Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 3.171
December 17, 1993

1) About lezn (Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky)
2) On crackpots (Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  Thu Dec 16 15:45:39 1993
From: Roslyn Kalifowicz-Waletzky <0005943838@mcimail.com>
Subject: About lezn

        Now about lezn.  That word seems to have acquired a kind of
specialty (for use with non-religious books) previously unkown in Yiddish.
But the issue is, who needed this distinction and what improvement does it
offer from the historically-laden leyenen?  Me ken leynen a bukh punkt vi
men ken leynen a seyfer.  What justifies restricting the use of "leynen"?
>From what I see, its real use is that of a sociolinguistic marker of people
who don't merely read books, but of those who used the contemporaneously
arising Yiddish literature that offered Enlightenment, secularization,
spiritual and ethnic self-improvement.  It's use connoted that the reader
was enlightened, secular, and urbane as opposed to kleyn-shtetldik,
tradition-bound and ethnically insulated.  Once the secularization and
assimilation of that well-known social category, called today "di vos hobn
geleynt bikher", was assured, the quality of affect in its use was reduced.
Telling those native Yiddish speakers not to use lezn vet helfn vi a toytn
bankes.  That word is used with special pride and I can't tell how many
arguments I have had about this word.  No other daytshmerish is as a
closely guarded and protected as this one, I think because it is so closely
identified with both social and anti-religious identity.   Leyenen is what
people of THE Book do, and you know which book we are talking about, but
lezn is what people of the bookS, many bookS, do.  It's a sociolinguistic
marker of the secular Jewish movement.  These Yiddish speakers figured that
in our secularized Yiddish-speaking world which reads no or few religious
texts no less Torah, the word would eventually become archaic or lost from
infrequent use.  Relegating leyenen only to religious texts is not only a
terrible shame after its 1000 year-old serviceability as a general word,
but linguistically artificial.  Although I personally am most grateful to
the Haskala for a great many things, but the failure of one of its fruit,
secularism, is recognized today.  I think that lezn, which serves to mark
the border between traditionalism and secularism, will go out the same door
with those that wanted to seperate Yiddish from religion and spirituality.
I vote for the integrated, organic way for language, culture and religion.
So ver darf hobn lezn?  Andere, nisht ikh.

        I have never heard or read any sociolinguistic comments about lezn
(or many other words) and would love to hear any info or comments about
it here or privately.

Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  Thu Dec 16 15:45:39 1993
From: Roslyn Kalifowicz-Waletzky <0005943838@mcimail.com>
Subject: On crackpots

Abe Igelfeld:

        Es platst take di gal.  Ober ikh pruv zikh aynhaltn vayl ikh
hob keyn tropn gedult nisht far azelkhe mentshn.  Ayer zats "gefelt
es im yo zikh azoy uftsufirn, zol er; gefelt es im nisht, iz meyle"
iz geven vunderlikh.  Two double inversions.  Vos vegn do shraybn a
bisl ofter?

        Ikh hof az keyner meynt nit az ikh hob getsoygn Weinreichn
durkh der blote.  Er iz nisht mekhayev geven tsu derklern dem inyen
in College Yiddish, ober men ken oykh nisht zogn az er hot dos geton
ven er hot nisht. Az er iz in gantsn maskem mit undz, hob ikh nisht
keyn sofik.

Enthusiasm and interest in Yiddish takes you only so far.  Please
don't write how we should "SHPREKH a reynem mame-loshn" written all
in German with a few Yiddish words thrown in.  When you can't tell
where your German ends, and Yiddish begins, you shouldn't give
advice.  At least write in English.  Believe me, the problem is not
just making a few errors. For those who are tired of only
linguistics on Mendele, come on and discuss whatever you are
interested in.  I'm sure you will find support here.

I had not posted here for about 4 months.  Now, I am taking a rest
from this busy week.  (Everybody sighs in gratitude.)

Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky

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End of Mendele Vol. 3.171

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