_The Mendele Review_: Yiddish Literature and Language (A Companion to _MENDELE_) ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 06.007 29 July 2002 1) The Buenos-Aires "Musterverk" series at 45 (Robert Goldenberg and Leonard Prager) 2) Shmuel Rozhanski introduces the "Musterverk" Index volume (Robert Goldenberg) 3) The Musterverk Volumes Listed According to their Volume Numbers (Robert Goldenburg and Leonard Prager) 4) Some Observations on Yiddish in Israel (ed.) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 July 2002 From: Robert Goldenberg and Leonard Prager Subject: The Buenos-Aires "Musterverk" series at 45 This coming Fall we celebrate the 45th anniversary of the initiation of the "Musterverk" series of Yiddish works, those very useful pocket-format volumes which scan great swaths of modern Yiddish letters. This Argentinian collection expresses the devotion to Yiddish of a small group of Buenos-Aires writers, critics, activists and donors. It is especially beholden to Shmuel Rozhanski (1902-1995), who edited and introduced the volumes, and to several local funds who financed it. The place of publication is in all instances Buenos-Aires. All dates given are those of first editions; many of the volumes were issued in two and three editions (or printings). The idea, explained by Rozhanski in Vol. 1, was to issue four volumes per year. With a few exceptions, indicated by the publication date, he achieved this plan. The publisher was YIVO (Argentina), funded by the Yoysef Lipshitz Fond. Volume 85 (and perhaps earlier volumes) was funded by the Dovid Turjanski Fond. Beginning with volume No. 90, financial suppor t came from the Tyla Kustin Fond and the Dovid Turjanski Fond. The basic organization of each volume follows a pattern: (1) a table of contents (2) a foreward by Rozhanski. The table of contents is often grouped in sections listing the authors and titles of the selections. The last section is always "tsu der kharakteristik fun ..[title of volume]" ('The Character of Volume n') and includes biographical data, literary and historical commentary, and often other selections pertinent to the theme of the volume. For example, in Volume 88, an anthology titled "rumenye" (' Romania'), this section contains articles by various authors titled: "di alte rumenye un ire yidn" ('Old Romania and Her Jews'), "yidishe rumenye fun noentn amol" ('Jewish Romania of the Near Past'), "di yidishe revi un kleynkunst in rumenye" ('The Yiddis h Revue and Cabaret Art in Romania'), selections from Shloyme Bikl's book "rumenye" ('Romania'), a selection from Falik Lerner's book "a besaraber shtetl" ('A Bessarabian Town'). One also finds, in another section, words and music for Zalmen Rozntal's "bay dem taykhl" ('By the Stream'). Volume 2 of the series, Varshavski's "yidishe folkslider" ('Yiddish Folksongs') contains music for most if not all of his poems, and music for a t least one song is found in many of the volumes. Volume 87, "khsidishe yerushe" ('Hasidic Heritage') concludes with Eliezer Shindler's poem "yidish loshn" (Yiddish'): yidish loshn, poshet loshn fun di tate-mames -- bist dokh mole-kheyn azoy, vi blimelekh in tamez. yidish loshn, hartsik loshn fun milyonen brider -- r' leyvi-yitskhok hot mit dir geshafn frume lider. s'hot r' nakhmen mayselekh oyf yidish undz gegebn. yidish loshn, mame loshn, freyd fun undzer lebn. Highly useful is the Key or Index Volume to the series: _Shlisl tsu di 100 bend "Musterverk fun der yidisher literatur"_, Buenos-Aires: Literatur-gezelshaft baym YIVO, 1985. Unter der redaktsye fun Shmuel Rozhanski. Tsunoyfgeshtelt fun Shoshana Balaban-Wolkowicz. Tsugegreyt tsum druk fun Paie Lewin. 266pp. A paperback, the index volume is the same page size as the other volumes. Authors are listed alphabetically. Under authors' names are listed their contributions in the Musterverk, with volume number and page numbers. The volume numbers reflect order of publication. Students of the Yiddish canon will find much to interest them here. Even if they uncover omissions and imbalances, they will find the Index volume (which many students do not even know about) a most useful bibliographical tool. Rozhanski writes that the 100 volumes fill 31,000 pages and present close to 1000 writers. Many of the volumes are anthologies and give samples of the work of scores of writers, as opposed to the many volumes devoted to a single author. Of the forty some authors represented by at least one volume, each member of the classic triumvirate -- Mendele Moykher-Sforim, Perets and Sholem-Aleykhem -- has two volumes. Sholem Ash is the only other author who merits two volumes. We find a Zinger in the one-volume class, but he is the less famous brother Y,-Y, Zinger, not Yitskhok Bashevis. The only American "proletarian poet" with a volume to himself is Moris Roznfeld, the most important of this group. Other Americans included as major figures are Dovid Ignatov and Moyshe Nadir -- the latter at one time having been a Proletpen author. As we might expect, South-American Yiddish writing is liberally exhibited -- and not only Argentinian, but Chilean, Brazilian, Mexican, Uruguayan and Cuban works. Almost two-thirds of the series are anthologies organized around a theme: e.g. Parents and Children , a place, e.g. Warsaw in Yiddish Literature; or a genre, e.g. the one-act play. Many of the Musterverk volumes continue to be available. While they cannot always be recommended for their textual standards -- these are not the Loeb Classics, their texts are reasonably accurate and spelling is modern. Since Rozhanski does not trouble to inform the reader of the sources of his chosen texts, the serious student will use these volumes critically. This is a popular collection, but one that can definitely also be of use to scholars. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 July 2002 From: Robert Goldenberg Subject: Shmuel Rozhanski introduces the "Musterverk" Index volume a hantbukh Der doziker shlisl tsu 100 bend "musterverk fun der yidisher literatur" nuet bli shom sofek vern a zeyer nitslekh hantbukh far di vos interesirn zikh mit yidisher literatur in breytn zikh fun vort. Un azoy vi der tsugang fun di Musterverk zukht umetum aroystsuheybn, az yidishe literatur vayzt yidish lebn in kholem oder vor, inspirirn zey tsu shtarkn undzer folkslebn umetum, afile dort vu es iz elnt un farshtoysn. Di korev toyznt yidishe shraybers un sheferishe mentshn mikol haminim, velkhe hoyzn tsuzamen in di 31,000 zaytn "musterverk fun der yidisher literatur", ken yeder leyener a dank dem indeks shnel oysgefinen un zikh derfiln heymish, nisht bloyz mit di noente nor afile mit di vaytste, velkhe gehern tsu undzer mishpokhe-folk. 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 July 2002 From: Robert Goldenberg and Leonard Prager Subject: The Musterverk Volumes Listed According to Their Volume Numbers The Musterverk Volumes Listed According to Their Volume Numbers 1. Shloyme Etinger. oysgeklibene shriftn; komedye... katoveslekh, 2nd ed., 1957, 264 pp 2. Mark Varshavski. yidishe folkslider mit notn, 2nd ed., 1958, 216pp 3. H.-D. Nomberg. oysgeveylte shriftn, 3rd ed., 1958, 256pp 4. Mendele. masoes binyomin hashlishi, 3rd ed., 1958, 256pp 5. Leyb Naydus. oysgeklibene shriftn, 2nd ed., 1958, 208pp 6. Yankev Dinezon. yosele krizis, 3rd ed., 1959, 272pp 7. Moyshe Broderzon. oysgeklibene shriftn, 2nd ed., 1959, 272pp 8. Elye-Bokher. bobe-bukh, 2nd ed., 1962. 256pp 9. Dovid Pinski. oysgeklibene shriftn, 3rd ed., 1961. 352pp 10. Shimen Frug. oysgeklibene shriftn, 2nd ed., 1960. 216pp 11. Y.-L. Perets. in 19tsn-yorhundert, 3rd ed., 1962. 272pp 12. Y.-L. Perets. in 20tsn-yorhundert, 2nd ed., 1962. 272pp 13. Moris Roznfeld. oysgeklibene shriftn, 1962. 240pp 14. Hofshteyn [Dovid] - Kharik [Izi] - Fefer [Itsik], 1962. 272pp 15. Mortkhe Spektor. der yidisher muzhik, 1963. 272pp 16. H. Leyvik. oysgeklibene shriftn, 1963. 352pp 17. Sholem-Aleykhem, menakhem mendl, 1963. 272pp 18. Avrom Goldfadn, oysgeklibene shriftn, 1963, 304pp 19. Y.-Y. Shvarts. kentuki / A. Raboy. her goldenberg. pionern in amerike, 1964, 312pp 20. Kh.-N. Byalik. oysgeklibene shriftn, 1964, 384pp 21. Sh. An-ski. oysgeklibene shriftn, 1964, 296pp 22. Mendele Moykher-Sforim. fishke der krumer, 1964. 256pp 23 Yoysef Opatoshu. in poylishe velder, 1965. 416pp 24. Zalmen Reyzn. yidishe literatur un yidishe shprakh, 1965, 304pp 25. Yehoyesh. oysgeklibene shriftn. 2nd ed., 1965, 320pp 26. Glikl Hamil. 2nd ed, 1967, 368pp 27. Sholem-Aleykhem. tevye der milkhiker, 2nd ed., 1966, 288pp 28. Avrom Reyzn. oysgeklibene shriftn, 2nd ed., 1967, 320pp 29. di froy in der yidisher poezye -- antologye, 2nd. ed., 1967, 416pp 30. R' Nakhmen Braslaver. sipure mayses. 2nd ed., 1967. 224pp 31. Mortkhe Alperson. in argentine, 2nd ed., 1967, 318pp 32. Perets Hirshbeyn. oysgeklibene shriftn, 2nd ed;, 1967, 334pp 33. yidish in lid -- antologye, 1967, 264pp 34. Menakhem Boreyshe. der fremder/zavl rimer, 1968, 320pp 35. ven a folk dervakht -- medines yisroel, 1968, 464pp 36. nusekh haskole -- antologye, 1968, 272pp 37. Z. Segolovitsh. lider, mayses, zikhroynes, 1968, 352pp 38. mayse bukh 1602, 1969, 368pp 39. unter okupatsye: Oyzer Varshavski. shmuglers, 1969, 328pp 40. erev khurbm: mazovye un 14 poetn, 1970, 256pp 41. khurbm: poezye, proze, drame -- antologye, 1970, 432pp 42. vidershtand un oyfshtand: poezye, proze, drame, 1970, 336pp 43. Itsik Manger. lider, proze, eseyen, 1970, 384pp 44. Dovid Berglson. oysgeklibene shriftn, 1971, 320pp 45. Moyshe Nadir. humor, kritik, lirik, 1971, 288pp 46. dos kind in yidisher poezye un proze, 1971, 320pp 47. Y. Aksnfeld. shterntikhl/der ershter yidisher rekrut, 1971, 288pp 48. pleytim tsvishn fayer -- antologye, 1971, 304pp 49. oysgevortslte un ayngevortslte -- antologye, 1971, 272pp 50. dorem-afrikanish -- antologye, 1971, 360pp 51. Sholem Ash. fun shtetl tsu der groyser velt, 1972, 400pp 52. der arbeter-dor in amerike -- antologye, 1972, 224pp 53. tsenerene -- ivre-taytsh, 1973, 368pp 54. tshilenish -- antologye, 1973, 2722pp 55. in dem eygenem land -- 25 yor yisroel, 1973, 568pp 56. Sholem Ash. onkl mozes, roman, 1973, 264pp 57. Yankev Gordin dray drames 1973, 320pp 58. brazilyanish -- antologye, 1973, 350pp 59. A. Vayter. fun dor tsu dor. / Dovid Aynhorn / Z.-Y. Anoykhi, 1974, 304pp 60. Maks Vaynraykh. oysgeklibene shriftn, 1974, 416pp 61. in sovyetishn friling -- antologye, 1974, 248pp 62. kanadish -- antologye. 1974, 448pp 63. Dovid Ignatov. oysgeklibene shriftn. 1975, 336pp 64. Leyb Faynberg. fun revolutsye tsu tshuve. 1975, 280pp 65. Y.-Y. Zinger. oysgeklibene shriftn. 1975, 312pp 66. argentinish -- der kholem fun feld. 1975, 336pp 67. Moyshe Kulbak. oysgeklibene shriftn. 1976, 320pp 68. in pogrom -- antologye. 1976, 304pp 69. undzere kritikers -- antologye. 1976, 320pp 70. tsvishn shtotishe vent, 2ter band argentinish. 1976, 496pp 71. eltern un kinder -- antologye. 1977, 360pp 72. mesholim bay yidn -- antologye. 1977, 286pp 73. gezangen far amkhe -- antologye. 1977, 222pp 74. nord-amerikanish -- antologye. 1977, 272pp 75. geyt a yid in erets=yisroel / fun der yidisher literatur. 1978, 256pp 76. di friling fun "di yunge" in amerike, eyrope, yisroel. 1978, 320pp 77. gelekhter oyf an emes. 1978, 256pp 78. mayrev-eyropeyish: frankraykh, england, belgye, holand. 1978, 336pp 79. 1939 in der yidisher literatur. 1979, 288pp 80. varshe in der yidisher literatur. 1978, 304pp 81. der emes durkh gelekhter. 1980, 240pp 82. Y.-Y. Trunk. zikhroynes, folks-mayses, lider. 1980, 240pp 83. dos lebn in eyn akt / 12 eynakters. 1980, 240pp 84. vilne in der yidisher literatur, 1981, 240pp 85. yisroel in di tfutses. 1981, 240pp 86. elnte yidn. 1981, 240pp 87. khsidishe yerushe. 1981, 240pp 88. rumenish in der yidisher literatur. 1981, 240pp 89. katsetlers in der yidisher literatur -- antologye, ed. Sh. Rozhanski. 1982, 248pp 90. kritik -- portret -- polemik. 1982, 240pp 91. tanakhishe yerushe. 1982, 328pp 92. meksike -- urugvay -- kube. 1982, 328pp 93. optrinike. 1983, 240pp 94. di yontefdike teg. 1983, 240pp 95. yidishlekhe idealogyes. 1983, 262pp 96. shtetlekh. 1983, 240pp 97. memuarn -- filosofye -- forshung. 1984, 344pp 98. erd un heym. 1984, 240pp 99. bay der arbet. 1984, 240pp 100. tsu a nayem lebn. 1984, 240pp 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 July 2002 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Some Random Observations on Yiddish in Israel Dr. Shloyme Goldman rightly observes in a recent article in the Yiddish _Forverts_ that Yiddish and Hebrew have managed to somewhat shift positions in their relative prestige ratings. If Hebrew was once the language of scholars and Yiddish the vernacul ar of millions, today it is Hebrew (or as some would insist Ivrit) which is the daily tongue of millions while Yiddish, no longer spoken by broad masses, is increasingly the concern of academics and researchers. ("Paradoksn in yidishn lebn," 19 yuli 2002, z' 16). At the same time we learn that the BA degree program in Yiddish at the Hebrew University will in future be a concentration within the Department of Hebrew Literature and the distinguished Department of Yiddish, built with so great care by outstan ding scholars like Dov Sadan and Khone Shmeruk, will shrink to a graduate department for a small number of MA and PhD candidates. Bar-Ilan University alone of all Israeli universities can claim a full undergraduate Yiddish program. Yet it is apparently the case that among educated persons in Israel and the Diaspora Yiddish is more highly respected and valued today than it was, say, a half-century ago. However, a wide public in the Jewish world always regarded Yiddish as the stuff o f coarse jokes, sentimental songs and earthy expressions; these associations, together with misinformation regarding the nature of the Yiddish language ("Does it have a grammar?"), continue to surface. Increased respect and the old disdain function in parallel. Shiri Lev-Ari in an absorbing essay on the non-Jewish Hebrew poet Elisheva* mentions that this largely forgotten figure learned Yiddish as well as Hebrew and even translated from Yiddish. [See "Gara beTokheynu" ('She Lived in Our Midst'), _HaArets_ 17 July 2002, pp. d1,d4.] Three decades ago, Professor of Hebrew Literature Gedaliah Elkoshi, in his entry on the same poet in the _Encyclopaedia Judaica_ (Jerusalem 1971, vol. 6, p. 671), did not mention Yiddish at all. This practice of ignoring or downplaying Yiddish in bio-biographical entries was widespread in many Jewish and especially Israeli reference works. In any single instance the omission may not have seemed a glaring one, but cumulatively it made itself felt. As a result, a large part of the history of Yiddish was blotted out or made so pale as to become invisible. It is better understood today that one cannot write justly about Agnon, Brenner, Bialik and others without giving considerable attention to the Yiddish in their lives. The rule for many Israeli writers in the past with regard to Yiddish appears to have been: If you cannot ignore it, slight it. There is no better way to denigrate Yiddish than to repeat popular stereotypes, pointing to its alleged comicality and juicy folkiness. One of Israel's media publicists recently published a book which purports to teach secular and kharadi readers about one another. Uri Orbach's _Saba sheli haya rav_ ['My Granddad Was a Rabbi'] (Jerusalem: Keter, 2002) employs an informal idiom and tries to be both amusing and serious. I scanned the book standing up in a bookshop and went straight to the entry "Yiddish". I make no judgement of the book as a whole aside from noting that the cover is attractive ("Never judge a book by its cover..."). Here is what I jotted down -- "yidish: safa atika, she'ikera matbeot lashon, imrot, pitgamim uketsat klalot. shimsha bene'emanut et avoteynu ha'ashkenazim venutra be'ikar bikrav plagim khasidi'im akhadim uvekhugim be'universitat tel-aviv." ('Yiddish : An ancient tongue, composed essentially of idiomatic expressions, sayings, proverbs and a few curses. It served our Ashkenazic ancestors faithfully and has survived mainly among a few hasidic fractions and among departments at the University of Tel-Aviv .') As facetious as Urbach's style is, one is perplexed by this 'definition' or comic commentary. It may well be an amalgam of popular Israeli prejudices regarding Yiddish, reflecting what Israelis actually say -- the book purports to be a collection of conve rsational tags. I wonder what value this entry has, since it neither entertains nor informs. 1. Yiddish is not an "ancient language" -- it is generally estimated to have begun no longer than a thousand years ago. Latin and Greek are "ancient" languages. 2. There is no language known to man whose "essence" is proverbs, idioms and sayings. It is true that most Israelis regard yiddish as "asisi" 'juicy' -- especially good for telling jokes. That Yiddish is a serious literary medium and that it was the feared rival of Ivrit in the early Yishuv, is repressed. Perhaps poetically we can speak of an "essence" of a language. The prosaic facts are that a language must have a phonology, a morphology and a syntax. 3. If the author's mention of Yiddish as having few curses is ironic, then the irony is lost. Up until recently the only way to swear feelingly in Ivrit was to use Yiddish, Arabic and Russian vocabulary. Yosef Guri's next book will be a lexicon of Yiddish curses with translations into English, Hebrew and Russian. If any reader is curious as to this division of Yiddish rhetoric, let him examine pages 635 to 641 of Stutshkov's _Der oytser fun der yidisher shprakh_ ('Thesaurus of the Yiddish Language_'). 4. In writing "it served our Ashkenazic ancestors faithfully," what could the author possibly mean? All langauges serve their users "faithfully." Uhrbach makes no mention of the role of Yiddish as preserver of Hebrew-Aramaic words. 5. A book aimed at bringing religious and non-religious Jews together should not insult hasidic courts by representing them as _plagim_ ('fractions'). Yiddish is the everyday language of tens of thousands of hasidim in Israel and the diaspora and the numbers of Yiddish-speakers among them are actually increasing. Moreover, since the Shoa many Jews have come to regard Yiddish as "yidish koydesh" -- sacred Yiddish. 6. The supposedly tongue-in-cheek reference to departments of Tel-Aviv University is virtually esoteric. What could the poor unsophisticated readers of this book understand from this? Surely not a reference to Paul Wexler's challenging theories regarding the origins of Yiddish. Tel Aviv is actually the only major university in Israel which has never had a department of Yiddish. Recent attempts to introduce Yiddish studies there have failed. 7. The author's entry on Yiddish is pitiful (Does he know the expression "beser hern kloles eyder nebekh"?), yet at the same time one notes many signs of greater interest and acceptance of Yiddish culture by the general Israeli public. *Elisheva Bikhowsky, nee Elizaveta Zhirkova (1889-1949)] took the pen name Elisheva. ________________________________ End of _The Mendele Review_ 06.007 Subscribers to _Mendele_ (see below) automatically receive _The Mendele Review_. Send "to subscribe" or change-of-status messages to: listproc@lists.yale.edu a. 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