_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