhn nivo, lemoshl _Polin_ un _Gal-Ed_ vos gibn zikh op mit der geshikhte un mit der kultur fun di poylishe yidn. Men ken dortn oykh gefinen a shlal mit artiklen vos bashraybn nisht nor di negative momentn nor oykh di ofte faln ven yidn hobn zikh take tsuzamegehoftn mit der poylisher kultur. In Poyln gufe hobn zikh in di letste yorn bavizn naye forsher (Aline Tsale, Eygenye Prokovpovne Yanyets) [Alina Cala, Eugenia Prokowpowna Janiec] un andere, velkhe hobn shoyn aroysgegebn gor vikhtike un vegvayzerishe bikher vegn azelkhe temes vi der yidisher asimilatsye in 19tn yorhundert un vegn der yidisher literatur oyf der poylisher shprakh vos hot zikh azoy hastik antviklt in di yorn tsvishn di beyde velt milkhomes. Farshteyt zikh az s'rov yidishe gelernte adayem zaynen noyte untertsushtraykhn di negative aspetkn fun di poylish-yidishe batsiungen. Ober mit a por yor tsurik hot eyner fun di ongezeenste yisroeldike spetsialistn in dem gebit, Profesor Ezre Mendelson [Professor Ezra Mendelsohn], oysgedrikt di meynung, az men darf iberklern di ongenumene meynung az di geshikhte fun yidn in Poyln bashteyt nor fun "laydn un trern." Itst zet men befeyresh, nemendik in akht di fil-minike natsyonale sikhsukhim vos hobn zikh tseflakert in mizrekh-Eyrope in di letste yorn, az di shtraytn tsvishn polyakn un yidn zaynen gor nisht geven azoy eygnartik, azoy yokhidbeminedik. Mendelson hot dermont zayne tsuherer, az s'iz vikhtik tsu farshteyn di kompleksn un di gefiln fun dem poylishn tsad; nokh dem tkhies-hameysim fun der zelbstshtendiker poylisher melukhe hobn di polyakn take gekukt zeyer krum oyf dem masivn yidishn yesh in di shtet un shtetlekh, in dem ekonomishn lebn. Far zey, di polyakn, iz dos geven an ernster psikhologisher un politisher problem vos me tor dos nisht avekmakhn mit der hant. Me darf gedenken, hot Mendelson gezogt, az s'iz faran a gevise shpanung, a gevise stire tsvishn dem bagrif fun demokratye un dem bagrif fun a natsyonaler medine, vos shtelt zikh for far a tsil di farteydigung un di antviklung fun a gevisn folk. Tsi ken men take opleykenen dem fakt az yidishe birger in Yisroel hobn bakumen a sakh mer shtitse mitsad der regirung far bildung un shtotishe anshtaltn vi arabishe birger, apshite ven di medine hot nor gehat zeyer bagrenetste finantsyele mitlen? Un nokh a zakh. In di yorn tsvishn di velt milkhomes hot zikht bamerkt a shtarke netiye tsu "akulturizatsye" bay dem yungn dor, dos heyst a shtarke netiye oystsulebn zikh in der poylisher shprakh. Yo, di poylish-yidishe batsiungen zaynen take gevorn vos a mol erger, ober trots dem hobn zeyer a sakh yidn lib gehat, un lib bakumen, di poylishe shprakh un di poylishe kultur. (Un men tor oykh nisht fargesn dem gvaldikn badayt fun der yidisher prese oyf der poylisher shprakh.) Bekitser, men ken nisht zogn az yidishe gelernte veln maskim zayn mit Profesor Normen Deyvis [Professor Norman Davies], velkher hot kimat ingantsn gemakht tsu kleyngelt dem poylishn antisemitizm. Ober fun der ander tsad bamerkt zikh a naye shtimung in der akademisher velt. Tsubislekh heybt men on oystsuhern vos der ander tsad hot tsu zogn. I yidn, I polyakn, zeen ayn, az alts iz nisht shvarts oyf vays. Un dokh iz nokh alts shver, zeyer shver, tsu firn a dialog vegn dem khurbm. Un derfar iz take Mikhoel Shteynloyfs nay bukh, _In farshklafung tsu di umgekumene: Poyln un der zikorn funem khurbm_ [_Bondage to the Dead: Poland and the Memory of the Holocaust_], a vikhtiker visnshaftlekher oyftu. S'iz a groyse mayle vos Shteynloyf ken gut i di poylishe i di yidishe geshikhte. A bahavnter forsher, vayzt er aroys a sakh empatishkayt un zayn stil iz klor un getokt. Far dem yidishn leyener vet dos bukh derklern nisht nor dos vos di yidn hobn durkhgemakht nor oykh tseglidern di faktorn vos hobn bavirkt un oysgefuremt di shtelung fun di polyakn. Oyfn smakh fun Shteynloyfs forshung ken der yidisher leyener beser farshteyn voser hashpoe dos gedekhenish funem khurbm ibt oys in Poyln adayem un oyf vi vayt di geyarshnte kompleksn fun der khurbm tkufe bavirkn di haynttsaytike poylishe kultur. Dos iz a gelungener pruv tsu baloykhtn komplitsirte un paynlekhe temes. Der mekhaber barekhtikt nisht dem poylishn antisemitizm beshas der milkhome, ober er derklert etlekhe sibes un faktorn vos hobn zikh shtark opgerufn oyf di poylish-yidishe batsiungen. Men tor nisht farglaykhn di laydn fun di polyakn mit dem genem vos di yidn hobn durkhgemakht. Ober leman haemes muz men gedenken az di polyakn hobn yo gelitn in tsayt fun der milkhome, un gelitn hobn zey gor a sakh, i fun di daytshn, i fun di rusn. Di yidn, farshteyt zikh, zaynen geven tsufridn ven di sovetn zaynen arayn in mizrekh-Poyln dem 17n September 1939; nisht azoy, farshteyt zikh, miahaves-Mortkhe vi misines-Homen. Ober di polyakn hobn dos batrakht vi a beyzvilike bgide. Men darf oykh gedenken az oysbahaltn yidn in tsayt fun der milkhome iz nisht geven fun di laykhtste zakhn. Far dem hobn goyim take getsolt mitn lebn. (Mayn mutter hot zikh oysbahaltn nayn monatn bay a poylisher mishpokhe. A shokhn hot zey farmasert, un der foter fun der mishpokhe iz derharget gevorn.) In gerem fun a kurtser retsenzye iz shver tsu gebn a geherike opshatsung fun aza verk. Der shrayber fun di shures halt az di originelste teyln funem bukh zaynen di kapitlen in velkhe Shteynloyf bashraybt un derklert dem shaykhes tsvishn der oysfuremung fun dem kolektiven poylishn zikorn funem khurbm, un der hashpoe fun a min "shuldkompleks," vos hot zikh, loyt dem mekhaber, genumen antviklen in same bren fun der milkhome. Mit vos derklert zikh der spetsifisher, eygnartiker poylisher "shuldkompleks"? Bekitser, a sakh polyakn hobn faynt gehat yidn un hobn gevolt poter vern fun zey. Un ot kumen di daytshn un rotn oys di poylishe yidn. Di polyakn tsien zikh arayn in di amolike yidishe dires, zey yarshenen dos yidishe hob un guts. Zey hobn tsugezen vi di daytshn hobn derharget di yidn un ekonomish hobn zey in a geviser mos genosn fun dem yidishn umglik. Un nokh der milkhome zaynen zey geven ibergetsaygt az s'iz beser on di yidn. Un dokh, loyt Shteynloyfn hobn zey zikh gefilt shuldik, meshunedik shuldik. Nisht zey hobn oysgerotn di yidn. Dos hobn di daytshn geton. Ober keyn mamshesdike hilf hobn zey di yidn nisht gegebn. Un nokh der milkhome hobn zikh di gefiln fun ambivalents un shuld laykht farvandlt in a min "antisemitizm on yidn." Di polyakn zaynen geven zeyer filevdik tsu di yidishe taynes az zey hobn oykh gehat a kheylek in dem umkum fun zeyere yidishe shkheynim. Tsulib dem vos der antisemitizm hot zikh take azoy ayngevortslt in dem poylishn lebn far der milkhome iz geven zeyer shver optsuvarfn ot di taynes. Derfar iz gevorn azoy populer a min kegnangrif: ir, yidn, helfn di komunistn. Ir zayt gevorn di hersher fun land un farfolgt undz. Ir hot khezhboynes mit undz. Un mir hobn khezhboynes mit aykh. Azelkhe taynes hobn gelindert di shuldkompleksn. Shteynloyfn git zikh ayn, in a vunderlekhn oyfn tsu bashraybn un derklern dem shaykhes tsvishn dem oyfbli fun der tsiviler gezelshaft in Poyln un dem oyfleb fun interes in yidn. Ot dos hot zikh boylet aroysgevizn in di 80er yorn, in gevise krayzn fun Solidarnosc un fun der katoylisher inteligents. Shteynloyf shildert di vikhtike debates vegn yidn un polyakn vos zaynen dershinen oyf di shpaltn fun _Tygodnik Powszechny_, _Gazeta Wyborcza_ un andere tsaytshriftn. Er bavayzt di enge tsuzamenheftung tsvishn der diskusye vegn yidn un der diskusye vegn der algemeyner rikhtung fun Poylns tsukunftiker antviklung. Shteynloyf hot farbrakht a sakh tsayt in Poyln. Er ken dos land, er ken dos folk. Un dos ruft zikh op oyfn nivo fun der diskusye. Der shrayber fun di shures iz nisht ingantsn maskim mit etlekhe oysfirn funem mekhaber. Etlekhe bahoyptungen rufn aroys kleyninke pshetlekh. In zayn diskusye vegn der batsiung fun polyakn tsu yidn volt ikh gevolt zen a mer protimdike tsegliderung fun dem shaykhes tsvishn dem nivo fun antisemitizm fun eyn zayt un klasnopshtam un regyonale faktorn fun der andererer zayt. Lemoshl, der mekhaber vent on Robert Liftons psikhologishe teoryes vegn "death guilt" in zayn diskusye vegn dem tamtses fun dem poylishn antisemitizm. Dos iz a stimulirndiker un gor interesanter tsugang vos bavayzt a sakh originalitet. Ober di diskusye volt geven beser ven der mekhaber volt zikh mer opgegebn mit sotsyologishe un regyonale faktorn. Di untershte shure: dos iz a gelungener, oysgetseykhenter bukh. Dem mekhaber kumt a hartsiker yasher-koyekh. [My thanks to Hugh Denman for help in proofreading this article. LP] ****** Review of Michael Steinlauf, _Bondage to the Dead: Poland and the Memory of the Holocaust_. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1997 [Modern Jewish History Series, Henry L. Feingold, Series Editor] Few topics spark more anger and bitterness than that of Polish-Jewish relations. Within this compass, the Holocaust is the most sensitive subject, but debate also rages around issues such as Polish anti-Semitism, the position of the Jews in the interwar period, the 1946 Kielce pogrom -- according to Bernard Wasserstein (_Vanishing Diaspora_, p. 24) about 1500 Jews were killed in Poland between the end of the German occupation and mid 1947. For many Jews, especially Holocaust survivors (and that includes the parents of this reviewer), there is little to discuss and much to reject. The facts, they feel, speak for themselves. Most Poles, they stressed, hated Jews. For them the history of Polish-Jewish relations in the modern period was a depressing litany of persecution and rejection. It is a familiar litany. Before the war various Polish governments, with broad mass support, engineered a "cold pogrom" to destroy the Jews' economic base. By the 1930s violence against Jews in the universities and in the marketplace had become common. During the war, while three million Polish Jews were murdered, the vast majority of the Polish population, most survivors believe, ignored the victims' plight and even expressed silent satisfaction that Hitler was doing them a favor. Blackmailers preyed on Jews in hiding and had little reason to fear reprisals from the Polish Home Army. To be sure there were Poles who hid Jews but why did so many fear denunciation from their neighbors? And what can explain the murders and pogroms of the post-war period? And the sorry tale goes on: 1968, the Auschwits controversy, etc. etc etc. Amidst the anger and mutual recrimination, historians on both sides have been engaged in a quiet scholarly dialogue. There have been conferences, and journals such as _Polin_ and _Gal-ed_ have devoted themselves to the objective, scholarly study of Polish-Jewish history and Polish-Jewish relations. In Poland too, scholars such as Alina Cala and Eugenia Prokopowna have published pioneering studies of Jewish assimilation in the nineteenth century and the rise of a Jewish literature in the Polish language. Most Jewish scholars still stress the negative rather than the positive in Polish-Jewish relations. But at a conference a few years ago, one of the leading Israeli specialists in the subject, Ezra Mendelsohn, urged scholars to reconsider what he called the "lachrymose" view of Polish-Jewish history. In view of the entire sorry panorama of ethnic relations in Eastern Europe, tension between Poles and Jews did not seem to be such an anomaly. Jews had to understand, Mendelsohn emphasized, that for Poles, their massive economic and urban presence in a newly revived Polish state was indeed a problem. And if Jews had reason to complain of economic discrimination in the interwar republic, then the record of Israel itself demonstrates a certain unavoidable tension between the ideals of an ethnic nation state and the ideals of democracy. When Israel had limited economic resources, did it spend as much on Arab schools and services as it did on the Jewish sector? Other scholars stress the rapid rate of acculturation in the interwar period. Yes, Polish-Jewish relations were getting worse but that did not prevent the growing use of the Polish language and a genuine love of Polish culture among Polish Jews. In short, while no Jewish scholar will go as far as Norman Davies, who has minimized the whole issue of Polish anti-Semitism, there is a readiness on the part of historians on both sides to listen to each other. But polite listening requires great effort, especially when the subject is the Holocaust. Therefore Michael Steinlauf's new book, _Bondage to the Dead: Poland and the Memory of the Holocaust_, is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in Polish-Jewish history. The strength of this book is Steinlauf's familiarity with Polish as well as with Polish-Jewish culture, about both of which he writes clearly and empathetically. For Jewish readers (as this reviewer knows from experience), the book accomplishes a very difficult feat: it explains the Polish experience, what Poles suffered, how Poles see their history and the place of the Jews in it. Without in any way defending or justifying Polish anti-Semitism, Steinlauf puts painful issues in historical perspective. The Poles, of course, did not suffer as much as the Jews. But they suffered and by any measure except that of the Holocaust, they suffered terribly. For Jews, the Soviet Union was the "lesser of two evils" (to borrow Dov Levin's phrase). For Poles the USSR was as great an enemy as Nazi Germany. And Steinlauf reminds us that hiding Jews in wartime Poland was not a simple matter. The Germans did apply the death penalty for "Judenbegunstigung," ruthlessly and without pity. (A Pole saved the life of this reviewer's mother. The family was denounced and the father was executed.) It is impossible to do justice to this book in such a short review. While experts will already be familiar with many facts described by Steinlauf in its early chapters, the sections on the memory of the Holocaust in Poland are both stimulating and original. One of Steinlauf's major points is that Poles feel a complex sense of guilt about the Holocaust. Simply put, they knew that they did not like Jews. They resented the Jews' economic position and wished they would leave Poland. Then came the Germans, who killed the Jews. After the war (and also during the war), the Poles moved into the victims' homes and helped themselves to their property. They witnessed the Holocaust and, economically, benefited from it. They were convinced that Poland was better off without the Jews. BUT IT WAS THE GERMANS WHO MURDERED THE JEWS, NOT THE POLES. So the Poles felt ambivalent and guilty. They also were angered by Jewish accusations implying they shared German guilt. Putting the blame for the post-war communist regime on the Jews made it easier to live with the guilt. But there was an uneasiness about Jews that would not go away. Steinlauf skilfully describes the interplay between the revival of civil society in Poland and a revival, in certain quarters, of interest in the Jewish question. As Adam Michnik pointed out, attitudes toward the Jews were closely interwoven with the larger question of Poland's future character: Would Poland be cosmopolitan and European or inward-looking and chauvinistic? This linkage of anti-Semitism to wider issues of national identity receives good treatment in the book. In addition, Steinlauf summarizes key controversies such as the Blonski article in _Tygodnik Powszechny_, the Carmelite convent at Auschwits, the furor surrounding the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw insurrection of 1944, and others. One might disagree with some of Steinlauf's conclusions. This reviewer would have liked to see Polish attitudes analyzed according to social class and geography. This is particularly relevant to Steinlauf's intellectually daring attempt to apply Robert Lifton's insights on "death guilt" to the issue of Polish anti-Semitism. Steinlauf's method here needs more sociological underpinning. In sum, however, this well-written and well-documented book deserves the attention of anybody with a serious interest in Polish and Polish-Jewish history. **** ______________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.018 Leonard Prager, editor Send articles to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il The editor of _TMR_ can also be reached via _Mendele_'s homepage: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/ 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR From: Iosif Vaisman 9/15/97 17:09 Subject: The Mendele Review : Vol 01.019 To: Mendele _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.019 15 September 1997 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) "Der yoyred" (Ayzik-Meyer Dik) [Isaac Meir Dick] 3) Review of Gennady Estraikh,_Intensive Yiddish_ (Avraham Greenbaum) 4) Bookmart: Oyfgekumener Productions (Jack Kurland); Want List (Leonard Prager) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 September 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters --_TMR_ Bibliographer Hugh Denman has agreed to coordinate the periodic bibliographical supplements to _TMR_ which will aim to provide comprehensive listings of all new Yiddish books and publications in all languages relating to Yiddish studies and associated disciplines. Mendelyaner and all others with information regarding new publications in and about Yiddish are requested to write directly to Hugh Denman who is the Benzion Margulies Lecturer in Yiddish Studies in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College London. He has been working for a number of years on a comprehensive bibliographic guide to the major Yiddish authors. Naturally, it will not be possible to review in _TMR_ all titles that appear in the listings. However, reviews of books of Yiddish interest will continue to form a major component of _TMR_. Review copies and offers to review books should be sent direct to the editor, Leonard Prager . -- "Der yoyred" In the hope of deepening our knowledge and understanding of Yiddish fiction, _The Mendele Review_ will present short fiction and sections of novels by major writers as well as by lesser known figures who may well claim our attention. The method of presentation will vary: 1. Some stories (like Ayzik-Meyer Dik's "Der yoyred" below) will be given with litle or no comment. 2. Others stories will appear within the rubric "Reading Yiddish Stories" and will be followed by analysis and interpretation. 3. Yet other stories will be the subject of symposia -- the first of which is scheduled for _TMR_ vol. 01, no. 021 -- whose participants will either be a) invited individuals or b) the _Mendele_ readership as a whole. The stories will be presented in romanized form and will be based on the best texts available. Where translations are known to have been made they will be listed. In some instances, Mendelyaner may wish to provide fresh translations. Hopefully (even in instances where commentary has been made by a single individual, or a by a group of individuals within the framework of a symposium), all _Mendele_ and _TMR_ readers will have an opportunity to participate in this Yiddish-fiction forum. In Dik's "Der yoyred" a brief, sometimes Biblical tag in Ashkenazic Hebrew (e.g, "orkhu hayomim" {Ezekiel 12:22}) precedes each section but one of the story and gives it a certain homiletic flavor and textual authority. Beginners in Yiddish are likely to be confused by the pronunciation and the transcription of the Hebrew-Aramaic component in Yiddish. Put simply, the H-A component is either "merged" (e.g. _shabes_) or "whole" (e.g. _shabos_). Quotations from sacred texts -- as in the tags used by Dik in "Der yoyred" -- are in "whole Hebrew" or "whole Aramaic" (collectively known as _loshn-koydesh_) and are romanized according to the same rules that are applied in the case of Yiddish. The relationship between Standard Ashkenazic Hebrew and its dialects is entirely analagous to that between Standard Yiddish and its dialects. The main phonetic difference between whole Hebrew and whole Aramaic and their merged varieties is that in the former post-tonic vowels are never reduced and all syllables are treated as if they were open. The use of _kh_ to represent _khes_ and _khof_ differs from the convention employed in "The General-Purpose Romanization of the American National Standard Romanization of Hebrew," which was recommended by the American National Standards Institute in the late 1970s, but not widely adopted. Neither _Mendele_ nor _The Mendele Review_ have yet arrived at a consensus with regard to the romanization of Ashkenazic Hebrew. There are a number of competing systems and the average romanizer of _loshn-koydesh_ is inconsistent. Even a superficial perusal of haredi [or should we write _kharedi_?] literature in English reveals frequent transcription switches, for example, from Ashkenazic to Israeli Hebrew. The _Encyclopaedia Judaica_ represents _khet_ with an _h_ with subscript dot and _khaf_ by _kh_ with subscript macron; it uses _ch_ for final tsadi followed by ' [= /tsh/ (_c_ with inverted circumflex above it)]. The romanized text below is based on the Yiddish text in _Khulyot_ 1 (Winter 1993), pp. 43-49. We thank the editors of _Khulyot_ for permission to use it. [In past issues we wrote _Chulyot_ and some people write _Hulyot_.] Readers of Hebrew literature will immediately recognize the striking plot similarities between Dik's "Der yoyred" and Sh. Y. Agnon's substantially very different long story (or novelette) _Vehaya heakov lemishor_ ('And the Crooked Will Be Made Straight' [see Isaiah 40:4]). Both apparently derive from an older source, possibly a folk tale or midrashic anecdote. The Cameri Theatre in Tel Aviv staged a dramatic version of this story. There was a famous hasidic rabbi by the name of R' Shmelke, but whether this is Dik's R' Shmelke I do not know. Nikelsburg is a real place, which has since changed its name (see the note by Claus Buryn below). ---Avraham Greenbaum on Gennady Estraikh's _Intensive Yiddish_ In this issue, the historian and bibliographer Avraham Greenbaum (who has no pretensions to being a linguist or language teacher) reviews Gennady Estraikh's _Intensive Yiddish_. His brief but pungent remarks will hopefully generate further discussion of this new textbook. _TMR_ welcomes essay-length notices and reviews ; brief comments and notes on single expressions should be sent to _Mendele_ . 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 September 1997 From: Claus Buryn Subject: "Der yoyred" by Ayzik-Meyer Dik [Isaac Meir Dick] Ayzik-Meyer Dik Der yoyred* A vunderlekhe geshikhte, vos es hot getrofn mit eynem R' Tsodek fun Nikelsburg. Es iz zikh fun der mayse aroptsunemen a muser-haskl, az der mentsh zol nit ton keyn falshs un in der grester noyt zol men zikh hitn fun betlbroyt. Un oyf eybik iz yener farflukht, der vos hot nor eyn mol farzukht. Vayikuyom bonu: Al tevieynu loy lidey matenas bosor vodom. Neetak veneesaf al-yedey Y. Shapiro.** [Varshe in Y. Lebenzohns tipografye, 1855] *Dos kleyne mayse-bikhl (sakhakl 24 zaytlekh) vert do ibergedrukt getray, ober in dem modernem oysleyg. Iberike verter vern batseykhnt tsvishn kaylekhdike klamern. Hesofes vern gegebn in grodekike klamern. **Y. Shapiro iz eyner fun Ayzik Meyer Diks hipsh bisl psevdonimen. 1. {Vayehi.} Un es var in der shtot Nikelsburg, hot gevoynt a mol a gevant-kremer. Er hot geheysn R' Tsodek Pikante. Er iz geven a groyser bal-parnose un er var in der shtot gerekhnt far a groysn kotsn. 2. {Vayaas loy shem.} Oykh hot er zikh gemakht a groyser nomen in der shtot mit zayne nedoves un tsdokes. Es iz im in der shul keyn mol eyn alie far im tsu tayer geven. Er iz nokh dertsu geven a groyser mehader bemitsves. Er hot a mol batsolt far an esreg hundert toler. Far zayne kinder hot er ale mol gedungen di beste melamdim, un hot oykh makhzik geven oyf zayn tish oreme lamdonim. Vi er iz geven, azoy iz oykh geven zayn vayb, zeyer a tayeres mentsh un a groyse eyshes-khayel un dertsu oykh zeyer sheyn. Zi iz geven oykh fil kliger far im un hot farshtanen dem gesheft fil beser als er. 3. {Akh loy leoylom khoysen.} Ober der glik blaybt nit oyf eybik tray dem mentshn. In der velt muz zikh alts umdreyen. Azoy iz do oykh geven mit dem R' Tsodek Pikante. Den eyn mol tsum ershtn seyder iz gevorn a zeyer a groyse sreyfe. Un es zenen farbrent gevorn zeyer fil hayzer. Un oykh di krom mit di skhoyre fun dem R' Tsodek. Un oykh zayn shtub mit gor di virtshaft, zilberne gefes, un zeyer fil tsirung un oykh zeyer fil papirn oyf hershaftn. Zayn shodn var groys, gor umbashrayblekh. 4. {Vayehi lohem yemey hakhag leeyvel.} Der yontef var bay zey tsum troyer un tsum geveyn. Er un zayn froy hobn nor nit gevust vuhin men zol zikh kern un vendn. Gute fraynd hobn zey afile a bisl untergeholfn, ober es iz shoyn zey nit meglekh geven dem gesheft vider hertsushteln azoy vi frier. 5. {Loy orkhu hayomim.} Es iz geven nit lang un zey hobn nebekh dem plats gemuzt farkoyfn um tsu makhn a kleyn kreml fun glogever skhoyre. {Voyikhyu yemey tsaar} - un hobn gelebt zeyer orem. Di greste layt fun shtot hobn mit dem R' Tsodek zeyer rakhmones gehat. Ober dokh hobn zey nit gevust mit vos men zol im kenen helfn. Zey voltn im makhn far a nemen in der shtot. Ober der prezident fun di [der] shtot hot es nit tsugelozn, vayl der R' Tsodek iz geven a groyser bal-khoyv, un di gezetse iz, az men zol nit ontroyen kehiles gelt azoy a mentshn, ver es hot shoyn a mol bankrotirt. 6. {Vayehi kaasher kotsro nafshom beamal hoish hahu.} Un es var, az di groyse layt fun shtot hobn nit gekent mer dertrogn dem tsar fun dizem gefalenem oysher, der vos a tog iz er gevorn oremer un oremer. 7. {Vayivoatsu yakhdov.} Iz bay zey geblibn, az men zol makhn a ksav un ale groyse layt un der reb zoln zikh unterkhasmenen bekhol ir voir. Dem ksav zol men gebn dem R' Tsodek un er zol mit im arumforn in der velt. Den zey hobn klor gevust, az azoy a ksav, vos es veln zayn oyf im gekhasmet di groyse layt fun Nikelsburg un der rov, vet in der velt zeyer vikhtik zayn un er vet avade makhn a sakh gelt. 8. {Vayaasu kaasher yaatsu.} Un zey hobn azoy geton vi zey hobn zikh miyoets geven. Zey hobn opgeshribn dem ksav un hobn zikh untergeshribn. Es hot mer nit gefelt nor dem rebs khsime un vayter nit. 9. {Bayomim hohem.} In dize tsaytn iz geven a rov in Nikelsburg der groyser R' Shmelke. Dizer man var a groyser lamdn, vos hot nit gehat zayn glaykhn in zayn dor. Un vi zayne lomdes iz geven groys, azoy iz geven groys oykh zayne khsides un zayn khokme in veltzakhn. Un zayn eytse un zayn vort iz geven zeyer tayer un vikhtik, azoy bay yidn un azoy bay kristn. Un er var geakhtet in der velt vi a getlekher man. Tsayt zayn lebn hot er nit gegebn keyn haskome oyf a seyfer un keyn mol hot er nit gegebn a ksav a gefalenem mentshn, vos fort arum in der velt tsu klaybn nedoves, vi far tsaytn flegt zayn di mode bay undz yidn. 10. {Velokheyn loy ovo lakhtoym.} Un daher hot der R' Shmelke nit gevolt zikh khasmenen oykh oyf dizn ksav. Hot es di shtotlayt zeyer fardrosn oyf im un hobn im gezogt: "Rebe, ir kent dizn mentshn nit glaykhn mit andere shlepers. Ir kent dokh im, az er iz an ish-yoshor veyire-eloyim. Undzere shtot hot fun im zeyer fil mekabl toyve geven. Un vayl mir veysn vi fil ayer khsime vet im in der velt helfn, zent ir mekhuyev mayver tsu zayn oyf ayer mide un muzt zikh unterkhasmenen oyf dem ksav." 11. {Veloy ovo horav} Un der reb hot dokh nit gevolt zikh khasmenen biz vanen es iz tsu im gekumen der R' Tsodek aleyn un zayn vayb un hobn far im biterlekh geveynt, un hobn im gebetn rakhmim, az er zol zikh iber zey merakhem zayn un oyf zeyere kleyne kinder un zol untershraybn dem ksav. 12. {Veyehemu meyov aleyhem.} Un er hot zikh iber zey derbaremt. Er hot nit gekent oyshaltn, az der R' Tsodek un zayn vayb zoln far im shteyn un veynen. Er hot dem ksav untergeshribn un hot zey oykh gezogt: "Hert, mayn tayerer R' Tsodek, ikh tu aykh dermit gor keyn toyve. Es iz afile emes, az ir vet makhn a fule gelt. Ober nokh hob ikh nit gezen velkher es hot dem betlbroyt farzukht, az er zol zikh derfun kenen opraysn. Ikh hob gelezn, az men vil mayz fartraybn fun a shtub, zol men khapn etlekhe mayz un men zol [zey] aynshparn in an ayzerne kletke, un men zol zey azoy lang [lozn] hungern, biz eyne est oyf di andere. Un dernokh, az men lozt avek di letste, est zi keyn ander zakh, nor di mayz. Dos zelbe iz mit dem mentsh, velkher nor eyn mol dos betlbroyt farzukht hot -- er vet shoyn nit zukhn keyn andere parnose, es vet im nit shmekn keyn gesheft in der velt, nor betlen. Mayn eytse volt geven beser di shlekhte tsayt ibertsuvartn. Mit der tsayt endert zikh alts." Ober vos helft es? Der R' Tsodek hot dem ksav tsugenumen un hot zikh opgezegnt mit dem rov, un iz in a por teg [arum] avekgeforn. 13. {Uvekhol hamekoymos asher ovar.} Un in ale erter vu er iz nor geforn un hot gevizn dem ksav fun R' Shmelken hot er measef momoyn geven un hot ayngenumen groys koved. Den di velt hot nokh nit zoykhe geven fun R' Shmelken a tsures-os. Men hot dem R' Tsodek fargetert. Men hot im um un um ayngeladn un men hot gegebn nedoves tsu draytsik un fertsik toler. Es hot nit gedoyert eyn yor un er hot shoyn tsuzamengeklibn an erekh fun tsvey toyznt toler [un] hot gehat shoyn bedeye zikh umtsukern aheym. Nor vayl er iz geven fun Nikelsburg vayt shoyn an erekh fun hundert un fuftsik mayln, iz bay im geblibn, az er zol makhn zayn tsurikvegs durkh andere mekoymes, kedey er zol kenen tsurikforndik gor fun dos nay(e) gelt makhn. Un er hot take azoy geton. Er hot tsurikforndik gemakht genoy azoy fil gelt vi aherforndik, un hot bay zikh gedenkt, az er vet kumen aheym vet er makhn a gutn gesheft un vet im-yirtse-hashem dem rov vayzn, az es ken vern a soykher oykh fun a mentsh vos hot shoyn gebetlt. 14. {Vayehi biyoyso baderekh.} Un es var az er iz gevezn in veg an erekh fun fuftsik mayln fun der heym, hot er zikh ongetrofn in a kretshme mit a bal-darsher. Dizer man var fil kliger vi frimer. Er hot shoyn fun dem R' Tsodek un zayn ksav gehert un hot im zeyer mekane geven. Nor yetst, vi er hot zikh do mit im funandergeredt un der R' Tsodek hot im dertseylt, az er fort tsurik aheym mit a sakh gelt, hot tsu im gezogt der bal-darsher: "Az es iz yo azoy, farkoyft mir dem ksav, ikh gib aykh far im hundert dukatn un fort aykh lesholem aheym. Vos art aykh? Ikh vel mir forn mit dem ksav in andere lender un vel epes far zikh oykh farzorgn. Ir megt zikher zayn, az keyner vet fun dem handl nit visn. Un far dem reb zolt ir zogn, az ir hot dem ksav farloyrn, oder er iz nokh bay aykh." 15. {Vayitavu divrey hadarshon} Un es zenen gefeln di reyd fun dem darshn dem R' Tsodek un er hot im farkoyft dem ksav far fir hundert toler, un der bal-darsher hot nokh dertsu gemakht a sharfe sude. Zey hobn gegesn un hobn getrunken un zenen beyde freylekh gevezn. Un oyf morgn zenen zey zikh funandergeforn. Der R' Tsodek iz geforn aheym un der bal-darsher hot farrayzt keyn Amsterdam mit dem ksav un hot dortn gemakht gor di gelt. Un fun dortn iz er avek keyn London un fun London iz er geforn keyn Frankraykh. Un vu er iz nor gekumen hot er measef geven tsen mol mer vi der R' Tsodek, den er iz geven a betler fun zayn yugnt on un er hot farshtanen dem kunst vi zikh bay yedern gefelik tsu makhn, a mol mit khnife un a mol mit a yires-shomaim-peneml. Uvifrat atsind, vi er hot do gehat dem ksav fun dem rov R' Shmelke. Oykh iz er geven zeyer a sheyner darshn un a guter moykhiekh, er hot zikh barimt, az der khosed R' Shmelke hot im geshikt di velt a bisl frimer tsu makhn. Um un um, vu er iz nor gekumen, hot er zikh gelozt rufn R' Tsodek der moykhiekh fun Nikelsburg. Un hot in a tsayt fun a yor tsvey tsuzamengemakht a toler finf toyzent, ober er hot nit zoykhe geven, az er zol fun zey a hanoe hobn. Den vi er iz gekumen in a kleyn shtetl in Frankraykh, vos men ruft zi Nomur, iz er dortn plutsling zeyer krank gevorn un iz in dem zelbn tog geshtorbn on vide, den er hot zikh gor nit gerikht deroyf. Di bisl yidn, vos hobn dortn gevoynt, hobn zikh arum im misasek geven vi es iz der mineg-Yisroel. Der rov fun dem shtetl hot im masped geven, un nokh der kvure hot der rov mit dem prezident fun dem mokem ibergezen vos es iz fun im geblibn. [Ven] zey hobn ibergezen zayne ksovim, hobn zey gefunen dem ksav fun Nikelsburger rov. Hobn zey fun im gezen, az men ruft im R' Tsodek b"r Avrom fun Nikelsburg. 16. {Vayemaharu vayikhtevu.} Un zey ayln un shraybn tsu dem R' Shmelken un hobn im oykh opgeshikt dem ksav. Zey hobn medie geven, az der R' Tsodek iz bay zey geshtorbn un hot gelozn a kapital fun a toler finef toyznt, khuts kleyder un a gutn zeyger. Bekhen, zoln kumen zayne yoyrshim un zoln es opnemen. 17. {Vayehi kevo hamikhtov el ir Nikelsburg.} Un es var als der briv iz gekumen keyn Nikelsburg tsu dem rov, hot er geshikt nokh dem R' Tsodeks vayb un hot ir ongezogt, az ir man iz geshtorbn in dem shtetl Nomur, vos in Frankraykh, un hot ibergelozt a groysn kapital. Bekhen zol zi gor keyn shies makhn un zol ahin forn mit ir eyntsikn zun, a bokher fun zekhtsn yor, optsunemen di yerushe. 18. {Vayiten loy mikhtov.} Oykh hot er ir gegebn a briv, oyf velkhn es hobn zikh gekhasmet di groyse layt fun Nikelsburg un er aleyn oykh, az zi iz di almone fun dem R' Tsodek un der bokher iz der zun, un men zol zey opgebn di yerushe. Un dem R' Tsodeks vayb iz gekumen keyn Nomur un hot opgenumen di yerushe in gantsn un hot zikh umgekert tsurik keyn Nikelsburg un hot ongehoybn tsu firn ir alte gesheft mit groys hatslokhe. Hot ongeton klog un hot getroyert nokh irn man a gants yor, den zi hot im zeyer lib gehat. Nun veln mir lozn do di almone bay ire gesheftn un mir veln dertseyln vos es iz gevorn mit dem R' Tsodek aleyn. 19. Undzer R' Tsodek, vi er iz opgeforn fun der kretshme, vu er hot genekhtikt mit dem bal-darsher, vos er hot im farkoyft dem ksav, a mayl tsen, zenen im ibergefaln gazlonim un hobn bay im avekgenumen alts vos er hot nor bay zikh gehat. Er iz fun zey nimlot gevorn koym a lebediker. Er hot zikh bahaltn unter a shteyn oyf dem gostinets. Biz es zenen ongeforn mentshn, hobn zey im mitgenumen in a kleyn shtetl. Iz er dortn gezesn etlekhe teg, biz er hot tsuzamengebetelt a por toler un hot zikh avekgeshlept vayter tsu fus. Ober nit keyn Nikelsburg, den er hot zikh geshemt tsu kumen aheym on a groshn gelt un on dem ksav. Er hot farshtanen, az got hot es im geshtroft far dem, vos er hot farkoyft dem ksav. Er hot genug deroyf kharote gehat, ober es iz shoyn [geven] tsu shpet. Er hot zikh avekgeshlept keyn Lite un Poyln un hot zikh gevalgert iber fremde tishn eynike yor un hot zikh tsugelozn a bisl tsum trunk un hot zikh gor in gantsn fargesn on der heym. Bay im iz shoyn geven a kern a gute onbaysn [un] a shnaps. Er flegt zikh shoyn ayngefinen oyf khasenes un brisn, un hot zikh oysgelernt tsu betlen glaykh vi er volt in dem geborn gevorn. 20. {Vayehi meir loir.} Un er hot zikh geshlept fun shtot tsu shtot, un hot gor nit gekukt oyf keyn takhles. Biz vanen er iz gekumen keyn Vilne, di greste shtot fun Lite, hot er zikh derkent mit eynem fun Nikelsburg, vos hot dortn gevoynt shoyn a yor tsen. Un dizer man iz geven zeyer raykh un frum. Er hot zikh zeyer farvundert iber dizn Tsodek, den er hot im gekont az er iz nokh geven an oysher un a mentsh mit a sheynem kharakter un iz geven an erlekher soykher. Der R' Tsodek iz atsind gekumen tsu im in shtub betn a nedove, vi der shteyger iz fun di shnorer. Der Nikelsburger hot im gegebn a gildn un hot im oykh gebetn zitsn un hot im gezogt: "Mayn bester yid, mir dakht zikh, az ir zent R' Tsodek der gevant-kremer fun Nikelsburg." "Azoy iz es" - - hot im opgeentfert R' Tsodek - - "ikh bin a nisref gevorn, der noyt ken dem mentshn tsu alts brengen." Der Nikelsburger hot zikh bagosn mit trern dos herndik un hot azoy gezogt: "Es vundert mir zeyer oyf mayn geburtsshtot, az zi zol farlozn azoy a mentsh vi ir zent. Genug mir krenkt es zeyer un zeyer. Ir zolt shoyn fun mayn shtub nit aroysgeyn, ikh vel aykh sheyn bakleydn un vel aykh gebn fuftsik toler oyf der hetsoe oykh eynike rekomendatsyonen, un ir zolt forn aheym. Ir zet dokh shoyn, az mit betlbroyt kumt men di velt nit durkh un dos iz keyn takhles nit far aykh." Der Nikelsburger hot im bay zikh gehaltn a por vokhn. Er hot im bakleydt un dernokh hot er im opgeshikt glaykh keyn Nikelsburg mit zaynem meshulekh, vos er flegt tsushikn ale yorn keyn Layptsig. 21. {Vayisa R' Tsodoyk leveysoy.} Un der R' Tsodek iz shoyn iber nays geforn aheym un iz gekumen besholem um resh-khoydesh nisn keyn Nikelsburg. Er iz ober nit glaykh farforn tsu zayn vayb. Er hot afile nokh nit gefregt vos zi makht, den in dem zelbike tog un in der zelbn shtunde, vos er iz gekumen in shtot, hot er gehert es iz a bris bay a groysn nogid, vos men hot im gerufn R' Leyvi Horevits. Hot er bay zikh getrakht, eyder vos es vet zayn -- dervayl lom ikh hobn a gutn onbaysn. Iz er zikh avekgegangen oyf dem bris. Es iz shoyn geven far nakht un keyner hot im nit derkent un [er] hot arayngezetst tsvishn ale fremde oreme-layt un hot mitgeshpayzt mit dem grestn apetit vi a betler kon nor hobn. Nun veln mir dertseyln vos es iz gevorn mit zayn vayb un im veln mir do lozn oyf eyn vayle zitsn. 22. {Bayomim hohem.} In dize tsaytn iz gevorn an almen eyner fun di Nikelsburger gvirim. Dos iz der R' Leyvi Horevits. Er iz oykh geven a gevant-hendler un hot nokh gehat levad ze zeyer fil gesheftn. Un daher, az es iz bay im di vayb geshtorbn, hot men ongehoybn im tsu shidekhnen di vayb fun R' Tsodek. Er hot zikh nit gelozt lang redn, den zi iz im geven zeyer gefeln. Zi iz geven an eyshes-khayel un sheyn un oykh a meyukheses un iz geven itsund oykh gut in shtand un hot gehaltn in firung. Kurts um, er hot ir genumen far a vayb un hot mit ir farlebt a yor zeyer gliklekh, un atsind hot zi im geborn a zun, oyf velkhn bris der R' Tsodek zitst un est. Der oylem var do zeyer freylekh. Den der Horevits iz geven biz aher a khasukh-bonim. Men hot derlangt tsum tish genug mashke, un der rov hot dortn gezogt fil toyre un der khazn hot gezungen. 23. {Vayehi akhar hamozoyn.} Un es var nokh dem vi der oylem hot opgegesn un hot opgetrunken, iz aroysgegangen di kimpetorin aleyn mit a groysn zak kleyngelt um tsu teyln di oreme-layt, vos zenen gezesn in fordershtub. Es iz shoyn geven rekht nakht, es hobn gebrent zeyer fil likht. Zi hot yedern gegebn zayn erekh nokh, biz zi iz tsugekumen tsu dem R' Tsodek, ir man. Vi er hot ir derzen, hot er aropgerukt di hitl iber dem ponem un hot farbrokhn di hent. Er hot zikh geshvind oyfgekhapt un hot gevolt antloyfn. Ober der meshores hot im tsugehaltn. Di vayb hot gemeynt, az zi hot im baleydikt mit a kleyne nedove; zi hot im gegebn a gresere. Er ober rayst zikh fort, biz der meshores hot im aropgekhapt di hitl. Do hot zi im shoyn derkent. Un vayl zi hot gemeynt, az er iz geshtorbn, hot zi gegleybt az er iz gekumen fun yener velt. Zi iz geblibn in khaloshes un es iz gevorn a groyser liarem un a groyse mishenine. Men hot dem R' Tsodek ongenumen, un er hot zikh moyde geven, az er hot dem ksav farkoyft. Men hot di froy koym opgemintert, ober zi hot nit lang gelebt nokh der mayse fun shrek un biesh. Un der R' Tsodek hot men megaresh geven fun shtot. Un der rov hot geshtroft di nikhbodim far vos zey hobn im mayver geven al datoy un hot geheysn di zakh farshraybn in pinkes fun Nikelsburg. Ende. *** ***Romanized by Claus Buryn. Note: "Nikolsburg. Bezirksstadt in Maehren, an der Bahn Lundenburg-Zellerndorf, 7173 Ew. (zahlreiche Juden); Besitzung des Grafen Mensdorf mit dem Schloss der ausgestorbenen Familie Dietrichstein auf hohem Felsen. Weinbau. 26 Juli 1866 Praeliminarfriede zwischen Oesterreich und Preussen." (_Meyers Hand-Lexicon des Allgemeinen Wissens_. Zweite ... Auflage. Leipzig: Verlag des Bibliographischen Instituts, 1878, p. 1357) . The town is not found on modern maps. It is known today by its Czech name _Mikulov_. It is located south of Brno (Bruenn) and north of Vienna, just north of the Austrian border. [CB]. 3)-------------------------------------------- Date: 15 September 1997 From: Avraham Greenbaum Subject: Gennady Estraikh, _Intensive Yiddish_ Avraham Greenbaum. "Learning 'Oxford Yiddish' with a New Textbook," _Jews in Eastern Europe_ 1 (32) [Spring 1997], pp. 81-2* [reprinted with the kind permission of the author]. Gennady Estraikh, _Intensive Yiddish_, ed. Dafna Clifford, pref. by Dovid Katz, Oxford: Oksforder Yidish Pres, 1996, 255 pp. Our shrinking Yiddish world welcomes new textbooks for studying the language as indicators that there are new students of Yiddish -- many of them not Jewish -- and teachers who teach them. Oxford University, where the present textbook was published, has become the academic center for the study of Yiddish in Europe.** Its scholarly collection _Oksforder Yidish_ has appeared three times and is reminiscent even in its format of the famous Yiddish collections published in Vilna and Minsk in the inter-war period. Gennady Estraikh, who was recently awarded a doctorate at Oxford, was one of the young Yiddish writers who appeared on the scene in the sunset years of the Soviet Union. In addition to teaching Yiddish, he edits _Di pen_, which claims to be the only literary monthly published in the language. This reviewer does not have the expertise for a detailed critique of _Intensive Yiddish_, but some faults are obvious. We miss the passages usually found at the beginning of such primers which are transliterated into the Latin alphabet. That is of particular importance in a book which claims to be usable for self-instruction. Surprising is the almost complete lack of "Jewish content"; with the exception of two adaptations of legends by modern authors, there is nothing particularly Jewish in the literary selections, all of which are by authors who lived or are living in the twentieth century. We surmise that Dr. Estraikh, in trying to appeal to a wide audience, wanted to avoid ethnocentrism; but he seems to have gone too far in the opposite direction. We welcome the author's decision to indicate the stress in the vocabularies for all words. Some lessons, however, have more new words than the student can absorb even in an intensive course. In conclusion, some specific criticisms: "sheygets" (pp. 140, 254) is translated as "impudent Gentile." It should be "gentile" and "impudent or ignorant Jew."*** There are some inaccurate definitions, e.g. "khazonishe muzik" (p. 63) is not "Jewish religious music" but cantorial music. Interesting but problematic is the statement (p. 47): "It is clear that except in the most traditional communities, 'du' [informal 'you'] has steadily encroached upon the use of 'ir' [formal 'you'], especially in the English-speaking world and Israel, where the coterritorial English and Hebrew lack the distinction." To this writer the use of "du" where "ir" is called for is a sign of insufficient knowledge of Yiddish. Experts whom I have consulted agree: in their opinion here Estraikh is simply wrong. If, by the "most traditional communities" he means those whom we in Israel call the "haredim" [ultra-Orthodox], we can ask him: Where else is Yiddish a living language today? *_Jews in Eastern Europe_ is the continuation of _Jews and Jewish Topics in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe_. It is available from The Hebrew University, The Centre for Research and Documentation of East-European History, Givat-Ram, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel. [annual subscription $40 for three issues] ** [These words, apparently written prior to the recent decline of Oxford as a Yiddish center, give too little weight to London, Paris and Triers -- not to mention several Eastern-European cities. The publisher was of course not Oxford University Press, as one might mistakenly assume. LP] ***[_Mendele_ has freqently discussed the word _sheygets_ (see vol. 1, nos. 49, 200; vol. 2, nos. 107-114, 116-118, 120; vol. 3, no. 118; vol. 4, nos. 24, 171, 205, 207, 210, 212, 220, 417-8; vol. 5, no. 7) LP]. ____________________________ 4) Bookmart 4)a ---------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 September 1997 From: Jack Kurland Subject: Oyfgekumener Productions ***Oyfgekumener Productions Oyfgekumener Productions, publisher of CDs and tapes by the Wholesale Klezmer Band and its members, currently has four recordings available and a new title coming in mid-October. They are described on website http://www.crocker.com/~ganeydn. The recordings are available from Tara Publications, the National Yiddish Book Center and the Book Center of the Workmen's Circle. For more information write to Yosl (Joe) Kurland/ The Wholesale Klezmer Band/ Colrain, MA 01340/ voice/fax: 413-624-3204. 4b --------------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 September 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Want List ***Want List: _Shtentsls heftlekh_ Nos. 15, 24, 31, 34 For a bibliographical project I have been working on for many years I am missing the following _Shtentsls heftlekh_ (London 1940-1945). These are individual brochures which AVROM-NOKHEM SHTENTSL (Abraham-Nahum Stencl) issued before he founded _Loshn un lebn_. Each has its own title. I would like to buy these items but will settle for xerox copies, or at the very least a list of the contents. _15_. _Tsu der indzl do_ ('To the Island Here') {2:9} (August 1941). _24_. _Sovyet-front_ ('Soviet Front') {3:5} (June 1942). _31_. _Khanike_ ('Khanuka') {3:12} (December 1942). _34_. _Englishe mayster in der moleray_ ('English Masters of Painting') (December 1942). ----------------------------------------------------------------- End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.019 Leonard Prager, editor Send articles to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il The editor of _TMR_ can also be reached via _Mendele_'s homepage: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/ 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.020 1 October 1997 "Dos porfolk" issue 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) "Dos porfolk" (Sholem-Aleykhem) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 1 October 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters (Leonard Prager) --"Dos porfolk" In this issue of the _TMR_ we give the full text of Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk" based on the widely available "_Forverts_ oysgabe" (New York, 1942), Vol. 1 [_Mayses far yidishe kinder_, Book One, pp.127-153]. The spelling of the latter, as of most Sholem-Aleykhem texts presently available, is obsolete. The romanization here given conforms to the Standard Yiddish Orthography and may be used in preparing a Jewish-letter text of the story. If you wish to discuss the romanization, please contact the editor directly. A small number of Mendelyaner have been invited to participate in a symposium on this story in _The Mendele Review_ vol. 01, no. 021 (also being issued on 1 October 1997). Discussion of the story will now be opened to the entire _Mendele_ readership. Queries and brief comments (e.g. etymologies of specific terms) should be directed to _Mendele_ and essay-length notices to _The Mendele Review_. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 1 October 1997 From: Leah Krikun Subject: "Dos porfolk" by Sholem-Aleykhem Dos porfolk by Sholem-Aleykhem (A mayse noyre, vi azoy me hot eynmol in mitn nakht oyfgekhapt tsvey umshuldike nefoshes, gebundn, aroysgefirt oyfn mark un farkoyft tsu vilde mentshn, gehodevet a khoydesh nokhanand mit maydeney-meylekh, un a tog far peysekh gekoylet vi di shof. Geshribn in yor 1909.) [Funem farfaser: Der mekhaber fun der geshikhte bet zikh baym lezer, er zol in der mayse nisht zukhn keyn alegoryes, nisht veln trefn, vemen der mekhaber hot do gemeynt. Es iz do nisht faran keyn remez fun alegoryes, un afile nisht, ir zolt zogn, far a groshn ot dos, vos vert ongerufn simbolizm. Dos iz glat azoy zikh a poshete mayse, on khokhmes, on eyberkeplekh, a mayse fun tsvey umshuldike gots bashefenishn nebekh, vos hobn gelebt, gelibt, gekholemt, gelitn, gehoft un merderish gefaln um erev peysekh, nisht tsu visn far vos un far ven.... Nervi (Italye)] ALEF. Di shreklekhe nakht Dos iz geven in eyne fun di finstere, blotike, farpeysekhdike nekht. Alts iz geven ayngehilt in finsternish. Alts iz geshlofn. Shtil un ruik is geven arum un arum afile a fish in vaser hot gerut, moyre gehat aroyshteln dem kop oyf gots velt in der doziker finsterer, shtiler, ruiker nakht. In aza nakht is faran a sakh arbet farn bal-khaloymes. Er zhalevet nisht keyn farbn, shit mit der fuler hant fantazyes, vos nisht geshtoygn, nisht gefloygn, un firt tsunoyf a vant mit a vant. Di khaloymes, vos der held fun der doziker geshikhte hot gezen in yener nakht, zenen geven meshune-modne vilde khaloymes! A gantse nakht hobn zikh im geplontet [geplontert] oyfes, hiner, genz un katshkes. Eyner a hon, a royter, nokh nor a yungetshker, nor a groyser eyzes-ponim, shpringt im mit khutspe in di oygn arayn, lakht un zingt im epes a modne lidl: Ku-ka-ri-ku, lange noz! M'et [= me vet] dikh pakn vi a hoz! M'et dikh bindn, m'et dikh shlogn, M'et dikh leygn in a vogn, M'et dikh mutshen on a sof, M'et dikh koyln vi an of!.... Dos lidl lozt oys der royter hon mit a kukariku, un es dakht zikh oys undzer held, az di oyfes, di genz mit di katshkes, vos dreyen zikh arum im, kvokn, gogotshen un lakhn oyf meshune-modne koyles, un azoy shtark, az er vert oyfgeregt, tut zikh a loz tsum hon tsum sheygets, un far groys kaas khapt er zikh oyf mit a moyredik hartsklapenish un derhert a rash, a tuml, a geruder, a klaperay fun fis, a shayn fun a likht, un koyles, vilde, umbekante koyles: "Nisht der!... Ot der!... Yo-yo!... Nemt im!... Khapt im!... Bint im!... Pavoli di fis!... Brekht im nisht oys keyn fus!... Ot azoy!... Fartik?.... Nu, rir zikh! Rir zikh!... Di nakht shteyt nisht!... Marsh in vogn arayn!...._ Un er derfilt gezunte hent, vi ayzerne tsvangen, haltn im, bindn im, dreyen im tsunoyf di fis, un me tut im a khap-oyf in der luftn un a vorf-arayn in a breytn hoykhn vogn arayn. In vogn ligt nokh a nefesh, azoy vi er, dakht zikh, a nekeyve, un tsitert mit ale eyvrim. Tsvey mentshn dreyen zikh arum zey. Eyner -- a pereodem, on a hitl, der anderer -- oykh a pereodem, mit a kutshme oyfn kop. Der vos on dem hitl shteyt hintn, batrakht dem vogn, di reder, di ferdlekh. Un der vos mit der kutshme hot zikh aroyfgezetst oyfn vogn, un glaykh tsu zey oyf di fis, un mit aza retsikhe, az zey hobn zikh derzen mit yener velt.... -- Geb nor akhtung, zey zoln zikh bay dir nisht oyfbindn, nisht aroysglitshn, nisht aropshpringen. Du herst, tsi neyn? Azoy zogt der, vos on dem hitl, tsu der kutshme, un di kutshme entfert nisht. Er derlangt a rekhtn shmits di ferd, un der vogn rirt. BEYZ. Di gefangene shlisn kentshaft in gefenkenish Vi azoy zey hobn ibergelebt di dozike nakht un nisht oysgegangen oyfn vogn far shrek aleyn -- iz take nor a nes min hashomayim. Vu zenen zey? Vuhim firt men zey? Un for vos? Far ven?.... Iber groys finsternish hobn zey afile nisht gekont zikh rekht onkukn. Ersht, az s'hot ongehoybn tsu togn, hobn zey genumen batrakhtn eyns dos andere un durkhshmuesn zikh shtilerheyt. -- Gut morgn, madam! -- Gut morgn, gut yor! -- Ikh volt gemegt shvern, az ir zent fun undzere... fun di indianer.... -- Ir farshport shvern, me gloybt aykh on a shvue.... -- Ikh hob aykh glaykh derkent, nokh di kareln. -- Dos bavayzt, az ir hot an oyg. Es geyt avek etlekhe minut. Nokhdem ruft er zikh on tsu ir vider a mol: -- Madam! Vi filt ir zikh? -- Aza yor oyf mayne sonim! Er lozt durkh nokh a vayle un roymt ir ayn a sod oyfn oyer: -- Madam, ikh vil aykh epes fregn. -- Fregt. -- In vos bashuldikt men aykh? -- Dos eygene, vos aykh. -- Ikh meyn, vos hot ir azoyns farzindikt? -- Dos eygene, vos ir. -- Mir shaynt, az ir zent mir epes vi broygeslekh? -- Broygeslekh? Nakhal! [< Russian: 'impudent fellow'] Er hot zikh avekgezetst bay mir oyf di fis, az se shparn mir di oygn fun kop, un zogt nokh, az ikh bin broygeslekh! -- Vos redt ir dos, madam? Ikh zits bay aykh oyf di fis? -- Ver den zitst? -- Dos iz er! Ot der pereodem mit der kutshme. Farkhapt zol er vern! -- Azoy gor? Un ikh hob gemeynt, az dos kvetshn, vos se kvetsht mikh, iz fun aykh. Hot keyn faribl nisht, tomer hob ikh aykh baleydikt. Dos is in gantsn, vos zey hobn gekont zogn eyns dem andern. Vorum es khapt zikh oyf di kutshme, vi fun dem shlof, un shmayst, shmayst di ferd mit kaas. Der vogn shpringt-unter, di tsvey indianer hern zikh tsu, vi es treyslen zikh bay zey ineveynik di gdorim. Plutsim shtelt zikh op der vogn, un zey derzen far zikh azelkhes, vos zey hobn nokh oyf zeyer lebn nisht gezen keyn mol. GIMEL. Fun eyn gefenkenish in dem andern Dos ershte mol oyf zeyer lebn iz zey oysgekumen tsu zen oyf eyn ort azoy fil ferd, beheymes, kelblekh, khazeyrim, un mentshn, on a shier mentshn! Alerley vogns mit untergehoybene shtekns, ful mit farsheydene skhoyres, broyt un lebedike zakhn: hiner, genz un katshkes, ongepakt eyns oyf dos andere. Dort, in der zayt, eyner aleyn oyf a vogn, ligt a gebundener doverakher un protestirt, kvitshet mit azelkhe meshune koyles, az me kon toyb vern. Nor ver hert im? Ale loyfn, ale redn, ale zenen fartareramt -- s'iz a yerid. Ahertsu hot zey gebrakht tsu firn der pereodem, vos mit der kutshme, aroysgekrokhn funem vogn un genumen bobren zikh mit di gefangene. Un di gefangene hobn zikh oyfgekhapt, gefilt a modne hartsklapenish: "Vos vet er ton mit zey, ot der pereodem? Efsher oyfbindn? Bafrayn un lozn geyn, vu di oygn veln trogn?"... Akh, umzist iz geven zeyer freyd -- er hot zey nor aroyfgerukt abisl hekher, aponim, az me zol zey beser kenen zen? Aza bizoyen! Aza bizoyen!... Un efsher, az me vil rekhenen dos eygene tsurik, ken zayn, az es iz glaykher, vos ale zeen zey! Aderabe, loz di velt zen! Efsher vet zikh gefinen a gute zel, vos vet tsugeyn, zikh onnemen zeyer krivde, un a freg ton bay dem pereodem: Far vos? Far ven? Azoy hobn zikh getrakht nebekh di umshuldike gefangene -- un glaykh vi zey hobn getrofn: es hot zikh take gefunen a gute zel, epes eyne a grobe, mit a terkisher shal. Zi geyt tsu, tut a top in vogn un a zog tsu der kutshme: -- Dos host du gebrakht tsu firn dos porfolk? -- Vos iz dayn eysek? -- Indianer? -- Vos den, terkn? -- Vifil heyst du zikh gebn far zey? -- Vu host do azoy fil gelt? -- Ikh zol nisht hobn keyn gelt, to tsulib vos volt ikh zikh avekgeshtelt redn mit aza kham, vi du bizt? Ot azoy shmuesn zikh durkh di terkishe shal mit der kutshme, un es geyt avek bay zey a dingenish oyf lang. Der pereodem, vos mit der kutshme, is kalt vi ayz, di terkishe shal hitst zikh, shpringt op ale mol un geyt avek, un kumt ober bald tsurik, un vider a mol nemt men zikh dingen, azoy lang, biz di kutshme vert in kaas, un me heybt zikh on sheltn. Dos porfolk dervayl varft zikh durkh mit a por verter: -- Madam! Ir hert, tsi neyn? -- Ikh her, vos den? Ikh her nisht? -- Es halt derbay, me zol undz, aponim, oyskoyfn fun gefenkenish? -- Azoy vayzt dos oys. -- Vos zhe dingt zi zikh far undz, vi me dingt zikh far genz? -- Az okh un az vey! -- Lozn zey zikh shlogn kop on vant, abi mir zoln aroys fray. -- Omeyn halevay! Dankn got, di terkishe shal hot shoyn arayngeleygt di hant in keshene, nemt aroys gelt. -- Haklal, iz nisht vintsiker? -- Nisht vintsiker. -- Dos iz shoyn dos letste shebeletste? -- Dos letste shebeletste -- Efsher... Sha, sha! Ze nor a retsikhe fun a mentshn! Na dir gelt, na! Un dos porfolk geyt iber funem reshus fun dem pereodem mit der kutshme in reshus fun der grober mit der terkisher shal, dos heyst, eygentlekh, fun eyn gefenkenish inem andern, vi mir veln zen vayter. DALED. Tsvishn vilde mentshn Vi bald me hot zey gebrakht oyfn nayem ort, azoy hot men zey bald oyfgebundn, un mit freyd hobn zey derfilt di erd unter zikh. Zey hobn genumen oysglaykhn zikh di beyner un arumshpanen hin un tsurik, oyspruvn oyf vifil di fis dinen zey nokh, un far groys simkhe hobn zey gornisht bamerkt, az zey zenen nokh gants vayt fun di emese frayhayt. Ersht a minut shpeter hobn zey zikh arumgekukt, az zay zenen in gefenkenish. Me hot zey arayngelozt ergets in a finster vinkl, fun eyn zayt a varemer oyvn, fun der anderer zayt a kalte vant, un fun fornt opgetsamt mit an ibergekertn leyter. Un esn hot men zey avekgeshtelt un trinkn, un me hot zey ibergelozt eyne aleyn, vi es redt zikh, oyf gots berot. Batrakht zeyer naye voynung, hobn zey zikh avekgeshtelt eyns kegn andern ongeblozn, vi geveynlekh vild-fremde, gekukt, gekukt un oysgedreyt zikh eyns tsum andern, mekhile, mitn hintn un tsegangen zikh, er in eyn vinkele, zi inem andern, un me hot zikh fartift itlekher in zayne makhshoves. Lang trakhtn hot men ober zey nit gelozt. Es hot zikh geefnt di tir fun zeyer turme un s'iz arayngekumen frier di terkishe shal, un nokh ihr alerley vayber, eyne nokh der anderer. Yede bazunder hot di terkishe shal ongenumen bay a hant, tsugefirt tsu di gefangene, a vayz gegebn mitn finger un a zog geton mit a shaynendik ponim: -- Gefelt aykh dos porfolk? -- Vifil hot ir avekgegebn? -- Shatst. Ale hobn geshatst un nisht eyne hot getrofn, un az di terkishe shal hot zey ongerufn di sume, hobn ale vayber gegebn a plesk mit di hent: -- Take beemes? -- Mir zoln azoy ale hobn a freylekhn, a koshern peysekh! Oyf di penimer fun di vayber iz geven ongetseykhnt kine. Zeyere beklekh hobn geflamt. In di oygn hot gebrent a fayerl. Nor es hobn zikh a shot geton vinshevanyes: -- Farnitst gezunt! -- Zol aykh voyl bakumen! -- Derlebt iberayor! -- Mit ayer man un mit ayere kinderlekh! -- Omeyn! Gam atem! Gam atem! Ale vayber geyen avek. In a minut arum kumt on di terkishe shal tsurik un shlept mit zikh eynem a mansbil, a vildn parshoyn, a bavaksenem mit royte hor. Zi firt im tsu mit dem zelbn shaynerdikn ponim: -- Du bist dokh yo a meyvn. Vos zogst du oyf der porfolk? __ Der bavaksener parshoyn kukt mit vilde oygn. -- Ikh bin a meyvn? Vos for a meyvn bin ikh? -- Du bist dokh a yid fun toyre, un vu toyre, dort iz khokhme. Vi meynst du, a shteyger, -- meg undz shoyn got gebn a koshern peysekh? S'iz dokh fun zayn libn nomen vegn. Der bavaksener parshoyn glet zikh bay di gele hor, farglantst di oygn aroyf, makht a frum ponim: -- Der eybershter meg gebn ale yidn a koshern peysekh. Di terkishe shal mitn bavaksenem parshoyn geyen avek, un dos porfolk blaybt vayter aleyn. Zey shteyn a vayle on loshn, ongeblozn eyns oyf dos andere, vi frier. Zi lozt aroys a modnem hilkh funem haldz, a min hust mit a kvitsh. Er dreyt oys dem kop tsu ir: -- Madam! Vos iz mit aykh? -- Gornisht. Ikh hob mikh dermont in der heym. -- Narishkaytn! Dos darf men fargesn. Me darf zikh beser arumkukn, vu zenen mir un vos hobn mir tsu ton? -- Vu zenen mir? In der erd zenen mir. Mir zenen oyf groyse tsores. -- Dehayne? -- Ir fregt nokh? Ir zet nisht, az me hot undz farkoyft tsu di vilde mentshn, vi me farkoyft hiner, genz oder katshkes? -- Vos zhe veln zey undz ton? -- Oy veln zey undz ton! Nokh az ikh bin geven a kleyninke, hob ikh zikh ongehert sheyne mayses, vos di vilde mentshn tuen mit undzere layt, vos faln arayn tsu zey in di hent arayn.... -- Et! Mayses!... Gloybt nisht in kayn bobe-mayses.... -- Nisht kayn bobe-mayses. Ikh hob dos aleyn gehert fun mayn shvester.... Mayn shvester dertseylt, az zey zenen erger fun di vilde khayes. A vilde khaye, az zi khapt emitsn fun undz, tserayst zi im un frest im oyf -- un a sof; un az.... -- Te-te-te, madam! Ir kukt oyf der velt, dakht mir, shoyn tsu pesimistish. -- Tsu vos? -- Tsu pesimistish. -- Vos heyst dos pesimistish? -- Dos heyst.... Dos heyst, ir kukt durkh tsu tunkele briln. -- Vu zet ir briln? -- Ha-ha-ha! -- Vos lakht ir? -- Oy, zent ir, madam, a.... -- A vos? Er hot ir gevolt zogn, vos zi iz. Nor plutsim efnt zikh di tir un..... Leynt vayter. HEY. "Halt-dir-Na-dir-Nem-dir!" Es efnt zikh di tir un es rayst zikh arayn fun droysn, vi a shturmvint, vi a gantser polk soldatn, khevre kleynvarg, kundsim, mit royte beklekh un mit shvartse eyglekh. Zey tuen zikh a loz ale mit a mol tsum untern-oyvn. Anu? Vu zenen zey? Vu? Oto zenen zey, ototot! Eh! Yankl! Berl! Velvl! Eyli! Getsl! Gikher! Gikher! Un do heybt zikh on far undzer porfolk der emeser genem: tsores un payn un yisurim un bizyoynes on a shier! Khevre kleynvarg zenen ongefaln oyf zey, vi di vilde proim, genumen tantsn un shpringen arum zey, batrakhtn zey fun ale zaytn un makhn fun zey khoyzek, khukhe-tlule. -- Yosl, ze nor a noz! Ha-ha-ha! -- A noni! Berl! A noni! -- Velvl! Tu im a tsi bay der noz! -- Baym shnobl, Eyli! Ot azoy o! -- Shtarker, Getsl, loz er onheybn shrayen! -- Ir zent ale naronim! Shrayen -- shrayen zey nor damolt, ven me fayft zey, zey hobn faynt, az me fayft zey. A simen hot ir, ot heyb ikh on fayfn! Fyu! Dos porfolk blozn zikh on, vern royt, lozn arop di nez un shrayen oys beyde mit a mol: -- Halt dir! Halt dir! Halt dir! Khevre kleynvarg khapn unter ale in eynem mit a vildn gelekhter: -- Halt-dir-na-dir-nem-dir! Dos porfolk vern nokh mer ongetsundn un shrayen nokh hekher: -- Halt dir! Halt dir! Halt dir! Dos gefelt der khevre kleynvarg dafke zeyer shtark. Zey haltn zikh bay di zaytn far gelekhter un shrayen nokh hekher: -- Halt-dir! Na-dir! Nem-dir! Fun aza min veln aribershrayen eyns dos andere vert di shtub ongefilt mit azelkhe koyles, az es kumt tsu flien di terkishe shal (lang lebn zol zi!), khapt on khevre kleynvarg farn kark un shlaydert zey aroys eyntsikvayz fun shtub un teylt zey nokh ayn derbay a por gute stusakes ['fisticuffs'] un lozt oys mit a langer klole: -- A shlak zol oyf aykh kumen, reboyne-sheloylem, a sreyfe, a mageyfe, a kholere! S'zol aykh onkhapn un s'zol aykh koyklen un koyklen un oyskoyklen aykh eyntsikvayz mit ale meshumodim, ziser got, un s'zol fun aykh nisht blaybn biz peysekh keyn sorid upolet, liber foter, hartsiker, getrayer! Poter gevorn funem dozikn goles, hot undzer porfolk nokh lang nisht gekont kumen tsu zikh. Di vilde geshreyen mitn fayfn, mitn gelekhter fun di kleyne vilde nefoshes zenen nokh lang geshtanen un gehilkht zey in di oyern. Nokhdem hot er zikh ongehoybn arumkukn, az s'iz nisht keyn takhlis tsu troyern oyfn goles un nisht nemen gornisht in moyl arayn. Un er geyt tsu pavolinke tsum onbaysn, vos me hot zey avekgeshtelt, un ruft zikh on tsu ir: -- Madam! Biz vanen iz der shier tsu shteyn ot azoy farzorgt? Tsayt epes iberkhapn. Di velt iz oykh a velt, khlebn. Di neshome oysshpayen kon men nisht. Fargest nisht, az mir hobn nokh hayntikn tog in moyl nisht gehat. -- Est gezunterheyt. Ikh -- nisht. -- Khm.... far vos? S'iz bay aykh haynt a tones? -- Nisht keyn tones, nor glat azoy. -- Ir vilt zey efsher onlernen? Hungern? Ir vet nor makhn fun zikh a tel, un vayter nor nisht.... -- Ikh veys nisht, vi azoy me kon epes esn. Es krikht nisht in haldz arayn. -- Es krikht, es krikht. Der ershter bisn iz ayn ekber. -- A vos? -- Ayn ekber. -- Modne verter bay aykh! -- Ha-ha-ha? -- Vider ha-ha-ha? Vos iz der gelekhter? -- Ikh hob mikh dermont inem borekh-habe fun di kleyne mamzeyrim. -- Avade darf men lakhn. -- Vos zhe? Veynen darf men? -- Farvos hot ir nisht gelakht, feter, beshas zey hobn gefayft? -- Vos den hob ikh geton? -- Ir hot, dakht zikh, genug gepildert! -- Ikh hob gepildert? Ikh? -- Ver den hot gepildert? Ikh? -- Ir hot di ershte ongehoybn shrayn: Halt dir! Halt dir! Halt dir! -- Hot keyn faribl nisht, dos zent ir geven der ershter, vos hot gezogt: Halt dir! Halt dir! Halt dir! -- Nu, vos zhe iz do a bizoyen, az ikh bin geven der ershter, vos hob gezogt: Halt dir! Halt dir!? -- Vos far a kharpe iz, az ikh bin geven di ershte, vos hob gezogt: Halt dir! Halt dir!? -- Az s'iz nisht a kharpe, vos-zhe hot ir aropgelozt di noz, madam? -- Ikh hob aropgelozt di noz? -- Ver den hot aropgelozt di noz? -- Akh, vi gring s'iz tsu zen yenems noz!.... An aveyre, vos der doziker interesanter shmues hot zikh nisht gekent tsien vayter. Me hot zey ibergeshlogn same in mitn. Dos iz geven di terkishe shal, vos hot geveltikt oyf zey in gefenkenish, vi es shteyt geshribn vayter. VAV. Di ekzekutsye fun di vayber Di terkishe shal iz nisht geven di eyntsike, vos hot geveltikt oyf zey in gefenkenish. Zey iz bashert geven tsu bakenen zikh mit nokh eyne a vilde brie, inem geshtalt fun a griner moyd mit a royter fatsheyle oyfn kop. Arayngekumen zenen zey beyde mit fule hent fun kol-tuv: a shisl mit rayz, oysgemisht mit arbes un mit fasolyes, a teler mit gekokhte kartofl, mit gehakte eyer, un a fuln fartekh mit ongeshnitene shtiklekh epl un mit veltshine nis. Arayngekumen mitn esnvarg, hot di grine moyd mit der royter fatsheyle a vayz geton oyfn porfolk un a zog geton tsu der terkisher shal: -- A make iz mir, balaboste lebn, zet nor, zey hobn zikh kemat nisht tsugerirt tsum esn! -- Di dayge zol mir blaybn oyf, mirtseshem, nokh peysekh. Ot veln mir zey bald onhodeven. Ikh vel zey nemn tsu zikh, zey tsuhalten, un du vest zey leygn dos esn in moyl arayn. Nu, moyd? Vos shteystu? Vos shtshirest du mit di tseyn? -- Vos hobn zey azelkhes derzen oyf mir, vos zey hern nisht oyf tsu pilderen: Halt dir! Halt dir!? -- A farsreyfet zolst du vern, du narishe moyd! Tu oys di royte fatsheyle dayne! Zey konen nisht zen keyn royte farb!.... -- Mayne tsores oyf zeyere kep! -- Oyf dayn kop, narele, du bizt bilkher. Ot azoy o! Nu? Far vos leygst du im nisht in moyl arayn keyn rayz mit fasolyes? -- Far vos ikh leyg im nisht? In mir iz keyn menie nisht. Ikh volt im geleygt fun haynt biz morgn, nor ir zet dokh, az er lozt zikh nisht. Er dreyt mitn kop un halt tsu dos moyl. -- Ver hert im? Ot geb ikh im a kvetsh baym haldz, vet er bay mir efenen di piskes! Ot azoy o! Leyg-leyg! -- Oy, balebostinke! Gezunt zolt ir mir zayn! Epes glantst er mir zeyer mit di oygn! Zet nor, er zol zikh kholile nisht dervergn. -- Ver dervorgn beser du aleyn, du bizt bilkher. Na dir gor dervergn! Glaykh vi s'iz bay mir dos ershte mol! Shtup im glaykh in haldz arayn. Ot azoy. Ikh bin shoyn eyn un tsvantik yor a baleboste mit gots hilf. Itst leyg im arayn in moyl a shtikl epl, mit a yoder fun a velishn [veltshenem] nus. Nokh, nokh. Vos zhalevest du? -- Ikh zhaleve nisht. Vos vel ikh zhaleven? S'iz mayn? S'iz nisht mer vi a rakhmones a tsar-balekhaim. -- Vos zogt ir oyf der moyd? A tsar-balekhaim! Me tut im kholile shlekhts? Me git dokh im esen! Un fun vemens vegn? Fun gots vegn. Lekoved dem heylikn yontef. Der eybershter meg mir take helfn. Ikh hob im shoyn nisht eyn porl oysgehodevet oyf peysekh. Geb aher nokh a velish [veltshen] nisl -- un a sof. Itstiks mol vet zayn genug fun zaynet vegn. Er iz shoyn zat. Lomir zikh okersht nemen tsu ir un onhoybn fun ma-toyvu, dos heyst, nokh a mol fun rayz mit fasolyes. -- Zolt ir mir gezunt zayn, balaboste lebn, vi azoy derkent ir, velkhes iz an _er_ un velkhes a _zi_? -- Ale beyze khaloymes oyf dayn kop! Me heyst ir ton an arbet, un zi iz do der ruekh veyst mit vos! Hob frier khasene, narishe moyd, un ver aleyn a baleboste, vestu demolt fregn. Dervayl tu, vos me heyst dir. Ot azoy o. Nokh -- nokh! Zhaleve nisht! S'iz nisht tsulib keynem, s'iz tsulib zayn libn nomen. Oyf peysekh! Oyf peysekh! Geendikt di ekzekutsye, hobn zikh beyde vayber opgetrogn, un undzere umgliklekhe gepaynikte zenen geblibn aleyn. Zey hobn zikh farshlogn beyde in a vinkele, aroyfgeleygt eyns oyfn andere di klogedike kep un fartift zikh in azelkhe troyerike makhshoves, velkhe kumen zeyer zeltn, saydn a halb sho farn toyt. ZAYEN. Der vorem ligt in khreyn un meynt, az keyn zisers iz nishto. Keyn zakh makht nisht azoy noent un frayndlekh, vi tsores. Der bester bavayz zenen di tsvey umgliklekhe heldn fun undzer geshikhte. In der kurtser tsayt fun zeyer gefenkenish zenen zey zikh tsenoyfgegangen mit di kharaktern, ongehoybn farshteyn eyns dos andere oyfn vunk, oyfgehert shemen zikh eyns far dos andere un gevorn azoy noent, az me hot oyfgehert zik "irtsn" un men is gevorn nefesh akhas. Er ir: "neshomenyu!" Zi im: "lyubenyu!" Di terkishe shal mit der royter fatsheyle, araynkumendik mit esnvarg, hobn zikh gor zat nisht gekont onkukn in zey. -- Vos zogst du oyfn porfolk? -- A lebn, vi untern oyvn! -- Zest du khotsh, vi zey hobn zikh bay mir, kenehore, farrikht? -- Keyn beyz oyg zol zey nisht shatn! -- Tu zey nor a nem unter di pakhves.... vos zogst du?!.... Nishkoshe fun a heytl?.... Ha? Meg mir shoyn got helfn farn porfolk, vos ikh hob im oysgehodevet oyf peysekh?.... Di vilde vayber tuen-op zeyer arbet un geyen avek, un dos porfolk fartrakht zikh. Vos badaytn di verter fun der terkisher shal: "Zi hodevet zey oyf peysekh?" Un far vos darf ir got helfn?.... Un me sharft zikh di moykhes un me diskutirt tsvishn zikh: -- Vos heyst dos, lyubenyu, peysekh? -- Peysekh, neshomenyu, iz bay zey aza yontef, aza yontef fun frayhayt, fun bafrayung. -- Vos heyst dos "fun bafrayung"? -- Ikh vel dir gebn tsu farshteyn. S'iz bay zey a groyse mitsve khapn a undzerikn un hodeven im azoy lang, biz es kumt der yontef, vos heyst peysekh, un az es kumt der yontef, vos heyst peysekh, lozt men im fray.... Haynt farshteyst du shoyn dem seykhel? -- Nokh vayt biz dem yontef, vos heyst peysekh? -- Vedlik ikh hob gehert fun der terkisher shal zogn, vayzt oys, az nit mer vi a tog dray. -- Dray tog?! -- Vos host du zikh azoy dershrokn, narishe? Di dray tog veln iberflien, vi a kholem, un s'vet kumen der liber yontef peysekh, vet men undz efenen tir un toyer un me vet undz zogn: Hayda kinderlekh, geyt aykh ahin, fun vanen ir zent gekumen! Veln mir dos nemen shteln fis!.... -- Akh, lyubenyu, dayne zise reyd!.... Alevay s'zol zayn azoy, vi du zogst! Ikh hob ober moyre far an ander zakh.... -- Harts mayns, du host tomed moyre.... -- Lebn mayns, du kenst nit di vilde mentshn. -- Fun vanen kenst du zey, neshomenyu? -- Ikh hob zikh genug ongehert, lyubenyu, nokh in der heym dertseyln azelkhe mayses oyf zey! Mayne a shvester hot mir dertseylt, az zi hot aleyn gezen.... -- Vider a mol der shvesters mayses? Neshomenyu, mayses farges! -- Lyubenyu! Ikh volt veln fargesn, kon ikh nisht. Zey pikn mir in kop arayn gantse teg. Zey lozn mikh nit shlofn baynakht. -- Vos zhe iz dos far mayses, vos pikn dir in kop arayn gantse teg, lozn dir nisht shlofn baynakht? -- Lyubenyu! Vest nit lakhn fun mir? -- Vos zol ikh epes lakhn, neshomenyu? -- Du host tomed aza teve, az ikh dertseyl dir epes, lakhst du mikh oys un zogst oyf mir, az ikh bin a shatyo [= shoyto], a geshleyerte handzye, a narishe inditshke un nokh azelkhe zakhn [see Stutshkov, p. 305]. -- Ikh zog dir tsu, az ikh vel nit lakhn, abi dertseyl, vos host du gehert fun dayn shvester? -- Mayn shvester dertseylt, az di mentshn, vos mir zen, zenen erger fun di vilde khayes. A vilde khaye, az zi khapt emitsn fun undz, tserayst zi im un frest im oyf -- un a sof. Mentshn tuen nit azoy. A undzeriker, az er falt arayn tsu di mentshn in di hent arayn, haltn zey im farshpart, gebn im esn un trinken fun der fuler hant, biz er vert gut fet.... -- Nu? -- Un az er vert gut fet, koyln zey im, shindn im op di hoyt, tseshnaydn oyf shtiklekh un bazaltsn im mit zalts un veykn im in vaser.... -- Nu, un vayter vos? -- Un vayter tseleygn zey a fayer un brotn im oyf zayne eygene shmalts un esn im oyf mit di beyner. -- Bobe-mayses! Geshikhtes fun toyznt eyn nakht! A ku iz gefloygn ibern dakh un geleygt an ey! Un du, shatyo, gloybst dos? Ha-ha-ha! -- Nu! Hob ikh nit gezogt frier, az du vest mikh oyslakhn? -- Vos zhe den? Az fun danen biz ahin heybt ir nit on tsu farshteyn! Mir dakht, az du host gehert a mol hundert fun der terkisher shal, az dos, vos me hodevet undz iz nit tsulib keynem, nor tsulib got. -- Lebn mayns! Vos-zhe is derfun gedrungen? -- Iz derfun gedrungen, neshome mayne, az du bizt a narishe inditshke, un vayter gornisht. -- Ir hot tomed aza teve. Yenem baleydikn iz bay aykh tfu! -- Ver iz geven der ir? -- Ikh meyn aykh, ale mansbiln. -- Ale mansbiln? Mit vifil mansbiln bizt du dos bakant, volt ikh gevolt visn? -- Ikh ken zikh mit eynem, iz genug far mir. -- Neyn, host gezogt _mansbiln_. Di mashmoes, az akhuts mir host du zikh gekent mit nokh emitsn? -- Vos nokh vest du oystrakhtn? -- Shoyn! Zi hot shoyn aropgelozt di noz.... Kum nor aher, ikh vil dir epes zogn.... Di dozike stsene fun kutsenyu-mutsenyu vert plutsim ibergerisn durkh der khevre kleynvarg fun yener zayt fenster. Ineveynik arayngeyn lozt men zey nit, kumen zey ale tog tsu tsum fenster, fun droysn, un fun dortn shtekn zey arayn di nez, makhn meshugene tnues, shteln aroys di tsung, lakhn un fayfn un shrayen un hilkhn ale in eynem: "Halt dir! Na dir! Nem dir!".... Dos porfolk, geveynlekh, entfert zey op deroyf oyf zeyer loshn, shoyn nisht mit aza kaas, vi frier, nor glat, a shteyger, vi me entfert oyf "A gut morgn" -- "Gut yor". "Brokhim hayoyshvim" -- "Kumt esn" -- "Est gezunterheyt".... S'iz gor nito, hert ir, aza zakh oyf der velt, vos a gots bashefenish zol dertsu nisht gevoynt vern. Undzer porfolk iz shoyn azoy gevoynt gevorn mit di tsores, az s'hot zikh dem oysgedakht, az azoy darf es tsu zayn, vi der vorem, vos ligt in khreyn, meynt, az keyn zisers iz shoyn nishto. KHES. A beyz bagegenish mit an altn bakantn S'iz geven a frimorgn. In droysn iz geshtanen a gedikhter tuman. In shtub iz nokh geven finster. Dos porfolk hot gehaltn same in rekhtn shlof. Es hot zikh zey gekholemt zeyer amolike heym. A groyser, a breyter, a frayer indroysn. A bloyer himl, grin groz. A zilbern taykhl. A mil, vos dreyt un klapt un shpritst mit vaser. Genz un katshkes plyosken zikh baym breg. Hiner pikn. Hener kreyen. Foyglekh flien. Akh, vos far a sheyne velt got hot bashafn fun zeyert vegn.... Fun zeyert vegn?.... Fun vemens den vegn zenen ot di hoykhe boymer mit di breyte tsvaygn, vos me kon unter zey arumshpatsirn frank un fray? Oder fun vemens vegn iz ot di mil, vos arum ir hodeven zey zikh ale mit der gantser mishpokhe, lozn nisht tsu keyn fremdn far a mayl arum un arum? Fun vemen vegn iz ot der groyser kaylekhiker himeldiker brener, vos ale farnakht lozt er zikh arop in eyn ek taykh, un ale frimorgn bavayzt er zikh funem andern ek taykh? Vos voltn zey itst nit avekgegebn, zey zoln nokh a mol a kuk ton! khotsh mit eyn oyg oyf der sheyner, varemer, fayerdiker zun? Oyf dem groysn, breytn, frayen, likhtikn indroysn? Oyf der mil un oyf altsding, vos arum der mil?.... Same in di dozike gute, goldene khaloymes hot men zey oyfgekhapt un aroysgetrogn zey in droysn aroys. Di fraye luft fun dem tumanendikn frimorgn hot zey a zets geton in ponim arayn un hot zey arumgenumen mit ir frishkayt fun ale zaytn. Zey hobn derfilt, az s'iz zey oysgevaksn fliglen. Ot khapn zey zikh oyf un flien in der velt arayn, flien iber dekher, iber gertner, iber velder, ahin, ahin, tsu zikh aheym.... Dort trefn zey zikh mit zeyerike: "Brokhim haboim, fun vanen kumt men?" -- Fun di vilde mentshn. -- "Vos hot men aykh geton?" -- Gehodevet oyf peysekh. -- "Vos heyst dos peysekh?" -- Aza yontef bay zey, a guter, liber yontef, a yontef fun frayhayt, fun bafrayung.... Azoy kholemt dos gebundene porfolk dem gantsn veg, biz me brengt zey ergets in a shmol finster gesl un me lozt zey arop gebundenerheyt glaykh in der blote. Dort derzen zey a vant bashpritst mit blut, un a sakh oyfes gebundene lign oyf der erd, tsu tsvey un tsu dray mit a mol. Bay der zayt shteyen vayblekh un meydlekh un shmuesen zikh, lakhn, khikhiken. Dos porfolk kukt zikh arum oyf ale zaytn -- tsulib vos hot men zey aher gebrakht? Vos tuen do di gebundene oyfes? Vos lakhn di vayblekh mit di meydlekh? Vos badayt di blutike vant?.... Ot dos is der guter liber yontef peysekh? Vu iz di frayhayt? Di bafrayung?..... Ot azoy klert zikh dos porfolk un batrakht di gebundene oyfes, vos lign zikh azoy shtil un ruik, fregn nisht keyn kashes, glaykh vi es darf azoy tsu zayn.... Nor eyne, a hun a shrayern, rut nisht. Zi rayst zikh mit ale koykhes, patsht mit di fliglen in der blote un shrayt meshugenervayz: -- Lozt mikh! Lozt mikh! Ikh vil nisht lign! Ikh vil beser loyfn! Lozt mikh! Lozt mikh! -- Kukariku! -- ruft zikh op a royter hon, vos ligt gebundn in eynem mit tsvey hiner, un tut a patsh mit di fligl: -- Vos zogt ir oyf der khokhme? Zi vil nit lign. Zi vil beser geyn. Zi vil beser loyfn. Ha-ha-ha! Undzer held heybt oyf dem kop, kukt zikh ayn mit ale oygn inem roytn hon, dem eyzes-ponim, un er filt, vi s'iz im farkilt gevorn dos blut un farglivert di eyvrim. Er volt gemegt shvern, az der khevre-man iz im kentlikh! Azoy kentlikh! Un dos kol zayns iz im azoy bakant. Gvald! Vu hot er zikh mit im bagegent?!.... Un er heybt zikh oyf nokh a bisl hekher, derzet im der royter hon un tsit oys oyf zayn hilkhiger sopran-shtime: Kukariku, lange noz! M'hot geshtopt dikh on a mos Mit di beste zise zakhn, Me zol konen fun dir makhn A gebrotns mit a krop, Fete yoykh a fuln top, Un a heldzl inem tsimes.... Nisht bashert geven undzer roytn meshoyrer tsu endikn zayn lidl. Emitsns a hant hot im a nem geton, mit aza koyekh un azoy umgerikht, az es hot im mit a mol opgenumen dos loshn. TES. Der letster akt fun der tragedye. Dos iz geven a meshune-vilder nefesh mit a farshlofn ponim, a hoykher, a darer, mit lange peyes, in shikh un zokn, untergeshtekt di poles, farkatshet di arbl, mit a shvarts glantsndik meser in hant. Nisht lang getrakht, tut er a nem dem roytn hon tsu zikh, farayst im dos kepl aroyf, tut im a kuk in di oygn arayn, flikt im oys dray federlekh, khik mitn meser ibern haldz un -- marsh! -- a shlayder fun zikh glaykh in der blote arayn. Vi a pritshmeliter blaybt nebekh lign der hon a vayle, un plutsim hopt er zikh oyf un lozt zikh loyfn mitn ibergeshnitenem haldz, dreyt mitn kop, glaykh vi er zukht emitsn, glaykh vi er hot epes farlorn. Undzer held kukt zikh ayn in dem gekoyletn hon un derkent zayn altn bakantn, vos er hot amol gezen in kholem, un dermont zikh dos lidl, vos der khevre-man hot im demolt gezungen, un er kon keyn vort nisht aroysbrengen tsu zayn gelibter, vos ligt nebn im shtark tsugetulyet tsu zayn layb un tsitert un tsaplt mit ale eyvrim....Un der vilder nefesh mitn glantsndikn meser tut zikh zayn arbet gants kaltblutik, vi an emeser talyen. Eyns nokhs andere flien bay im di oyfes. Ale khapn a kitsl mitn meser ibern haldz un a shlayder in blote arayn. Andere tsien zikh oys, geyen op mit blut, drigen mit di fislekh un tsaplen. Andere varfn mit di keplekh, patshn mit di fliglen iber der blote. Ale minut kumen tsu nokh un nokh korbones mit ibergeshnitene heldzer. Di vayblekh mit di meydlekh, vos shteyen bay der zayt, kukn un -- gornisht. Adrabe, eynike fun zey faln aroyf oyf di gekoylete, nokh lebedike, oyfes un flikn zey un raysn fun zey di federn, un beys mayse redn zey zikh iber un vertlen zikh un lakhn, glaykh vi do volt zikh gegosn vaser, nisht keyn blut fun lebedike bashefenishn!.... Vu zenen zeyere oygn? Vu zenen zeyere oyern? Vu zenen zeyere hertser? Zeyer yoysher? Zeyer got?.... Azoy trakhtn zikh undzere tsvey umgliklekhe indianer, vos lign nokh alts gebundn, un kukn zikh tsu tsu der doziker moyrediker tragedye, tsu der doziker ungeherter retsikhe in mitn heln tog. Shoyn zhe hot men zey gebrakht aher tsulib dem zelbn tsvek, vos ale oyfes, genz un katshkes? Shoyn zhe veln zey, di oysderveylte, di meyukhosim, vos shtamen fun Indye, hobn aza vistn sof glaykh mit dem dosikn prostn oylem? Iz dos, aponim, nisht keyn oysgetrakhte zakh, vos me dersteylt zikh on vegn di vilde mentshn? Un di nevies funem roytn hon?.... Un zey heybn on farshteyn dem kaltn naketn emes, un es vert zey klor altsding, vos zey hobn gehert, altsding, vos zey hobn gezen biz aher. Nor eyn zakh konen zey nisht tsekayen: tsu vos hot di terkishe shal ale mol zikh barimt, az got meg ir helfn derfar, vos zi hot im oysgehodevet aza porfolk oyf peysekh?.... Ot dos vil got? Dos iz im lib? Akh, vos far a beyzer got dos darf zayn bay ot di vilde mentshn!.... * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *** In etlekhe minut arum zenen undzere shtoltse indianer, dos gelibte porfolk, gelegn oyf der erd, vi tsvey poshete gekoylete indikes. Zey hobn aroyfgeleygt eyns oyf dos andere zeyere ibergeshnitene nokh vareme heldzer un hobn oysgezen fun der vaytn, vi zey shlofn un kholemen zise goldene khaloymes. Oyf zey is gezogt gevorn der posek: Haneehovim vehaneimim bekhayeyhem uvemoysom loy nifrodu. -- Di libe un getraye, say baym lebn, say baym toyt hobn zikh nisht gesheydt. ***Romanization by Leah Krikun ______________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.020 Leonard Prager, editor Send articles to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il The editor of _TMR_ can also be reached via _Mendele_'s homepage: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/ 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.021 1 October 1997 Symposium on Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk" 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) Symposium on "Dos porfolk" by Sholem-Aleykhem (Louis Fridhandler; Dan Leeson; Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan; Ron Robboy; Harvey Spiro; Sholem Berger; Ariela Krasni) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 1 October 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters --_TMR_'s First Readers' Short-Story Symposium _The Mendele Review_ begins the New Year with its first readers' symposium. The subject of this exchange of views is a story by Sholem-Aleykhem, the great humorist who taught us that "lakhn iz gezunt" ('laughter is healthy'), and whose humor is often said to elicit "laughter through tears." There is a mild comic strain in "Dos porfolk" -- the comedy of domestic life with a sexist "he" and a more sagacious "she" -- but the story is overwhelmingly grim. Many readers do not know this Sholem-Aleykhem, but he is the same artist whom we know from _Tevye_ and other great works. The participants in our symposium, explicitly or implicitly, acknowledge the unusual character of this Sholem-Aleykhem story. Their approaches are varied: historical, biographical, subjective, fictional-imaginative and formalistic. While there is some concurrence in their contributions -- here given in the order in which they were received -- there is little repetition. Nor does anyone nurse the illusion that the last word has been spoken. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 1 October 1997 From: Louis Fridhandler; Dan Leeson; Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan; Ron Robboy; Harvey Spiro; Sholem Berger; Ariela Krasni Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk" ------------------- Date: 1 October 1997 From: Louis Fridhandler Subject: On Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk" Louis Fridhandler On Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk" Some critics have proposed that a work of art can best be evaluated apart from the artist and his or her life circumstances. I hold this is impossible if art is a human enterprise engaging heart, mind and soul of both artist and audience. Therefore, I must insert a few biographical details as background to reflections on this dark, odd, even bizarre, Sholem-Aleykhem piece. The grisly Kiev pogrom of late 1905 was still a fresh, rankling memory in 1908 while Sholem-Aleykhem toured many cities and towns in eastern Europe, giving public readings to great acclaim. This tour was suddenly interrupted at the end of July, 1908, when he collapsed with acute hemorrhagic pulmonary tuberculosis. After a forced rest for months, Sholem-Aleykhem continued to write under severe physical, psychological and financial duress. Throughout 1909 he was often feverish, and wrote lying in bed. Still, his productivity was impressive in both quantity and quality.(1) Most of his _Ayznban geshikhtes_ ('Railroad Stories') bear the date 1909. Sholem-Aleykhem was in a sanatorium in Nervi, Italy in the spring of 1909 when he wrote "Dos porfolk oyf peysekh" (the original title). It was published in 1909 in Odessa in Y.-.L. Levinski's _Sholem-Aleykhem's yontef bibliotek_. The pamphlet contains charming advertisements for wine (health-promoting!) and for a cooking fat (pareve!). These were probably two of Levinski's enterprises. Levinski, himself a writer of Hebrew and Yiddish, was a good businessman devoted to the community of Jewish writers, coming to their aid in time of need. If not for Levinski "Dos porfolk oyf peysekh" may not have been published. When a special committee finally reclaimed for Sholem-Aleykhem the financial rights to his own past work, Levinski's Yontef bibliotek, now superfluous, ceased publication. "Dos porfolk oyf Peysekh" irresistibly invites speculation as to its symbolic and allegorical meaning despite Sholem-Aleykhem's caveat to forget all that. Incidentally, the caveat was omitted in the 1913 Yubileum oysgabe version, Vol. 13. And contradictions arouse questions. Why is the couple called a married couple (the meaning of _porfolk_) when they have just met? Dos porfolk identify themselves as American Indians (the meaning of _indianer_). Then, why does the omniscient narrator (who knows the inner musings of "di indianer") identify them as of aristocratic pedigree stemming from India? Does this contradiction reflect Sholem-Aleykhem's own misconception? Is it surrealistic? At any rate, "di vilde mentshn" ('the savages') are not the American Indians who in popular folklore of the time were so conceptualized. In a startling reversal, Jews carrying out ritual slaughter of caged, helpless animals are the savages, "di vilde mentshn." Two of the intended victims of ritual slaughter are thinking, feeling beings. They invite the reader to observe along with them a bitter irony: a feast to celebrate freedom is prepared by killing caged, bound beings who also long for freedom. All this for God. The helpless victims wonder about God. (The English translation won't help the interpreter. The translator reconciles a couple of contradictions, which is no favor to Sholem Aleichem. These elusive enigmas are of the essence artistically, but at least two are lost in Shlomo Katz's translation: "dos porfolk" does not mean "the pair"; the protagonists' self-identification as American Indians is omitted.) I think several levels are discernible in the piece. One level presents the enigmas I sketched above; another resonates with the condition of Jews in Russia. The history of anti-Jewish Russian decrees, the crazy delusions about Jews promoted by _The Protocols of the Elders of Zion_ just four years earlier, the recurring pogroms and blood libels, restriction to the Pale of Settlement (caged? awaiting victimization?), etc. all qualify as elements of the sub-text of this cautionary (if not allegorical) tale. Who are the victims, who the victimizers? The viewpoint shifts, keeping us off balance, as Sholem-Aleykhem must have felt. It seems he temporarily lost the robust poise he had earned with such taxing labor through his sense of ironic humor. This hard-earned poise had served him well in facing a terrorizing world. However, in "Dos porfolk," he allowed a grim, uncharacteristic mood to prevail. People wondered. Levinski informed Sholem-Aleykhem that _people_ in Odessa were saying that "Dos porfolk" had not turned out well. In his own defense, Sholem-Aleykhem wrote to Levinski on March 26, 1909 (from Nervi: "And about what you told me in secret of what people are saying -- what can I do? You know, of course, the French adage -- a beautiful woman can't give more than she possesses." Sholem-Aleykhem wrote further about a letter he had received from the critic Bal-Makhshoves full of praise for "Dos porfolk." This highly respected critic thought "Dos porfolk" possessed greater artistic merit than the humorous pieces (Berkovitsh, Y.-D., ed. _Dos Sholem-Aleykhem bukh_ New York: Sholem-Aleykhem bukh-komitet, 1926, p. 230). I am not aware of any letter or communication from Sholem-Aleykhem that explains the meaning of "Dos porfolk." We are on our own, apparently. The strains and contradictions are, I suggest, part of the art. The reader must struggle (with limited success) for resolution of contradictions, challenging his or her own preconceptions. Finally, politics: Russian authorities were always ready to use their power to harshly curb discussion of Russian crimes against Jews, in the press or in literature or elsewhere. Sometimes an inversion in a fable slyly disguises the true lesson, and drives it home under the noses of the menacing guards. Was Sholem-Aleykhem playing that game, too? **** Date: 1 October 1997 From: Dan Leeson Subject: Some Comments on "The Pair" of Sholem-Aleykhem [Sholem Aleichem] Dan Leeson, Los Altos, CA (where it is somewhat difficult to get the story in the original) Some Comments on "The Pair" of Sholem-Aleykhem [Sholem Aleichem] Reading "The Pair," of Sholem-Aleykhem, I cannot help but wonder if the author was a vegetarian. And I'm serious. This is an aspect of his life about which I know nothing, but the convictions expressed by the story mirror the attitudes of contemporary vegetarians; i.e., "I don't eat anything with a face." Those who maintain this outlook (with which I happen not to be sympathetic) conserve a viewpoint conditioned by a number of core beliefs, the most important of which are: (1) meat-eating has a negative impact on one's health, and (2) the inhumane treatment of dumb animals is unworthy of any compassionate creature; i.e., to a vegetarian, the slaughter of living creatures for food is inhumane. In support of my uninformed opinion about Sholem-Aleykhem's quasi- vegetarianism, one need only ask, "Who are the heroes of this story, and who are the villains"? It takes but a moment to realize that the author himself designated an animal -- i.e., a goose (see post script regarding the animal's identification) -- as the story's hero. And the use of the word "hero" is not wild hyperbole, for the third sentence of the story explicitly uses it in reference to the central character: "The dreams that troubled our hero were violent." So, if the male of the pair of geese who are the centerpiece of this story is the hero, then the only force left to be the miscreants must be the Jews who mistreat these and other animals, who torture them, and finally kill them. (The word "torture" is also not my invention. After the episode of the geese being force fed, the story reads, "Finished with their task, the women went off and the tortured prisoners remained alone.") It is the geese who speak intelligently, with restraint, hope, and a positive attitude. The Jewish woman who has purchased them and who is called "the Turkish shawl," curses everyone; i.e., the man from whom she bought the geese, the children who torment them, the servant girl whose duty it is to force feed them. This woman reminds me of the hateful "witches" of my childhood. On one hand, "Turkish shawl" speaks about the meaning of freedom withing the context of the impending Passover (for which celebration the geese were bought), and, on the other hand, the woman appears to be incapable of generating an ounce of sympathy for anyone, human or animal, and certainly not the geese. The abattoir where the geese are killed is a hideous place, the walls and floor covered with blood. Chickens are described as being dumped in the mud immediately after their throats have been cut, and feathers are ripped from their living bodies. The slaughterer, who should approach his work with the awe it requires, is simply a laborer who goes at it with an uncaring attitude and a total lack of concern for God's creatures. In the end, the geese, having developed an affection for each other, die with their warm throats resting on each other's bodies. They remain, even in death, the only dignified element of this tale. The story is fundamentally anti-people, with only Jews being present to absorb the blame. It would have been essentially the same message had there been no Jews in the story. In effect, the tale's central moral is concern for the less fortunate. If Sholem-Aleykhem was not known to have been a vegetarian, I suggest that this story shows him to have been a closet activist. POST SCRIPT Only after concluding that the animals of the text were geese, was I informed by Leonard Prager that the original Yiddish also fails to identify them. However, Prager believes the animals may be turkeys, his conclusion being based on use of the word _indianer_ 'Indians' which bears a similarity to _indikes_ 'turkeys'. Shlomo Katz's translation of this story not only tolerates but encourages the view that the animals being spoken of are geese. Let me share how this conclusion is reached: 1. there is no word used in Katz's translation by which the animals are specifically identified; 2. when the animals are being tormented by children, a reference is made to their "big noses;" while turkeys have a fold of flesh above the beak that could be so interpreted, the imagery that came to my mind was that of a goose's bill; 3. the female of the pair states that she does not want to be though of a "silly goose or a foolish turkey," so either animal satisfies this imagery; 4. the animals are force fed in chapter 6; while geese are force fed, I have never heard of turkeys so treated; that does not mean they are not, only that I never heard of it; 5. turkeys are notoriously stupid animals while the animals in the story are sensitive, intelligent, soft-spoken, and thoughtful, though naive; the goose's relative, the swan, carries the image of dignity, economy of movement, and intelligence. 6. the poignant conclusion has the animals, in death, lying with their necks on each other's body; while turkey necks are long and could be so described, the neck of a goose is one of its most identifiable features and, thus, my mind went in that direction. I do not suggest that I am correct in my interpretation of the identity of the fowl, but only give the reasons that brought me to the conclusion. **** Date: 1 October 1997 From: Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan Subject: "Dos porfolk" Revisited Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan "Dos porfolk" Revisited Although I enjoy intense fiction of affliction, and align myself philosphically on the side of the victim, the beggar, or the underturkey, "Dos porfolk" was not the perfect beach book for summer reading. _Motl Peysi dem khazns_, yes, even _Stempenyu_ with its titular anti-hero, but an inditshke, the fur cap and the Turkish shawl.... At first reading, Shlomo Katz's translation left me seeking the familiar aspects of Sholem-Aleykhem's [Sholem Aleichem's] genius, his unique beloved style of recording the distinctiveness of our people. Here was a story, bizarre and experimental, with no skaz as in "Di eytse;" no rambling monologist as in "Dos tepl;" no dialogue in perfect pitch, the ideal mimicry of common folk speech; no laughter through tears; no introduction "Tsu di lezer" to draw the reader in and embrace him. Vos vil er, der nayer Sholem-Aleykhem? Upon rereading this perfect Gothic tale (it has every element -- horror, evil, terror, cruelty, ghostly visions, groans and screams, and ultimate murder), Sholem-Aleykhem, ever the social critic and secularist, began to emerge. If Perets could liken us to fish, and Mendele use a nag, why not indikes plucked from their homes, brutally thrown into wagons and deported, robbed of their freedom, even tormented by the future generation, why not indikes as symbols of the abuse and oppression Jews suffer? Of exploitation of the weak by the strong, of the poor by the rich -- even in the orthodox methods ordained in ritual slaughter? Then, ah mameloshn, I received the original story with its introduction - a taunting ironic disclaimer. Katz had discarded this opening, thus removing the persona and presence of Sholem-Aleykhem. As I read the original, Sholem-Aleykhem emerged, his blue eyes sparkling, wearing a wry smile, standing and writing at his home-made lectern, deeply questioning man's wild inhumanity to man and where God's demands lead men. Mendele's influence is evident in this flaunting use of satiric introductions, as well as in naming characters to define them as in _Everyman_ morality plays. As Mendele named a deceitful liar, Yitskhok- Volf Spodek, a wolf in a fur cap, Sholem-Aleykhem calls the woman "the Turkish shawl," the woman who "hot zey opgeton oyf Terkish": giving them hope, "freeing" them, feeding them, and then frying them, all in God's name. Also, why did Katz omit the poignant coda, "Di libe un getraye, say baym lebn, say baym toyt hobn zikh nisht gesheydt"? I feel these words are a vessel for Sholem- Aleykhem's private pain and intense effort to remain tied (nisht gesheydt) to the many loved ones he lost. How desperate a life he lived. Add to these deaths -- enduring a cruel, abusive step-mother; adjusting to hunger and poverty; failing in business ventures and in achieving publication; and failing health. Writing was his religion, his healer, and as it soothed him it touched us, moved us, inflamed us, and changed our views as it enriched our lives. *** Date: 1 October 1997 From: Ron Robboy Subject: Newly discovered Kohn-Bloch correspondence [Re: Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk"] Ron Robboy >From the newly discovered correspondence of the actor Jacques Kohn and Grete Bloch, another friend of Kafka. Fraulein Grete Bloch Florence, Italy My dear Grete: What a charming surprise! It has been many years. And my goodness, to hear that you saw our Felice in Geneva! How old are her children? I still remember her as Fraulein Bauer, from the time when we were all so intimate. But, ah, forgive me, dearest, for an unfortunate choice of words. Again, I am sorry, as I told you when the little one died. When was that, already fifteen years ago? That I never saw him -- after Budapest, I know you understand, it was more difficult. And Franz and Fraulein Bauer were no longer in communication. But let us speak of happier things. You met the Countess! How did that happen? You offer no details. Nervi: where is this? How did you chance to talk? And to speak of myself! This is a most amusing turn of fate, for though it had been some years since I heard from her, just the other week I was speaking about the Countess with a writer, a promising talent, as we shared a late supper -- he kindly advanced me the cost -- on the night before his departure for America. He asked if I ever hear from her, just as he had asked, likewise over supper, nearly ten years ago. We had been discussing literature -- the Book of Job, Franz' work, the suffering of innocents -- and I chanced to tell him the story of my first meeting with that dear lady, a meeting entirely honorable in its every detail, I assure you, and was in any case none of my doing. Meanwhile, Bamberg, that pathetic has-been, had come to our table and prattled on about allegory, of all things. What a fool! He'd finally read a book of Franz'. I wanted to tell the idiot that Franz did not write shallow symbolism, but I humored him, pretending to be engaged by the depth of his argumentation. He finally stumbled off to put another insipid dance record on the gramophone. What I should have told him is: when they will not tell you why they are arresting you, why they are confining you, it is as though you are guilty simply of being. That can only be a story, a simple story. It is not something that happens in the mundane world. The innocent, the guiltless, they are like the poor Jew in Exile, a mere plaything in a monstrous game. But you know, just as the Jew is cast alone in the world, so does he create his own world. He, too, has his pawns with which he parries the machinations of Fate. Is it all meaningless, this banal evil? One minute you make love, the next you face the slaughterer's knife. There is no rhyme or reason: it could happen here, God forbid, in Warsaw, or even there in Florence, my canny enchantress. And if it happens, is it a feast of liberation? Is it a day of rest? I say it could happen, but we cannot imagine it. We can only test our worthy opponent and make each counter-move in turn. You know, many years ago, I did some readings in Prague -- Perets, Gordin, Mendele Moykher-Sforim -- and I included some sketches of Sholem-Aleykhem. Some were from a newly published Jubilee edition. Franz seemed fascinated by that detail, or perhaps by the occasion, and by the fact that the author had gone to America and then Italy. Or was it Italy and then America? Many were children's stories, and he found them to be "sarcastic." That was the very word he used. Fraulein Bauer, in fact, repeated it to me several years later, when she was doing her brave social works at the Jewish People's Home. She did not come to my performances, I regret to say, and she acted surprised that I would "have the nerve" to come see her. What had you said to her, Grete dear, you sly one? (And I swear, I did not touch her, nor would I, even if she _had_ let me.) Do you remember Max, Franz' earnest friend? He had suggested Sholem-Aleykhem for the children at the Home, but Franz said no, that he was, again, too sarcastic. Just now, I remember having read to Franz another story of Sholem-Aleykhem -- I honestly cannot say what should remind me -- of two people, a man and a woman (were they lovers?), kept and fattened for the Peysekh feast, as though they were plump hens. It was in a pamphlet from Odessa. Franz was transfixed. "Imagine," he kept saying, "innocents transformed without explanation into contemptible animals, as though it were the most natural thing in the world." He tried to tell Fraulein Bauer, but I don't think she ever understood. I trust this finds you in good health, though I cannot say the same for myself. I no longer have the strength to raise funds for theatrical enterprises -- not that the imbecilic public would in any event know how to appreciate the fine wines of Thalia as they did so many years ago in Prague and Budapest -- but I am nevertheless proud of what I have done. I am not proud, to confess a truth to you, of not having seen the child in his lifetime. It occurs to me now, if there is any way that my name or celebrity can honor his memory, or bring some measure of comfort to you in your new circumstances, there is no reason you should not make use of them, brave Grete, even from your new home in faraway Italy. With fondest regards, I remain yours truly, Jacques Kohn. Warsaw, Poland 31 December 1935 **** Date: 1 October 1997 From: Harvey Spiro [daytime email:hjs@nrc.gov] Subject: MURDER MOST FOWL [On Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk"] MURDER MOST FOWL Kidnapped. Imprisoned. Bound and sold as if they were slaves or domestic beasts, and routinely humiliated by their wild captors. Murdered in cold blood by religious fanatics in the name of their "angry God." "Dos porfolk" is a disturbing yet entertaining story about "two innocent souls" (umshuldike nefoshes) seized in the middle of the night and ultimately slaughtered "like sheep." For the first two chapters, you know only that two of "God's creatures" (gots bashefenishn), innocent of any crime but their race, are jailed, taunted, and treated like animals. Despite comic relief, and your fear that they are destined for some tragic end, something tells you that all is not as it appears. By chapter six at the latest, even a child will have figured out that the pair of "indianer" are in fact "indiks" (turkeys), and this is a tale of two turkeys being fattened and slaughtered for Peysekh. Or so we are told. The Yiddish version includes two introductions (not found in the English translation). The first simply states the pretext of the story, "wherein two innocent souls were seized ... bound ... sold to wild people ... and then ... slaughtered like sheep." In the second introduction, the author discourages his readers from seeking hidden meanings in his poshete mayse, stating emphatically that the story contains "not even a hint of allegory, nor even a groshen's worth of what one would call symbolism." Why two introductions? And why must Sholem-Aleykhem reassure his readers that this is simply an animal fable, without tricks or ruses (on khokhmes, on oyberkeplekh). After all, this is not a grim tale of a pogrom or a blood libel, but rather a curious -- if macabre -- holiday tale. And if the author carries on the charade of the identity of his heroes long after we realize that the protagonists are, in fact, turkeys, we understand that the fantasy depends on preserving the anthropomorphic language. One possible answer lies in the turmoil experienced by Sholem-Aleykhem -- and Russian Jewry -- during that period. "Dos porfolk" was written in 1909. Six years earlier, the Kishinev pogrom had triggered a period of terror and violence -- Odessa, Zhitomer, Kiev -- for Russian Jewry. The 1905 Constitution (or "kosnetutsiye" as Tevye would say) brought chaos and anarchy throughout the Empire. The annual exodus of Jews from Czarist Russia topped 100,000 in 1904, and stayed above that number for half a decade. Nor was this first decade of the twentieth century a particularly happy one for Sholem-Aleykhem. Although his works were extremely popular, bad contracts with publishers, as well as outright pirating of his works, had left him with few royalties from his many publications. The 1905 pogrom in Kiev prompted him to flee Russia for the west. After touring in Austro-Hungarian Galicia for several months, he spent almost a year in the United States trying to make a living in Yiddish theatre, with disastrous results. Returning to Geneva in the summer of 1907, he borrowed money for the fare. Several months after leaving the U.S., with his family sinking deeper into debt, and his theatrical works still not generating revenues, Sholem-Aleykhem embarked on a speaking tour in Russia. Although the tour was successful for the first few months, he collapsed in 1908 while speaking in Baranovici (Byelorussia). His doctors diagnosed the problem as tuberculosis, and advised him to recuperate in Nervi, Italy, near Genoa. It was in Nervi, in 1909, that "Dos porfolk" was written. The year 1909 began a brief happy and highly productive period in Sholem-Aleykhem's life -- what his daughter Marie Waife-Goldberg called "the good years," in marked contrast to the prior half decade. During these "good years," Sholem-Aleykhem wrote or revised many of his best known stories, including his _Railroad Stories_, _Menakhem Mendl_, _Tevye_ and _Motl_. Although he continued to struggle with his health, two related events eased his financial woes: the recouping of the copyrights to his works, and translation of his works into Russian. Sholem-Aleykhem's works had first appeared in print in 1883, 25 years before his collapse in Baranovici. With the help of a close friend, Moyshe Vaytsman [Moshe Weitzmann] (brother of Israel's first president), the year 1908 was declared a Sholem-Aleykhem literary anniversary. (It was also the writer's 50th birthday.) Picked up by the world Jewish press, celebrations brought many gifts as well as increased demand for his publications. More importantly, pressure on his many publishers by the Warsaw Jewish literary community helped restore to Sholem-Aleykhem the rights to his own works. With copyrights restored and the publication of authorized volumes in Warsaw, Sholem-Aleykhem embarked on a lifetime ambition: to see his works translated into a principal European language. The subsequent translation of twelve volumes of his work into Russian, to generally favorable reviews, both acknowledged Sholem-Aleykhem's standing as a world- class writer, and helped provide a steady revenue stream. Perhaps the ambivalent message in the introduction to "Dos porfolk" was a reflection of the wild swings of fortune that Sholem-Aleykhem, and his fellow Russian Jews, were experiencing. The author's wandering from country to country seemed to have ended, and his newfound financial security allowed him to write and support his family, while enjoying justifiable literary recognition. For his audiences, the worst of the pogroms seemed to be over, as Russian liberalism promised reforms. Jewish immigration to the United States in 1909 was 57,000, only half that of the prior year. But Sholem-Aleykhem understood the tenuousness of Jewish existence. Two years later, Mendl Beylis's trial would be followed by the devastations of World War I to the Jewish heartland, and then by the Russian Revolution and the remainder of this horrible century. For the author, the "good years" were followed by dispersal of his family because of the War, the death of his son, and then his own death. The cryptic introduction to "Dos porfolk" might simply have been fear of the censors. Then again, it might just be Sholem-Aleykhem's way of saying that "doktoyrim heysn lakhn" because, for Jews, it is a "paskudne velt." **** Date: 1 October 1997 From: Sholem Berger Subject: A modner foygl, der Sholem-Aleykhem [on Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk"] Sholem Berger A modner foygl, der Sholem-Aleykhem A modner foygl, der Sholem-Aleykhem. Tsum ershtns git er an azhore, az keyn mesholim iz er nisht oysn: "keyn remez fun alegoryes" iz kloymersht nishto in der dertseylung, un "nisht far a groshn ot dos vos vert ongerufn simbolizm." Azoy mit klore diburem . Baym sof ober, ven me farshteyt shoyn az se geyt a reyd vegn feygl -- ot demolt brengt er gor a posek: "Haneehovim vehaneimim bekhayeyhem uvemoysom loy nifrodu -- di libe un getraye, say baym lebn, say baym toyt hobn zikh nisht gesheydt." (zayt 153). Fregt zikh a kashe: vi kumt der posek tsu di indikes? Yo nu, funem loytern siper-hamayse khapt men zikh, az s'iz do epes nisht kosher mit undzere shekhite-tsentrishe yontoyvim -- tsu vos ober darf men dem posek? Efsher vil der mekhaber bloyz tsugebn epes a khoshevn tanakhishn ton? Aza min mekhaber vi Sholem-Aleykhem brengt nisht keyn psukem glat azoy zikh. S'iz dokh nisht keyn khidesh vos in kval fun posek -- Seyfer Shmuel beyz, perek alef -- shtekt a paralel: Dovid Hameylekh vert do gevoyr funem toyt fun Yoynoson mit Shoeln, durkh an amoleker yingl vos hot aleyn avekgeharget Sholen loyt dem tsveytns farlang. Nokh eyder Dovid heybt on klogn, ruft er tsu dos yingl, un shlogt im tsum toyt: "Un Dovid hot tsu im gezogt: Dayn blut af dayn kop! Vorum dayn moyl hot eydes gezogt af dir, azoy tsu zogn: Ikh hob geteyt dem gezalbtn fun got." [targem Yehoyesh] Hayitokhn? Vi azoy ken Dovid entfern af tsvey mordn mit nokh eyn mord? Aleyn vil ikh nisht entfern -- kh'vil nor brengen a vort fun undzers a khoshevn bal-darshn: "Nor eyn zakh kenen zey nisht tsekayen: tsu vos hot di terkishe shal ale mol zikh barimt, az got meg ir helfn...? Ot dos vil got? Dos iz im lib? Akh, vos far a beyzer got dos darf zayn bay ot di vilde mentshn!" ("Dos porfolk," zayt 153) Sholem-Aleykhem brengt dem posek gor bekavone. Oyb der opruf fun Dovid kegn a yingl an amoleki iz shver tsu farshteyn, al-akhes-kame-vekame iz nisht tsu farshteyn dos barimen zikh fun der terkisher shal. Oyb es dakht zikh dem geveyntlekhn leyener, az Dovid iz bagangen a mord an umbarekhtiktn, kal-vokhoymer darf undz oyszen blutik barbarish di keseyderdike shekhite tsu peysekhtsayt. Dovids teyrets iz nisht keyn ibertsaygndiker -- Shoel hot dokh azoyns gebetn baym yingl. Un di hanhoge fun di yidn in "Dos porfolk"? Nokh erger -- keyn teyrets iz bay zey nishto, vayl di indikes zogn dokh keyn eydes af zikh aleyn. Di yidn fun der dertseylung firn zikh oyf bloyz loytn umbatrakhtn ritual, on tsu bamerkn az es tsaplt zey unter dem khalef a lebedike bashefenish vos zol oykh bafrayt vern. Dovid Hameyelekh leygt avek dos amoleker yingl punkt af aza umbatrakhtn oyfn, vayl azoyns hot zikh gefirt beyomem hohem. Der ritual farshpart undz yidn umberakhmonesdik, un dokh -- ven nisht ritual, volt di terkishe shal nisht gehat mit vos zikh tsu barimen. Un barimen zikh darf men a mol, yontoyvim darf men a mol.... Efsher vet men aynzetsn di kashes ven di ale bahaltene taytshn fun der dertseylung veln bafrayt vern. **** Date: 1 October 1997 From: Ariela Krasni Subject: Yiddish Matters -- Towards the 30th anniversary (1998) of Uriel Weinreich's Dictionary Students of Yiddish are accustomed to reach for their "Weinreich" when they encounter a word in a modern Yiddish text which they do not recognize. Twenty-nine years ago this immensely useful lexicographic aid was not available. Next year we will be celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of Uriel Weinreich's _Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary_ [ = MEYYED]. Among the many contemporary reviews of the dictionary, none was as probing and comprehensive as that by Mordkhe Schaechter, our foremost Yiddish language planner and a longtime colleague of Uriel Weinreich. We are pleased to reprint this review, which originally appeared in _Di goldene keyt_ [volume 66 (1969), pages 234-248], and to announce a symposium on the subject "MEYYED at Thirty -- Its Influence and Present Status," to be held in 1998. Mordkhe Schaechter and others -- "beli neyder" -- have promised retrospective and evaluative essays. Mendelyaner are invited to begin preparing descriptions of their experiences with this remarkable work, one which has affected modern Yiddish studies throughout the world. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 October 1997 From: Dan Leeson, Louis Fridlander Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk" Symposium continued Date: 15 October 1997 From: Dan Leeson Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk" I enjoyed the multiple perspectives enormously! I even got a note or two telling me that they (the writers) also think that the animals are turkeys, so I am definitely in the minority. However, I did a little more research. There is a turkey farm nearby (with the cryptic name of "Ladino Brand Turkeys") and I called them to ask about force-feeding. According to them, it would be near impossible to force-feed a turkey, both from the viewpoint of the turkey's reaction to being force-fed, and also because of the anatomy of a turkey, whereas geese are very easily force fed and it has the added benefit of increasing the size of the liver enormously (for those that like chopped liver). On the other hand, one of the writers suggested that the Yiddish version of "gobble, gobble," the sound associated only with a turkey is what is used in the story, and that is very hard evidence. But force feeding a turkey? It's crazy! **** Date: 15 Oct 1997 From: Louis Fridlander Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk" Now that comments on the comments in the symposium on Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk" (TMR 1.021) are invited from the entire Mendele readership, I have a few brief ones. I refer only to Sholem-Aleykhem's Yiddish (Ale verk fun Sholem-Aleykhem, Vol 7: _Mayses far yidishe kinder_, Nyu York: Folksfond oysgabe, 1918, pp. 129-153). The English translation by Shlomo Katz ("The Pair" in Irving Howe and Eliezer Greenberg, eds. _A Treasury of Yiddish Stories_, New York: Viking Press, 1954, pp. 192-205) has several lacunae and is no help to the interpreter. I am in the minority. Unlike most of the other commentators, I see no reason to perceive the two innocent souls as representing turkeys (_indikes_ in Yiddish from Russian _indyuk_). That the word _indikes_ (never used in the piece) shares the first syllable with Sholem- Aleykhem's use of the word _indianer_, is quite unconvincing. Imagining the innocent victims as turkeys (which sort of conforms to real experience) rather than humans (which violates our sense of reality) seems forced. Perhaps it is a bit like a dreamer's attempt, on awakening, to make sense out of a senseless dream by unconscious secondary revision (a well-established, universal process). But let's listen to what Sholem-Aleykhem tells us in two of the earliest sentences (p. 130): "In aza nakht iz faran a sakh arbet farn bal-ha-khaloymes. Er zhalevet nisht keyn farbn, shit mit der fuler hant fantazyes, vos nisht geshtoygn, nisht gefloygn, un firt tsunoyf a vant mit a vant." [My English: 'In such a night there is lots of work for the dream master. He does not stint colorations, pours with a generous hand unreal fantasies out of thin air, and brings together a wall with another wall.] Sholem-Aleykhem does indeed spin a yarn that brings together elements that do not fit together, as happens in any dream including a nightmare. Weinreich's dictionary (1968) clearly defines _indianer_ as 'American Indian'. Further, the German word for _American Indian_ is _indianer_. German as a source for Yiddish words was not only well established hundreds of years ago, but continued into the era of popular 19th- century fiction about American Indians of the Wild West. This spread the misconception about them as savages ("vilde mentshn" is a phrase used more than once in "Dos porfolk"). Much of that fiction was likely translated into European languages including Yiddish. Further, when the two innocent captives first meet the male says he recognizes the female as an _indianer_ by her beads (p. 132). American Indians used beads for personal decoration and as wampum, a medium of exchange. This was no doubt widely reported. It is also true that many other peoples use beads. However, would Sholem-Aleykhem write that one turkey recognized another as a turkey only by the beads she wears rather than feathers, etc.? I think not. The beads and the German word _indianer_ support the Yiddish meaning of _indianer_ as 'American Indian' (not only in Weinreich, 1968, but in Sholem-Aleykhem's vocabulary). This does not help the story make sense, but a nightmare is never an exemplar of sense. A sakh arbet farn bal-ha-khaloymes, indeed. Louis Fridhandler **** Date: 15 Oct 1997 From: Louis Fridhandler Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem's "Dos porfolk": supplement Brief supplement to my note on "Dos porfolk by Sholem-Aleykhem. I don't mean to denigrate Shlomo Katz's translation, but most translations however meritorious are separate works to be judged apart from the original, not as their accurate representatives. For example, Shlomo Katz omits a sentence. In brackets, I will insert the omitted Yiddish with its English translation. The meaning changes. >From p. 203: "The fresh air of the foggy morning hit them with full force. [Zey hobn derfilt az s'iz zey oysgevaksn fliglekh. They had the feeling that wings materialized for them.] Another instant and they would take off and fly away...." With that sentence omitted in the English version, the suggestion that they had wings with which to fly is quite strong. In Yiddish, it is ambiguous, with the greater weight on the implication that wings to fly off with are their wish, not their reality. Sholem-Aleykhem's piece contains mystifying, successive metamorphoses so evocative of those we summon in dreams. Incidentally, in Yiddish _held_ is literally hero, but as Sholem-Aleykhem uses it here, it means 'protagonist, central character'. Louis Fridhandler 3)----------------------------------------------- Date: 15 October 1997 From: Leah Krikun Subject: Tsum yidish fun morgn (Mordkhe Schaechter) Mortkhe Shekhter [Mordkhe Schaechter] / Nyu-York Tsum yidish fun morgn Uriel Vaynraykh, _Modern english-yidish, yidish-english verterbukh_. New York: Yidisher visnshaftlekher institut YIVO un Bikher-farlag Makro-Hil, 1968, 863 zaytn. ALEF. Der oyftu Faran yidishe verterbikher, vos zey zenen aroys in a goyrldiker tsayt un zey shpiglen op goyrldike historishe protsesn. Lifshitses verterbikher mit a hundert yor tsurik, hobn arayngefirt "Eyrope" in undzer verter-oytzer un azoy arum geholfn efenen a breytn gaystikn horizant farn yidish-reder fun zayn dor. Harkavis verterbikher hobn shpeter arayngebrengt "Amerike," alkolponem di emigrantishe Amerike, di Ist-sayd mit ire amerikanizmen. Mit zayn verterbukh (do vayter gekirtst MEYYED), hot Uriel Vaynraykh durkhgefirt fun eyn zayt a firfakhike lingvistishe uvde -- er hot di yidishe kulturshprakh derhayntikt terminologish, universalizirt geografish, standardizirt stilistish un oysgebreytert dem khronologishn yesoyd irn. Fun der ander zayt, hot er durkhgefirt a tsveyendike gezelshaftlekhe funktsye: geshafn a solide, prakhtike brik tsvishn english un yidish, vos aza zgal brik voltn mir mit yorn tsurik afile in kholem nit gekent zikh oysmoln, un derhoybn yidish tsu der madreyge fun an ershtrangiker kulturshprakh oyf der heykh fun der tsveyter helft 20stn yorhundert. 1. Terminalogishe derhayntikung Bay farsheydene gelegnhaytn un umgelegnhaytn barimen mir zikh mitn ashires un dem breytn hekef funem modernem yidish. Zol es undz voyl bakumen! Tsi iz dos ober der gantser emes? Keday tsu leynen Uriel Vaynraykhs sheyn formulirtn din-vekheshbm dervegn, take in zayn "A vort frier" tsum verterbukh: "Dos itstike verterbukh -- akhuts dem vos es eksistirt shoyn -- ken durkhfirn a funktsye vos di andere, gresere verterbikher zenen dertsu nit mesugl: konfrontirn yidish mit a tsveyter breyt antviklter kultur-shprakh. Aza konfrontirung git undz a hasoge fun dem vos mir farmogn un vos es felt undz, zi ruft undz aroys tsu balansirn dem nakhes fun sinonimen-raykhkayt oyf teyl shtokhim mit a dayge vegn dem dervaylikn doykhek oyf andere shtokhim." "Di yidishe shprakh halt zikh in eyn baraykhern, gor nit in proportsye tsum katastrofaln opkum fun reders un shraybers beys un nokh der tsveyter velt-milkhome. Khidushim kumen tsu fun farsheydene kvaln, bay der tsezeytkayt un tseshpreytkayt funem yidishn shprakh-klal zaynen ober di farsheydene baraykher-protsesn nit koordinirt. Nutsike nayverter fun eyn yokhed oder eyn krayz dergeyen nit tsu andere. Az zey vern nit fartseykhnt in keyn geherikn aynkukbukh, zaynen zey nito tsu der hant ven me darf zey hobn a tsveyt mol. Gantse zorgevdik konstruirte terminologishe systemen lign fargesene in zeltene oysgabes. S'geyt in nivets hamtsoedikayt oyf umneytike, improvizirte dubletn, beshas fardrosike bloyzn blaybn nit oysgefilt." "Koyleldike eynshprakhike verterbikher zaynen barekhtikt ontsuteyen fun dem nit-planirtn onvaks, tsu zen in im a simen fun ashires un lebedikayt. Antkegn zhe firt di konfrontirung mit a tsveyter literatur-shprakh arayn andere mosn vos zaynen punkt azoy barekhtikt: mosn fun shporevdikayt, fun pretsizkayt, fun a kalibrirtkayt mit internatsionale bagrifn-systemen. Bay azelkhe mosn vern di tsevaksungen un di bloyzn fun yidish andersh baloykhtn. Di shefe ken damolt oyskumen vi an iberikayt, bifrat kol-zman es feln neytikaytn." Un Uriel Vaynraykh hot zikh farmostn tsutsushteln di neytikaytn, a dank MEYYED veln mir hobn yidishe verter far hunderter haynttsaytike un haynttsaytikste bagrifn vi _anti-poverty program_, _urban sprawl_, _urban renewal_, _birth control_, _antibiotics_, _antibody_, _drug addict_, _appeasement policy_, _anti-missile missile_, _rocket booster_, _launching pad_, _manned flight_, _briefing_, _debriefing_, _wall-to-wall carpeting_. Tsum ershtn mol, khotsh yidish-yidn voynen in Kolumbeses medine shoyn a kaymelon fun sheyne etlekhe tsendling yor vet a yidisher zhurnalist kenen onshraybn a reportazh fun an amerikaner gerikhtzal oder fun di farhandlungen arum a gezets-proyekt un zikh kenen bageyn on _indayted_, _kort ov apils_, _kleyms kort_, _surogeyt_ un dest glaykhn vayzgebungen fun kolektiver un yekhidisher shprakhiker impotens. Er vet farmogn -- oyb er vet hobn genug batsiung tsum leyner, tsum loshn, tsu zikh aleyn -- dem lingvistishn makhsher tsu kenen akurat ibergebn yuridishe detaln un nit darfn redn un redn stam arum der zakh, vi se firt zikh bay undz, bavoyneseynu-horabim. Der nayes-shrayber vet mer nit darfn marbe-dvorimdik brayen "Dos kind is aropgefaln dort vu der eleveytor geyt aroyf un arop" (a pinktlekher tsitat fun a Nyu-Yorker blattsaytung); er vet kurts un pretsiz kenen shraybn "in der liftshakhte." 2. Geografishe universalizirung Di hayntike yidishe literatur-shprakh iz keyedue a pshore oder a sintez fun dray yidishe dialektn: dem "voliner," dem "litvishn," un dem "poylishn." Faran ober a shlal nutsike verter afile in ot di dialektn, vos di literatur-shprakh (mekhuts der beletristik) hot biz itster ignorirt. In MEYYED vern a shpor bisl fun ot di ignorirte, farshtoysene verter gebrengt bivkhines rekomendatsye. Fun der tsveyter zayt zenen dem klal-yidish-nitser biz atsind geven kemat in gantsn umbavust di interesante leksishe spetsifishkaytn fun di andere dialektn un unterdialektn: funem rumenishn, ungerishn, kurlender un mayrevdikn yidish. MEYYED heybt oyf dem shleyer, vos er hot zey gehaltn farhoyln un makht meglekh, az oykh zey zoln arayn inem hoyptshtrom fun der yidisher shprakh. Der geografisher yesod fun klal-yidish vert azoyernokh oysgebreytert oyf tzofn, oyf dorem, un oyf mayrev. Khuts di "alte provintsn" fun yidishland zenen dokh ober tsugekumen oykh naytsaytike kolonyes. Dos normative MEYYED narayet take dem yidish-nitser in der frayer velt di shprakhike khidushim fun sovetishn yidish. In reshus funem yidish-reder in di english-shprakhike lender vert geshtelt vertervarg fun romanish-shprakhike mekoymes. Avade un avade zenen fartseykhnt Yisroel-verter fun a klal-yidisher verde. Mame-loshn iz in MEYYED a veltshprakh nit nor in der potents oder beloshn melitse, nor bepoyel-mamesh. *. Khronologishe oysbreyterung Lifshits un Harkavi hobn opgeshpiglt s'loshn fun zeyer tsayt un svive: Barditshev fun 19tn yorhundert baym ershtn; Navaredik un Nyu-York fun der ander helft 19tn un onheyb 20stn yorhundert baym tsveytn. Khuts der geografisher oysbreyterung (ze dos frierdike kapitele) breytert MEYYED oys oykh dem khronologishn hekef fun der yidisher kulturshprakh. Dos verterbukh tsit zayn leksishe yenike nit bloyz funem 20stn yorhundert, nor oykh funem 19tn, 18tn, 17tn un afile nokh vayter, het bizn tifstn altyidish arayn. A prakhtik tsevaksener demb mit tif-tife vortslen. 4. Opklayb un standardizirung Itlekhs verterbukh iz i deskriptiv i normativ. Lifshits un Harkavi zenen geven beiker deskriptiv. _Der oytser fun der yidisher shprakh_, _Der groyser verterbukh fun der yidisher shprakh_, un _MEYYED_, vider, hobn kentike normative kavones. Der hoypt hot di konfrontirung mit english aroyfgeneyt oyfn mekhaber fun MEYYED a maksimale normative ongetsiltkayt. Funem farfleytsenish fun sinonimen un dubletn dafke oyf gevise shtokhim hot er gemuzt opklaybn a minimum un zey gebn di bkhire iber di mitkonkurirndike verter un formes. Geveyntlekh, vu s'iz a gustzakh darf men zikh rikhtn oyf khilukey-deyes -- un mekhutsn feld fun ortografye un daytshmerish hot dokh di shprakh-normirung undzere nokh nit oysgearbet genug obyektive mosn.(1) Mir kenen ober hobn a treyst, az in Uriel Vaynraykhn hobn zikh shprakh-khush un shprakhvisikayt(2) fareynikt tsu a goldenem sintez, bemeyle iz zayn geshmak s'beste oyf vos me ken zikh rikhtn, vi lang loshn iz a makhsher funem umshleymesdikn ben-odem un nit fun der shleymesdiker mashin. Der nitser fun MEYYED darf derbay keseyder in zinen hobn eynem fun di interesantste aspektn fun ot dem ekst interersantn leksikografishn oyftu. Di tsvey khalokim funem verterbukh zenen nit glaykh nit in kames, nit in tsugang. In yidish-englishn kheylek, vu der tsugang is a mer descriptiver, zenen fartseykhnt daytshmerizmen (mit vorndlekh, geveyntlekh) un anglitsizmen, vi oykh mer dubletn, vos der nitser fun verterbukh gefint zey baym leynen farshidene tekstn. In english-yidishn kheylek, vu di normir-kavone iz shtarker, zenen di barbarizmen kemat biklal nito un dubletn a sakh vintsiker. Inem mer deskriptivn teyl iz do say dos "literarishe" _tratuar_, say dos poshet-folkishe _tretar_ (Sholem-Aleykhem, dialektn); inem mer normativn teyl iz shoyn do bloyz _tretar_, vayl dos iz di forme vos der mekhaber hot gevolt untertrogn dem yidish-lerner. "A klal-shprakh vos lebt darf zikh oft _leksikografirn_ un zikh aropnemen a muser fun di khesroynes vos zi derzet bay zikh in leksikografishn shpiglbild."(3) An ershtklasiker lingvist un kener fun beyde leshoynes funem verterbukh, hot Uriel Vaynraykh derzen di bloyzn un zikh ongeton a koyekh zey tsu farfuln. Er hot gekhapt di tsoytn un gepruvt zey uptsuraysn, derzen di fastriges un zikh geflayst zey aroystsutsien. Mit der gvure fun a leksikografishn Herkules hot der bal-verterbukh gepruvt oystsureynikn undzere shprakhike Augias- "khadorim" ['Augean stables' -- not in MEYYED: LP]. Mit dem eynem verk zaynem, dem MEYYED, iz yidish fun an eyropeyish loshn fun sof 30er yorn megulgl gevorn in an alveltlekh loshn fun der tsveyter helft 60er yorn. An oyftu fun an intelektueln gigant. BEYZ. Standardizirung fun dialektishn un poshet-folkishn shprakhvarg Ven se felt in a kulturshprakh oys a vort, darf dos ershte zayn: kern zikh tsu di dialektn. Dort, in di tifenishn funem folksloshn, ken men graylekh gefinen dos, vos inem anemish loshn funem inteligent fun a gants yor iz es nito. Undzer shraybshprakh felt a vort farn populern Amerikaner maykhl "popkorn"? Dos bukaviner yidish farmogt daroys a vort: _kokoshes_(4). Se vayst zikh aroys, az dos "amerikaner" nasheray hot men oykh in eyn vinkl fun mizrekh-Eyrope gegesn. A vort far "deynish peystri"? Kumt s'ungerishe yidish tsu hilf mit zayn _delkl_ un dos kurlender yidish mit zayn _faynbroyt_. Litvishe, poylishe un reysishe yidn hobn nit farmogt keyn verter for "kentelop" [cantaloupe], "egplent" [eggplant], "skvash" [squash]? Dorem-ukrainer un besaraber hobn yo gehat: _dinke_, _patlezhan_, _kabak_. Oyb emetsn iz deresn dos halb daytshmerishe _shprikhvort_, shtelt dos galitsishe yidish tsu an ekht yidishe furemung: _veltsvertl_(5). Ver se meynt, az yidish farmogt nit keyn sinonim tsu _mer_, hot a toes; in poylishn un ukrainishn yidish vet er gefinen dem opbayt, oyb er zukht eynem: _meyn_. Vi zingt Broderzons meydele: "Kh'vil a kush, nit meyn." MEYYED vet helfn popularizirn ot di ale biz itst biksav zeltn genitste verter. Viernokh MEYYED hot oysgenitst dem baraykher-potentsial fun di yidishe dialektn ken men oplernen fun azoyne pruvlekh: _pout_ iz opgetaytsht say durkhn ukrainer-mizrekh-galitsishn _duyen zikh_ say durkhn litvishn _makhn lupes_; _splinter_ -- i durkhn poylish-yidishn _shpilter_ (nit _shpliter_!) i durkhn reysish-yidishn _skabke_. Azoy gefinen mir in MEYYED vi sinonimen di dialektish andershdike _latsh_ un _meshte_; _groyl_ un _skrukh_; _shnar_, _shram_ un _shtrom_; _tsekreln_ un _tseritsn_ -- fun dialektishn kol-tuv. Funem ukrainishn (tsum teyl oykh mizrekh-galitsishn yidish -- direkt funem geredtn loshn oder farmitlt durkh di verk fun Mendl Lefin-Sotenever, Lifshits, Sholem-Aleykhem, Mendele Moykher-Sforim, Byalik, Bergelson, Der Nister, Markish, Hofshteyn -- zenen genumen: _ayznbrekh_; _ontsern_; _optsern_; _ofntlekh_; _breklen zikh_; _gortnvarg_; _dolene_; _divan_; _derragzenen_; _tuekhts_; _tinterl_; _tshudne_; _tshere_; (handlen) _lakhodim_; _laketke_; _muskem_; _mlosne_; _nakhlie_; _nisher_; (shikn nokh a) _suke-sher_; _stigoter_; _stri_; _slid_; _sline_; _esikfleysh_; _poperik_; _purim-gret_; _prezhenitse_; _farhiken zikh_(6); _farshemt_; _firhang_; _tsere_; _kortsh_; _koydrish_, _roslfleysh_. Basaraber yidish iz fartrotn durkh: _finkldik un fekhldik_, _tsesarke_, _kilyem_. Vi oykh durkh di verter vos Basarabye hot beshutfes mit Ukraine (teyl fun zey zenen oysgerekhnt inem frierdikn paragraf). Fun der teritorye fun Galitsye, Bukovine, Alt-Rumenye, Podolye, Basarabye -- in ir gantskayt oder teylnvayz -- vaksn: _eygns_ 'oyf tsu flaysns'; _aynrukn_; _onteyen_; _geshmilts_; _dumen_; _vorikkez_, _zares_, _khamer-eyzl_; _tresen_; _yam-multerl_; _lopetkele_ 'arbesshoyt'; _mehader zayn_; _mayaysenik_; _motl_; _mloyen_; _meshiekhl_; _nozndik_; _omek_; _poyle-royle_; _pesten_; _foder(ik)_; _ratunik_; _sholtik_; _shvimkes_(7); _shtroz_. Dorem-yidish zenen: _oyssadern_ (pasekh-samekh inem shoyresh-teyl); _geneytik_; _varn_ 'makhmes'; _tabik_, _yern zikh_; _langstik_; _sinik_(8); _pruvl_(9); _tsoyt_; _kovel_; _kots_; _kulik_; _rem_; vi oykh, lemoshl, loshn nekeyve _di_ shine; oder neytraler min: _dos_/_di_ yidishkayt, _dos_ balebatishkayt (in s'rov derivatn oyf _kayt_ ober loshn nekeyve); _dos_ bay _oys_-derivatn (_dos_ akhrayes). Funem transkarpatishn yidish -- Ungarn, Slovakay, Karpatn, Zimbergn (10): _broske_ (Zimbergn); dos shoyn dermonte _delkl_; _foyletsn_; _shtots_ (farshpreyt oyf tzofn tif in poylishn yidish arayn); _shtafir_ (oykh in Galitsye). A litvak ben litvak iz keyn khidesh nit vos Uriel Vaynraykh hot tsum maynstn geshept fun dem redenish, vos er hot tsum ershtn derkent -- fun zayn heymishn vilner yidish bifrat un funem tsofn-mizrekhdikn dialekt biklal. Fun dort vaksn: _oyshobn_; der prefiks _oyf-_ mitn taytsh 'tsunoyf' (_oyfbindn_ 'tsunoyfbindn'; _oyfdreyen_ 'tsunoyfdreyen', _oyfdreyen zikh_; _oyfloyfn zikh_; _oyfleygn_ 'tsunoyfleygn'; _oyfklaybn zikh_; _oyfrufn_ 'tsunoyfrufn'; _oyfredn zikh_; _aynmakhn_; _aynrikhtn_; _ariber-gevorfene hoyzn_; (shteln in) _biesh_; _broyz_; _gehay_; _gevezt_; _derunterdik_; _ton_ 'fas' (tsum teyl oykh poylish-yidish); _tupitser_; _tshukht_; _tshekhol_; _lave_ 'tretar'; (avekleygn oyf di) _lopetkes_; _maykhldik_, _marudyen_; _murze_; _mitlen zikh_; _metelitse_; _nurke_; _nit vern_; _net_; _stoyp_; _strom-halavoy_; _smahe_; _edern_; _pozimke_; _palevines_; _pushtshak_; _a fule_; _farmegns_; _tsuklaybn_ 'ramen'; _tsere_; _koyp_, _koyke_; _shatayen zikh_; _shtorem_ un tsendlinger andere. Derikersht varft zikh es in di oygn baym opklayb tsvishn glaykhrekhtike dubletn. Beheskem mitn litvish-yidishn banits zenen oykh teyl rekomendatsyes benegeye gramatishn min un pronominaler beygung ("folgt _mir_" un dos glaykhn), der hoypt vu di rekomendatsyes zenen soyter bizitstike ayngeshteltkaytn. Biklal iz Uriel Vaynraykh di letste yorn geven untern shtarkn royshem fun di mamesh plefndike gefinsn funem yidishn shprakh- un kultur-atlas, vos zayn fartrakhter, organizirer un onfirer er iz geven. Er hot ayngezen vi loyz s'iz dos shaykhes fun der yidisher literatur-shprakh tsum geredtn yidish un vi mamesh antidialektish zi iz teyl mol. Vu er hot gemeynt, az se lozt zikh nokh epes mesakn zayn, hot er gepruvt. Poylish-yidish -- Oder fun de oytsres funem atlas, oder fun der beletristik un poezye (Etinger, Perets, Ash, Opotoshu, Glants, Glatshteyn, Bashevis, Demblin un azoy vayter), oder fun der lingvistisher literatur (beiker Prilutski), zenen: _eynse_, _tsveye_, _draye_ -- sho-onvayzn; _ove-tove_; _oyf s'koyekh_; _on dos_ 'say vi'; _opgeniglt_; _afer_ 'fun unter'; _bokh_ 'taykh'; _blazn_; _bloyne-blo_; _bakheynt_ (oykh in Kurland); _banoy_; _gelenk_ 'talant, geshiktkayt'; _gebift_; durkh s'bank; _desbrat_; _deron_; _dervegn_ 'vegn dem'; _heyt_; _hayen_; himlen; _vyondzlen _; _viernokh_; _zgal_; _zidlen un shnidlen_; _(a)zist_; _motlen_; _miglen_, _migl_; _mitlshtub_; _num_; _s'var_; _ender(sht)_; _entsl_; _eshper_; _fareyletst_; _katshn_; _kapoyerkumen_; _kaketsn_; _rebe-nisl_; _rizedik_; _reyntlekh_; _shol_ 'sholekhts'; _shiklen_; _shpor_ 'hipsh', vi oykh der rabim _khesroynim_ (Perets, Goldfadn) un teyl gramatishe dubletn. Oysnitsndik s'poylish-yidishe _shtertsl_ vi dem oysgangpunkt hot der bal-verterbukh agev geshafn azoyne gerotene nayverter vi _tsushtertslen_, _ibershtertslen_, _oyfshtertsler_. In MEYYED hot gefunen a mokem-miklet dos kurlender yidish, bay hayntikn tog kemat a fartriknter [text: fartrinkter] tsvayg oyfn dialektn-boym undzern: _umpas_, _turem makhn_, vi oykh a tsol verter, vos mir hobn gegebn untern eyberbagrif litvish. Rumenish-yidish is nit iberiks shtark fartrotn: _poykele_, _broske_ (oykh in Zimbergn, vi shoyn dermont) un etlekhe verter beshutfesdike mit Galitsye, Basarabye, Podalye. Funem tsofn-amerikaner yidish brengt MEYYED a hipshe tsol verter. Rekomendirt zenen vintsiker: _oyspresn zikh_, _voluntirn_, _voluntir_, _truizm_, _sof-vokh_, _priz_, _frustrirung_, _shvitsshop_ un azoy vayter. Yisreeylisher tsukum tsu klal-yidish: _yisreeylish_ (on a komets), _yisreeylis_; _kneset_, _ivrit_ (beyde mit tof, nit mit sof): _medineshaft_ (benegeye andere lender: _melukheshaft_); _nosi_; _kibets-golyes_; vi oykh, geveyntlekh, di eltere verter: _agents_; _kholets_ (loyt der ashkenazisher havore), _khalutse_; _aliya_ (loyt der sfardisher -- kdey tsu diferentsirn akegn dem sinonim tsu 'oyfrufn tsu der toyre'); _kvutse_ (ashkenazishe havore); _kibuts_ (sfardishe -- vider kdey tsu diferentsirn kegn dem eltern yidishn dublet). Fun romanish-shprakhike lender vaksn: _avyon_, _aktsident_ (11), _trafik_ (12), _editoryal_, _kalorifer_ -- ale mitn trop oyfn letstn traf. Eyropeyish-yidish zenen: _alimentn_, _asignirn_, _aparatur_, _drukzakh_, _portativ_, _portye_, _koytsye_, _kiosk_ un a sakh andere. (Di sovyetishe-yidishe elementn in MEYYED fartseykhenen mir inem kapitele neyologizmen, vayter untn). (continued in Part Two [= Vol. 01.023]) ________________________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.022 Leonard Prager, editor Send articles to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il The editor of _TMR_ can also be reached via _Mendele_'s homepage: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/ 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.023 15 October 1997 Uriel Weinreich's Dictionary Issue -- Part Two 2) Tsum yidish fun morgn (Mordkhe Schaechter) [continued] **** A biz gor interesanter gang fun MEYYED is dos derhayntikn dem taytsh fun a dialektvort vos se halt in fargesn vern. Azoy arum vert meglekh me zol dos vort nitsn oykh haynt in a modernem, hayntikn taytsh. _raytvegele_, a shteyger, iz a poylish-yidishe furemung un iz taytsh 'velosiped'. Mir gefinen es in di verk fun: Sh. Berlinski, Y. Bashevis, Z. Diamant un andere. Vayter vi di beletristik iz dos vort ober nit avek. In der zhurnalistik, in lernbikhlekh iz er nit arayn, bemeyle iz es in a sakone avektsukumen. Banayt es MEYYED vi a termin tsu batseykhenen dos naye formitl, vos mir rufn bederekh-klal mit zayn englishn nomen: _skuter_. In tokh arayn khazert zikh do di geshikhte iber. Der ershter semantisher iberdruk is geven fun _raytvogn_ 'alttsaytik formitl' tsu _raytvegele_ 'velosiped', bishaso a naye formitl. Atsind modernizirt MEYYED vayter dem taytsh tsu _skuter_, dos heyst a nayerer formitl. A shprakh tor dokh nit shteyn oyf an ort. Shprakhike farglivertkayt is a simen toyt. Oder nemt dos vort _tsogn_ 'vashn (un kemen) di meydlekhs hor (erev shabes)'. Se halt haynt in nit vern. Shikn mir dem leyener op tsu di zukhverter _tsvog_, _tsvogvaser_, _moyekh-tsvog_ in MEYYED, kdey tsu zen vi azoy do vert arayngeblozn a ruekh-khayem in an alt, optretndik vort. Dos opgelakhte folksvort _gezelnshaft_ vert afile fun der folkshprakh aroysgeshtupt durkhn "korektn" (vayl nentern tsu daytshish) _gezelshaft_. Se felt dokh ober oys a vort far _commonwealth_. Hot Dr. Maks Vaynraykh -- ongeshpart in _der gezeln_ 'mitforer, mittuer' -- genumen nitsn _gezelnshaft_ far ot dem nayem bagrif un MEYYED rekomendirt es alemen. Gingoldene poshet-folkishe verter vos MEYYED tsit oyf zey undzer oyfmerk: _oviren_ (Noyekh Prilutskis a libling); _oyspletn_; _ile_ (Glatshteyn), _ile mol_; _ire_ 'perzonen'; _onkreytik_ (Grade); _bredyen_; _geglikhn tsu_; _gevern_ (13), _gever_ 'gedoyer' _geshlider_ (14); _traktir_; _trits_; _lepish_ (Shteynbarg); _kempe_ (Mendele, Opatoshu); _kraytish_; _rikhteven_ (Mendele); _rits royt_: _shvorem_, _shlegish_ (Prilutski, Gininger). Mit der hilf fun MEYYED iz do a shtikl hofenung khotsh, az di verter veln vider derlebn a breyter genitstkayt. MEYYED kert zikh oft mol dayke tsu der folksforme, tsu folks-etimologishe iberfuremungen un ibertaytshungen, vos dos farzhurnalistevete loshn undzers hot oyf zey bitldik aropgekukt: _ibergeresht_; _heybmuter_; _tretar_; _nam_ (litvish un ukrainish); _freg_; _kler_; _remates_; _rendar_ (A.B. Gotlober, Sholem-Aleykhem, Tsunzer, Linetski un andere). Di amolike moyre far slavizmen iz shoyn haynt oykh oyver-zman, bemeyle vern rehabilitirt: _plen_, _plenik_ un azoy vayter. Ver se vil visn dem faktishn, rayeln aroysred fun loshn-koydesh-komponentike verter, nit dayke alpi hebreishn dikduk, nor alpi dos historish gevaksenem yidishn aroysred, darf a kuk ton in MEYYED unter: _veho-raye_, _yasher-koyekh_, _koyen_, _ayen-hore_ un dem glaykhn. Bikhlal zenen Yudl Marks verter vegn Lepin-Sotenevern mit gevise bavorenishn giltik oykh oyf Uriel Vaynraykhn: "Me ken zogn, az der yires-hakoved farn vokhedikn geredtn yidish un far dem poshetn reyder fun yidish shtaygt iber dem yires-hakoved farn posek."(15) GIMEL. Dos oyflebn arkhaizmen Dos oyflebn shoyn fun lang fargesene verter iz bay ale kulturfelker a balibt mitl fun shprakh-baraykherung. Vegn hebreish iz dokh opgeredt, ober afile in english zenen fun lang opgeshtorbene verter oyfgeshtanen tkhiyes-hameysim. Oykh in hayntikn yidish, oyb s'iz nito kayn vort for _bailiff_, is nit meyn vi rekht mekhaye-meysim tsu zayn _vozne_, vos in 16tn yor hundert iz es geven a geyik yidish vort (16). Di yidishe shprakh iz dokh mer vi di sume fun di verter, vos du un ikh nitsn. Oykh der zeyde un der elter-elter-zeyde hobn a kheylek un a nakhle in mame-loshn. Verter fun der alter literatur meg men un darf men banayen oyb zey feln undz oys. MEYYED farmogt etlekhe tsendling oyfgelebte arkhaizmen: _oyfrir_; _umteyderl_; _urtl_ (17) un derfun di derivatn _farurtlen_ un _farurtl_; _akhpern_ mit di derivatn _akhperung_, _akhperkayt_, _akhperdik_, _akhperlekh_; _ashlekh_; _bortn_ (18) _basheydlekh_; _bkhir_; _bayshtidl_; _gvaldglok_; _gevinen_ 'hobn (a kind)'; _gezeln_ 'mitforer' (19); _gefenkenish_; _geshteyn akegn_; _hofung_ (banayt oykh in Sutskevers lider); _hoyern_ -- in a modernizirtn taytsh, vi a termin fun flieray; _higlendish_ (20); _vozne_; _vorhaftik_; _voyner_ -- mit an ayngeengtn taytsh; _vidmenen zikh_; _visik_ un _visikayt_ (21); _vegsman_ un _vegskleyder_ un dertsu nokh a neologizm _vegstshek_; _zenftikn_; _tuung_; _tener_ (22), _yashrones_ (23); _logl_; _lokern_ un derfun der _loker_; _lugn_; _lefts_; _modish_; _mekhule_; _mern (zikh)_; _di nider_; _naymodish_; _nayert_; _di ine_, _nemen oyf der ine_; _ekdish_; _paslones_, _farhoyln_; _forkht_; _farlendn_ un derfun a nayvort _farlendik_; _fun vegn_ (24); _frukhpern zikh_; _frid_; _tsvishnsheyd_; _kurts fun der zakh_ (25); _kintslekh_ (26); _kestikn_; _rot_; _rekhtfartik_; _shalkhaftik_; _shonkayt_; _tafsn_. Teyl fun ot di verter zenen shoyn gants populer in der hayntiker literatur-shprakh -- (_nayert_, _lefts_, _farlendn_, _lokern_ un azoy vayter -- di andere veln ober, hofn mir, popularizirt vern, a dank MEYYED. DALED. Neologizmen Nor a toyt loshn darf meyn nit hobn keyn nayverter; se ken dokh mer nit vaksn. Inem banem fun Uriel Vaynraykhn, geveyntlekh, iz yidish a vital, vaksndik un vakserish loshn, vos me darf in im kenen shraybn nit nor zikhroynes fun der alter heym un partey-politishe polemikn, nayert oykh vegn kosmos-farshung, vegn psikhologye un filosofye. Iz take MEYYED an emeser oytser fun neologizmen. Koydem dem "elter-zeydns," Sh. Etingers, khidushim: _araynkum_, _zukhtsetl_. Dernokh di klasikers: Mendeles _vayzgebung_; Peretses _ergetsland_, _klingvort (popularizirt durkh Ravitshn) un _kemerl_ -- a vort vos di yidishe shul-bavegung in mizrekh eyrope hot es bishate untergekhapt, ober vos in der shprakh-opgeshtanener Amerike iz es nokh in der bkhine fun a nayvort. Fun Lifshitsn tsivshn andere: _opgos_, _varflke_, _firvorf_, _firgerikht_. Fun Zhitlovskin: _oyfmerk_, _oyseynen_, _eybershaft_ un azoy vayter. Fun Tshemerinskin (Reb Mordkhele): _traf_, an ibergetaytsht kheyder-vort, vos in der lingvistisher un pedagogisher litertur hot zikh es zeyer ongenumen, ober vos a sakh beletristn iz es tsum badoyern nokh adayem umbavust. Fun Z. Kalmenovitshn: _besodik_, _zitsik_, _kegener_. Fun Leyvikn -- di haynt shoyn zeyer populere _oyfkum_, _umkum_. Fun Opatoshun: _kristikn_. Fun Yuda A. Yofen: _mitsaytler_. Fun Yakhinsonen: _tsaytfarbreng_. Fun Z. Reyzenen: _leftsung_. Fun Prilutskin: _dreymzitser_ (folksvort?) un _aroysred_, vos _Der groyser verterbukh fun der yidisher shprakh_ (untern zukhvort _oysshprakh_) farekhnt es alpi toes far Yudl Marks an oyftu. Fun Dr. Sh. Birnboymen: _gevisiker_ artikl, _kegnshtelikayt_, _shistureml_. Fun Glants-Leyelesn: _turemen_, _raketeray_. Fun Leybush Lehrern: _opruf_, _oyffir-furem_. Fun Dr. Sh. Biklen: _tsuderzakhik_. Fun Yakov Glatshteynen: A tsol _zikh_-tsunoyfheftn, _mamen_ (verb). Fun Yudl Markn: _gleybekhts_, _fardarb_. Fun A. Sutskevern: _kent_, _ratever_. Fun Efroyim Oyerbakhn: _dankshaft_. Fun Volf Yuninen: _oyfraysshpits_, _zitsl_, _gulmat_. Fun B.Z. Goldbergn: _shvimeray_ 'shvimbaseyn'. Fun M. Kligsbergn: _epokhedik_. Fun Dr. M. Shekhtern: _abanir-gelt_, _bankeray_, _kosmosnik_. Fun Tutshinskis a dertseylung: _pral ofn_. Der grester oyftuer fun nayverter in yidish ker zayn Maks Vaynraykh. Di terminologye fun lingvistik, psikhologye, sotsialogye un azoy vayter -- kumt im a dank far hunderter nutsike khidushim vos er hot mekhadesh geven (27). Zaynen take in MEYYED arayn a shlal neologizmen Maks Vaynraykhs, bifrat az tsvishn zayne talmidim un khsidim iz zayn zun Uriel fort geven der getrayster. Sovetizmen: _baner_, _ivredik_, _umivredik_, _parteyer_, _kolvirt_, _roykhshleyer_, _redkolegye_, _shlogler_. Neologizmen un internatsyonalizmen fun der yidishe prese zenen: _onfli_ (Ratn-Farband un Poyln); _veter-novi_; _levonele_; _mariner_ (28); _narkoman_; _eskalirung_ (29); _kampanyeven_; _shtern-flier_; _shpitsn-konferents_ -- a vort vos se hot zikh ongenumen in ale yishuvim (30) nit gekukt oyf Marks pruv es optsufregn. Fun der terminologye vos di yidishe shul-bavegung in Poyln, Ratn-Farband, Lite and Letland hobn ayngeshtelt far farsheydene visnshaftn: _bashtoybung_, _blumenshtoyb_, _shtoybfodem_, _bekherbletl_; _shleyerl_, _goyleml_, _kopekl_, _roytheldzl_; _makhshir_ (in yidish biz yamolt bloyz beloshn rabim: _makhshirim_); _baytaykh_; _vifler_, _teyler_, _keyfler_, _funtsentrish_, _tsumtsentrish_. Punkt vi ale yidishe lingvistn, hot Uriel Vaynraykh gehaltn a velt funem ershtklasikn verterbikhl vos baym sof fun Shloyme Birnboyms ershtklasiker gramatik; hot er itlekhs vort un itlekhn taytsh fun dort aribergefirt in MEYYED. Dos eygene -- mitn shprakhvarg vos in Birnboyms ortografishn verterbikhl (31). Emervayz hot Uriel Vaynraykh geshept dem altn gutn vayn vos in Lifshitses verterbikher. Azoy oykh fun Harkavin un funem _Oytser fun der yidisher shprakh_. Er hot neene geven fun der yuridisher terminologye vos zi hot zikh beshate ayngeshtelt in Ratn-Farband (32); in di teg ven mame-loshn iz dort geven bivkhines melukhe-shprakh. Fun dort hot er lemoshl batsoygn _toyveye_, _nitbe_ un andere gute verter. Zeyer gevornt un gevisndik hot er oysgeshtimt zayne firleygn mit di terminologishe materyaln vos der shrayber fun di shures hot ongeklibn oyfn feld fun yurisprudents, kosmos-forshung, transportatsye, milkhome-firung, natur-visnshaft un azoy vayter. Oykh oyftuen fun stam yidn zenen khoshev. A leyner funem zhurnal _Yidish far ale_ hot, vi a farbayt farn polonizm _elektrovnye_, gehat firgeleygt _elektray_ (33), a vort vos se past zikh gut arayn in der serye _bekeray_, _garberay_ un azoy vayter, hot Uriel Vaynraykh es entuziastish arayngenumen in MEYYED vi a sinonim tsu _elektrishe kraftstantsye_. Zeltn tsu gefinen emetsn vos hot azoy gehaltn fun mikol melamday haskoloti, vi der mekhaber fun dem verterbukh. Er hot neene geven funem loshn fun di amolike vilner kinder un fun di hayntike nyu-yorker kinder -- zayne eygene un zayne khaverims: _sam-bletlekh_, _fingershikh_. Fun khevre yugntrofistn, vider, hot er genasht _zingeray_ -- a montreoler neologizm. Di yidishe shprakh farmogt a guzme substantivn oyf _-ekhts_, vos batseykhenen a substants: _zegekhts_, _shmirekhts_. S'iz genug a kuk tsu ton bay Lifshitsn -- hunderter derivatn oyf _-ekhts_, iz ven MEYYED hot gedarft fartaytshn _additive_, _lotion_, _repellant_, _rinse_, _sedative_, _seepage_, _solder_, _spray_, _stimulant_, _suntan lotion_, _sweepings_, _tranquilizer_ hot men oygenitst ot dem mishkl un se hobn zikh bakumen: _tsugebekhts_, _aynraybekhts_, _optraybekhts_, _shvenkekhts_, _aynshtilekhts_, _rinekhts_, _leytekhts_, _shpritsekhts_, _minterekhts_, _zunshmirekhts_, _kerekhts_, _baruekhts_. Di shefe in neologizmen -- a rezultat, vi dermont, fun der konfrontirung mit an ander kulturshprakh -- ken men zen fun di substantivn oyf _-varg_: _oyfraysvarg_, _aroysvarg_, _araynvarg_, _byurovarg_, _heytsvarg_ (a sovetisher neologizm), _zoknvarg_, _tepvarg_, _transportvarg_, _kosvarg_, _khemishvarg_, _loygvarg_, _leymvarg_, _meservarg_, _filyervarg_, _flivarg_, _shraybvarg_, vu itlekhs nayvort iz der neytiker ekvivalent fun a vikhtik english vort. Uriel Vaynraykh hot holt gehat diminutivn un mit rekht gezen in zey an umoyssheplekhn moker far der baraykherung fun yidish. Gefinen mir bay im a fule substantivishe farklenerungen say langonike say naye: _oyshengl_, _brayzl_ (diferentsirt akegn _broyz_), _blaybl_, _hikhle_, _teyele_, vi oykh diminutiv-iterative verb- un adyektiv-furemungen: _brumlen_, _gepnyaklt_, _netslen_, _knaklen_, _shmueslen_, _shpringlen_, _shpritslen_. Kedey optsushatsn vi s'ker tsu zayn ot di neologizmen darf men zey zen baynand mit zeyere englishe akegeners -- zey farfiln befeyreshe bloyzn. Oykh der sufiks _-(er )ay_ iz zeyer a produktiver, faran tsendlinger yidishe substantivn fun dem tip. Bemeyle lozt zikh gring shafn naye derivatn: _vurshteray_, _yogeray_, _nortleray_, _sekreteray_, _rederay_. Keday tsu fartseykhenen iz derbay, az Noyekh Prilutski hot beshate firgeleygt far der klalshprakh di dorem-yidishe diferentsirung: feminin -- der lokal (_di_ bekeray, _di_ garberay); neytral -- di tuung, der fakh (_dos_ bekeray, _dos_ garberay). Oykh Yudl Marks hot shpeter rekomendirt di system. In MEYYED iz zi durkhgefirt beshleymes: _dos raketeray_ iz di tekhnik; _di raketeray_ -- dos ort vu me lantsirt di raketn. _Dos shifboyeray_ iz di melokhe, di industrye; _di shifboyeray_ -- dos plats vu shifn vern geboyt, _dos shiseray_ is di aktsye; _di shiseray_ -- dos feld vu me praktitsirt dos shisn. _Dos shvimeray_ -- di aktsye, der sport; _di shvimeray_ -- der shvimbaseyn. _Lakir_ is a vort nit fun haynt. Faran shoyn bay Lifshitsn, in MEYYED gefinen mir ober oykh andere substantivn fun dem tip: _der izolir_, _der lantsir_, _der platsir_, _der ratir_. _-ikh_ iz azoyernokh gevorn a produktiver kemoy sufiks (in der emesen zaynen di oysgerekhnte substantivn shtam-furemungen on a sufiks). In _der lombardir_ iz der oysloz _-ir_ take in der pkhine fun an emesn sufiks. Der sufiks _-erish_ iz dir oykh nit kayn pustepasnik, fun im ken men oykh hobn a nuts baym baraykhern di shprakh, dort vu baraykherung iz neytik. Yidn zenen dokh beteve nit kayn folk fun shisers, yegers, zelners, iz fun vanet zoln mir hobn a vort far _trigger-happy_? Darfn darf men ober aza vort lekholadeyes, iz take _shimerish_ a goldene hamtsoe. A vort, vider, vi _aynzeerish_ iz kirtser un hantiker fun _a mentsh mit aynzeenish_, vi me volt bederekh-klal gezogt. Azoy oykh _fregerish_ un azoy vayter. S'iz klor der sakhakl: MEYYED geyt nit dem oysgetrotenem -- tseforenem -- veg fun nemen fun daytshish tsi english, shtots tsu shafn eygns, yidishs. S'iz dokh nit in koved fun a loshn akoredik tsu nemen fun der fremd ile mol, ven me darf epes nays. Un Uriel Vaynraykh hot nit nor lib gehat, nor oykh opshay gehat far der yidisher shprakh. HEY. Opklayb un diferentsirung A problem far zikh iz der inyen opklayb. 23 verter far _space_ hot der shrayber fun di shures aroysgeshribn fun der yidisher prese in farsheydene yishuvim (34). Dos iz nit keyn ashires, nor a simen dales, nit-normirtkayt, nit-ayngeshteltkayt, nit-ongenumenkayt. Teyl fun ot di 23 furemungen zenen take gerotene, andere zenen ober nit-durkhgetrakhte gikhshafungen, efemerizmen. Darf men oysteyln di gute un neytike sinonimen un zey standardizirn. Oyb me nemt di uvde erntst (vi andersh?) is dos an akhrayesdike arbet. MEYYED hot zikh dermit gespravet beshleymes. A tsveyter fal. Dos geviks, vos in der literatur gefinen mir far im lekholapokhes 10 nemen un formes -- _priml_, _primul_, _primule_, _primulke_, _ershtling_, _friblum_, _friling-graypelekh_, _meshugene graypelekh_, _shlislblum_, _shliselekh_. Dem vos lernt zikh yidish iz eyn oder tsvey sinonimen day-vehoyser. Di andere sinonimen un dubletn darfn blaybn farn shprakhforsher mernit. Faran an ander bliml, vos kh'hob in farsheydene mekoyrim far im ongetseylt 12 sinonimen un dubletn (abi me zogt, az mir hobn nit keyn nemen far kveytn): _luftl_, _luftshikl_, _aduvantshik_, _blezerl_, _blozblimele_, _pukhblum_, _pukhkepl_, _leybntson_, _mener-trayheyt_, _froyen-trayheyt_, _kublum_ un se kern zayn nokh. A selektiv verterbukh hot do gemuzt opklaybn. Nokhn opklaybn blaybt ober nit-oysgenitst shprakhvarg, vos se vet fargesn vern, oyb me vet es in a verterbukh nit fartseykhenen un azoy arum es makhn tsutritlekh far andere nitsers. In teyl faln vet derfun kayn lokh in himl nit vern. In andere faln is take a shod. ober s'iz fort nito kayn eytse. An andert mol, akegn zhe, kumt dos "farshtoysene" shprakhvarg zeyer tsu nits baym oysfiln faranene bloyzn. Oyb dos ukrainish- un litvish-yidishe _kust_ vert standardizirt vi der optaytsh far _bush_, blaybt dokh dos poylish-yidishe _kshak_ oyf gots barat. Ober neyn, me ken es nemen tsu hilf kdey durkhtsufirn a neytike diferentsirung: _kshak_ vert der termin far _shrub_. Di dubletn _geviks_ (Perets) un _geveks_ (Lifshits, Mendele, Prilutski) hobn A. Golomb un Z. Kalmenovitsh diferentsirt nokh in 1918 (35). MEYYED hot ot di diferentsirung oyfgehit. In der konkurents, vider, tsvishn Dovid Eynhorns _farzikhdik_ un A. Golombs _farzikhik_ far "zelbshtendik" hot MEYYED ongenumen dos ershte, ober dos andere (aktsentirt oyf _zikh_) -- ibergetaytsht vi a sinonim tsu "eygnnutsik." Andere neytike un gerotene diferentsirungen: _nutsik_ un _nitslekh_; _arbeter_ un _arbetorer_; _oysgrobung_ un _oysgrob_; _oyshtelung_ un _oyshtel_; _mumlen_ (Sholem-Aleykhem, folkshprakh) un _murmlen_ (poezye un tsaytungshprakh); _ratever_ un _ratirer_; _tresen_ un _treyslen_; _gezelshaft_ un _gezelnshaft_; _brudershaft_ un _bridershaft_; _onheyber_ un _onfanger_ (di letste tzvey diferentsir-firleygn zenen, vayst oys, Yudl Marks) un azoy vayter. Oyf der nafke-mine tsvishn _dos_ un _di_ bekeray, _dos_ un _di_ shifboyeray un azoy vayter hobn mir shoyn ongevizn. MEYYED hit oyf oykh dem khilek tsvishn _der_ krig 'milkhome' un _di_ krig 'krigeray'; _der_ druk 'drikung' -- _di_ druk 'drukeray'; _der_ pruv 'dos pruvn' -- _di_ pruv 'oyspruv'; _dos_ visnshaft 'yeda' -- _di_ visnshaft 'mada'. "Noyt brekht ayzn" zogt di velt a vertl. Di baraykher- un diferentsir-noyt fodert teyl mol, az me zol brekhn oykh azan "ayzernem" printsip vi dem otrakvistishn. Hot MEYYED take baynand mit der traditsionaler shraybung _shul_ far 'beys-tfile' aktseptirt di in Argentine oyfgekumene un letstns oykh in Yisroel farshpreyte shraybung _shil_, vos zi shpiglt op dem dorem-yidishn aroysred funem shaykhedikn vort. Azoy arum bakumt zikh a klore, seykheldike un shoyn fun lang neytik diferentsir-meglekhkayt _shul_ 'beys-haseyfer' -- _shil_ 'beys tfile_. An ander fal fun "noyt brekht ayzn" iz di diferentsirung tsvishn _shturem_ un _shtorem_. Punkt vi lemoshl _durkh_, _khurbn_ [khurbm] vern in tsentral-yidish aroysgeredt _dorekh_, _khorbn_ azoy vert oykh _shturem_ oyf a teyl fun yener teritorye aroysgeredt _shtorem_, a befeyreshe shraybung _shtorem_ gefinen mir bay Naftole Gros, Fanye Glants (36) un andere. MEYYED hot ot dem durkhbrokh funem iberdialektishn printsip standardizirt un far eyns durkhgefirt a semantishn iberdruk leshem diferentsirung: _storm_ iz take _shturem_, ober _gale_ is _shtorem_ oder _yam-shtorem_. Mit a kivn durkhgefirte diferentsirungen fun dialektish andershdikn shprakhvarg gefinen mir bay andere kulturshprakhn oykhet (farglaykh _der See, die See, vos vaksn fun farsheydene daytshishe dialektn). Yidish darf nit opshteyn funem klal antviklte shprakhn bansher-bekheyn bay undz tsitert men far shprakhike khidushim -- neologizmen, dialektizmen, arkhaizmen -- alts eynem nomen funem intelektuel farglivertn un lingvistish steriln printsip "ikh hob es keyn mol nit gehert." VOV. Oysloz Say in zayn lernbukh _Kaledzh-yidish_ [College Yiddish], vos geyt shoyn aroys in a finfter oyflage, say in MEYYED -- s'iz shoyn aroys di tsveyte oyflage -- hot Uriel Vaynraykh nit gevolt "araplozn funem prayz" fun bester kvalitet afile keyn prute nit. Im iz geven organish fremd der skarbover nusekh fun klyotshediker popularizatsye. Vi ale zayne verk, ruft oykh dos verterbukh tsu zikh aroys dem grestn derekh-erets, take tsulibn hekhstn nivo. Gor nispoel zenen di keners fun beyde leshoynes fun MEYYED vorn in letstn sakhhakl kenen nor zey beemes opshatsn dem umfarglaykhlekhn dergreykh fun ot dem verterbukh. S'iz graylekh keday tsu tsitirn eynem fun de farshemtste shprakhlers bay hayntikn tog -- Dr. Roman Yakobson, profesor fun slavishe shprakhn in Harvard-Universitet, vos hot oykh a kheylek in yidish-forshung (37): "Vi a lingvist vil ikh festshteln az Uriel Vaynraykhs verterbukh iz beemes a groys gesheenish in der shprakh-visnshaft. A dank Uriel Vaynraykhs zeltene metodologishe feyikaytn, zayn umgeveyntlekher gelerntkayt, zayn merkverdikn araynblik in der leksikologisher un gramatisher struktur fun shprakh -- iz dos verk vos er hot nokh zikh ibergelozt, nisht bloyz dos umfarglaykhlekh beste verterbukh fun yidish, nor oykh eyns fun de modernste un visnshaftlekh-oysgehaltnste verterbikher bikhlal.... Zayn verterbukh iz nisht bloyz a hekhst vertful getzayg far intensiv shtudirn di yidishe shprakh un literatur nor.... gor bazunder far algemeyner leksikologye." Tsi vet dem verterbukh gerotn oykh lemayse tsu derhoybn mame-loshn tsu di hekhste heykhn, vos a kulturshprakh ken dergreykhn? Bay undz in yidishland nemen zikh dokh neologizmen shver on. Undz feln di tsinoyres vos bay laytn: universitetn, fule togshuln, a prese vos leygt vog oyf loshn, a teater oyf a nivo. Fun destvegn, etlekhe khadoshim nokhn aroysgeyn fun MEYYED, zet zikh shoyn zayn koyekhdike hashpoe. In meshekh fun eyne fir vokhn iz dem shrayber fun di shures oysgekumen zi ontsushtoysn in nayverter fun MEYYED bay: Dr. M. Astur in _Oyfn shvel_ (_horhorik_), Itshe Goldberg in _Yidishe kultur_ (_tsurikshlog_, _shaykhesdikayt_, in _MEYYED_ -- _krikshlog_)_. Volf Yunin in _Tog-Morgn-zhurnal_ (terminen fun kosmos-forshung un raketeray); Yeshaye Malov in _Yugntruf_ (_derhayntikn_); Dr. Eliyohu Shulman in _Veker_ (_krigshlog_); Dr. M. Vaynraykh un andere. A makhriediker fakt: a tsol mentshn -- s'rov fun yingern dor -- leynen dos verterbukh tsaytlekhvayz, mit an interes vi se volt geven a beletristish verk un mit a pietet vi se volt geven a seyfer. Aza batsiung vet zikh muzn oprufn oyfn inteligentn yidishn shprakbanits. Dos zenen dokh di yidish-leyeners, -shraybers, -redaktorn un -forshers fun morgn. Se ken nit gemolt zayn, az di hashpoe, vos zi zet zikh shoyn itster, zol zikh nit shtarkn merer un merer in di kumendike yorn un doyres. Avade vet zikh nit itlekher prat onnemen -- s'iz dokh nit meshiekhs tsaytn -- ober der groyser rov khidushim, vos haynt freyt men zikh mit zey oder me kritikirt zey gor, veln in a dor arum zayn azoyne integrale, farfundevete teyln fun mame-loshn vi di amolike khidushim _forzitser_, _tsuzamenfor_, _shtudirgrupe_, un _koordinir-komitet_ zenen haynt. Dos _Modern english-yidish yidish-english verterbukh_ hot undz oysgeleygt a breytn, glatikn, sheynem shtroz tsum yidish fun morgn. Volf Yunin is gerekht: "S'iz dos verk fun halbn yorhundert."(38) Heores ['Notes'] 1. Voltn mir gehat oysgearbet obyektiv onvendlekhe vog-un-mosn, volt a shteyger nit miglekh geven tsu kvalifitsirn di forme _lem_ 'al-yad', vos me gefint zey bay Markishn un bay Sutskevern, bay Kadye Molodovskin un bay Kehos Kligern, bay Avrom Zakn un bay Moyshe Gurinen, bay Dikn un bay Yakhinsonen, bay Itzik Kipnisn un Yoysef Rubinshteynen vi -- dialektish. Oyb dos iz nokh dialektish, iz vifl shraybers darfn nitsn a forme zi zol zayn klal-yidish? 2. Zen "A vort frier funem redaktor," N. Stutshkov, _Der oytser fun der yidisher shprakh_, New York, 1950, zayt XIV. 3. "A vort frier," MEYYED, zayt tes (9). 4. Inem Moldever yidish: _kokosheres_. 5. Bay Noyekh Prilutski (a shteyger in zayn _Gevet_), Kh. Gininger, M. Shekhter. 6. Standardizirt ot di shraybung hot der _Yidisher ortografisher vegvayzer_. Biz yemolt hot geveltikt di shraybung _fariken zikh_. 7. Alpi toes farekhnt fun Y. Shteynboymen (in zayn retsenzye oyf MEYYED in _Tsukumft_, Oct. 1968, zayt 471) vi a nayvort. 8. Di shraybung _tabak_, _sinyak_, _kulak_ un der aroysred mitn aktsent oyfn tsveytn vokal iz far dorem-yidish reders nit azoy vayt litvish-yidish vi a rusitsizm. 9. Alpi toes farekhnt fun Volf Yuninen (_Tog-Morgn-zhurnal_, Okt. 20, 1968) far a neologizm. Der eltster tsitat in mayn reshus iz fun Fridrikhs bikhele _Unterikht...._ funem yor 1784. A shpeterdiker: _Yudishes folksblat_, St. Petersburg, April 11, 1883. Shp. 197. Genitst dos vort _pruvl_ hot nokh A.-B. Gotlober -- fun di friikste haskole-shraybers. In 20stn yorhundert: Noyekh Prilutzki, Y. Bashevis, Mortkhe Shekhter. 10. Mir zenen ayngeveynt tsu shraybn etimologish _zibn-bergn_. Nito keyn shum barekhtikung derfar. 11. _Ban-aktsident_, lemoshl _Idishe tsytung_, Buenos-Ayres, Sept. 12, 1965. 12. _Trafik_, lemoshl _Idishe tsaytung_, Buenos-Ayres, Sept. 8, 1965. 13. A vort vos ot nekhtn iz es nokh geven zeyer popular: Mendel Lefin-Satenever, Sh. Etinger, Eliezer Tsveyfel, Tsunzer, Mendele Moykher-Sforim, Linetski, Sholem-Aleykhem, Sharkanski, Moris Rozenfeld. 14. Lifshits, Etinger, Entin, N. Prilutski, Opatoshu, Harkavi, Stutshkov. 15. _Yidishe shprakh_, New York, Band XVI (Okt/Dets. 1958), 110. 16. Lemoshl in Shu"T Hash"L, Lublin, ShN"T-1599 (loyt N. Shtif, in _Oyfn shprakhfront_, Kiev, 1932, zayt 33). 17. A shteyger in _Megiles Vints_ (loytn iberdruk in M. Vaynraykhs _Shtaplen_, zaytn 180, 181, 182, 186, 187). 18. Dos vort lebt nokh ertervayz in di yidishe dialektn, vi M. Vaynraykh hot mehader geven nokh mit knape 30 yor tzurik -- _Yidishe shprakh_, New York, Band I (1941), 20 -- un vi der _Yidisher shprakh- un kultur-atlas_ hot shpeter bashtetikt. 19. A shod vos der taytsh 'elter lern-yingl' iz in MEYYED nit fartseykhnt. 20. Nokh bay Y. Aksnfeldn, bay Elyokum Tsunzern un andere. 21. Banayt vi psikhologishe terminen fun Dr. M. Vaynraykhn. 22. In der poezye banayt fun Sutskevern. Firgeleygt di banayung hot M. Vaynraykh in _Filologishe shriftn_ I (1926), 50. 23. Eyns fun di balibste verter inem shrayb-loshn fun 19tn yor hundert, me lozt zikh gring brengen tsendlinger oyfvayzn. 24. Genitst fun Prilutski, M. Vaynraykhn, Sutskevern. 25. In 20stn yorhundert iz der oysdrik nokh geven lebedik in Kurland (farglaykh M. Vaynraykhs _Shtaplen_ 233). 26. Mitn taytsh 'vunderlekh, zeyer gerotn' eyns fun di populerste verter inem yidish fun 19tn yorhundert: Etinger, Tsveyfel, Tsunzer, _Teyator fin khsidim_ [Teater fun khsidim], Sholem-Aleykhem, Sharkanski, Makman, Reyngold. Inem folks-loshn ertervayz lebedik adayem. MEYYED brengt es ober vi a sinonizm tsu _kuntsik_ (beheskem mit Lifshitses optaytsh). 27. Farglaykh di arbetn fun Y. Mark un M. Shekhter in _M. Vaynraykhn tsu zayn zibetsikstn geboyrn-tog_, Hag, 1964; vi oykh M. Shekhters "M. Vaynrakhs tsushtayer tsum oysvaks fun yidish," _Di goldene keyt_, Tel-Oviv, band 50 (1964). 28. Lemoshl _Naye prese_, Paris, Okt. 29, 1965. 29. _Folksshtime_, Varshe, Yanuar 5, 1967: _eskalatsye_. 30. Tsvishn andere: _Idishe tsaytung_, Buenos-Ayres, Merts 19, 1964; _Letste nayes_, Tel-Oviv, Sept. 17, 1965. Azoy oykh di Nyu-Yorker tsaytungen, der _Keneder odler_ un azoy vayter. 31. Dr. Shloyme Birnboym. _Yidish verter-bikhl fun oysleyg..._, Lodz, 1932, 54 pp. 32. A shteyger _Gezets-kodeks vegn familye, apotropes, heyrat un vegn aktn fun birgerlekhn shtand_, Moskve-Kharkov-Minsk. [no date], 108 zaytn. 33. _Yidish for ale_ (1938), 197. 34. Farglaykh M. Shekhter, "A bisl kosmos-terminalogye," _Oyfn shvel_, Yuli-Oyg. 1966. 35. Cf. A. Golomb, _Yidishe shprakh_ XVIII (1958), 94. 36. Cf. _Inzikh_, Yuni 1937. 37. _Yedies fun Yivo_, New York, 107 (Sept. 1968), 5. 38. Farglaykh Volf Yunin, "Shprakhvinkl," _Tog-Morgn-zhurnal_, No. 3, 1968. ______________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.023 Leonard Prager, editor Send articles to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il The editor of _TMR_ can also be reached via _Mendele_'s homepage: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/ 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.024 31 October 1997 1) Yiddish Matters: a. Whose Vilna? b. Romanization in the _The Mendele Review_ (Leonard Prager) 2) The Yivo Autobiographies (Michael Steinlauf and Rachel Wizner) 3) "Oytobiografye" (Leyzer Volf) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 31 October 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Whose Vilna? A 1930s autobiography of a Yiddish poet would not on the face of it seem to have much to do with current conflicts. But being a record of a decidedly secular Jewish life in Vilna, Leyzer Volf's story somehow comments on the recent efforts of the Lithuanian government (after having given a general amnesty to its Nazi collaborators who helped murder thousand of Jews) to appropriate the Vilna Gaon as the consummate symbol of the centuries-old Jewish presence in Lithuania. The appropriation has angered some Jewish circles for a number of reasons. On the one hand there is resentment at the annexation of the Vilna Gaon into the "national cultural pantheon of Lithuania," as Eliyahu Salpeter puts it (HaAretz 15 October 1997); and David Assaf (HaAretz, 15 October 1997) questions if _any_ figure may be regarded as representative of all Lithuanian Jews, reminding us that Vilna, especially, in addition to being a great religious center, was a thriving hub of Zionism (in all its varieties), of modern Hebrew education and culture, of Jewish trade-unions, of the Bund (and other varieties of Jewish socialism and diaspora nationalism), of Yiddish literature, Yiddish press (dailies, weeklies, monthlies, annuals), Yiddish theater, Yiddish choirs -- and yes, as we learn below, of Jewish soccer teams and Jewish toughs. Date: 31 October 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Romanization in the _TMR_ At the suggestion of Refoyl Finkl, creator of the Yiddish Typewriter (see http://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish/yiddishmaker.html) _The Mendele Review_ will, on an experimental basis, romanize Yiddish texts so as to facilitate conversion to Yiddish-letter texts. The changes are relatively few and readers should not be too discomfited -- considering the advantages gained. The rules call for 1) non-usage of capital letters except for the first letter of a Hebrew proper name (e.g. Refoyl finkl), 2) use of the vertical bar (|) between t and s when these letters do not represent the letter tsadik (e.g. got|s, elt|stn), 3) use of the vertical bar (|) to divide Hebrew-Aramaic from non-Hebrew-Aramaic word elements (e.g. khaver|tes, far|peysekh) and from other Hebrew-Aramaic elements (e.g. sh|b|letste), 4) use of e in final unstressed position of Hebrew words (e.g. sonem) -- even where MEYYED often has i, 5) use of ~ between letters in emphasized words. There are a few other small matters which can be explained as we become accustomed to the new system. Mendelyaner who wish to read _TMR_'s romanized Yiddish texts in Yiddish will now be able to do so (provided they have the proper hardware and software). If the experiment is successful we will try to conform all past issues to the same standard. A large regularized corpus of Yiddish texts could then be permanently available for analysis and study in both Latin and Yiddish letters. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 31 October 1997 From: Michael Steinlauf and Rachel Wizner Subject: Introduction to Leyzer Volf's "Autobiography" Michael Steinlauf and Rachel Wizner Introduction to Leyzer Volf's "Autobiography" On three occasions in the 1930's -- 1932, 1934 and 1939 -- YIVO (located at the time, let us recall, in Vilna, which was in Poland) announced contests for autobiographies written by Jewish young people. The contests were the brainchild of Max Weinreich, who saw them as a means of collecting data to help the Jewish youth of Poland better understand themselves and thereby help shape their future. Weinreich's agenda, in other words, like that of the pre-Holocaust YIVO as a whole, was diaspora nationalist; the book he wrote based on his preliminary study of the autobiographies was entitled _Der veg tsu undzer yugnt_ ('The path to our youth') [Vilna, 1935]. Weinreich hardly worked in a vacuum; comparable contemporary studies were undertaken among Polish peasant youth, in Austria and in the United States. (See Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett, "Coming of Age in the Thirties: Max Weinreich, Edward Sapir, and Jewish Social Science," _YIVO Annual_ 23 (1996): 1-103.) Contestants had to be between 16 and 22 years of age. They were promised anonymity and encouraged to write candidly. The prizes, considering contemporary Jewish poverty, were attractive; in 1939, for example, first prize was 150 zlotys or about $30. Also attractive was the possibility of being honored by YIVO, which for many Polish Jews represented the pinnacle of modern Jewish cultural achievement. By the end of the decade, YIVO had collected about 600 such autobiographies, two-thirds in Yiddish and one-third in Polish. About half of these texts survived the Holocaust, and are currently located in the YIVO archives in New York. A selection of them has been translated into English and is currently being prepared for publication by the undersigned. Yiddish and Polish editions of some of the autobiographies will also be published. Leyzer Mekler, the future poet Leyzer Volf, submitted his autobiography for the first contest in 1932. This accords with the date on the manuscript (July 4, 1932) and the closing date for entries for that year (August 20, 1932). Leyzer Ran, who wrote the introduction and supplied the notes to Volf's "Lider" (New York, 1955), which includes the autobiography, states erroneously that it was submitted in 1934. Volf would have been too old to compete in 1934 -- he was born in 1910. Some contestants did resubmit their autobiographies but Volf was not one of them. It has also been claimed that his autobiography won first prize. In the 1932 contest there were no more than 40 entries. Four money prizes were awarded and there were 11 honorable mentions (they received books). Leyzer Mekler's name does not appear among these. Why the mistake? First of all, the contests had such prestige in the Yiddish world that it was not uncommon for contestants (or their friends and family) to claim they received awards even when they hadn't. Secondly, in 1932 the entries were assigned numbers according to their date of arrival at YIVO. Leyzer Volf's was the first entry received and was assigned the number 1, which may later have been misinterpreted as meaning that he won first prize. The error may have been compounded by the whimsical pseudonym he chose: Anonim numer 1001. The following excerpt, taken from the announcement of the 1932 YIVO contest, is useful as a context for Volf's autobiography. "yeder shrayber hot fule frayhayt baym oysklaybn un oyfshteln dem materyal. mir rufn ober on etlekhe punktn vos es volt gut geven tsu barirn: ir un ayer mishpokhe. milkhome-yorn. lerer. shuln un vos zey hobn aykh gegebn. khaveyrem. khaver|tes. yugnt-organizatsyes. partey-lebn un vos dos hot aykh gegebn. vi azoy zayt ir tsugekumen tsu ayer fakh oder vi azoy klaybt ir zikh tsutsukumen. voser pasirung in ayer lebn hot oyf aykh gemakht dem grestn ayndruk." ('Each writer has complete liberty in the choice and arrangement of material. We mention however several points it would be good to touch upon: You and your family. The war years. Teachers. Schools and what they gave you. Male friends. Female friends. Youth organizations. Life in a political party and what it gave you. How did you decide on a trade or how are you going about deciding on one. What event in your life made the greatest impression on you.') Michael Steinlauf Rachel Wizner 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 31 October 1997 From: Claus Buryn Subject: "oytobiografye" (leyzer volf) ---------------------------------------------------- leyzer volf oytobiografye (1932) * ** *** 1. kh'bin geborn gevorn in yor 1910 in vilne bay oreme eltern. der tate a shtubmaler, di mame a shtubike [baleboste]. ikh bin shoyn geven dos drite yingl un dos ferte kind, azoy, az mayn geburt hot keyn groyse freyd nisht gebrakht. dertsu bin ikh nokh geborn gevorn fizish zeyer shvakh, kemat on a hoyt, azoy az men hot mikh a tsayt lang gedarft bodn in vaser gemisht mit milkh.... ikh heyb on tsu gedenken fun a yor tsvey-dray. di ershte dire undzere, vos ikh gedenk, hot zikh gefunen oyfn tsveytn gorn. zi hot gehat an estsimer mit tsvey "farmuges" [framuges: nishes], a finstern shloftsimer un a kleyne kikh. ikh gedenk a por bilder oyf di vent. oyf eyn bild hot zikh gefunen a beroze [bereze] in nepl un di shlankayt fun der beroze [bereze] flegt mikh dermonen di figur fun mayn elterer shvesters a khaver|te. mayn tatn gedenk ikh nit in di ershte yorn fun mayn kindhayt, vayl er iz dan geven in amerike. ikh gedenk nor vi eynmol iz mayn elterer bruder gelofn oyf di trep un geshrien: "der tate fort." dernokh iz gekumen der tate mit tsvey shvartse tshemodanes [valizes]. fun di kvartirantkes undzere gedenk ikh ambestn eyne a geshtuplte nit keyn sheyne fraylin, ober zeyer a hartsike. zi iz geven a zokn-shtrikerke un hot bay undz farnumen a "farmuge" [framuge] mit ir mashin. zi iz geven a nit-hige [nit-lokale] un ale peysekh flegt zi forn aheym. arbetn flegt zi fun fri biz nakht un dan flegt zi di zokn oyfleygn un avektrogn tsum komisyoner, oyf velkhn zi flegt zikh zeyer baklogn, az er baavlt zi. a khuts der zokn-shtrikerke hobn nokh bay undz gevoynt dray shvesterkinder mayne. tsvey zaynen oykh geven zokn-shtrikerkes un eyne a bekerke. di bekerke iz shpeter geshtorbn, nor ir toyt gedenk ikh nit. eyn shvesterkind mayne hot gearbet in a geheyme "kruzhok" [krayz], mistome in "bund". zi flegt zingen bay der arbet revolutsyonere lider un flegt oft brengen aheym "literatur," vegn vos zi flegt zikh krign mit mayn mamen.... di zelbike hot gehat a khosn a mekhanishn shuster -- zeyer a mis|er, ober zeyer a voyler tsu alemen un tsu undz kinder. mayn ershte khaver|te iz geven in mayn elter a yor dray-fir. undzer hoyf-balebostes a meydele. ale inderfri fleg ikh geyn tsu ir zikh shpiln. zi hot gehat zeyer a sakh tsatskes, lyalkes, betelekh un kindershe gefes. ikh fleg zikh opshpiln mit ir gantse teg. men flegt mikh koym aroysnarn oyf a vayle in shtub arayn tsum esn. ikh gedenk nit mir zoln zikh hobn ven es iz gekrigt. mir flegn zikh shpiln bay zey in groysn zal. shpeter hobn zikh undzere shpiln aribergetrogn oyfn hoyf un es zaynen tsugekumen nokh eynike kinder, a tunkl meydele -- a koymenkerers un andere. mir flegn zikh shpiln in tate-mame, shpeter in yogenish un baheltenish. der hoyf iz geven a kleyner, mit a bisl groz tsvishn shteyner. s'hot zikh oyf im gefunen a shmideray, azoy az ferd flegn zayn a gantsn tog. mir hobn zikh tsu di ferd tsugevoynt un far zey keyn moyre gehat. der tate iz gekumen fun amerike a kranker un zikh bald geleygt in bet arayn. mitn bisl gelt, vos er hot gebrakht, hot men bashlosn tsu makhn a farb-krom, fun vanen tsu tsien di khayune [fardinen zikh dos lebn] mir hobn gedungen mit a hoyf vayter a krom. di eltere shvester iz gevorn di kremerke. frier iz zi geven a shnayderke un zi hot zeyer nit gevolt shteyn in krom. nokh dem hot zi zikh tsugevoynt. zi flegt zitsn un leyenen rusishe bikher, vayl di leyzung [di hakhnose] iz geven nit keyn groyse. un fun dem hot men gelebt. der elterer bruder iz gegangen in kheyder. ikh bin nokh geven kleyn un nokh geshpilt zikh. unter mir iz shoyn geven nokh a bruderl. vi er iz geborn gevorn gedenk ikh nit. er hot gehat hele herelekh un shtendik flegt er zitsn un veynen. dernokh iz gekumen di tsayt, ven ikh hob shoyn oykh gedarft geyn in kheyder. ikh bin dan mistome alt geven a yor fir. di mame hot mikh avekgefirt in an engn tunkeln tsimer, ful mit shmutsike yinglekh. der rebe hot mir gevizn an alef un geheyst zikh zetsn. ven di mame iz avek, hot der rebe genumen shmaysn a yingele. dem yingls gevaldn hobn mikh azoy fa[r]drikt dos hertsl, az ikh bin zikh fargangen in a geveyn un antlofn aheym. nokh dem hot men ba mir shoyn keyn mol nit ge|poyel|t, nit mit gutn, nit mit beyzn, ikh zol nokh amol geyn in kheyder. kh'hob zikh far|akshn|t [kh'hob zikh ayngeshpart] un mer far keyn shum prayz nit gevolt hern derfun. ikh gedenk nit tsi men hot mikh geshlogn derfar. dukht zikh az nit, vayl mayne eltern hobn b|klal kemat keyn mol zeyere kinder nit geshlogn. bin ikh geblibn dervayl vider a fir-yoriker "pust-un-pasnik" [leydik-geyer] un zikh vayter geshpilt mit undzer balebostes meydele. dernokh, ven es zaynen ongelofn fun umetum di "byezhentses" [pleytem] in vilne, hot zikh tsu undz in hoyf arayngeklibn a grodner "byezhenets," iz er geven a rebe. hot di mame im gedungen, er zol lernen mit mir in shtub. mit dem rebn hob ikh ayngeshtimt tsu lernen. er hot mit mir gelernt alefbeyz un shpeter sider. azoy vi ikh fleg nokhanand zikh shpiln bay mayn khaver|te, flegt der rebe oft arayngeyn ahin un dort mit mir lernen, hot zikh tseshrien mayn khaver|te, az zi vil oykh lernen mitn rebn. farvos ikh? hobn mir shoyn beyde nokh mit mer kheyshek gelernt baym rebn. shpeter a bisl hot undz mayn khaver|tes an eltere shvester gelernt shraybn yidish.(1) zi flegt undz onshraybn a shure mit a gevisn os un mir flegn darfn nokhshraybn. ikh hob gezogt az der lange tsadek zet oys vi a kotshere un mayn khaver|te, -- az der lange fey zet oys vi a pomele [heymfayer-bezem] b|klal hobn mir beyde gehat a sakh fargenign fun undzer lernen un keyn opkumenish iz es far undz keyn mol nit geven. nokhn lernen flegn mir zikh vider nemen tsum shpiln. 2. eynmol, dos iz dukht zikh tishebov fun yor 1914, iz mayn shvester gekumen fun gas un dertseylt, az men hot oysgeklept "obavlyenyes" [rusish: deklaratsyes] vegn mobilizatsye. di verter zaynen far mir geven nay un umfarshtendlekh, nor ikh hob shtendik lib gehat zikh tsutsuhern vos groyse reydn un kh'hob fun destvegn fun ir dertseylt az es handlt zikh vegn umgeveyntlekh ernste zakhn, vegn milkhome, az me vet harg|enen, az der tate vet efsher darfn geyn oyfn front, tsum toyt.... dernokh iz in shtot gevorn zeyer umruik, a sakh militer. nor biz nayn azeyger ovnt, dukht zikh, flegt men torn geyn oyf di gasn. oysnam-tsushtand. alts iz gevorn tayer. dem tatn hot men tsugenumen tsu der arbet ergets oyf brikn. baynakht flegt men farhengen di shoybn keyn fayer zol nit durkhlaykhtn oyf der gas. eynmol, gedenk ikh, hot men shoyn nit gekent krign keyn vays broyt un di eltere shvester hot geshrien, az zi meg afile shtarbn, vet zi keyn shvarts broyt in moyl nit nemen. di prayzn oyf shpayz-artiklen zaynen geshtoygn on oyfher un der tate hot eynmol gebrakht a zak kornmel un gezogt, az mir veln aleyn bakn broyt. di mame hot zikh tseshrien mit kas, az zi vet keyn broyt nit bakn. shpeter hot zi zikh gevuntshn a sakh azelkhe zek mel. di umruikayt in shtot iz alts gevaksn. men hot geredt, az di daytshn hobn shoyn genumen kovne un minsk un zey veln bafaln vilne fun ale zaytn. fun di forshtet hot men genumen antloyfn in tsenter shtot. mir hobn oykh gevoynt in a forshtot un di eltere shvester iz arumgelofn zukhn a dire in di tsentrale gasn. dires zaynen ober gevorn alts tayerer un s'iz shoyn bald b|klal shver gevorn tsu krign afile a tsimer. khuts dem iz shoyn der tate vider gelegn shver krank, azoy, az mir zaynen ibergeblibn di eyntsike in gantsn hoyf un tsvishn di veynike in der forshtot in yener yonkiper-nakht, ven di rusn hobn farlozn vilne. yene nakht hot zikh mir gut ayngekritst in zikorn. di fentster zaynen geven farhangen. di mame hot gevakht baym krankn tatn. zi hot im geleygt kalte kompresn. mir, kinder, hobn zikh getulyet in a vinkl kanape. di eltere shvester hot b|gneyve gekukt durkh di fentster un di mame hot zikh oyf ir gebeyzert. ale rege hobn geknalt biks-shosn un vayte harmatn-dunern. mir, kleynvarg, hobn zikh geshrokn un geveynt. der tate hot gezogt az mir ale zoln aropgeyn in keler zikh rateven un im zoln mir iberlozn, vayl alts eyns iz er shver krank un halt baym shtarbn. di mame hot geveynt un gezogt, az oyb shtarbn iz ale tsuzamen. mir zaynen kentlekh shpeter antshlofn gevorn. oyfgerisn fun shlof hot mikh a moyre|diker knal aza, az di shoybn zaynen tsefloygn gevorn. s'iz shoyn gevorn fartog, mir hobn nit farshtanen dem badayt fun dem gvaldikn knal.. di shvester hot zikh aroysge|ganv|et fun shtub un avekgelofn zen vos es hert zikh in gas. shpeter iz zi gekumen tsuloyfn mit nay[e]s, az der knal hot es oyfgerisn dem grinem brik, un az di daytshn farrikhtn im shoyn. in der fri hobn zikh kind-un-keyt oysgeshotn oyf di gasn. es hobn durkhgemarshirt makhnes daytshn in shpitsike helmen. zey hobn gevorfn lekekhlekh far di kinder. ikh hob oykh gekhapt a lekekhl, nor es iz geven biter vi gal. mentshn hobn geredt mit freyd, az itst vet shoyn vern gut. s'vet zayn punkt azoy vi "zagranitse" [rusish: in oysland] -- alts bilik un fayn. gevorn iz ober punkt farkert -- alts erger un erger. di daytshn hobn genumen alts rekvizirn, iberhoypt kuper. tsu undz zaynen gekumen tsvey daytshn un tsugenumen etlekhe kuper-fendlekh. bay laytn flegt men dos kuper bagrobn in der erd un nit aroysgebn. di krom hobn mir farmakht. keyn moleray iz nit geven un s'iz nit geven fun vanen tsu lebn. di shtot iz vos vayter alts mer farshtorbn gevorn tsivil. der tate hot ge|dayge|t: "vos tut men?" un er iz avekgeforn oyfn dorf handlen. handlen iz shoyn geven farbotn. un men flegt darfn di skhoyre durkhshmuglen durkh di militerishe patroln. men flegt firn oyf di vegener kloymersht shtroy oder zamd un untn in a geheymen tsvishndek flegt lign di skhoyre. oyf aza oyfn hot eynmol der tate durkhgeshmuglt, nor tsum tsveytn mol hot men di baheltenish gepakt un rekvizirt di skhoyre. azoy arum iz shoyn nit geven mit vos vayter tsu handlen. ikh gedenk vi di shvester iz eynmol gekumen mit a khaver|te un di khaver|te hot ir genumen lernen daytsh. vayl itster iz es shoyn in di mode. ikh, nokh nit kenendik kemat keyn yidish, hob zikh ayngeshpart az ikh vil oykh lernen daytsh. ven keyn kegn-taynes hobn nit geholfn, hot mir di shvesters khaver|te oykh ongeshribn a shure daytshishe oysyes un ikh hob untn nokhgeshribn. ikh bin dan mistome alt geven a yor finf. forndik oyfn dorf hot der tate gedungen dortn a shtub in derfl un gekumen mitn forshlog aroystsuforn oyf nit hi. "do, - hot er gezogt - vet men shtarbn fun hunger, vayl di lage vert erger fun sho tsu sho. dort vet er farrikhtn tep bay di poyerem (an arbet velkhe er hot nokh gekent fun di yingl-yorn) un b|klal veln mir zayn nenter tsu di kvaln fun shpayz un broyt. di mame hot ge|tayne|t, az di kinder veln oyfn dorf farvildevet vern. mayn eltere shvester hot zikh oykh shtark antkegngeshtelt. ir hot zikh stam nit gevolt avekvarfn di shpatsir-gasn un kavalirn, hagam yemolt iz es efsher shtark in kop nit gelegn.... oysgefirt hot der tate. un in a gevisn frimorgn hobn mir genumen aynpakn undzere zakhn oyfn eygenem ferd-un-vogn. far mir iz es geven a groyse freyd dos klaybn zikh. kh'hob mit kheyshek geshlept kleynikaytn fun shtub aroys in vogn arayn. kh'hob zikh gezegnt mit mayn bester langyoriker khaver|te. kh'hob ir tsugezogt, az kh'vel oft kumen un ir brengen pozimkes [pozemkes; ze poylish poziomka], truskavkes [ze poylish truskawka] un blumen. zi hot geveynt. kh'hob gezogt: "narele veyn nit"..... dos hertsl iz mir veykh gevorn. der vogn hot gerirt un ikh oyfn vogn mit a yam umbakante gefiln fun freyd, gezegenung, libe un troyer. 3. in derfl zaynen mir ongekumen farnakht. di shtub iz geven a hiltserne mit etlekhe shteyner onshtot trep. mir hobn zikh oysgepakt, geshlept di zakhn in shtub arayn. ikh bin glaykh avekgelofn raysn hoykhe blumen, vos zaynen vild gevaksn arum shtub. ven s'iz gevorn tunkl hobn mir keyn fayer nit ongetsundn un zikh glaykh geleygt shlofn farmaterte oyf senikes [ze poylish siennik; geleger], tseleygte oyf der hoyler erd. keyn padloge iz nit geven. a vintl hot geblozn durkh di fentster. es hot zikh ongehoybn a nay fray frish lebn. fartog fleg ikh zikh aropkhapn mitn yingern bruderl un avekloyfn oyf di nase felder. mir hobn zikh shnel tsunoyge|khaver|t mit etlekhe shkotsem|lekh, hagam mir hobn nokh keyn poylish nit gekent reydn. eyn sheygetsl a shvakhs, mit bloye oderlekh iz geven a meshumed|estes a zun. di meshumed|este iz geven undzere a noente shkheyne, un mir hobn zikh mit ir un mit ir familye zeyer gut tsunoyfgelebt. der zumer iz avekgelofn gikh. s'iz gekumen der harbst mit regns un umet. mir hobn zikh geshpilt in shtub. der tate flegt oyfkoyfn farsheydns in shtot un es baytn oyf shpayz bay di poyerem. di shvester hot geneyt bay di poyerem. fun destvegn hobn mir oft tsugehungert. vinter zaynen mir umgelofn mit borvese fislekh iber der kalter padloge oder geshpilt zikh oyfn oyvn. kh'hob gebenkt nokhn zumer, nor lang iz er nit gekumen. der shvester hot mir in ovntn gelernt leyenen un shraybn yidish. kh'bin geven flaysik. mir flegn oft shpiln in loto mit shkotsem un shikselkes. mir hobn gelebt mit zey gut un zikh zeyer zeltn gekrigt. endlekh iz gekumen der friling un mir hobn genumen farlozn undzer shtub. di baleboste hot aleyn zikh aher arayngeklibn. mir hobn zikh ibergeklibn tsu an ander poyer oyf a bergl. mir hobn do gevoynt mitn poyer in eyn shtub, mernit opgeteylt mit a foder-hayzl. di shtub iz geshtanen kemat in vald. in shkheynes hobn zikh gefunen veldldike zumpn. do flegn mir oft geyn in vald nokh holts, yagdes, shvemlekh. fartog fleg ikh mitn bruderl avekloyfn tsum pastekh. er flegt undz lernen makhn a fayer, untertsindn frishn grozn in feld, bakn bulbes un makhn fayflekh, keyshlekh fun riter. di mame hot ge|dayge|t, az mir vern farvildevet, az mir kenen shoyn kemat keyn yidish nit reydn. "vos vet zayn? vos vet zayn?" bay a por kilometer vayt fun undz hot a yid gehaltn in arende a gut, hot zikh di mame bay im ayngebetn er zol lernen mit undz. eynmol hot zi mikh mit mayn bruderl ahin avekgefirt. der yid iz geven an alter mit a groyser bord, hot zikh mayn bruderl dershrokn far zayn bord un antlofn gevorn in feld arayn tsum pastekh. ikh bin geblibn un ale tog fleg ikh geyn tsum yidn zikh lernen. er hot mit mir gelernt sider un shpeter dem khumesh b|reyshes. er hot gezogt der mamen, az ikh hob a gutn kop un az ikh vel oysvaksn a rov. mayn rebe hot gehat a sakh tekhter. di gesheftn hot gefirt der elterer zun. er flegt handlen mit beheymes, unterkoyfndik di zhandarn. di erd hobn baarbet parobkes. ven der hunger hot zikh in shtot geshtarkt, flegn kumen gantse makhnes hungerike vayber, mener un kinder. der rebe flegt keynem nit opzogn un alemen gebn esn un trinken un dem shayer tsum shlofn. hungerike flegn oykh kumen tsu undz aheym un brengen shreklekhe grusn fun shtot, az men ligt oyf di gasn geshvolene fun hunger, az men grizhet di vent un shteyner fun bruk. men hot gesholtn di daytshn mit di ergste kloles, nor fil hot nokh gedoyert biz men hot genumen reydn, az di daytshn klaybn zikh in veg arayn. di zhandarn un patroln in di derfer un shtetlekh zaynen bislekhvayz neelm gevorn un di poyerem hobn genumen reydn, az di polyakn veln farkhapn di makht. der tate iz gekumen fun shtot un dertseylt, az keyn daytshn zaynen shoyn in shtot nito, az tsvey parties, a poylishe un bolshevitske viln farkhapn di shtot. dernokh hot men shoyn in shtot moyre gehat tsu geyn. shpeter hot men zikh dervust, az a bolshevitske grupe hot zikh farshpart in a moyer un az di polyakn zaynen geven shtarker. di bolshevikes hobn gehaltn shmol un etlekhe fun zey hobn zikh aleyn dershosn. di polyakn hobn ayngenumen di shtot oyf eyn tog. oyf morgn zaynen di bolshevikes gekumen fun rusland. plutsling zaynen gekumen tsu undz tsvey rayter -- bolshevikes in royte rubashkes [ze rusishn rubashka: hemd]. zey hobn dershosn oyfn hoyf a katshke, tsugenumen baym poyer layvnt un esnvarg. undz hobn zey nit getshepet, mir hobn gornit gehat. der poyer hot geveynt, zikh ge|tseylem|t un gebetn zikh. di bolshevikes hobn gezogt az zey muzn un avekgeritn vayter. mayn eltere shvester iz avek in shtot arayn un gezogt, az zi ken mer oyfn dorf nit zitsn. di bolshevikes gibn alemen shteles, vet zi oykh krign. zi iz ongekumen tsu di bolshevikes un zey hobn ir gelernt shisn. di mame hot geveynt. mayn elterer bruder hot genumen handlen mit tvue un frukht. er hot genumen fardinen un zikh haltn groys. di mame mitn tatn flegn oykh shmuglen skhoyre in shtot arayn un fun shtot aroys. fleg ikh iberblaybn mit di kleyne in shtub. ikh fleg ongrobn bulbes in gortn, opsheylen un opkokhn un b|klal firn di gantse balebat|ishkayt. kh'bin mistome dan alt geven a yor akht-nayn. eyn mol hot men plutsling dertseylt, az di polyakn hobn zikh arayngerisn in shtot. men harg|et zikh oyf di gasn. di bolshevikes tretn op. di mame hot gebrokhn di hent un geklogt oyf der elterer shvester. koyln hobn gehuzhet [ze poylish huczec] iber undzer dakh. di bolshevikes zaynen opgetrotn. oyf ibermorgn zaynen tsu undz gekumen dray poylishe soldatn un gezogt az mir zaynen bolshevikes un az men darf undz alemen dershisn. zey hobn geheysn dem tatn oyston di shtivl un geyn mit zey. mir, kinder, hobn zikh tseshrien vi di shepsn. zey hobn dem tatn avekgefirt dershisn. di mame iz nokhgelofn mit geveyn. di soldatn hobn zi ge|yogt un gezidlt mit di ergste verter, nor di mame iz alts nokhgelofn. lebn a bergl hobn zey dem tatn avekgeshtelt. eyn soldat iz tsu un gebetn baym tatn dos gantse gelt. der tate hot im alts avekgegebn. dan hot der soldat gezogt: "vos veln mir hobn, az mir veln im shisn? lomir zikh beser tseteyln mitn gelt un zol er geyn tsum tayvl!" der soldat hot dos gelt tseteylt oyf dray khalokem un zayn teyl hot er b|gneyve arayngedrukt dem tatn. "antloyf -- hot er gezogt -- anit veln mir shisn!" der guter soldat, hobn mir zikh shpeter dervust, iz geven a yid. ven der tate iz gekumen tsurik aheym, iz zayn kop geven ingantsn groy gevorn. morgn zaynen mir shoyn geforn tsurik in shtot arayn. 4. der tsurikker in der shtot hot oyf mir gemakht a shtarkn ayndruk. opgevoynt fun shtotishn tuml, tsugevoynt tsu der dorfisher shtilkayt, iz mir shver geven zikh tsunoyftsulebn mitn geroysh fun bruk. shoyn kemat fargesn di yidishe shprakh, hot zi mir geklungen fremd in di oyern un mit di hoyfike kinder hob ikh di ershte tsayt geredt poylish. di mame hot mikh mitn bruderl avekgefirt in a talmetoyre. dos mol iz zi shoyn geven a bisl modernizirt, nor der lerer flegt nokh alts dreyen farn oyer. opgegangen etlekhe teg in der talmetoyre, hob ikh zikh oyfgeredt mit mayn bruderl, az mir zoln zikh aynshparn un nit geyn mer dortn. s'iz gekumen a frimorgn -- mir geyen nit un fartik. di mame shrayt: "poyerem!" der tate beyzert zikh. s'helft nit. s'geyt avek a tog tsvey, mir geyen nisht. dan firt der elterer bruder undz avek in a yidisher folks-shul. nokh a gringn ekzamen nemt men mikh glaykh on in tsveytn klas un dem bruderl in ershtn. s'iz kanikul-tsayt [kanikules: vakatsye tsayt] un mir darfn nor geyn tsvey mol a tog esn in der shul. di shul iz undz yo gefeln un mir geyen ahin gern. tsum nayen shul-yor klaybt zikh di shul ariber in a nayem lokal. ikh zits di ershte tsayt oyf der shul-bank shtum un farlegn. bislekhvayz krig ikh mut tsu reydn un kh'nem zikh oystseykhenen. tsum sof lernyor klaybt men oys etlekhe besere shiler, tsvishn zey oykh mikh, un tsu nayem lernyor bazetst men mikh azh in fertn klas. natirlekh mit aza shprung hob ikh zikh gehaltn groys. ikh farshrayb zikh in biblyotek un dos ershte bukh, vos falt mir arayn in di hent, iz mendeles "kliatshe." ikh farshtey es nokh veynik, nor fun dem shtoys ikh zikh yo epes on ver s'iz di "kliatshe" un s'iz mir gefeln. kh'krig a gvaldikn dursht tsum leyenen. kemat ale tog bayt ikh a bukh. ikh tsi zikh ingantsn tsurik fun khaveyrem un shpil un kh'fartif zikh in bikher. di lektsyes makh ikh veynik, vayl ikh ken zey gut fun lerers moyl un tsveytns feln mir ale lernbikher. keyn khaveyrem klayb ikh zikh nit tsu. kh'leb eynzam. dos bukh vert mayn bester fraynt. fizish ver ikh opgeshvakht un ven di shul ordnt ayn an opru-kolonye, shikt men mikh oykh ahin. do in der kolonye bin ikh etlekhe vokhn. dos kolektive lebn iz ober dan far mir, dem eynzamen, a last. kh'benk nokh eynzamkayt un oykh nokh der heym. eynmol baynakht vekn undz oyf biksn-zalpn. mir loyfn aroys in di hemdlekh un koyln zhumen iber undzere kep. mentshn loyfn on un dertseyln az di bolshevikes kumen vider. mir pakn zikh ayn un loyfn in shtot arayn. di gasn zaynen pust. farnakht vayzn zikh di ershte royte rayter. di gasn vern ful, derhoypt mit yidn. oyf morgn zaynen ful bolshevikes. royte fonen flatern. di tsaytungen brengen groyse kep: "di royte armey farnemt grodne, bialostok!" un bald: "di royte armey hinter di toyern fun varshe!" kh'gedenk a groysn miting oyfn katedral-plats. fun der hoykher tribune redt men rusish, poylish, yidish, litvish. b|klal iz men itst nokhanand oyf di gasn. ikh ken nit leyenen. ikh ver mitgerisn mitn masn-lebn fun gas. di lerer in shul zaynen tsufridn. men tsolt zey skhires fun magistrat. far di kinder git men produktn un zakhn. kh'krig a gel mantele un gele shikh. umgerikht krign di bolshevikes a mapole bay varshe un zey nemen aylik tsuriktsien, zey farlozn bialostok, grodne un farhaltn zikh in vilne. men nemt reydn, az di bolshevikes gibn avek vilne di litviner. es bavayzt zikh take litviner in shtot mit gele pasikes oyf di hitlen. bislekhvayz tsien zikh di bolshevikes tsurik un es farblaybn di litviner. men nemt shoyn shraybn di shild oyf litvish. di litviner nemen zikh aynbirgern. zeyer seym klaybt zikh iber aher. plutsling a naye milkhome. general zheligovski geyt oyf vilne. on vidershtand kemat farnemt gen. zheligovski di shtot un s'vert kloymersht mitl-lite. bislekhvayz vept zikh oys dos mitl-lite un vilne farblaybt fort bay poyln. ikh gey shoyn in finftn klas. kh'bin shoyn a yor fertsn. a groyser bokher. ikh halt zikh ernst un groys. tsu bar-mitsve leyg ikh nokh fun destvegn tfilen, hagam ikh bin fun kindvayz on nit religyez. nokhn opleygn tfilen etlekhe vokhn varf ikh es avek oyf eybik. bislekhvayz her ikh oyf tsu geyn in kloyz afile nit in shabosem un yontoyvem. afile nit um yonkiper. ikh ken zikh barimen, az kh'hob keynmol in mayn lebn nit gefast in religyezn zin. geveyntlekhe vokhedike taneysem makhmes prost nit hobn vos tsu esn, hob ikh grod gehat nit veynik. fun di limudem in shul iz mir iberhoypt gefeln literatur un shprakhn khuts hebreish. tsu hebreish hob ikh, vi di iberike mayne shulkolegn un kolegins nit gehat keyn shum simpatye. keyn ernste gute khaveyrem un khaver|tes hob ikh nit gehat. di shuld iz efsher geven mayne, hagam balibt bay di lerer un shiler bin ikh yo geven. men hot mikh lib gehat far mayn shtilkayt, ruikayt un basheydnkayt. ikh ver fizish alts shvakher un shvakher. epes vos -- fardrikt mikh shoyn dos harts tsum veynen. me shikt mikh tsum tsveytn mol in an opru-kolonye. do baken ikh zikh mit a hoykhn yungn in mayne yorn. mir lebn zikh zeyer gut tsunoyf. zayn basheydener mesiker kharakter iz zeyer enlekh tsu maynem. mir bazukhn zikh eyner dem andern oft. mir vern intim un mir krign zikh keynmol nit. gantse tsen yor keseyder. mir farblaybn di beste khaveyrem bizn hayntikn tog. ikh ver alts nervezer un kaprizner. in shtub makh ikh oft b|roygez|n un es nit. ikh tseykhn zikh oys in di shriftlekhe arbetn un di lerer nemen mikh haltn far a shrayber. es rukt zikh on di tsayt fun endikn di shul. es kumen dayges: "vos vayter?" di shul iz a zeks klasike. ikh vel mistome zikh lernen vayter. in shtub vil men oykh ikh zol zikh lernen. der siyem. tsulib a kindershn kapriz, vos iz mir umfarshtendlekh kemat biz hayntikn tog, zog ikh di shtubike, az es tut mir vey der kop un ikh gey nit oyf mayn eygenem siyem. ikh shik tsu durkh a khaver an eygn farfast lid: "adye dir shul, vu ikh hob gelernt!" dos lid bet ikh zol men forleyenen efntlekh. kh'hob mistome kinderish oysgerekhnt, az dos lid vet makhn an umgehayern efekt. tsum nayem lernyor kum ikh on in der akht-klasiker yingl-shul, in zibetn klas. do iz mir shver zikh tsunoyftsulebn mit di kinder un lernen. di lektsyes farnakhlesik ikh. ikh leyen umoyfherlekh yidish un poylish. kh'leyen a sakh poezye, ober oykh fil proze, beletristik, oykh populer-visnshaftlekhe bikher un rayze-bashraybungen. b|klal leyen ikh on a sistem, oyf eygener akhrayes, ober oyf ale gebitn gemisht. kh'ver nervezer un nervezer fun tsufil leyenen un eynzamkayt. ikh entfer op sharf di lerer oyf zeyere taynes, ikh, der shtilster shiler derloyb zikh tsu gebn a trask mit der tir, ven men shikt mikh aroys fun klas. endlekh antzog ikh zikh fun ale lektsyes, khuts yidisher literatur. farn yidish-lerer shrayb ikh on a groyse arbet vegn "kleynem mentshele" [mendeles "dos kleyne mentshele"]. ale iberike lerer ignorir ikh. es kumen konfliktn un skandaln. zey shrayen un shrekn mit oysshlisn. in der heym pruv ikh shafn zelbshtendik lider un proze. ikh vayz a por lider dem yidish-lerer un im gefelt. kh'bin gliklekh. ikh vil vern a shrayber. ikh troym vegn velt-rum. endlekh bakum ikh groyse kop-veytikn. ikh gey tsum dokter. er heyst mir varfn dos lernen, dos leyenen, zikh farnemen mit sport, zayn vos mer oyf der frisher luft. nervn, nervn, nervn. 5. ikh ken zikh ober nit gezegenen mitn bukh un kh'muz leyenen bay di greste kop-veytikn. di eltern makhn skandaln un raysn mir s'bukh fun di hent. endlekh nem ikh zikh in di hent arayn un varf dos bukh, dos mol oyf etlekhe yor. ikh ver a futbolist [fusbolist] yene yorn 24-25-26 zaynen geven futbol-mageyfes. di gantse vilner menlekhe yugnt, on untersheyd fun elter un natsyonalitet, iz farshlungen gevorn fun futbol [fusbol]. di futbol-matshn flegn bazukht vern fun tsendlinger toyznter, alt un yung. nit keyn lign zogndik, iz nit geven kemat keyn eyn yingl in shtot, vos zol nit hobn geshpilt in a yinglsher futbol-komande. azoy vi der dokter hot mir gezogt, az ikh zol shoyn beser shpiln futbol eyder leyenen, hob ikh endlekh zikh detsidirt un kh'bin ongekumen in a yinglsher futbol-komande. fun onfang bin ikh geven zeyer a shvakher shpiler. bald ober tseykhn ikh zikh oys. kh'nem shisn ofte goln. mir rufn aroys andere futbol-komandes fun undzer glaykhn oyf matshn. di matshn kumen for oyf di merk. ikh ver a barimter shpiler un loyfer tsvishn di yinglekh. mayn komande klaybt mikh oys als ir kapitan. glaykhtsaytik ver ikh oykh der sekretar fun der manshaft. ikh farshrayb ale matshn undzere. di nitskhoynes un mapoles. mayn futbol-period gedoyert dray-fir yor. dos zaynen yorn fun tuml un umgehayerer koykhes-farshverung. tog un nakht flegn mir shpiln oyf a farlozener tsigelnye, in der gezelshaft fun di ergste zhulikes, gasn-yungen, gemeynste zidlerayen un grobe reyd. tsu mir hobn zikh ober di mis|e reyd nit geklept un keyn tifn shtempl nit geleygt. bislekhvayz geyt der futbol-tshad farbay. es kumt di oysnikhterung. di por meshuge|ne futbol-yorn hobn ober fulshtendik farhartevet mayn nervn-sistem. ikh fil zikh oykh fizik muskulirter, shtayfer un gezinter. s'iz oykh forgekumen a groyse enderung in mayn kharakter. mayn shvakh eydlfilndik harts iz tsugevoynt gevorn tsu baleydikungen un brutalitetn. di gezelshaft fun gezunte yinglekh, vos lozn zikh nit shpayen, vi men zogt es, in der kashe, hot mir oykh gelernt tsu zayn fest un nit tsekrokhn in der batsiung tsu mentshn. s'iz farfaln gevorn mayn shemevdikayt. als kapitan fun mayn komande hob ikh zikh oysgelernt tsu zayn bafelerish un shtreng, hagam dos iz mir ongekumen zeyer shver tsulib mayn mildn kharakter. azoy arum hob ikh gevunen fun di etlekhe tumldike futbol-yorn un tsuriktsiendik zikh vider in der bikher- un shrayber-velt, hob ikh mitgebrakht a sakh zikherkayt in di eygene koykhes un a bavustzayn, az vos ikh zol nit veln dergreykhn, vendt zikh es koydem-kol in mir aleyn. 6. mit di dozike shures dernenter ikh zikh tsu mayn kegnvart. a sakh verk in proze, poezye un drame ruen in mayn shuflod. zey veln keynmol mistome nit derzen di vayse velt, nor dos geyt mir shoyn itst a sakh veyniker on vi mit etlekhe yor tsurik.... mayn velt iz di literatur un a zeyer enger krayz fun balibte khaveyrem. hagam es frest mikh oyf a far|akshn|ter pesimizm iz mayn batsiung tsu der tsukunft fun der mentshhayt a mer-veyniker optimistisher.... mayn vayter ideal iz: di mentshhayt -- eyn folk. di velt -- eyn land. vilne, 4 yuli, 1932** --- heores 1) vegn dem lernen fun yidish in kheyder, ze Nokhem shtifs bamerkungen in "TMR" band 01, numer 011. * di dozike oytobiografye iz geshribn gevorn tsum konkurs fun biografyes fun yidishe yugntlekhe vos der "yivo" in vilne hot durkhgefirt in yor 1934. ** ibergedrukt fun: leyzer volf, "lider", gezamlt fun l. ran , opgeklibn un redaktirt fun h. leyvik., nyu-york: alveltlekher yidisher kultur-kongres, 1955, zz" 25-42. *** romanizirt fun: claus buryn redaktirt fun: Refoyl finkl --------------------------------------------------------- End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.024 Leonard Prager, editor Send articles to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il The editor of _TMR_ can also be reached via _Mendele_'s homepage: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/ 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archives can be reached at: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _Mendele_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of vol. 01.025 16 November 1997 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) "Der baybak" (Mendele Moykher-Sforim) 3) Bookmart: Yosef Guri, _Vi kumt der kats ibern vaser?_ Toyznt yidishe idiomen fartaytsht oyf hebreish, english un rusish. (Leonard Prager) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 16 November 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters: 1. In this issue; 2. In future issues a. In this issue: Sholem-Yankev Abramovitsh, as it is known, in addition to creating his most famous teller, Mendele Moykher-Sforim, also experimented with another narrative figure, Yisrolik der Meshugener, best known for his role as narrator in _Di klyatshe_ (Vilna 1872). Abramovitsh may have planned a series of stories told by Yisrolik largely to avail himself of fictional options denied the more realistic Mendele. Of unknown date, the unpublished story "Der baybak" in this issue of _TMR_ (reproduced with permission from _Khulyot_ 2 [1994], pp. 9-17) casts light on this second teller -- and its creator. The story is a veritable laboratory of fictional and non-fictional modes: dream vision, animal fable, metamorphosis, comedy of juxtaposition of earthly and angelic figures, domestication of the divine ("Vos makht er epes der alter"?), social and political satire and criticism, play of language (e.g. "oyfn himl a yarid"). The animal dimension is deepened by the fact of Ambramovitsh's abiding interest in nature studies and his devotion to making nature understood in Hebrew. In the third volume of his _Seyfer toldot hateva_ (a translation of Herold Othmar Lenz's _Gemeinnuetsige Naturgeschichte_, Gotha 1834-9), Mendele gives an ample description of the marmot and his habits. Alongside maskilic satire -- Yisrolik cannot transcend his impulse to wheel and deal -- and angelic sermonizing on education and Palestine, we have the humor of comparative angelology, with Jewish angels enjoying "tsimes fun ambrozye" and Jew-turned-marmot still feeling Jewish despite his transformation. In this curious story we also have a free and unselfconscious allusion to the New Testament. It is not a finished, fully coherent story, but the fragment is fascinating. b. In future issues: _Mendele_ from its outset has repeatedly discussed the subject of daytshmerisms, but not always in the most informed manner. _TMR_ will shortly present Max Weinreich's essay, "Daytshmerish toyg nit," reprinted from _Yidish far ale_ 4 (June 1938). 2. Several issues will be devoted to relatively recent doctoral dissertations in Yiddish. 3. Noyekh Prilutski's essay, "Tsum vikuekh vegn di hebreizmen" will be reprinted from _Yidish far ale_ 3 May 1938. 4. The entire syllabus of the Yiddish Courses of 1922-1923 at the Second Moscow State University will appear in _TMR_ with an introduction by Dr. Avraham Greenbaum. 5. A story together with an appreciation by a Dutch Mendelist will introduce the work of a living Israeli Yiddish writer. More fiction and poems will also be featured in coming issues. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 16 November 1997 From: Claus Buryn troia@worldaccess.nl Subject: "Der baybak" ('The Marmot') by Mendele Moykher-Sforim mendele moykher-sforim "der baybak" ('the marmot') a bletl funem dnyevnik(1) Yisrol|ik dem meshuge|nems 1. "gliklekher baybak, du frest, zoyfst, pakst on a baykhl, vi vayt es geyt nor arayn, un pofst zikh dernokh iber di shlekhte vintertsayt in dayn lokh, vi a shiker ergets in a kanave, nit visn fun dayn khayes, fun dayn gezunt un lebn! gliklekhe ir ale groyse un kleyne khaye|lekh, vos dos pofn iz aykh a matone fun zayn libn nomen! az voyl un gut iz aykh skotines(2), pefers!" 2. ot azelkhes hot zikh mir haynt in a mies|er osyen-tsayt getrakht. di pogode(3) iz foyl, s'iz khoyshekh, nas un kalt. a gedikhter far|ipesh|ter tuman shlept zikh in der luft un farshtelt dem himl, nit durkhlozndik durkh zikh keyn eyntsikn shtral (!) fun der likhtiker zun. mentshn zinken in blote un zeen far zikh nit di shayn. 3. "gliklekhe khaye|lekh pefers! far aykh iz di velt tomed zeyer a fayne, a milde, a gute; far aykh shaynt zi, finklt in ir zumer-kleyd, farputst mit alerley shmekndike blumen. zi makht aykh a breyte borkh-h|be mit kibed vi oyf a bal un aykh iz nit bashert ontsukukn zi in niglezhe(4). di frierdike farfarbte oysgeputste dame, mit a frayntlekh zis shmeykhele vert, oystuendik di balove kleyder, a mies|kayt, a shlak, a karge, a beyze zlidnye(5), nisht oystsuhaltn fun ire kaprizn." 4. ikh lig oyfn divan lebn tish, oyf velkhn s'iz ongeleygt bikher un gazetn, un oyfn hartsn iz mir shtark nit freylekh, a shreklekhe moreshkhoyre. di neshome mayne padyet(6) arum, ahin-aher, vi Noyekh|s toyb, un ken nebekh keyn ort nisht gefinen, vu zikh khotsh a bisl oystsuruen. in der vister, finsterer hayntiker pogode, dakht zikh ir der mabl, un yene mine tsvey-gorndike gazetn mit der knufye korespondentn untn un oybn kumen ir fir vi di teyve mit ale mine khayes, beheymes un shrotsem dort. es hert zikh ir a geshrey fun eyzlen, a biln fun hint, a havken, a voyen, a ritshen, a myauken, a lyarem, a gepilder fun ale zaytn. Shem(7) yogt zikh arum, hot nebekh nisht keyn menukhe, keyn khaye-sho, er kukt di ale beheymes on un kratst zikh far tsores... nit oystsushteyn fun aza pekl hungerike parshoynen, onkhapers, khayes roes, vilde nefoshes -- bidne neshome! vos zol ikh dir nebekh ton, az arum un arum ze ikh nisht far mir epes, oyf vos du zolst kenen blaybn shteyn un farbrengen etlekhe gute minut. 5. "akh, vi vert men a baybak! vi bakumt men epes a nore arayntsukrikhn ahin, tsumakhn di oygn un ibershlofn di shlekhte tsayt!" 6. -- o, got! heyb ikh on tsu betn mit dem gevisn posek fun evangelyum: "dos feygele hot ir nest, oykh der fuks hot a lokh un der mentsh nebekh hot nit vu dem kop anidertsuleygn."(8) 7. mayn tfile iz derhert gevorn. 8. iber dem layb loyft mir iber epes vi a kalt vintele. dos blut hert oyf tsu kokhn, dos harts klopt shtiler, shtiler, un es bafalt mikh epes vi a dremlen. epes kneytsht mikh, kortshet mikh un (ikh) fil a farenderung in ale mayne glider: mayne hent shtrekn zikh oys vi a por lapkes, oyf zey falt anider mayn platshik kepl, oystsiendik zikh mit a mordele, mit a nezl a fayfndiks un kuk farshlofn mit oysgeshtshirete eyglekh glat azoy zikh in der velt arayn, on a shum pitsl gedank in moyekh un on a pitsl gefil in hartsn, take an ekhter baybak, vos denkt un filt nor mit dem boykh un vos di gantse khokhme zayne bashteyt bay im nor in kishke. epes gor nish|koshe|dik, kh'lebn! ikh veys, emes take, nisht fun mayn lebn tsu zogn, oyf vos far a velt ikh bin, nor derinen ligt ersht ober der gantser tam, di groyse hanoe. epes iz azoy mekhaye gut tsu lign vi a lebedike klots, nor tsu makhn mit di zaytn, tsuhern vi dos nezl fayft un dos megendl kokht. sonem, ikh vintsh aykh oser nit keyn shlekhts, oyf aykh ale gezogt gevorn aza lebn! 9. tru-tru-tru! hert zikh plutsem a truben vi mit a shoyfer. mayne oyerlekh shteln zikh oyf, ikh smare mit dem nezl un mir dakht zikh an okhotnik!(9) ikh tsiter far mayn haytl, krikh oyf mayn baykhl un kuk oys khitre mit di eyglekh tomer iz do epes a nore vu zikh arayntsukhapn iberzitsn di mesuken|e tsayt. ikh krikh aynhoykerdik zikh in tsentn, krikh un kuk. shlekhts, nishto far mir keyn baheltenish un do trubet men un me trubet alts vayter tru-tru-tru! di neshome hengt mir oyf dem shpits noz far shrek. tsumakhndik di oygn tu ikh a makh mit der lapke: 'ta, in dayn hant, got, bahalt ikh mayn felkhn!' 10. "Yisrol|ik, du bist a baybak!" -- ruft zikh eyner epes lebn mir on, derlangendik mir a shnol in nezl, azoy, az mir iz likhtik gevorn in di oygn, velkhe ikh shtel oys un kuk dem nayem parshoyn in ponem arayn on pakhed, on farvunderung, glaykh vi altsding, vos pasirt zikh do mit mir un arum mir iz gants rekht, azoy geher tsu zayn alpi seykhl un alpi derekh-h|teve. s'iz mir afile nit keyn plie ver zol der umbakanter azoyns zayn? vos far a mekhutn er iz mit mir! mistame, az er iz do badarf er do zayn, az er git mir a shnol, mistome badarf er shneln, un ikh darf dem shnol mekabl-b|aave zayn. bay a baybak iz altsding rekht, im raymt zikh altsding, er derkent epes a zakh nor b|shas zi varft zikh im in di oygn, oder derlangt im a klap, a knip in boykh. koym farshvindt zi, hert zi far im in gantsn oyf tsu zayn, er fargest oykh bald take dem klap, lekt op mit dem tsingl dem broyn-bloyen tseykhn oyfn layb un ligt zikh vayter gants ruik mit oysgeshtshirete glezerne oygn. 11. -- du bist a sheyn baybakl, Yisrol|ik! -- ruft zikh der parshoyn vayter on, shoklendik oyf mir mit dem kop -- "mazltov dir mit dem nomen". 12. -- gam atem, mit mazl zolstu lebn! -- entfer ikh un mayns a lapke hoybt zikh epes gor fun zikh aleyn oyf, optsushtekn dem parshoyn a sholem-aleykhem. 13. -- a yid blaybt a yid, afile ven ir nemt oyf zikh on dem baybak -- makht yener mit a shmeykhele avekshtupndik fun zikh mayn lape. -- her zhe, Yisrol|ik! es rayst mir mayn harts zeendik dikh in dayn itstiker lage un (ikh) muz mit dir zikh oysshmuesn. nor lang tayne|n vel ikh do mit dir nisht. ikh veys altsding: dayne ale hanhoges, dayne veytikn, ineveynikste un zaytike, dayne bakoshes un dayne farlangen (!). meyle, dir vilt zikh zayn a baybak, nu -- zeyer sheyn, baybakes zaynen borekh h|shem do genug oyf der velt khuts dir oykh. nor yene iz ober gut tsu zayn baybakes bay an eygener nore mit fil shpayz, vos zey hobn es b|yerushe fun zeyere eltern un eyder zey zaynen nokh geboyrn gevorn iz shoyn far zey geshtanen greyt a fartike vareme nore mit kol tuv. du ober bist dokh tsvishn baybakes a baybak, shtrekst zikh oys glat vu es popadyet zikh, gornisht in dayn vinkl un shlofst zikh oyf got|s barot, nit ongehoybn tsu trakhtn, az du bist in sakone yiye mi sh|yiye zol dikh nit plutsem iberfaln un aropshindn dir dos felkhn. 14. -- "er dremlt nit un shloft nit der shoymer yisroyl"-- entfer ikh mit dem gevisn posek.(10) got zol far mir zikh zorgn. 15. Yisrolik! -- tut er zikh a beyzer -- azoy redt a vilder meshuge|ner baybak. keyn filosofye far a baybak hob ikh nit un zi ken antgegn im gor nit helfn. eyns fun di tsvey kumt dir oys: oder farbaybak zikh mit di ale andere funem hign vinkl, vestu vi an eygener hobn a mokem menukhe in zeyer nore, oder... 16. -- neyn -- fal ikh im arayn in di reyd -- farbaybaken zikh mit zey iz zeyer shver. mir zaynen fun farsheydene minem. opgeshundenerheyt vet men mir derkenen, az ikh bin fun an ander min. 17. -- oder -- endikt der parshoyn zayn shmues, batrakhtndik mayn geshtalt, mayn noz un mayne hor mit a shmeykhele -- oder ven du bist tsum shli|mazl an ander min un muzt zikh haltn opgezundert, zukh zhe frier oys epes a shtikl nore bazunder far dir. ikh vel dikh drinen bahilfik zayn. nu? vu vilst du ergets? 18. -- veys ikh? -- gib ikh a zog zikh kratsndik mit der lapke -- loz efsher zayn dort pa-pa-pi-hi-pit! 19. dos letste vort, velkhes ikh hob gevolt aroysreydn iz nivle gevorn in a hilkhedikn fayf oyf baybakske, azoy, az ikh hob mikh aleyn ibergeshrokn. 20. -- nish|koshe -- shmeykhlt yener -- ikh farshtey, vos du meynst. far baybakes kumt es oys shtark gefayft... ruf es beser baybatshene. 21. -- epes take akurat, kh'lebn, vi gevuntshn! -- shmokh ikh far groys hanoe. 22. -- pshite! -- makht yener farkrimendik zikh. -- trefst akurat vi a blind ferd in grub arayn. yents iz shoyn haynt a velt-baybatshene, a besoylem, der velts heylik ort, vos shmekt mit tsidek-h|din un kvures bletlekh. 23. -- du bist a lets -- efn ikh oyf im a moyl -- nor dortn take iz mayn ort. 24. -- |v|h|sheynes -- redt zikh yener alts vayter, gornisht makhndik zikh oys mayne verter -- |v|h|sheynes, hob ikh moyre, dort kenstu blaybn eybik take an emes|er baybak. 25. -- vos iz do aza far a khesorn a baybak! -- zog ikh baleydikndik zikh a bisl. meynendik, az dos, vos ikh bin atsind, azoy bin ikh fun eybike yorn take geven. 26. -- nishto, mishteyns gezogt, mit vemen tsu reydn -- krekhst yener, shoklendik oyf mir mitn kop. 27. -- zol mikh dos onheybn tsu arn, vos a soyne redt -- fayf ikh hilkhndik oys un shtel aroys di tseyn. 28. -- bist a guter svishtsh nish|koshe, a fayfer take gor an antik! zogt yener, klapndik mit a finger ibr mayn kepl. 29. -- leg mir nit keyn finger in moyl -- brum ikh mit fardros un tu mikh take a loz im a bis tsu ton. 30. sha, baybak, ruiker a bisl! makht yener gants kaltblutik. heybt mikh oyf farn shpits nezl, halt mikh a vayle hengendik in der luft un tut mikh dernokh a shlayder tsurik oyf mayn ort. 31. ikh fil in mir a gantse iberkerenish, aleyn nisht tsu visn, vos far a min nefesh ikh bin. epes nisht dos, nisht yents. 32. -- lesate -- ruft zikh yener on -- iz nor an aveyre di reyd, mir veln hern shpeter a bisl, vos du vest zogn. du bist nor a berye mit dem moyl. ikh ken dikh nish|koshe gut, Yisrolik. 33. -- ha vos? -- freg ikh tam|evate, oysraybndik di oygn -- ma shimkhem, feter? 34. -- Gavriel h|malekh. 35. -- zeyer ongeleygt, kh'lebn -- zog ikh, epes azoy lekishevate un shit im op mit nayn mos shayles ekht yidishlekh: -- fun vanen? vuhin? vos tut maylose do? hot maylose epes an eysek|l? 36. mayn Gavriel brumlt unter der noz, shtikndik zikh far gelekhter un redt epes gor targem. 37. -- redt mit mir, ikh bet aykh, prost oyf undzer loshn, nit keyn targem. 38. -- targem iz mayn mutershprakh -- entfert Gavriel. ikh shtam eygntlekh fun bovl, fun vanen dayne eltern hobn mikh fartsaytn mit zikh farfirt in zeyer land un bin geven zeyers a gantser khodatay.(11) (ikh) bin prezident in der komisye m|koyekh dem yidishn vopros(12) dort oybn un es kumt mir a mol oys in dem inyen tsu reydn targem.... 39. -- vos fort, adoyni porets -- bin ikh tshikave tsu visn - hert zikh epes dort in der komisye? vet zi bald shoyn nemen an ek? 40. -- mit dir in eynem -- entfert er mit a gelekhterl. hob tsayt, Yisrol|ik! megst gants zikher zayn, az zi vet dikh iberlebn. meyle, dos in der tsayt. lomir beser reydn eysek. |v|shoroyus shuso(13), ikh hob an ukaz(14) funem adoyn h|godl dikh, Yisrol|ik, tsu farzorgn. 41. -- yasher koyekh! der alter tate hot fort zikh in mir dermont. vos makht er epes der alter? 42. -- nish|koshe, der eygener vos frier. er grist dikh gor frayndlekh un bet du zolst nor keyn shli|mazl|nik nisht zayn. vos makhstu epes, Yisrol|ik? 43. -- be... ikh makh mit der neshome. keyn gesheftn iz haynt nito. der miskher iz gefaln, der kurs ligt in der erd, men zet nit keyn groshn leyzekhst, veyts hot oyfgehert, frishe onzetsn ale tog, oys kredit, nishto keyn drayer.... dem grus bin ikh moykhl, hot er beser geshikt epes gelt? 44. -- vos hert zikh beser, Yisrol|ik, m|koyekh di klep? farshteystu m|koyekh di petsh? 45. -- et... dos iz bazunder zikh a zakh... akh-kha-kha-akh, oyfn mark iz poshet gor nito vos tsu ton. haynt, meyn ikh, muz zayn gor bay aykh oyfn himl a yarid. i-i-i! vos makhn dort epes akheynu bney yisroyl? 46. -- vos makhn yidn, maysem? zitsn oyfn bulvar lebn dem altn dvorets(15), lozn zikh gebn esn levyosn, a portsye shor h|bar un fartrinken a koyse. oder zitsn avek sho|en lang oyf benklekh glat azoy un hobn hanoe funem kukn oyf der sheyner shkhine, vos shvebt arum, shpatsirndik dort. 47. -- herstu Gavriel|ikl -- gib ikh mikh plutsem a khap b|simkhe -- zay kh'lebn, a guter bruder. ikh hob dir firtsuleygn a gut gesheftl. 48. -- efsher a shidekh? lakht Gavriel, onkukndik mikh. -- ikh veys dokh, Yisrol|ik, du host zeyer lib reydn a shidekh. neyn, Yisrol|ik, reyshes, iz a yidisher malekh nisht vi di grekishe a mol, vos flegt khasene hobn, lekn honik un esn a tsimes fun ambrozye. |v|h|sheynes, bin ikh vi ale andere yidishe malokhem, a kaptsn, din, on zhalovanye(16) [ze rusish _zjalovanje_], es nit un gey, vi du zest mikh, naket un borves. 49. -- pi -- hob ikh gemakht mit a krim, avekkerendik dem kop in der zayt. oyb azoy ... vos-zhe iz mit im azoy der yikhes! vos toyg hayntike tsaytn a malekh afile on gelt? -- keyn gesheftn vel ikh shoyn mit im nit makhn. iberikns ta! -- neyn, Gavriel|ik, ruf ikh mikh on, an ander gesheftl meyn ikh, a mekleray. tomer volst a svure geven, du zolst tsunemen mit zikh ahin tsu oybn etlekhe parshoyndlekh un oysarbetn dort far zey shteln. a groyse mitsve, kh'lebn. di gantse velt vet dir derfar shtark danken, un mir voltn dertsu oykh nisht tsugeleygt. 50. -- azelkhe zakhn gehern zikh on dem malekhamoves. i dos bin ikh mesupek oyb er vet es ton. lakeyen in ganeydn zaynen do shoyn fil mer vi hern un damen. ale rukn zikh haynt in gehenem. dort iz nit lang geven afile etlekhe vakansn(17) oyf shmaysers, nor zey zaynen shoyn farnumen [suvorin, pikhne, a kreyts mit zeyer knufye, shmaysn dort oyf vos di velt shteyt]. 51. -- veys ikh, vos er redt! -- makh ikh farvundert -- di dozike ale parshoynen zaynen dokh do, gibn aroys gazetn. men hot fun zey tsu zingen un tsu zogn. 52. -- dos zaynen nor guf|lekh on neshomes, zeyere neshomes zaynen shoyn lang nit oyf dem oylem. lutsifer kvelt gor on fun zey, azelkhe shmaysers -- zogt er -- hot er nokh keyn mol nisht gehat.... nu, tfu zoln zey vern. zog mir beser, Yisrol|ik, vi vilstu zol ikh dikh farzorgn? zog dem reynem emes. 53. -- azoy, dem reynem emes? -- zog ikh un fil b|shas-mayse vi ikh ver tam|evate -- o, reyshes-khokhme, vil ikh epes a parnose|le, un vayter veys ikh? ... es zol zayn b|khlal gut. shenklekh, farlayen oyf protsent, handlen mit shmates, faktereven un nokh azelkhe melokhes volt ikh gern afile moykhl geven andere. genug! zoln andere shoyn a bisl mit azelkhe zakhn zikh opgebn. 54. -- gants gut. atsind denk dir Yisrol|ik, az du bist shoyn opgerikht gevorn un dergreykht dayn vuntsh: du bist shtark raykh, a gvir mefursem, a groyser bal-shefe mit a sharfer parnose, nu un ahin? 55. -- vu ahin? a-a, keyn pa-pa-pihi-pihit! (vayter mit a fayf) mekhteyse, zoln zikh ahin geyn andere oyb zey viln. 56. -- un gelt oyf hetsoes un di ale hitstarkhesn dort? 57. -- un gelt? gelt zoln zey moykhl zayn aleyn tsu bakumen. 58. -- un du? 59. -- un ikh ... far vos? ... a guter mase-|u|matn, kh'lebn. mir vet dokh do oykh gut zayn! 60. -- un andere parondkes a bisl un dayn balebat|ishkayt do un dayne iberike inyonem? 61. -- tsu vos? zol blaybn altsding vi geven. ikh farshtey nit, vos feln den di itstike? 62. -- un m|koyekh tsdoke gebn un visn mit a seykhl vi un oyf vos tsu gebn, in zinen tsu hobn shuln, biker-khoylem, [zey zoln] zayn vi geherik iz, in zinen tsu hobn yeshives, talmud-toyre, tsu farzorgn zey mit ale neytike zakhn vi men [badarf...] kinder zoln dort vern layt un kenen dernokh fardinen zeyer broyt b|koved un in zinen hobn a... zakhn a bisl gelt in der tsavoe? 63. -- epes redstu (!) mit mir targem! foderst fun mir epes azoyns, vos ikh hoyb es gornit on [tsu farshteyen ...]. 64. -- atsind -- tut er a geshrey mit kas -- atsind, az er meynt dos mol shpilt im, iz er shoyn ... abisl vos hostu gefayft? -- baybak! 65. -- vos baybak? ver baybak? makh ikh kloymersht farvundert un khap mikh geshvind bay... 66. -- du host gevolt zayn a baybak, nu blayb-zhe take a baybak, az du kenst nor fayfn [lekashishuso(18) "lKshyshuT#" hot er zikh shreklekh tsebeyzert!] oyf a khaldeyishn zhargon. derlangendik mir derbay a gute zets, azh mir hot [farkhapt der otem?]. 67. -- o, du kaptsn! -- tsebeyzer ikh mikh, tapndik di keshene un aroyszeendik ... gevorn keyn groshn. s'iz nor dvorem beteylem, falshe haftokhes. er vet ... mikh dervayl nit krank makhn mit dayn bakshusho [bKshuT#].(19) 68. - tru-tru-tru! trubet er mit zayn shoyfer mir glaykh in [oyer arayn (?), khapt mikh plutsem far der noz, heybt mikh oyf hoykh] hoykh un shlaydert arop mit a geshrey: b|adishto [b#dshW#]!(20) 69. es geyt mir iber a frost iber dem layb, ikh tu mikh a khap (baym kop un hob geefnt derbay di oygn). 70. di mame mayne zitst lebn mir oyfn divan, khlipet un brekht di hent: 71. -- vey iz mir, Yisrol|ik, du bist nebekh krank! eyn got nor [zol rakhmones hobn oyf dir, mayn tayerer, mayn bidner Yisrol|ik!]. *ibergeshribn fun minsker "shtern", num' 1, 1936, z"z 6-12. a. vorobeytshik shraybt tsu a bamerkung, azoy tsu zogn: "di dertseylung iz derhaltn gevorn i in shmir-ekzemplar, i ibergeshribn oyf reyn. di letste redaktsye iz a bisl geendert legabe der ershter. tsum badoyern iz der reyner ekzemplar shtark bashedikt. do hob ikh zikh gehaltn der ikersht bay der letster redaktsye mendeles. nor in di faln, ven in dem reynem ekzemplar hobn gefelt gantse shures, hob ikh gemuzt onkumen tsu der hilf funem shmir-ekzemplar. in di faln, ven beyde redaktsyes zaynen zikh bashaynperlekh funandergegangen, hob ikh di antliene funem shmir-ekzemplar shures genumen in kantike klamern. etlekhe halbe shures hot zikh mir b|khlal nit ayngegebn oyftsushteln; dortn hob ikh geshtelt shures mit pintelekh. di manuskriptn gefinen zikh in mendele-arkhiv, in alukrainishn muzey far yidisher proletarisher kultur a.n. fun mendele moykher sforim, in odes. di numern fun di manuskriptn zaynen: 1186/1; 1186/2; 1186/3." der mendele muzey ekzistirt shoyn mashmoes nit, zint der daytsher okupatsye fun odes in der tsveyter velt-milkhome. baym ibershraybn hobn mir geendert nor dem oysleyg. heores ("notes") 1) dnyevnik: togbukh. 2) skotines: beheymes. 3) pagode: veter. 4) in niglezhe: naketerheyt [ze frantsoyzish "negligee"]. 5) zlidnye: a tsutshepenish, a shlak. 6) padyet: falt. 7) Shem: "vayihyu beney-Noyekh h|yoytsem min-h|teyve Shem |u|Cham |u|Yofes" (breyshis 9:18) [genesis 9:18] 8). Matye [matthew] 8:20: hot Yeshue tsu im gezogt: di fuksn hobn heyln un di feygl fun himl hobn nestn. ober der ben-odem hot nit vu zayn kop anidertsuleygn. oykh: lukas 9:58 [luke 9:58]; loyt der iberzetsung fun Khayim aynshprukh [dr. henry einspruch], baltimore 1958) [last print revised by s. gabe 1994; ze oykh dem iberzetsung fun Arn Krelnboym ("Der bris khodoshe", Filadelfye, 1949)]. 9) okhotnik: yeger. 10) tilim 121:4 hiney loy yonum v|loy yishan shoymer yisroyl [Psalm 121:4]. 11) khodatay: meylets yoysher, shtadlen 12) vopros: shayle 13) veshoroyus shuso: aramish, meynt: psikhes h|diber. fun der ershter shure inem piet "akdomes milin", vos men iz noyeg zogn mit a spetsyeln nign dem ershtn tog shvues. 14) ukaz: bafel, farordenung. 15) dvorets: shlos. 16) zhalovanye: gehalt, skhar. 17) vakans: a leydike shtele. 18) lekashishuso: aramish: bizn eltern zikh, fun dem piet "akdomes milin", ferte shure, ze oybn bamerkung 13. 19) bakshuso: bakoshe, loytn nusekh funem oybn dermontn piet. 20) beadishto: shtilkayt. funem oybn dermontn piet, 18te shure. gemeynt, mashmoes: shtil zolstu vern! romanizirt fun claus buryn; korektor: refoyl finkl. 3)---------------------------------------------------- Bookmart Date: 16 November 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yosef Guri's _Vi kumt a kats ibern vaser?_ Yosef Guri. _Vi kumt a kats ibern vaser? Toyznt yidishe idiomen fartaytsht oyf hebreish, english un rusish_. Jerusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Russian and Slavic Studies, 1997. 169 pp. + [9]. English title: _1000 Yiddish Idioms and Their Equivalents in English, Hebrew and Russian_. ISBN 965-223-970-4. (Distributed by the Magnes Press, Hebrew University, POB 7695, Jerusalem 91076, Israel. Tel: (972)-02-660341. Fax: (972)-02-633370.) "This dictionary is the first of its kind in Yiddish lexicography," writes Yosef Guri in the "Preface" to his selection of Yiddish idioms catchily entitled _Vi kumt a kats ibern vaser?_. In the body of the work, under _vav_, the idiomatic title is translated as "how do we do this?" That accurate rendition may appear dull, but it is precisely the insistent question which has faced Yiddish educators and language scholars for decades and which, surprisingly enough, has never been adequately addressed. As is clear from the constantly recurring discussions of Yiddish idioms in _Mendele_ and other forums, such a reference work has been sorely needed. Yosef Guri's present effort to fill the lack, while by no means the comprehensive academic collection we hope some day to see, is a significant contribution, original in its conception, useful to several levels of students, and generally well executed. This collection includes only idioms, defined as "word combinations in which all the components of the phrase underwent a semantic transformation." Proverbs and similes are thus excluded. One of the aims of the dictionary is "to serve as a lexicographic source for linguists researching Yiddish and spoken Hebrew, and specialists in comparative phraseology." Guri estimates that 20% of the Yiddish idioms in his collecion are loan translations from Slavic languages and about the same number of the colloquial Hebrew idions included are loan translations from Yiddish. The great majority of Yiddish idioms in Guri's dictionary are from spoken Yiddish, but others derive from "the so-called common phraseological fund" -- e.g. "a shturem in a gloz vaser," rendered in Hebrew, English and Russian respectively as: seara bekos mayim / a tempest in a teapot; much ado about nothing / burya v stakanye vodi. The compiler and his several helpers tried to find equivalent idioms in the target languages. Thus "hakn a tshaynik" (literally 'chopping a kettle') is translated by the parallel English idiom "talk one's ear off"; "goldene berg" by "pie in the sky;" "oyfn himl a yarid" by "1. much ado about nothing"; 2. poppycock!, bull!" Especially noteworthy -- and praiseworthy -- is Guri's attempt to give "phraseological equivalents on the same stylistic level as the Yiddish." Since all of us perceive certain expressions differently -- what is "slang" for some may be normal good informal usage for others -- readers will be divided in their approval of certain translations which try to capture the right stylistic register. How many _Mendele_ readers will accept "zilch" as the idiomatic equivalent of "a lokh mit a beygl," or "no way!" as the "right" sense-and-feel of "loy mit an alef"? Yiddish patriots often claim that certain Yiddish expressions are "untranslatable." Such a view would make dictionaries of idioms rash ventures. They are, in fact, difficult and we must keep this in mind in passing judgement. Guri concedes that many Yiddish idioms have no parallel idiom in Hebrew, English and Russian and in such instances "a more literal translation of the Yiddish is given." What is meant, of course, is: more literal than an idiomatic equivalent. An actual "literal translation" of, say, "lozn zikh shpayen in kashe" would be the seemingly meaningless 'one's allowing the spitting into (his) porridge'. Guri's dictionary translates this (correctly except for the extraneous negative) as "stand for no bullying." Should this perhaps be called paraphrase? Our linguists can attack this question. A trained lexicographer (his PhD dissertation was on Russian idioms and their translation into Hebrew), Yosef Guri is no newcomer to Yiddish lexicography. For many years he was on the staff of the _Groyser verterbukh fun der yidisher shprakh_. In 1992 he and Shoel Ferdman issued _Kurtser yidish-hebreish- rusisher verterbukh_, followed in 1994 by _Kurtser yidish-hebreish-englisher verterbukh_ (excellent dictionaries, identical in their Yiddish and Hebrew contents). He has also edited a collection of proverbs, _Az der sof iz gut iz alts gut_ [Sof tov hakol tov_], 1993 (Hebrew, Yiddish, English and Russian). The present dictionary is to be followed soon -- we are promised -- by _Folk Similes in Yiddish and Their Equivalents in Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian_. One feature of this attractively produced paperbound book is the comic pen illustrations. Another thing I like is the ample space on every page for the reader's own annotations -- "improvements," of course. I recommend that _Mendele_ readers buy this book, learn to use these marvelous phrases in their Yiddish conversation and writing, and fill many future issues of _Mendele_ discussing the felicity and accuracy of the tri-lingual translations in this pioneering lexicon of Yiddish idioms. ________________________________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.025 Leonard Prager, editor send articles to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il The editor of _TMR_ can also be reached via _Mendele_'s homepage: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/ 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://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.026 30 November 1997 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) _The Languages of Jerusalem_ by Bernard Spolsky and Robert L. Cooper ÿÿ (Leonard Prager) 3) Der motiv fun "toytn-tants" in der traditsye fun literatur bay yidn: ÿÿ (David Katz [Dovid Kats]) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 30 November 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters a. In this issue: _The Languages of Jerusalem_ appeared six years ago but continues to be of interest to students of Yiddish sociolinguistics, particularly where mention is made of low-status and high-status functions.ÿ In this issue of _TMR_ we give the table of contents and abstract of a relatively recent doctoral dissertation -- i.e. a "high-status function" -- written in Yiddish; its subject is the dance-of-death motif in Jewish literary tradition.ÿ While it is true that "academic Yiddish" has been limited in the scope of its outlets, this is not due to any intrinsic incapacity in the language; failure, however, to use Yiddish for academic purposes inevitably curtails its expressive range.ÿ My citations from and brief comments on _The Languages of Jerusalem_ focus on its Yiddish-related sections, but the book as a whole can be recommended to the general as well as the specialist reader. b.ÿ In future issues: In addition to presenting significant academic texts, _TMR_ will continue to publish fiction and verse -- both classic and, beginning shortly, the work of contemporary writers (e.g. Tsvi Kanar). 2)------------------------------------------------------------ Date: 30 November 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: _The Languages of Jerusalem_ by Bernard Spolsky and Robert L. Cooper Bernard Spolsky and Robert L. Cooper, _The Languages of Jerusalem_. Oxford: Clarendon Press: 1991, 166pp. [Oxford Studies in Language Contact]ÿ ISBN 0-19-823908-4. In the front material of this sociolinguistic study of the Old City of Jerusalem we encounter the multilinguistic credo of Rabbi Jonathan of Bet Gubrin:ÿ "Four languages are of value:ÿ Greek for song, Latin for war, Aramaic for dirges, and Hebrew for speaking."ÿ [Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Sotah 7:ÿ 2, 30a.] In the one-thousand-year "Yiddish period" of our tri-millenial Jewish history, Yiddish largely usurped the place of Hebrew "for speaking" -- but this was not a wholly "low-status function" in contrast to the "high-status function" of the languages of written texts, Hebrew and Aramaic.ÿ After all, religious instruction at the highest levels was in Yiddish, sermons were delivered in Yiddish -- oral activities, but hardly "low-status."ÿ We can nonetheless agree with the general lines of the authors' discussion of H(igh) and L(ow) functions as applied to Hebrew and Yiddish respectively. "...ÿ Jewish multilingualism, " Spolsky and Cooper explain, "clearly pre-dates the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E.ÿ By the first century a pattern had developed whereby Jews knew and used Hebrew for religious and literary purposes, spoke a Jewish vernacular, and also, as members of a minority group, knew and used non-Jewish languages.ÿ This pattern is true of Jerusalem in the second half of the nineteenth century."ÿ (p. 33) Yiddish, alongside Judezmo and Hebrew, was important in nineteenth-century Jerusalem, where many Sephardim and Arabs also spoke Yiddish.ÿ (p. 54) The authors succinctly describe the tangled history of Hebrew-Yiddish relations in Palestine: "It is important ... to make clear the fundamental difference in the tasks undertaken by the proponents of Yiddish and Hebrew revival.ÿ For Yiddish, as with so many other European languages associated with national movements, the aim was to add, or approve the addition of high-status functions to a widely spoken but low-status language; for Hebrew, the task was to add, or approve the addition of daily use and speech (a low-status function which could be raised ideologically) to a language with high status.ÿ The dispute betwen the two sides was marked by strong rhetoric, and worse.ÿ In 1914, for instance, Chaim Zhitlowsky visited Palestine, lecturing in Haifa, Jerusalem, and Jaffa in Yiddish. The last of his planned series of lectures was disrupted by a demonstration of Herzlia high school pupils.ÿ In an article in _Ha-Ahdut_, Zhitlowsky argued that only Yiddish could maintain the unity of the Jewish people.ÿ In a reply, A. Hashin argued that Yiddish was not revolutionary; only Hebrew could be the national language.ÿ After the end of the First World War, supporters of Hebrew, concerned that new immigration from Europe would strengthen Yiddish, led a renewed ideological campaign.ÿ A proposal by N. Twerski that knowledge of Hebrew should be a prerequisite for election to the autonomous Jewish institutions in Eretz Israel was adopted at the Third Constituent Assemby of the yishuv (the Jewish community in Palestine) in December 1918.ÿ A meeting in Philadelphia of American Po'ale Zion, held at the same time, passed a resolution calling for equal rights for Yiddish in Palestine.ÿ The language question became a major issue in the struggle to unite the labour movement.ÿ It remained a central polemical issue until at least 1925.ÿ From 1925 until 1930 the debate in Palestine was much more personal, and attempts to found a chair of Yiddish at the Hebrew University in 1927 were defeated...." (p. 60) "The argument in Palestine was a continuation of a European debate, but the important decision was made by the labour movement before the Czernowitz conference.ÿ Extremists on each side held a monistic position, ignoring the possibility of multilingualism.ÿ It was essentially a struggle within the Zionist movement; the language question was not relevant in the conflict with the non-Zionists, who continued to use Yiddish.ÿ Ideologically, the Hebraists refused to allow any cultural role for Yiddish in Palestine, and the debates in the 1930s were intensely political.ÿ Later, in the 1940s, there was even violence, with a Yiddish printing-press being blown up.ÿ Paradoxically, after 1948, Oriental Jews came to identify the very elite which had chosen Hebrew with the Yiddish that they had rejected, seeing the latter as a symbol of discrimination." (p. 60) Spolsky and Cooper rightly hesitate to explain the adoption of Hebrew in Palestine as due to the need for a lingua franca or for some other material reason.ÿ "... Yiddish was already a satisfactory language of communication... no lingua franca was needed...."ÿ The public use of Hebrew was initiated in Yiddish-speaking farming communities and not in towns with mixed Sephardic and Ashkenazic inhabitants.(p. 64) "During the period of Hebrew revitalization the opposing languages were less powerful.ÿ Yiddish was the language that Hebrew replaced as a vernacular, but it was in many ways... a pre-ideological Yiddish, a Yiddish plainly (to the people concerned) labelled as not just a language associated with the Diaspora (the denial of which was their very reason for being in Palestine), but a language lacking (at least before 1905) clearly acknowledged cultural value; indeed, many hardly considered it a language at all, but a jargon." (p. 65) In their survey undertaken in 1983/1984 ("total sample population was 2,149 people... 14 percent Jews") Spolsky and Cooper found only four percent of Old City inhabitants gave Yiddish as their major language, and the number who gave Yiddish as their second language also trailed far behind those for Arabic, English and Hebrew.ÿ (Obviously, had the researchers included in their survey all the Jews who pour into the Old City daily from Mea Shearim and other Jerusalem neighborhoods, the statistics would be radically different). "Wheras the censuses of 1916-18 had confirmed that nearly 60% of all Jews who did not speak Hebrew as a principal language spoke Yiddish, by 1972 that figure had dropped to 19% for those aged 14 and above....ÿ Of ... eight languages... Yiddish is the only one whose percentage of use among non-Hebrew speakers has declined in each of the five periods studied between 1916 and 1972 -- even between 1948 and 1954, when large numbers of Yiddish-speaking immigrants arrived." (p. 69) Spolsky and Cooper suggest that "the decline of Yiddish has stemmed in part from its low status... and in part from its decreasing usefulness as a lingua franca....ÿ The growth of Hebrew as a lingua franca at the end of the Ottoman period, then, would have created pressures for its acquisition and slowed the spread of its chief rivals, Yiddish and Arabic.ÿ The potential of Yiddish as a lingua franca was almost certainly undermined, in addition, by its association with the ultra-orthodox anti-Zionists of East European origin, who used it as their internal lingua franca."ÿ (pp. 69-70) 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date:ÿ 30 November 1997 From:ÿ Leah Krikun Subject: "der motiv fun "toytn-tants" in der traditsye fun literatur bay yidn" fun Dovid kats der motiv fun "toytn-tants" in der traditsye fun literatur bay yidn ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ motiv "mekhol hamaves" b|masoret h|sifrut h|yehudit ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ khibur lesheym kabalat toar "doktor lefilosofye" ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ me'etÿÿ david katz ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ h|makhlakah l|sifrut am yisrael ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ h|katedre l|yidish al-shem rina kosta ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ hugash l|senat shel universitat bar-ilan ramat ganÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ kislev, tashn"ag inhalt -sikum b|ivrit..................................................... alef -tamtsis in yidish................................................ zayen -di motivn fun toyt un tants in di minhogem, gloybungen, filosofye un elt|ste literatur-shafungen fun altertum..............................1 1.ÿ dikhtungen un eposn..............................................3 2.ÿ tents.............................................................5 -der oyfkum un antviklung fun mistishe gloybungen in dem kristntum...6 1.ÿ di mistishe mekoyres fun dem kristntum ..........................6 2.ÿ der khet-h|kadmon, predestinatsye un "frayer viln" ..............9 3.ÿ di "fareynikung mit got" .......................................10 4.ÿ a stsenaryum fun shrek farn gehenem ............................11 5.ÿ di krayts-tsugn vi a poyel-yoytse fun an agresivn gloybn........15 -di mitlelterlekhe literatur in eyrope..............................16 1.ÿ algemeyne kharakteristik........................................16 2. "memento mori" shafungen.........................................17 3.ÿ apokaliptishe shafungen.........................................19 4. "di dray lebedike un di dray toyte" -- legende variantn..........21 5.ÿ di vikuekh-literatur tsvishn mentsh un toyt.....................22 -der tants vi an oysdruk fun mistik in der mitlelterlekher eyrope...25 -tsu der frage fun der forshung fun di mitlelterlekhe toytn-tants...29 -der stereotip fun toyt un tants....................................31 1.ÿ di problematik..................................................31 2.ÿ di rol fun folksgloybenishn in der antviklung fun stereotip.....32 -di antviklung fun dem toytn-tants motiv............................36 1.ÿ di historishe tkufe.............................................36 2.ÿ di virtshaftlekhe lage in der fest-tkufe........................40 3.ÿ di lage fun di yidn.............................................41 -der aynflus fun der fest-tsayt oyf der formirung fun toytn-tants...42 -"der shvartser toyt" -- dos algemeyne bild fun der mageyfe.........44 1.ÿ di shmayser-tsugn -- an oysdruk fun a fartsveyfltn viln ÿÿÿ optsushteln di fest.............................................50 -der tantsn-shigoen.................................................53 1.ÿ demonishe tents un dibukem......................................53 -di haltung fun der kirkh in der fest-tsayt..........................55 1.ÿ di farlornkayt fun der kirkh in onblik fun dem fest-kataklizm...55 2.ÿ di farshpreytung fun magye un mistik............................58 3.ÿ di raykhtimer fun di monastirn..................................59 4.ÿ gotlozikayt, tayvl-kult, simonye un zitnlozikayt................60 5.ÿ moralishe degredatsye fun der katoylisher hirarkhye.............63 -folkstimlekhe formen fun toytn-tants...............................66 1.ÿ protsesyes un tsugn.............................................66 2.ÿ folksshpiln nusekh "toytn-tants"................................68 3.ÿ fang-shpiln.....................................................71 4.ÿ der toytn-tants oyf der bine....................................73 5.ÿ iber di toytn-tents-oysfirungen in frankraykh un daytshland.....76 6.ÿ a meglekhe leyzung fun der frage vegn dem tsuzamenhang tsvishn ÿÿÿ toyt un tants in der bilder-form fun "toytn-tants"..............82 7.ÿ di muzik fun der fest-tsayt......................................83 -di kompozitsye fun dem vant-toytn-tants un zayn shafungs-protses...84 1.ÿ di tekhnik un kompozitsye in dinst fun kinstlerishn efekt.......84 -di bazeler toytn-tants.............................................87 -der berner toytn-tants.............................................90 -der parizer toytn-tants -- "dance macabre".........................96 -di shpanishe "dantsa"..............................................99 -italyenishe toytn-tants-variantn...................................102 -der toytn-tants in holtsshnitn, blokbikher un drukoysgabn..........105 -frantsoyzishe holtsshnitn..........................................109 -di daytshishe renesans-kunst -- di toyt-fantazyes fun 16tn yorhundert ....................................................................111 1.ÿ hans holbayn....................................................113 -makabrishe variantn oyf der bine...................................115 -makabrishe opklangen in der literatur...............................120 -di antviklung fun dem toytn-tants motiv in 19tn yor hundert un onhoyb fun 20tn yor hundert.........................................122 1.ÿ der romantizm un zayn tsushtayer................................122 2.ÿ a nayer tsugang tsum toyt in der literatur un filosofye.........127 -di psikhologishe folgn fun der "shvartser fest"....................130 1.ÿ algemeyne dershaynungen in der nokh-fest tkufe..................130 2.ÿ di toytn-tants shpiln -- simboln fun nitsokhn fun lebn ÿÿÿ ibern toyt......................................................131 -der antviklungs-protses fun mistishe gloybungen bay yidn...........135 1.ÿ undzere mekoyres vegn dem tsuzamenhang tsvishn lebn un toyt.....147 2.ÿ di ekstreme pozitsye fun dem seyfer koheles -- komentarn tsu ÿÿÿ der mashmoes fun seyfer koheles.................................152 3.ÿ tsu der frage fun dem khet-h|kadmen bay yidn....................154 4.ÿ Odems khet in di apokrifn........................................157 5.ÿ der yidisher un kristlekher banem fun kadmen-zind un zayn tikn..159 6.ÿ folklor-shtudyes -- a moker far der forshung fun mistishe un ÿÿÿ makabrishe gloybenishn..........................................161 -mistishe gloybungen bay yidn in mitlelter in mayrev-eyrope.........163 1. "mayse-bukh" -- a dokument vegn mistishe un demonologishe ÿÿÿ forshtelungen bay yidn in mitlelter.............................170 -iberblik vegn dem tants bay yidn...................................171 -yidishe hashpoes un geshtaltn in dem mayrev-eyropeyishn toytn-tants.........................................................176 -der toytn-tants baym mayrev-eyropeyishn yidntum....................186 1.ÿ der toytn-tants fun Yoysef opotoshu.............................188 2.ÿ diskusye arum opotoshu's dertseylung "a tog in regensburg"......190 -toytn-tants-lider -- yidishe variantn fun "memento mori" nusekh....193 1.ÿ ayzik valikh vermaysn: "der grimig toyt"........................194 2.ÿ reb Yankev Eliyohu teplits: "a sheyn hisoyreres lid"............195 3.ÿ Yitskhok fun vilne: "got|sfarkhtig lid".........................196 4.ÿ fun a pinkes fun khevre-kedishe: a lid fun lebn un toyt.........197 5.ÿ Yisrol|ik skuders lid "koydem yom-hamoves"......................200 -arum dem toytn-tants in di zikhroynes fun glikl fun hameln.........203 -der toytn-tants-motiv in a tanakhisher drame.......................208 -der toytn-tants-motiv bay dem mizrekh-eyropeyishn yidntum..........210 1.ÿ der khasidizm vi a mistishe bavegung............................210 2.ÿ der toyt un zayne bagleyt-momentn in der yidisher etnografye ÿÿÿ un folklor......................................................212 3.ÿ a toytn-tants bay voliner khsidem...............................220 4.ÿ a zeltene bashraybung fun toytn-tants bay litvishe khsidem......222 5.ÿ anoykhi der bazinger fun der amoliker, frumer yidisher velt.....224 -der toytn-tants-motiv in der drame un siper fun onhoyb 20tn yorhundert (perets, anski, agnon)...................................226 1ÿ "baynakht oyfn altn mark" -- der toytn-tants fun y.-l. perets....226 2.ÿ di mistishe velt in dem "dibek" (anskis variant fun a ÿÿÿ toytn-tants)................................................... 230 3.ÿ oyf di randn fun gevise kritishe bamerkungen vegn "dibek".......238 4.ÿ di toytn-tants un toyt-tematik bay shay agnon...................241 5.ÿ geenderte oyffasungen fun dem toyt in der filosofye un ÿÿÿ literatur.......................................................246 6.ÿ paraleln un analogyes (perets, anski, agnon)....................248 7.ÿ a peretsyanish viderkoyl........................................250 8.ÿ Dovid aynhorns "toytn-tants" fun antoyshung.....................252 9. "tsen milyon -- rekvyem" -- der patsifistisher toytn-tants.......255 10. di demonologishe velt fun bashevis-zinger un di neshome- ÿÿÿ fareynikung durkh libe un toyt..................................257 -der toytn-tants-motiv in der kidesh-hashem un in der shoa-literatur......................................................258 -forgeyer fun der shoa in der literatur.............................260 1.ÿ kh.-n. byaliks "shkhite shtot"..................................260 2.ÿ u.-ts. grinberg mobilizirt di toyte "in malkhes fun tseylem"....263 3.ÿ Perets markish un di misterye fun toyt -- "di kupe".............268 -der toytn-tants-motiv in der shoa literatur........................269 1.ÿ Khayem grade: der toytn tants...................................269 2.ÿ u.-ts. grinberg: "keyver beyaar"................................270 3.ÿ Perets markish: "trot fun doyres"...............................271 4.ÿ Yishayahu shpigl: "erd".........................................272 5.ÿ Avrom sutskever: "vilner geto"..................................273 6.ÿ kelermans: "der totn-tants".....................................274 7. "a briv-oystoysh oyf yener velt".................................275 8.ÿ der dikhter vos hot geshept lebnskraft fun dem toyt.............277 9.ÿ di oyfshtand in geto fun Perets markish.........................279 -di estetishe printsipn fun kunst bay yidn..........................281 -di estetik fun toyt un di estetik fun lebn.........................285 -bibliografye.......................................................290 1.ÿ bikher..........................................................290 2.ÿ artiklen........................................................301 -inhalt in english...............................................,..i ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ **** tamtsis in yidish di prezentirte materyaln vegn toytn-tants-motiv derloybn tsu definirn un farentfern a rey fragn vos zeyer problematik iz geven nisht klor farn onheyb fun der shtudye.ÿ tsu zey gehert di frage tsi es iz barekhtikt a tseteylung oyf kristlekhe un yidishe toytn-tents, tsi es zenen iberhoypt faran spetsifishe yidishe un kristlekhe toytn-tants-formen, un oyb yo, vos zenen di kristlekhe un yidishe kinstlerishe kontseptsyes vos derloybn makhn aza tseteylung?ÿ zenen meglekh izolirte, nisht baaynfluste formen fun motiv?ÿ vos zenen di virkndike faktorn vos izolirn oder fareynikn dershaynungen in a kultur-historishn protses? vayl in a breytern zin, ven men batrakht di filzaytikayt fun der toytn-tants-problematik in ir historisher antviklung, ken men kumen tsum oysfir, az in der batsiung tsu "eybike temes" vi di bahandlte teme fun lebn un toyt, torn nisht geshtelt vern keyn aynfakhe fragn oykh vayl es kenen nisht gegebn vern oyf zey keyn poshete, simplifitsirte entfers. di dozike festshtelungen firn tsu a vaytern oysfir vegn der etsem meglekhkayt fun bahandlen di teme in di grenetsn fun a farglaykh tsvishn dem kristlekhn un yidishn toytn-tants motiv.ÿ es iz klor az der toytn-tants iz geven un iz geblibn an algemeyn mentshlekher motiv.ÿ er dershaynt in a sakh andere kulturn un nisht dafke in der yidisher un kristlekher kultur un ideyen-velt. in undzer fal hobn mir di teme bagrenetst tsu di tsvey tkhumem, nit nor tsulib ir groysn farnem.ÿ es iz undz geven vikhtik tsu demonstrirn dem gaystikn koyekh fun yidishn velt-banem oyf a kultur-motiv fun der mekhtiker kristlekher imperye, in a tsvey-toyzntyoriker religyezer un ideologisher konfrontatsye.ÿ in der doziker nisht-simetrisher konfrontatsye iz der yidisher tsad geven tomed nisht nor gaystik bakemft nor oykh fizish geshtoysn tsum umkum. tsulib di shtendike enderungen fun dem motiv in zayn antviklungs-veg hobn mir nisht keyn eynhaytlekhe definitsye fun dem toytn-tants bagrif, nor a rey fun definitsyes.ÿ zey zenen andersh in farsheydene historishe tkufes, ven es hobn gevirkt naye, zikh baytndike kultur-faktorn.ÿ derfar iz yeder eyntslner toytn-tants a komplekser, tsayt-spetsifisher produkt fun a bashtimter tkufe. farn aribergeyn tsu a nenterer konfrontatsye fun di kharakteristishe shtrikhn fun dem motiv baym yidntum un baym kristntum, iz keday demonstrirn a gevise tsol fun zayne gilgulem, azoy vi zey zenen presentirt in der geshikhte fun der eyropeyisher kultur-traditsye. * der eyropeyisher toytn-tants iz a simbol fun der fargenglekhkayt fun mentshlekhn lebn, vos iz nisht ophengik fun tsayt un ort. * der toytn-tants iz der letster veg tsu an ander velt, geboyt oyf a religyezn gloybn in a kiyem nokh dem toyt.ÿ derbay iz der tants nor a tsaytvayliker bagleyt-komponent fun dem motiv. * di historishe forgeyer fun dem toytn-tants zenen nisht geven dinamish. zey zenen bashtanen tsuersht fun diologn un shpeter fun bilder un diologn tsvishn dem mentsh un dem toyt.ÿ di tendents fun di diologn iz geven tsu stimulirn a yoysherdik lebn oyf der velt, kedey zoykhe tsu zayn tsu an eybikn kiyem in gan-eydn. * der inhalt fun der diologn-form fun toytn-tants prezentirt di eybik tragishe, nisht glaykhe un fun faroys farshpilte konfrontatsye tsvishn dem mentsh un dem toyt. * gevise, frie, mitlelterlekhe formen fun baveglekhn toytn-tants anthaltn vi a bagleyter fun di tsum toyt-farmishpete mentshn, farsheydene makabrishe geshtaltn.ÿ dos rov zenen dos halb-tsefoylte toyte (shpeter skeletn), genumene fun di tsayt-aktuele misterye-shpiln un pasionen. * in di shpetere vizuele formen fun toytn-tants dershaynt der simbolisher toyt vi a shpilman.ÿ er bagleyt zayne korbones mit a shpiln oyf farsheydene instrumentn.ÿ a tekst unter dem bild git iber dem inhalt fun dem gerangl. * in der tkufe fun shpetn mitlelter farvandlt zikh dos toytn-tants-bild (als vant-bild) in a kultur-historishn dokument fun der tkufe.ÿ oyfn fon fun a fest-kataklizm vert gemoln an apokaliptish bild fun umkum fun forshteyer fun ale ekzistirndike klasn.ÿ der toytn-tants fun bazl iz a fragment fun a gresern ansambl vos hoybt zikh on mit der gan-eydn-aroystraybung un endikt zikh mitn akt fun der kristlekher presentatsye. * in dem holbaynishn toytn-tants dershaynt der shtumer toyt vi a nisht zeendiker bagleyter fun dem mentshns letstn lebns-gang.ÿ der diolog-tekst unter dem bild un der komponent fun etsem tants, farshvindn.ÿ der gevuntshener efekt vert dergreykht mit der hilf fun hoykh ekspresive, molerish-kinstlerishe mitlen. * di toytn-tants formen dershaynen nisht in a konsekventn kronologishn hemshekh, alte formen farshvindn oder farblaybn un dershaynen paralel mit di nay-oyfgekumene, oder vern teylvays adaptirt fun zey, baraykhndik dem inhalt fun dem motiv. * di mitlelterlekhe (un shpeter yidishe) toytn-tants shpiln in mayrev-eyrope, vos zenen bakant fun der traditsye oder kultur-geshikhte un literatur, trogn an algemeyn mentshlekhn, folkstimlekhn kharakter. zey zenen ophengik fun algemeyne tsayt-situatsyes un zeyere psikhologishe oysvirkungen.ÿ der tants-komponent dershaynt vi a kinstlerish-asimilirter mageyfe-simptom. * di eyropeyishe folks-shpiln nusekh toytn-tants vern a dank zeyer nisht religyezn, psikhologish-farshtendlekhn kharakter, asimilirt in di yidishe getos. * di toytn-tants-lider fun dem 17tn yor hundert un di tanakhishe dramen fun 18tn yor hundert bay yidn zenen farenderte, teylvays faryidishte formen fun amolike nisht yidishe toytn-tents.ÿ zey zenen kolel elementn fun di amolike toytn-tants-diologn.ÿ di lider-form rirt nisht on dem bakantn oser fun yidishn das, vos bagrenetst di prezentatsye fun bilder un skulpturn fun mentshn. * der mizrekh-eyropeisher toytn-tants hot zikh antviklt umophengik fun mayrev-eyropeisher traditsyes un hashpoes. er iz a produkt fun der khsidisher, spetsifisher lebns-oyffasung. zayne kinstlerishe ekspresye-mitlen zenen mimik, muzik un gezang. * di toytn-tants-formen bay di mizrekh-eyropeishe khsidem drikn oys durkh zeyer spontonem ibergang fun troyer tsu hislayvesdiker simkhe, dem yidishn religyezn printsip fun ahaves-khayem un farneynung fun toyt. * in 19tn un in onhoyb fun 20tn yor hundert farlirn di toytn-tants formen zeyere religyez-didaktishe shtrikhn un hashpoe. a. in der romantisher un neoromantisher literatur, spetsyel in der drame, dershaynt der toytn-tants motiv vi a simbol fun a mistishn koyekh.ÿ di romantiker zeen in der metofizisher velt a mokor fun a koyekh, vos iz msugl tsu endern di umgevuntshene virklekhkayt.ÿ di makabrishe geshtaltn fun di toyte vos shteyen oyf fun zeyere kvorem, farshtarkn dem dramatishn efekt tsenish, ober zeyer oysleyzung iz a dekadentishe. b. in der filosofye vert geendert di mistishe batsiung tsum toyt.ÿ der toyt vert batrakht vi a hemshekh fun lebn. in algemeyn vert der toytn-tants motiv in der literatur farshtanen vi a simbol fun a nisht koregirbarer, tragisher, terminaler lebns-situatsye vos endikt zikh mit umkum un toyt.ÿ der doziker simbol kharakterizirt di pogrom-dikhtung un umkum-literatur. di yidishe literatur un drame fun onheyb fun 20tn yor hundert zenen geven befeyresh baaynflust fun der mayrev-eyropeisher romantisher mistik bikhlal, un fun dem toytn-tants motiv befrat.ÿ di transtsedentale elementn in der yidisher drame un proze, aynshlislekh dem toytn-tants motiv, oder zayne vikhtikste elementn, zenen a sintez fun fremde aynflusn un eygene folklor un svive-traditsyes. dafke bay a noentern farglaykh fun tipishe, kristlekhe toynt-tants fun eyropeishn mitlelter mit di toytn-tants fun di mizrekh-eyropeishe khsidem, lozn zikh antplekn yesoydisdike kontrastn tsvishn beyde kontseptsyes fun dem motiv.ÿ zey hobn zikh antviklt in gayst fun tsvey mahusdik-farsheydene, religyez-ideologishe un religyez-estetishe kontseptsyes fun kinstlerisher ekspresye, di yesoydes fun velkhe mir hobn gebrakht in onheyb un tsum soyf fun der doziker shtudye. di kultur-geshikhte batseykhnt di kunstverk fun gotishn mitlelter, aynshlislekh dem toytn-tants, als oyfbroyzn fun kristlekhn religyezn un metafizishn gayst.ÿ beys ale kunst-dershaynungen bizn letstn prat, hobn gedint di noytn fun der katoylisher kirkh. di kristlekhe toytn-tants fun der dermonter tkufe zenen farhoyln in a tifn tunkl fun di mitlelterlekhe kloysters, katedraln un monostirn.ÿ di umheymlekhe mistik fun der kunst hot geshrokn un gerufn di gloybike kristn tsu fartsukung oyf di nishtike freydn fun oylem haze, un nokhfolgn dem letstn gang fun di tsum toyt-farmishpete in der bagleytung fun an ekldikn malekh-h|moves.ÿ nor di groyln fun der fest-tsayt un der mistisher gayst fun der kristlekher presentatsye, hobn gekent derfirn tsu aza absoluter glorifikatsye fun toyt un negatsye fun lebn. in kontrast, anthaltn undzere mekoyres antviklte bagrifn vegn dem tsuzamenhang tsvishn lebn un toyt.ÿ fun zey dringt aroys a klorer, pozitiver yidisher tsugang tsu der velt un a negative batsiung tsum toyt, vos iz a klole.ÿ dos iz tsu zen fun di tsolraykhe psukem, aroyszogungen, reydnsartn, vertlekh un shprikhverter vos kharakterizirn di negative shtelung fun yidntum tsu dem inyen fun toyt un di tsolraykhe tfiles vos zenen farfast gevorn l|khayem arokhem [arikhes-yomem]. di negatsye fun der velt hot keyn mol nisht bahersht fulshtendik dem yidishn gloybn un velt-banem trots di tsolraykhe obyektive, historishe sibes vos hobn dafke gekent firn tsu aza shtelung.ÿ der yidisher mistitsizm iz geven kemat on demonizm un eyme, vayl in tsenter fun dem yidntum iz dos vikhtikste tomed geven dos mekuyem-zayn fun got|s mitsves oyf der velt.ÿ der yidisher mistitsizm iz eygntlekh geven fun a hekherer madreyge.ÿ er hot gefirt dem yokhed tsu zukhn visn vos iz fun yener zayt seykhl.ÿ di yidishe toyre iz a toyre fun realn lebn un universale gebotn.ÿ in ir toykh iz de mistishe khkire geven konservativ un hot zikh geshtitst oyf der eygener folkstraditsye.ÿ in der yidishe traditsye, vos shpiglt zikh op in folklor, vert prezentirt der toyt in negativstn zin.ÿ der yid hot nisht gemuzt, vi der krist, zikh fareynikn mit zayn got durkh dem toyt.ÿ gor oft iz der toyt un der mes geven bay dem yidn an obyekt fun distants, bitl un khoyzek. bay di khsidem iz der tkhies-hameysem-tants geven a tants vos bavayzt vi der mentsh goysest, vi er shtarbt, un dernokh -- vi er shteyt oyf tsu tkhies-hameysem. er hot bavizn kemat a fizishn gerangl fun dem mentshn mitn toyt un der tkhies-hameysem vi a nitsokhn fun dem mentsh ibern toyt. der nitsokhn-akt fun lebn ibern toyt flegt vern bagleyt bay di khsidem mit heyse, hislayvesdike tents. in der kharakteristishn ibergang fun toyt tsum lebn iz gelegn der mehus fun der khsidisher lebns-hasoge. der khsidisher toytn tants is a boyleter oysdruk fun yidishn velt-banem vos zogt, az "di gantse velt iz mole simkhe un lebn, un got tantst mit." der khsidisher toytn-tants iz an originele, nisht-asimilirte form fun dem motiv bay yidn.ÿ er iz in toykh diametral andersh in zayn kontseptsye fun dem kristlekhn toytn-tants, vayt fun der mageyfe-tkufe un ire hashpoes.ÿ er iz a produkt fun an eygener, yidisher traditsye un velt-banem, geshtitst beiker oyf dem farvortsltn gloybn in bies h|mashiekh, mitn tkhies-hameysem-element als vezntlekhn komponent fun der geule. der gayst fun beyde motiv-formen iz in aynklang mit di farsheydene religyez-estetishe yesoydes legabe kunst fun dem yidntum un kristntum. trots dem, vi es iz bavizn in der doziker shtudye, hot di yidishe ideyen-velt baaynflust un bagleyt dem kristlekhn toytn-tants in zayn langn gilgulim-veg. ---------------------------------------------------- End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.026 Leonard Prager, editor Send articles to: ÿÿÿ lprager@research.haifa.ac.il The editor of _TMR_ can also be reached via _Mendele_'s homepage: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/ Subscribers to _Mendele_ (see below) automatically receive _The Mendele Review_. Send "to subscribe" or change-of-status messages to: ÿÿÿ listproc@lists.yale.edu ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ a. For a temporary stop: set mendele mail postpone ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail ack ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ c. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ d. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ ****Getting back issues**** _The Mendele Review_ archive can be reached at: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/tmr.htm and at:ÿ http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.027 14 December 1997 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) "Oy hot er gedavnt" (Yitskhok Ikht) 3) "Nile in gehenem" (Yitskhok-Leyb Perets) 1)------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 14 December 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) a.In this issue 1. Shoyn eyn mol a khazn! It is hoped that this issue will provide at least a partial respite in the heated exchange in _Mendele_ on the mysterious origins of _davnen_ by shifting to what this quintessentially Yiddish word signifies. The review of a Leyb Glants appearance in the East End of London seventy -seven years ago reminds us of the importance of cantorial art in Ashkenaz. Most of the great Eastern European cantors also recorded and gave concerts of Yiddish songs. Mendelyaner who are collectors may own recordings of Leyb Glants singing "Dvoyrele." Were the Sholem-Aleykhem Kasrilevke character known as "shoyn eyn mol Moyshe" to have given a title to Yitskhok Ikht's review, it would doubtless have been "shoyn eyn mol a khazn!" I was reminded of "shoyn eyn mol Moyshe!" by a private communication from Refoyl Finkl which will cast light on the Turkey Controversy, second only to the Great _davnen_ Discussion. Refoyl writes: '[in] di mayse "shoyn eyn mol a suke"* fun Sholem Aleykhem|en... hob ikh gezen az der mekhaber redt vegn indiks tsu peysekh. nokh a bavayz az di indianer in "dos porfolk" zaynen davke indiks.' Sholem-Aleykhem explains that "shoyn eyn mol Moyshe" earned his name because 'oyf yeder zakh, vos er hot gezen, gehert oder gemakht, hot er lib gehat tsu zogn "shoyn eyn mol azoy." -- bay undz a khazn in shul -- "shoyn eyn mol a khazn!" me hot getrogn an indik oyf peysekh -- "shoyn eyn mol an indik!"' Now there is a longstanding discussion among Yiddish literary critics regarding the documentary value of our classical triumvirate -- i.e. to what degree does their shtetl world reflect historical actuality. Earlier critics argued that Mendele Moykher-Sforim, for example, was a veritable guide to Russian Jewry in the Pale of Settlement in the late nineteenth-century, a view questioned by later critics. Sholem-Aleykhem's Kasrilevke, some argue today, is a purely imaginary construction resembling no real place or society. While this is largely true, the realia, the material fabric and also the web of customs and beliefs are convincingly faithful reflections of an actual time and place. At least in Sholem-Aleykhem territory -- not necessarily in all of Yiddishland -- it was customary to fatten turkeys for Passover, precisely as described in "Dos porfolk." The fact that none of us knew this for certain may remind us how much we do not know about the Yiddish world and the world of Yiddish. *["shoyn eyn mol a suke" is to be found in Book Two of _mayses far idishe {yidishe} kinder_, pp. 135-150 (_Ale verk_, vol.1., New York: Forverts oysgabe, 1942)]. 2. Nile in gehenem The hero of the Perets story in this issue is a "bal-tfile" rather than a "khazn" and this may be intentional (some translators obscure this point; in some places the terms may have been synonymous). The letters of the word "khazn" were popularly seen as an acronym of the well-known saying "[ale] khazonem zenen naronem" ('[all] cantors are fools'). Cantors in Eastern Europe in the last century had the same ambiguous status that all itinerant artists and entertainers have had until recent times, often being seen as bohemians and drifters. While they were in certain respects more "professional" than baley-tfile, they did not necessarily enjoy greater prestige. Local personalities who sang not for their supper but as shlikhey tsibur ["shats"] 'representatives of the community' were honored -- especially if they sang well. "Nile in gehenem" is sub-titled a "humoreske" ('humoresque'), emphasizing its humorous and capricious qualities. But there are other strains in the story as well. The satiric maskilic voice is heard in the informer's description of the shtetl, Lehadam, with its "enge un dushne khadorem, a mikve, vu men kon dem otem nisht khapn. dos gantse shtetl, vi a zump!.... -- a beys-h|khayem faran! khevre kedishe shindt di hoyt." This, as we are reminded, is an informer talking ("es iz aroyf oyf moser-loshn"), but we believe him. (Sholem-Aleykhen once wrote: "A moser hot in zikh a koyekh -- men gloybt im." [cited by Yitskhok Niborski, _Verterbukh..._, Pariz, 1997] The accidental death of an outsider reveals that no one from the twenty-year old shtetl of Lehadam has ever arrived in gehenem. The reason is the town's prayer leader, himself a worthless creature ("er aleyn -- gornisht! mamesh a kal!"(3)), but owner of a golden voice which melts the congregation's hearts, brings them to repentance, and saves them all from perdition. This situation cannot be allowed to continue and "der baldover aleyn" ('Satan himself') takes command. Here begins the contest between the bal-tfile and Satan. In Greek and Roman tragedy the gods always win, but the manner in which mortal heroes die affirms their nobility. Perets' "hero" is a pathetic suicide bent on revenge, yet he possesses the musical power of a shtetl Orpheus. He sings the concluding prayer of the Yom Kippur service and Hell empties out. Of course, in time it fills up again -- Perets has no utopic illusions. But beauty, the power of art, has had its moment, staying confusion at one point in mortal time. Satan cursed the bal-tfile and took away his voice, an action understood by a select few "gute yidn" [chasidic rabbis'] who were, however, powerless to help him. "Volt der bal-tfile aleyn epes geven, volt men gekont poyel-yoytse zayn, ober az er aleyn iz a kal, a gornisht...." Perets emphasizes that his protagonist is a moral zero, whose un-Hellenic contest has nothing to do with nobility or courage or virtue. But through singing the final prayers of the Day of Atonement service, the bal-tfile transports everyone in gehenem but the Satanic imps and himself to ganeydn. "Ale, vi baym lebn, hot er tsu tshuve gebrengt, er aleyn hot keyn rekhte tshuve nisht gekont tun." Does this story say something about the public servant who "saves" others while unable to "save" himself? Is this a parable of the artist who can bring beauty or meaning into the lives of others through his art though he is personally damned? He can achieve integration and wholeness only in his creation. Is Perets making a personal statement? b.In coming issues Tsvi Kanar has given _TMR_ permission to reprint his eighty-five page long short story / short novella "Opgegebn broyt." It will be given in installments in its entirety -- uncensored despite passages which some readers might feel uncomfortable with -- and preceded by a reader's assessment of the work. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 14 December 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: "Oy hot er gedavnt" (Yitskhok Ikht) Yitskhok ikht* (London) oy, hot er gedavnt!!! (ayndruk fun glants's mayrev) "oy, hot er gedavnt!" "oy, hot er gedaber|t!" "a gezunt in zayne beyner!" "mayrekh yomem zol er zayn!" "oyskushn yedn eyver darf men im!" ot azelkhe oysrufn, hot ir gekent hern, in nelson strit sfardishe shul(1), zuntog ovnt ven khazn glants hot gedavnt mayrev un gegebn a kontsert. ikh bin gezesn in shul un batrakht dem entuziastishn vaytt|shepler oylem un tsu zey gezogt, in di gedankn: "gebent|sht zolt ir zayn, vaytt|shepler yidn." hob ikh heyst es gezogt (in di gedanken) tsu ot di yidn: mayrekh yomem zolt ir zayn, vaytt|shepler yidn. sonem hobn oyf aykh oysgetrakht, az ir zayt kalte yidn, shleferike yidn, vemen men ken nit onvaremen, tsu velkhe men ken nit gefinen di veg tsu zeyere hertser. a lign! vaytt|shepler yidn zaynen heyse yidn mit vareme hertser un es iz gor nit shver aroystsurufn bay zey entuziazm. ober di, vos kumen tsu di vaytt|shepler yidn darfn aleyn zayn mentshn mit vareme hertser un mit filnde neshomes.... ver es iz geven zuntog ovnt bay khazn glants's mayrev, der vet bashtetikn mayne verter. un getrakht hob ikh beshas mayse: vifil mitingen mit "prominente" reydner un vifl artiklen fun "prominente" shrayber voltn mir badarft, um aroystsurufn aza min entuziasm, vi khazn glants hot aroysgerufn bay di vaytt|shepler yidn, mit zayn davnen. vi nemt men aher itst, in der nelson shul, di firer fun di yunayted-shuln [United Synagogue](2), velkhe zukhn far zeyere shuln "zultser-khazonem"(3) mit "levandovski-khazonem"(4) mit di "salveyshon armey songs," [Salvation Army songs] zey zoln a kuk ton oyf dem tseflamtn oylem fun dem religyezn fayer, vos glants hot in zey arayngeblozn. un zoln zey zogn, vos far a khazones es ruft aroys di religyeze gefiln bay yidn.... un profesor alman(5) kumt tsu tsu mir a bagaysteter un zogt: "ikh hob keyn verter nit oystsudrikn mayne gefiln, vos ot der draysik-yoriker glants hot bay mir aroysgerufn. ikh ken nor zogn, az dos iz dos letste vort fun khazones! er fareybikt zikh mit zayn khazones. ot dos zaynen di bagaysterte verter, vos khazn glants hot aroysgerufn bay knazonem un menagnem un bay aza groysn oytoritet vi profesor alman. un dos publikum? in di masn? vos zogn zey? vos far a gefiln hot bay zey aroysgerufn khazn glants's tfiles? ot zitst a yid, in di mitele yorn, mit an ofn moyl, dos sider ligt nebn em, ober kukn kukt er oyfn khazn un nokh yeder fraze, vos der khazn zogt, git er a shturkhe dem shokhn zaynem un efnt breyt di oygn un lozt aroys a "ha!" vi eyner redt: nu hostu nokh gehert azelkhes? a tsveyter zitst azoy mitn kop oyf a zayt, di oygn farmakht (vi es vayzt oys hot der yid amol farzukht dem tam fun a khsidishn "tish" praven), un hert zikh ayn mit groys kavone, vos der khazn zogt. un ven der khazn endikt efnt er di oygn kukt zikh arum oyf zayne shkheynem un ruft oys mit oysergeveynlekhe hispayles: "yidn! vos veyst er! vos dos iz? es iz an ek fun der velt! er iz dokh mamesh boyne oylomes." un di arumike yidn zaynen maskem mit im. un ot zitst an amerikaner yidisher aktyor tsvishn a grupe yidn un nitst oys di gelegnheyt tsu shpiln a "rol". er dertseylt di yidn, vos far a bagaysterung glants ruft aroys bay di amerikaner yidn. nokhn "betseys yisroel" zogt mir a yid: "biz itst hob ikh mir nit forgeshtelt dos bild fun "yetsies mitsrayem." do hob ikh derzen, vi der yam iz antlofn, vi der yarden hot zikh opgerukt un vi di berg zaynen geshprungen un itst veys ikh oykh farvos dos iz geshen." "ir hert!" zogt a khazn, tsu a grupe khazonem vos teyln zikh mit di ayndrukn fun di zibn "ato's." dos iz dokh a geoyn|isher aynfal. tsuzamen nemen zibn "ato's" fun farsheydene tfiles un makhn mit zey, mit di "ato's" a shpatsir iber zibnerley nuskhoes un azoy kuntsik ibergeyn fun eyn nusekh in tsveytn. onheybn mit "ato nigleyso" -- arayn in "ato yatsarto," un a shprung in "vokhedik ato kodoysh" un ot iz er in shabes|dikn" eygnartikn "ato ekhod" un ot, iz er gor in simkhes-toyre|dikn "ato horeyso ladaas." -- ir shpilt zikh, vos far a gdules er hot do bavizn? es iz dokh mamesh oyzn loy shama kazoys." di andere khazonem zaynen mit entuziazm maskem tsu di reyd fun zeyer kolege. ikh fun mayn zayt, vintsh im, az di ale brokhes zoln im mekuyem vern, far dem tayneg, vos er hot mir farshaft dem ovnt. ikh vel dos lang lang gedenken. ("di post," 1920/1921) _zehorim_; kovets lezekher leyb glants, b|arikhat Eliezer shteynman, tel-aviv: makhon tel-aviv l|musika datit yehudit h|akedemya l|khazanut m|(ye)sodo shel leyb glants, 1965, pp. 237-238. heores fun lp: * Would one of our onomasticians please comment on the surname Ikht. ** _zogn_ is a common synonym for _davnen_ (see above and below), but here we also have _dabren_. 1) Nelson Sefardic Synagogue in the East End of London was mainly attended by Ashkenazim. 2) United Synagogue: the main body of nominally orthodox synagogues in the United Kingdom. The Chief Rabbi of Great Britain is its head. 3) Solomon Sulzer (1804-1890), famous Austrian cantor and reformer of liturgical music, is said to have been admired by Liszt and Schubert. "His approach to _hazzanut_ was that of a professional musician seeking a complete break with the old style. This brought him criticism from Eastern European Jewry or only partial acceptance. Nevertheless, Sulzer restored splendor to the prayer service and enjoyed wide respect in Central Europe." (_Encyclopaedia Judaica_ 15:510-511). 4) Louis Lewandowski (1821-1894), choral director and composer. "The most significant composer of synagogue music after Solomon Sulzer... reproduced the traditional melodies in a more classical form...." (_Encyclopaedia Judaica_ 11:167). 5) Professor Alman. Shmuel Alman {Samuel Alman} (1877-1945) Russian-born S.A. studied music at the conservatories of Odessa and Kishinev. After arriving in England in 1903, he studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London. He was choirmaster of the Great Synagogue, Dukes Place, London. He wrote music for the synagogue which is still heard. He wrote the first Yiddish opera, _Meylekh Akhaz_ ('King Ahaz'), adapted from Avraham Mapu's novel _Ashmat shomron_ ('The Guilt of Samaria'). He translated into Yiddish the librettos of Verdi's _Rigoletto_, Leoncavallo's _Cavaleria Rusticana_, Guinot's _Faust_ and Rossini's _The Barber of Seville_, all of which were staged at Feinman's Yiddish People's Theatre on Commercial Road in the East End of London. He also wrote musical settings for Yiddish poems. 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 14 December 1997 From: Robert (Itsik) Goldenberg Subject: "Nile in gehenem" by Yitskhok-Leyb Perets nile in gehenem (humoreske) eynmol, in a gants geveynlekhn tog, on a yarid, on a torg, hobn di marklayt derhert a geklaperay fun reder un a geshpritseray fun blote hinter der shtot. interesant, ver es fort on. a ferd un budke kumt! bald ober, vi di ferd un budke iz in mark arayn, hobn zikh ale opgevendt on a zayt mit a gemish fun opshay, shrek un tsorn. men hot di ferd un budke derkent. dos fort durkh fun derbayikn shtetl in gubernye arayn -- der moser fun dort! eyn got veyst, vemen er vet tsurekht makhn. plutsling vert epes shtil. nisht vilndik kumt men zikh um: di budke shteyt, dos ferd mitn aropgeloztn kop nipt foyl fun blote vaser, un der moser iz aruntergefaln oyfn gezes un ligt oysgetsoygn. fort a nefesh, loyft men tsu - toyt, vi ale toyte. der ongekumener mumkhe zogt: fartik! khevre-layt nemen zikh tsum mes mitsve.... geyt ferd un budke oyf kvure-gelt, men bahalt dem moser, vu es iz im gekumen, un lapitutn, vos vu men zet zey nisht, geyen zey oyf, khapn di neshome tsum gehenem un gebn zi iber tsu di toyer-layt. farhalt men dem moser a vayle in toyer, un der toyer lapitut, vos firt di bikher fun arayn un aroys in gehenem, fregt oys, gelangvaylt un genitsndik, un farshraybt mit a foyler pen in bukh arayn: ver, ven un vos. der moser -- in gehenem oys berye! -- entfert: dort un dort geboyrn, do un do an eydem gevorn, kest gegesn, nokh kest gelozt dos vayb an agune mit kinder un aribergekhapt zikh ahin un ahin un hot zikh genumen tsu der parnose, vos er hot gefirt, biz es iz nisht ful gevorn di mos. punkt iz er demolt durkhgeforn oyf zayn ferd un budke ibern mark fun la-ha-da-m. do iz plutsling der lapitut, vos firt in gehenem-toyer di metrikl bikher, inmitn fun a genets farinteresirt gevorn: - vi zogstu? la-ha - - - - lehadam!(1) -- khazer|t iber der moser. der toyer-lapitut roytlt zikh oyfn ponim, in di eygelekh bavayzn zikh likhtlekh fun farvunderung: - gehert fun aza shtetl? -- vendt er zikh tsu zayne gehilfn. yene drikn di aksl, shoklen mit di kep in der breyt mit aroysgeshtrekte tsinger. - nisht gehert. faran aza shtetl? in gehenem hot yede kehile ir bukh, oysgeshtelt zenen di bikher loytn alef-beys. yedes os hot ir shank. men kukt durkh ale bikher fun der lamed: lublin, lemberg, layptsik, -- vos ir vilt, keyn lehadam! - dokh faran! -- zogt der moser. -- a shtetl in poyln! - fun nekhtn, fun eyernekhtn? - neyn. shoyn fun a yor tvantsik. der porets hot oyfgeboyt, tsvey yaridem gegebn. faran a shil, a besmedresh, a bod, un a mikve... tsvey treyfene shenken...(2) - iz shoyn amol emets geven fun lehadam? -- fregt iber der toyer-man zayne gehilfn. - keynmol nisht! -- entfert men. - vos, dort shtarbt men nisht? -- fregt men dem moser. - farvos zol men nisht shtarbn? -- fregt er gants yidishlekh tsurik. -- enge un dushne khadorem, a mikve, vu men kon dem otem nisht khapn. dos gantse shtetl, vi a zump! es iz aroyf oyf moser-loshn.... - a beys-h|khayem faran! khevre kedishe shindt di hoyt. ersht nisht lang afile (dermont er zikh) an untergang geven.... der moser bashtimt men, vu men darf, un vegn dem shtetl lehadam git men tsu visn, vu men darf, es muz dokh epes zayn. a tsvantsik yorik shtetl, un mit an untergang -- un keyn eyn mes fun dort. shikt men aroyf shlukhim gevoyr vern, vos dos batayt. flien di shlukhim aroyf un kumen nokh a tsayt tsurik.... - emes! un di zakh iz di: a shtetl vi ale shtetlekh, mit a bisl mitsves un maysem-toyvem un a sakh zind. parnose; der yeytser-hore geyt oykh nisht leydik. ele vos den? a baltfile hobn zey shoyn azoynem! er aleyn -- gornisht! mamesh a kal!(3) nor a kol negine hot er, aza veynendik hartsik kol, vos zapt zikh arayn in di hertser fun ayzn un makht zey tsegeyn, vi a vaks. un koym shtelt er zikh tsum omed -- tut der oylem mit amol tshuve, un mitn gantsn harts, ale vi eyn mentsh un alts vert oyvn opgemekt un fargesn, un di toyern fun ganeydn shteyen ofn far gants lehadam. kumt eyner un zogt fun lehadam: fregt men shoyn nisht iber! farshteyt zikh, az farn gehenem iz es keyn eysek nisht, un dos gesheft nemt oyf zikh der baldover aleyn. er vet shoyn mit im fartik vern. vos tut er, der baldover? lozt er zikh brengen fun der velt arop a lebedikn kalkuter hon mit a kam royt sh|b|royt un shteln far zikh oyfn tish. der hon, a tseshrokener un ophentiker in aza nayer svive, hot zikh say-vi-say keyn rir nisht geton, un der baldover nemt nokh, yemakh shemoy, un kreyt im arum, un zitst far im, un lozt fun im un zayn roytn kam keyn oyg nisht arop, azoy lang un azoy breyt, biz es iz ongekumen di "rege-b|apo," un der royter kam iz vays gevorn vi a kalkh. zet er, az oybn der kavyokhl iz arayn in rekhtn grimtsorn, git er, yemakh shemoy, an oysgeshrey: - zol er zayn kol negine farlirn! bizn toyt arayn! vemen er hot gemeynt, veyst ir dokh, un eyder der kam fun kalkuter hon iz tsurik royt gevorn, hot shoyn der baltfile fun lehadam zayn kol negine farloyrn. geshlogn gevorn der haldz, koym vos er brengt aroys a vort. gevust, fun vanen di mayse shtamt, hot men. dos heyst: gute yidn hobn gevust, oykh efsher nisht ale. nor ver vet im azoyns oyszogn, az men veyst? -- es iz farfaln. volt der baltfile aleyn epes geven, volt men gekont poyel-yoytse zayn, ober az er aleyn iz a kal, a gornisht.... fort er aroys fun eyn gutn yid tsum tsveytn -- un gornisht. eynmol hot er zikh ober tsugeshtelt tsum apter tsadek, nisht optsuraysn. er vet nisht aroysgeyn fun shtub. un a tsar tsutsuzen iz. vil im der apter treystn: - zay visn, zogt er, az dayn heyzerikayt vet gor zayn biz ptire. vide vestu zogn mit a loyter kol, az men vet hern in ale himlen. - un bizahin? - iz farfaln! shteyt er nokhamol tsu: - farvos, rebe? far ven?.... un matert azoy lang, biz der apter tsadek hot im alts oysgezogt: - oyb azoy -- shrayt oys der heyzeriker baltfile -- vel ikh mikh noykem zayn. - un loyft aroys.... - vi azoy un on vemen? ruft oys der tsadek; zayn gebeyn iz shoyn ober nishto. dos iz geven dinstik, andere zogn: mitvokh, un donershtik forn ovnt, di fisher fun apt geyen tsum vaser fish khapn lekoved shabes. di nets vert shver, men tsit aroys: der baltfile, a dertrunkener! er hot zikh fun brikl arop in vaser arayngevorfn. far vide zogn, hot er zayn kol negine, vi der apter tsadek hot'm maftiekh geven, tsurik bakumen, vayl der bal-dover hot gezogt: bizn toyt arayn! nor er hot inem faln un trinken keyn vide nisht gezogt un dos kol iz zikh bahaltn, un dos iz zayn nekome geven, vi ir vet vayter zen.... der baltfile tut men zayn rekht, vi a meabed atsmoy lodaas, un di lapitutn khapn di neshome in gehenem arayn. in toyer, men fregt, er entfert nisht. men derlangt im mit a shpiz, mit a brenendiker koyl -- er shvaygt. - nemt im azoy! men veyst dokh, ver, un vos; men hot dokh oyf im gelokert. firt men im arayn, vi men darf, shtelt men im bay a kesl, vos men heytst unter fun zaynet vegn, er vet oyfkokhn, vet men im araynvarfn! un er dervayl git a khap dem grobn finger tsum gorgl un git a loz aroys: - yisgadal! dem kadish fun nile.... er zogt -- un dos kol shtarkt zikh un tsegeyt zikh oyf ale zaytn, vi amol, nokh beser, nokh ziser, nokh hartsiker vi amol.... un in di keslen, fun vanen es hot zikh gehert biz aher geroysh, geshrey un geyomer, vert plutsling shtil, dernokh heybt men on untertsuhaltn. di dekn heybn zikh oyf, kep shtupn zikh aroys, opgebrente mayler haltn unter.... di lapitutn bay di keslen zogn nisht nokh, ober fartumlt un dershrokn hobn zey zikh ingantsn farloyrn, un blaybn shteyn, ver mit a shayt holts, tsum untervarfn, ver mit an ayzn tsum untersharn dos fayer, ver mit an ayzernem gopl tsum oysmishn -- in di hent, di mayler ofn, di tsungen aroysgelozn, di penimer aroysgekrumt, di oyganes kaylekhdik. andere faln arayn in a min nikhpe un faln, un varfn zikh oyf der erd.... un der zogt nile un zogt.... un dos fayer fun unter di keslekh geyt oys, lesht zikh.... di meysim heybn on aroystsukrikhn.... er zogt, der oylem nokh, un mit harts, mitn gantsn harts. un di layber, vos vayter in der tfile, heyln zikh, vern gants, fleyshn baheftn zikh, hoytn topvaksn tsuzamen, un oysgeleytert vern zey.... un ven es kumt in der hoykher shimenesre tsu "mekhaye-meysim," vern plutsling ale mamesh vi lebedik, vi ersht gekumene. un zey zogn mit eyn kol nokh: omeyn. un baym omeyn, yehey shmey rabo.... vert azoy gepildert, az di himlen in der hoykh efenen zikh, un di tshuve fun reshoim dergraykht tsum zibetn himl, tsum kise-hakoved tsu, in a shas-rotsn iz geven, a ponem, in ale reshoim, shoyn eygntlekh tsadikem, hobn plutsling fligl bakumen un eyns nokhn andern fun gehenem aroysgefloygn un di toyern fun ganeydn far zikh ofn gefunem.... geblibn in gehenem zenen nor di lapitutn, vos hobn zikh gevorfn in der nekhpe un gekoylert zikh oyf der erd, un der baltfile aleyn, vos vi er iz geshtanen, is er shteyn geblibn.... ale, vi baym lebn, hot er tsu tshuve gebrengt, er aleyn hot keyn rekhte tshuve nisht gekent tun. un -- a meabed-atsme-ladaas: ----------------------------------------------------------- mit der tsayt iz dos gehenem tsurik ful gevorn. men hot tsugeboyt, un s'iz vider eng. -- romanizirt fun itsik goldenberg heores fun lp 1. _lehadam_ = rosheteyves fun "loy hoyu dvorim meoylem" ('it never existed') 2. 'two illegal taverns' -- not "gentile taverns" as sometimes rendered 3. The Forverts edition has "kol" 'voice' rather than the correct "kal" 'profligate, libertine' -- a typographical error. The second instance of the word is spelled correctly. --------------------------------------------------- End of _The Mendele Review_ 01.027 Leonard Prager, editor Send articles to: lprager@research.haifa.ac.il The editor of _TMR_ can also be reached via _Mendele_'s homepage: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/ 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/tmr.htm/ and at http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/TMR (under construction). _The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 01.028 21 December 1997 1) Yiddish Matters: From the Editor (Leonard Prager) 2) Review of _Massorot_ IX-X-XI (1997) (Meyer Wolf) ) 3) "geven iz dos geven oyfn verk tse..." (Tsvi Kanar) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 21 December 1997 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish Matters The present issue (vol. 01.028), concludes the first volume of _The Mendele Review_. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have helped make _Mendele_'s literary supplement a reality: the many contributors, the romanizers -- Leah Krikun, Lucas Bruyn, Itsik Goldenberg, our former shames Noyekh Miller, and our present shames Iosif Vaisman. 1. In this issue a. One aim of _The Mendele Review_ (see _TMR_ 01.001) is to survey publications in the field of Jewish languages which illuminate Yiddish studies. Meyer Wolf's review of a recent triple number of _Massorot_ is a welcome step in this direction. b. Tsvi Kanar's "geven iz dos oyfn verk tse, inem gehenem oyf dr'erd" is an excerpt from _ikh un Lemekh_ [tel-oviv, "yisroel-bukh," 1994, zz' 12-17], his somewhat fictionalized volume of Shoa episodes. The author, today a professional mime, spent three years of his youth in concentration camps. 2. In future issues In the course of 1998 _The Mendele Review_ will hold its second symposium, the subject this time being Y.-L. Perets' classic tale "Bontshe Shvayg," the romanized text of which will also be provided. One or more issues will be devoted to important anniversaries, including the 30th anniversary of the publication of Uriel Weinreich's _Modern English-Yiddish Yiddish-English Dictionary_ (see _TMR_ vol.01.022-023) and the 100th anniversary of the birth (and 25th anniversary of the death) of Arn Tseytlin [Aaron Zeitlin] (1898-1973) (see _TMR_ vol. 01.014). Tsvi Kanar's long short-story "Opgegebn broyt" (from the volume of the same name) will be given in installments in successive issues in the early months of the new year. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 21 December, 1997 From: Meyer Wolf Subject: Review of _Massorot_ IX-X-XI (1997) _Massorot, Studies in Language Traditions and Jewish Languages_, Vol. IX-X-XI: Gideon Goldenberg Festschrift, Jerusalem 1997 [in Hebrew with English abstracts]. by Meyer Wolf Every number of _Massorot_ contains relevant articles for those interested in the character of Yiddish and its similarities to or differences from other Jewish languages. This volume brings us two papers of especial interest. The first, Chava Turnianski's "The Relation Between The Hebrew and Yiddish Versions of a Bilingual Sabbath-Song" (_Ashlikh yagon va-anaha_) [pp. 421-441] provides a detailed study of one of the zmirot in a sixteenth-century edition of the Bentsherl, the booklet of Grace after Meals, Sabbath and Holiday poems, which continues to find a place in many Jewish homes in a variety of forms and versions. In addition to the study of a single poem (from which, the author warns us, we cannot generalize), we are also provided with a provisory sketch of bilingual Ashkenazic poetry. In her discussion of the two versions of "Ashlikh yagon va-anakha," Prof. Turnianski finds that the poet expended greater skills in the Hebrew version, with its poetic forms, allusions and resonances, than in the Yiddish one. The Yiddish version derives from German folk poetry, which constitutes the basis of Yiddish poetry in the Old Yiddish period. This is evident from the opening couplet of the poem which Prof. Turnianski analyzes: Hebrew: ashlikh yagon v'anakha b'tsaltsel renen vesimkha 'I will cast away sorrow and lament with resounding singing of song and joy' Yiddish: ikh vil mayn troyern gor der lon mit ziser shtim ayn shaln hon. 'I will entirely abandon my sorrow with melodious voice, resoundingly sing' Though poetically expressed, the Yiddish here lacks the reverberations of the Hebrew. _yagon v'anakha_ are paired daily in the shmone-esre [Yiddish: shimenesre], and are individually familiar from eykha [Y. eykhe], slikhot [Y. slikhes] and holiday piyyut [Y. piet]; _renen_ is an innovation found in piyyut; _tsaltsel_ a common poetic synonym for 'sing'. The second paper which deals directly with Yiddish is Moshe Taube's "Echo-construction in Yiddish," [pp. 397-420]. Prof. Taube's study of a Yiddish syntactic figure is, as is his usual practice, abundantly illustrated with examples drawn from a wide range of Yiddish literature. A few of them immediately identify the construction for readers: kh'zol nisht redn, zol ikh nisht? kh'hob gekokht leber, hob ikh gekokht. er hot dokh mikh shier gekoylet on a meser hot er dokh mikh. Those familiar with Sholem Aleichem's "Dos tepl" will recognize this as one of his main devices for revealing the character of the narrator and for obscuring the tragedy underlying the comedy of the monologue. The paper exposes the syntactic details of the device and investigates its narrative functions. The details of usage and the comparison with similar Yiddish syntactic devices provides a rounded picture of the Yiddish echo-construction. As an added bonus, a brief appendix sketches the use of the echo-construction in Modern Hebrew literature and hints at a similar device in Arabic dialects. I might also add that readers can see how the device is translated into yet other languages by looking into one of the references Prof. Taube cites: Theodore Gutmans, "Sholem Aleichem in the Stock Languages: Notes on Translation of 'Dos tepl' into Ukrainian, German, Hebrew, English and Russian," _For Max Weinreich on his Seventieth Birthday_, The Hague - Paris, 1964, pp. 499-477 [in Yiddish]. There are many papers in this rich volume of _Massorot_ of more indirect interest to students of Yiddish. Although nothing is known of contributions from Judeo-Provencale to Yiddish (even whether there are any), the transcription of the Bayonne makhzor, subject of Moshe Bar-Asher's "The _Mahzor_ of the Bayonne Community (Southwestern France) -- French Transcription," [pp. 3-19], contains a number of details which may shed light on the contributions of other Romance languages. For instance, ayin is consistently transcribed as gn (= ny) at the beginning of a syllable; as (ng) at the end of a syllable. An example: _yada'ti_ is transcribed [yadangti]. This usage is reminiscent of forms such as _mantse_ (for _mayse_) and _yankev_ in Yiddish. One of the features which Geoffrey Kahn discusses in "The Historical Depth of Two Features of the 'Sephardi' Reading Traditions," [pp. 91-99] is the Sephardi pronunciation of sof as /t/. Apparently it is neither really old nor did it originate in medieval Sepharad but rather in Arabic-speaking areas where the hardening of final /th/ influenced the local Hebrew reading tradition. David M. Bunis's "The Use of Hebrew and Aramaic Elements in the Creation of Satire Among Judezmo Speakers," [pp. 319-333] immediately brings to mind Sholem Aleichem's Hebrew and Aramaic pseudo-psukim. Prof. Bunis describes the general conscription of Hebrew and Aramaic for humorous use in Judezmo, for which parallels in Yiddish are not hard to find. Ora (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald in "Expressions from the Haggadah in the Language of the Sephardic Jews," [pp. 545-555] traces the origin of many Hebrew-Aramaic elements in Judezmo to passages in the Haggada. In many cases, the same elements have found their way into Yiddish, e.g. _make_, _leshono habo'o birusholayim_. Others have at best a marginal place: _bney-khorin_, _kamo loku ba'etsba_. Yet others have been borrowed with differing senses: _khad-gadye_ in Yiddish is 'jail'; in Judezmo 'the masses'. 3)--------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 21 December 1997 From: Leah Krikun Subject: "geven iz dos oyfn verk tse, inem gehenem oyf dr'erd" [oystsug fun _ikh un Lemekh_] (Tsvi Kanar) tsvi kanar "geven iz dos oyfn verk tse, inem gehenem oyf dr'erd," _ikh un Lemekh_. tel-oviv: farlag "yisroel-bukh", 1994, zz' 12-17. geven iz dos oyfn verk tse, inem gehenem oyf drerd. in harbst 1943 zenen mir dort ongekumen mitn krakever transport fun plashuav(1). shoyn baym arayngang in lager hot zikh Lemekh gevorfn in di oygn. mir hobn nisht farshtanen vi azoy iz dos meglekh? er iz dokh nor vos mit undz ongekumen un shoyn oykh do oyle legdoyle gevorn? dem emes gezogt hobn mir im shoyn gut gekent fun frier, funem yulag 1. ober do oyfn verk tse hot er zikh gehat derhoybn tsu aza gefalnkeyt vos zeltn emetser iz tsu dem dergangen. getrogn hot er vi ale odemener(2) (politsiantn) a tunkeln mundir mit hoykhe ofitsir-shtivl, un a kaylekhdik hitl mit a geln mogn-doved fun fornt. in der leng un in der breyt iz zayn mundir geven farshmirt mit breyte gele pasn, vi bay ale gefangene. in der hant hot er tomed gehat greyt a ledernem kantshik tsu "haltn ordenung." "kurves! vilde khayes!" flegt er oyf undz shrayen in di frimorgns bay di "apeln" farn aroysmarsh in di fabrikn arayn tsu der arbet, un derbay farforn iber di kep mit zayn brenendikn kantshik. az s'iz im nimes gevorn der kantshik flegt er zikh banutsn mit zayn palke. leheypekh tsu di andere o. d.-mener, vos zenen maynstns geven hoykhe shtandike yatn, iz Lemekh geven a kleynvuksiker, mit a por breyte pleytses un krume koshlevate fis, vos hobn zikh nokh mer krum ongezen in zayne hoykhe ofitsir-shtivl. far Lemekhn hobn ale getsitert, shir vi far a dayt|sh. "nokh a mazl, vos zey gibn im nisht keyn gever in hant," -- hobn di gefangene gezogt. vi andersh iz ober geven zayn tsviling-bruder berl, oder pan bernard, vi ale hobn im gerufn. oykh er iz geven a politsiant, kh'volt gezogt tsu gut far a politsiant, ober s'iz nisht geven tsu farglaykhn. berlen hobn ale lib gehat s'lebn un dos iz geven a zeltnhayt lib tsu hobn a politsiant. afile in zayn opveznheyt hobn im ale gerufn pan bernard, un zikh gevundert oyf dem kolosaln untershid fun di tsvey tsviling-brider. yedn frimorgn baym aroysgang tsu der arbet flegn im ale bagrisn mit a breytn "gutn-morgn, panye bernard." pan bernard vos iz geshtanen baym toyer fun lager un getseylt di aroysmarshirndike reyen hot oyf yeder bagrisung tsurikgegrist mit a nokh breytern "gutn morgn." nisht eynmol flegt er zikh tsulib dem toye zayn un gemuzt nokh amol onhoybn tsu tseyln di reyen oyf nay. afile di zelbe mentshn vos hobn mit a minut frier arayngekhapt mitn kantshik ibern kop fun Lemekhn, hobn mit a minut shpeter, vi oyf tselokhes bagrist zayn bruder. s'hot oysgezen vi der "gut morgn" volt arayngebrakht a shtikl mentshlekhkayt inem lager-lebn. keyn mol hot men nisht gezen di tsvey brider tsuzamen. in onhoyb hobn a a sakh nisht gevust az zey zenen brider, un nokh a tsviling dertsu. khotsh fizish zenen zey miklompersht [kloymersht] geven endlekh eyner tsum tsveytn, hobn zey dokh farshidn oysgezen. di heykh un dos geshtel iz bay zey geven der zelber. kleyn, breytpleytsik mit tsvey di zelbe krume fis. oyb bay Lemekhn hobn di fis oysgezen nokh mer farkrimt in zayne hoykhe shtivl, hobn zey bay berlen gor oysgezen kheynevdik farrundikt, vi bay a kavalerist vos rayt a sakh oyf ferd. bay Lemekhn, lemoshl, hobn aroysgeglotst tsvey groyse farneplte roye oygn fun zayn langn ferdishn gezikht, beys er hot gelakht, un gelakht hot er zeltn, hobn zikh bavizn lange shtarke tseyn, mamesh vi bay an oger. dakegn bay berlen afile ven zayne groyse oygn hobn keile aroysgeglotst, hobn zey dafke oysgezen far|kholemt, un zayn ferdish-lange ponem hot bay im gor gehat a mentshlekhe tsure. haklal, tsvey bney-odem fun di zelbe tate-mame, mit der zelber guter dertsiyung vi di mentshn fun zayn shtot hobn eydes gezogt, di zelbe tsores mitgemakht, un dokh aza kolosoler untersheyd. geven a tsayt ven ale hobn gemeynt az Lemekh is gevorn a bal-tshuve, oder arop fun zinen. un efsher -- beyde tsuzamen? vayl tsu vern a bal-tshuve inem verk tse hot men b|emes gedarft zayn a meshugener. plutsling hot Lemekh oyfgehert tsu vildeven. anshtot ibertsuforn mitn kantshik iber di kep, hot er gor ongehoybn a tsufridener tsu klapn mitn kantshik iber zayne eygene shtivl. s'hot oysgezen vi a dibek iz fun im aroys. m'hot geredt farsheydns. teyl hobn gezogt, az berl, zayn bruder, zol hobn oyf im mashpie geven, geredt tsum gevisn, dermont zeyer gute mishpokhe, tate-mame, un b|klal... andere hobn gezogt az Lemekh iz farlibt.... geshtamt hobn zey fun slome(3), a shtetl in meylekh-elyens giter(4) -- vi di betlers vos hobn gevandert iber poyln hobn gerufn di gegnt, tsulib dem "tsharnozhyem," di shvartse frukhtike erd. zeyer foter avrem byelitski iz geven a holts-soykher, a gvir, gehat an eygenem tartak un transportirt holts azh het vayt fun di byalovyeske velder. in meylekh-elyens giter(4) iz er geven der grester holts-tsushteler tsu boyen hayzer un mebl. zayn kvalitet fun holts hot geshemt in der gantser gegnt. ven di dayt|shn hobn farnumen poyln hobn zey glaykh arayngezetst a komisar, vos hot farvaltet mitn tartak, un vos hot itst tsugeshtelt holts b|iker far dem dayt|shishn militer. dokh hot der komisar dem yid glaykh nisht aroysgevorfn funem gesheft, vi di andere komisarn hobn es geton. leheypekh, der dayt|shisher komisar vos hot geshtamt fun bayern un gehert tsu dem eltern dor, hot zikh shtreng gehaltn bay zayn traditsye fun "lebn un lebn lasen." er, der komisar, iz take geven a guter meyvn oyf holts, nisht veyniker, un efsher nokh beser vi avrem byelitski, ober keyn soykher iz er nisht geven. er hot mer gehaltn fun a kufle bir vi fun firn gesheftn. azoy, az der yid hot vayter gefirt zayne gesheftn un der dayt|sh hot bloyz untergeshribn dos vos der yid hot im untergerukt untertsushraybn. ersht nokh tsvey yor tsayt in yanuar 1942 hot der dayt|sh mit amol bakumen seykhl. tsurikkumendik fun zayne vaynakht-vakansn in zayn heymland, iz er arayn inem tartak un bafoyln dem yid zikh optsutrogn. mit dem hot zikh nokh nisht farendikt, farkert, mit dem hot zikh ersht ongehoybn.... mit itlekhe teg shpeter iz di dayt|she zhandarmerye arayn tsu di byelitskis un adurkhgefirt a revizye. nokh a sakh nishtern, tsehakn vent mit podleges, un tsevarfn dos gantse hoyz, hobn zey gefunen a futerenem mink-shal fun der froy byelitski, vos far dem iz gekumen toyt-shtrof. nokh mit a tsayt frier, ven oyfn mizrekh-front hobn de dayt|shn arayngekhapt an emesn tsiter fun den rusishn vinter, hobn di yidn fun meylekh-elyens giter(4), un b|klal funem gantsn general guvernament gemuzt obgebn ale zeyere futers. far nisht opgebn a futer, meg dos zayn dos klentste shtikl futerl, iz gekumen toyt-shtrof. m'hot take demolt a sakh yidn dershosn, kdey tsu vorenen az me zol alts opgebn. itst, ven zey hobn gefunen aza metsie vi a mink-shal bay dem raykhn yid, hobn zey gefodert az eyder zey geyn im dershisn zol er zey opgebn dos gold un di dolarn vos er halt oysbahaltn. di zhandarmen hobn arayngenumen di froy byelitski mit zeyere dray kinder -- Lemekhn, berlen un zeyer draytsn yorik tokhterl -- un ongehoybn far zeyere oygn tsu derlangen makes-retsekh dem foter. byelitski hot shver geblutikt, ober keyn gold mit dolarn hot er, zet oys, nisht farmogt. un efsher hot er yo farmogt, ober mit dem hot er zikh gekont nokh mer bagrobn, vayl fremde valute, oder gold, iz geven treyfe vi bay a frumen yid khazer. az dos hot nisht geholfn hobn di zhandarmen ongehoybn derlangen klep di tsvey zin, un der froy un tokhter. der foter hot zikh gebetn bay di zhandarmen az zey zoln im dershisn un tsu ru lozn di froy mit di kinder. in shtot hot zikh gemakht a behole. mentshn zenen gelofn tsum yudnrat az me zol epes ton, ven nisht vet men dort oyskoyln di gantse mishpokhe. byelitzkis tsvey brider mit di dray shvesters un shvogers hobn zikh gebetn bay dem prezes funem yudnrat, az er zol zikh derbaremen un rufn vos shneler nokh hilf gelbordn, ven nisht vet zayn tsu shpet. gelbord iz geven a "makher" bay di dayt|shn. ale hot er gekent, funem krayzlayter in makev(5) biz di gestapo in kroke(6), vu er iz geven a stabiler arayngeyer. farshteyt zikh az er iz geven oysgekokht mit ale zhandarmen tsuzamen, un pan brat mit yedn eynem bazunder. er hot keyn yidn-shtern nisht getrogn. in der tsayt ven di yidn zenen gezesn ayngeshlosn in di getos un nisht getort farlozn di shtet un shtetlekh, hot gelbord zikh fray bavoygn nisht bloyz in "meylekh-elyens" giter(4), nor oykh ibern gantsn generalguvernament. er iz geven a hoykher shtandiker man mit a por shpitsike oygn vos hobn gekukt oyf der velt halb farmruzhet mit an eybikn khshad. in zayn shvartser lederner kurtke un ofitsir-shtivl hot er oysgezen mer dayt|sh vi a sakh dayt|shn. s'hot im bloyz oysgefelt a haknkrayts oyfn orem un dos tsien mit der hant in der hoykh, kedey er zol zayn eyner fun zey. m'hot afile geredt az er trogt bay zikh a revolver. ale hobn far im getsitert, afile der prezes funem yudnrat, khotsh er hot zikh mit im banutst, punkt vi stam yidn hobn zikh mit im banutst beshas tsore, ven men hot gedarft hobn hilf. farshteyt zikh -- far gut batsolt gelt. gelbord flegt taynen, khotsh zeltn ven er flegt zikh far emetsn farentfern, az er helft yidn. oft mol iz dos shver geven optsuleykenen, khotsh ale hobn gevust az er iz poshet a moser, a "shpitsler"(7). vi nor gelbord hot zikh bavizn in byelitskis hoyz azoy glaykh hobn di zhandarmen oyfgehert dos shlogn. er iz bald mit zey avek in a noenter shenk arayn, oyf untertsuhandlen. nokh a kurtser tsayt hot gelbord ibergelozt di zhandarmen in der shenk, un gekumen onzogn di gute psure, az biz a sho tsayt muz er far zeyert vegn hobn 35,000 zlotes, un di zakh vet vern opgevisht. di tsore iz ober geven, hot men shpeter dertseylt, az gelbord hot untergeshtelt di gantse afere kedey aroystsupresn gelt fun dem raykhn avrem byelitski. vi lang der yid hot gehat iber zikh a dayt|shishn komisar, iz er geven, azoy tsu zogn, protektirt fun azelkhe aferes. ober vi bald der komisar hot im aroysgevorfn funem gesheft iz er geblibn oyf hefker vi ale yidn. oyf Lemekhn un berlen hot di gantse afere ibergelozt a shvern ayndruk. beyde hobn gemuzt geyn yedn tog tsu tsvangarbet hinter der shtot bay aglomeratsye, vi ale yidn fun zekhtsn biz zekhtsik, hobn demolt gemuzt arbetn. dokh hobn nisht ale gearbet. zundlekh fun farmeglekhe heymen hobn zikh oysgekoyft far gelt inem yudnrat. avrem byelitski hot ober nisht gehaltn fun azelkhe makheraykes. khotsh er hot zikh gekont oyf dem derloybn, hot er b|shum-oyfn nisht gevolt zayn keyn oysnam un geshikt zayne zin tsu der arbet mit alem tsu glaykh. heores fun lp 1) plashuav = ??? 2) odemener "ordnungsdinst" = "di ofitsyele dayt|shishe batseykhenung far der yidisher politsey," Nakhmen blumental, _verter un vertlekh fun der khurbm-tkufe_, z. 19. 3) slome = ??? 4) meylekh-elyens giter. azoy shteyt geshribn in tekst; dos vertl "meylekh-evyens giter" batseykhnt 'a svive fun oreme shtetlekh in lubliner rayon'. di tsvey vertlekh zenen heypekhdike: meylekh-elyen