Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
______________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 4.123
October 6, 1994

1) Introduction (Dan Jacobowitz)
2) Introduction (Heidi Shetzer)
3) Introduction (Lori Chinitz)
4) Hebraica cataloging (Paul Maher)
5) Milgroym and rabbis (Jules Levin)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 1994 14:02:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: djacobow@moose.uvm.edu
Subject: Introduction

I'm taking an introductory Yiddish course here at the University of
Vermont. I'm 52 yor alt. I've been recovering my Hebrew writing skills
because I haven't used them since before bar mitzvah. My maternal
grandparents spoke several languages, among them Yiddish. My parents
probably understood a bunch, but they didn't use it. I took German in
high school and Russian in college (and also French, but only to pass an
exam.) I really don't claim to know any of these languages, but I do seem
to catch on pretty well in class.

I'm looking for a project for the class and I though I would explore the
use of Yiddish slang by stand-up comics. Any suggestions for sources?

I see that there will be a new Yiddish Book Center at Hampshire College.
My son is thinking of attending Hampshire. What do you think of this?

Question: Is there a shareware or PD Yiddish editor that I can get
through ftp or gopher? Where?

Dave Jacobowitz

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 1994 18:01:17 -0500 (CDT)
From: hshetzer@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Subject: Introduction

I'm Heidi Shetzer, a graduate student studying applied linguistics/TESOL
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  I don't know a lot of
Yiddish, only certain words and phrases that I've learned by listening to
my parents, my grandmother and other relatives.

I go to visit my grandmother a couple times a year in Boca Raton,
Florida. She lives in a place called Century Village, where she attends a
Yiddish Culture Club.  She also directs a Yiddish choir.  So when I go to
see her, I hear so much Yiddish, that I really want to learn how to speak
it.

It's somewhat upsetting to me how the younger generations in my family
seem to know less and less Yiddish.  The Yiddish language has pretty much
disappeared in my family.  My grandmother uses the most Yiddish, and my
parents use a few Yiddish phrases here and there, and my use is even
less.  Anyway, this idea of language loss troubles me, and that's one of
the reasons why I would like to study Yiddish.

I am also interested in code-switching between Yiddish and English. I can
remember when growing up that some of my relatives would switch from
English to Yiddish when they were talking about something they didn't
want us  grandchildren to hear.

It's been interesting to read or try to read some of the messages in
Yiddish--this is the first time I've seen it written out.

Heidi Shetzer

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 1994 19:22:53 -0500 (CDT)
From: lchinitz@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
Subject: Introduction

I am a Philadelphia native and a grad student at the University of
Illinois.  I don't speak Yiddish, but I've heard lots of it from my
father and grandparents (mostly jokes).  I think Yiddish is a fascinating
language, and I am particularly interested in the influence of Yiddish on
the English language and vice versa.  Since I don't read much Yiddish, a
lot will be lost on me, but maybe I'll learn something.

Lori Chinitz

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: 03 Oct 1994 10:05:10 GMT
From: maher@mail.loc.gov
Subject: Hebraica cataloging

The question was raised recently on Mendele about scanning portions of
Hebraica Cataloging and distributing it on Mendele.  Since the booklet
is  a publication of  a federal agency (the Library of Congress), with
regard to copyright, it  is  in  the public domain within  the  United
States.
     I should point  out  that ALA/LC romanization contains characters
and diacritics which do  not transmit well over e-mail systems.  These
diacritics  and  special characters,  which  form  part  of  the  "ALA
character set",  are  also  referred  to  as  ANSEL (American National
Standard for Extended Latin).

Paul Maher

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 1994 11:15:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: jflevin@ucrac1.ucr.edu
Subject: Milgroym and rabbis

Two comments re recent discussion:

1. milgroym is NOT Slavic and since pomegranates are Biblical, is
doubtless Semitic.  The Journal Biblical Archeology published some time
ago a photo of a little pomegranate decoration from Jerusalem that may
have been on a Cohan's garment!  Re the etymologies of "granate"...  Our
military "grenade" comes from the name of the fruit, since the German WWI
grenate sorta resembled one. What is the Yiddish for "handgrenade"?

2.  I don't understand why we want a term that covers both an orthodox
'rov' and the non-orthodox.  It is a problem of English that we can't
conveniently distinguish what in our hearts we do distinguish.  Does
Yiddish have separate terms for 'fish' and 'shell-fish'.  I'm sure the
secular Yiddishists are willing to have one term for both, but they will
still be different.  There is a Yiddish expression--'khazer-fis--kasher!'.
If you are good enough at pilpul you can claim that pigs'feet are
kosher...but of course the subtext of the expression is that pigs' feet
are NOT kosher and never will be.  Or, as Abe Lincohen once said, "You
can call a horse's tail a leg, but that doesn't make it a leg..."

Jules Levin

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