Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
______________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 4.368
March 14, 1995

1) Vilna ghetto library (Zachary Baker)
2) A por kurtze frages (Sholem Berger)
3) Yiddish Mac software (Hershl Hartman)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 95 15:04:20 PST
From: bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu
Subject: Vilna ghetto library

REGULAMIN FUN LEYENZAL IN VILNER GETO [English translation follows]

1.  Fun leyenzal kenen genisn ale aynvoyner fun geto on untersheyd
        fun elter.
2.  In leyenzal ken men nit kumen mit eygene bikher.
3.  Der tsugang fun leyener tsu di bikher-politses is farbotn.
4.  Leyener kenen bakumen far eynmol tsvey bikher un baytn biz 3
        mol a tog.  Visnshaftler kenen bakumen bikher vifl zey darfn.
5.  Kinder-leyener vert aroysgegebn nor eyn bukh un gebitn nor biz
        2 mol teglekh.
6.  Kinder-leyener vern aroysgegebn bikher nor fun reshimes
        bashtetikte fun zeyere lerer.
7.  Bikher fun leyenzal vern nit oysgeborgt.
8.  Visnshaftler kenen in spetsyel-noytike faln mit der derloybnish
        fun farvalter bakumen oysgeborgte bikher.
9.  Bashteln a bukh fun biblyotek ken men nor biz halb 4 n.m.
10. Dos leyenen ken forkumen nor bay tishn.
11. Shmuesn tsvishn zikh vi oykh leyenen hoykh iz farvert.
12. Shpatsirn ibern zal iz shtreng farbotn.
13. Oyf di bikher tor men nit makhn key shum bamerkungen.
14. Dos bukh darf men haltn reyn, nisht kneytshn un nisht flekn
        di zaytlekh.
15. Baym avekgeyn muzn di bikher un prese ibergegebn vern dem
        amtirndikn bibloytekar.
16. Oyb men vil a bukh opleygn oyf etlekhe teg darf men es meldn
        dem biblyotekar.

Vilne-geto Yuli 1942           Farvalter H. Kruk

REGULATIONS FOR THE VILNA GHETTO READING ROOM

1.  The Reading Room may be used by all residents of the ghetto
        regardless of age.
2.  Do not bring your own books into the Reading Room.
3.  Access to the bookshelves by readers is prohibited.
4.  Readers may receive two books at a time and exchange them up to
        3 times daily.  Scholars may receive as many books as they need.
5.  Children may receive only one book and exchange it up to 2
        times daily.
6.  Children may receive books only on the basis of lists approved
        by their teachers.
7.  Books may not be borrowed from the Reading Room.
8.  Scholars may in special circumstances, with the Manager's
        permission, borrow books.
9.  Books may be requested from the Library only until 3:30 p.m.
10. Reading may be done only at the tables.
11. Conversing and reading aloud are not permitted.
12. Walking around the room is strictly forbidden.
13. Do not write any comments on the books.
14. Books must be kept clean; do not fold them and do not stain
        their pages.
15. Upon leaving, books must be given to the librarian on duty.
16. If you want to reserve a book for a few days you must inform
        the librarian.

Vilna Ghetto, July 1942         Manager H. Kruk

Dina Abramowicz is in the process of writing an article about the above
regulations.  (She worked in the Vilna Ghetto library.) Among her
preliminary comments are the following:

The regulations were written in the period of relative lull in the
deportation "actions," a little more than a year before the final
liquidation of the Ghetto, in September 1943.

The regulations reveal the following circumstances:

(1) Crowdedness of the ghetto quarters.  The Reading Room was for both
the children and the adults.  Since the children were the most eager part
of the ghetto readership for obvious reasons, some restrictions had to be
imposed on them, so as not to overwhelm the room.  The regulation of
careful handling was partially directed at them.

(2) Scholars were the privileged group:  They were allowed an
unrestricted number of books, and the emphasis on "quiet" (not talking,
not walking around) was for their sake.  They were also allowed to take
books "home."

(3) The restricted access to the book shelves could be explained by the
fact that the ghetto books were irreplaceable and the books could be used
for other than reading purposes (i.e., as fuel, because of the scarcity
of this commodity in the ghetto).

(4) Regulation no. 2 prohibits bringing one's own books to the reading
room.  This was because certain types of literature, such as communist or
Soviet books were considered dangerous, since the Nazis could make sudden
inspections at any time.

The librarian on duty in the Reading Room was Khaykl Lunski [former
librarian of the Strashun Library -- Z.B.].

Zachary Baker

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 1995 07:58:58 -0800 (PST)
From: zdb@cco.caltech.edu (Zackary Dov Berger)
Subject: A por kurtze frages

Ikh volt gevolt konstruktirn a heym=zayt (zogt men dos?) af yidish, mit
emesdike yidishe oysyes.  Vi azoy dergreykht men dos? (Kh'hob zikh
gestaret oystzugefinen yidishe oysyes afn internet, un kh'hob in gantzn
nisht matzliekh geven.) Ikh zog a dank in forois far ayer hilf.

A tzveyte frage: vos trakht ir fun "Di Pen" (Oksforder pres)? Ikh ver
zeyr nispoel fun zayn hoikher literarisher kvalitet.  Der zhurnal hot
energie, a zeltener fenomen tzvishn yidishe publikatzies.

Sholem Berger

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 1995 13:15:40 -0500
From: hershl@aol.com
Subject: Yiddish Mac software

In addition to Garry Margolis' suggestion of Nisus, there's a shareware
desk accessory called BackEdit that can prepare text in Yiddish for
cut/pasting into such word processing programs as MacWrite and Word.
Using any Hebrew/Yiddish font, BackEdit switches the cursor from
left-right to right-left and back again, permitting insertion of a
Yiddish phrase, sentence or paragraph in the midst of a Roman alphabet
document. It's hardly sophisticated, e.g., when running in right-left
mode, one must use the "return" key as one would on an electric
typewriter at the end of each line. It can do the job, though, on a
non-Nisus-encompassing budget. I'll be glad to provide a copy to the
Warsaw Jewish Historical Institute and additional information to anyone
by phone or fax at 310-473-4323, by mail at 3142 S. Bentley Ave., L.A. CA
90034 or Hershl@aol.com. BackEdit is produced by ZeyDad Software, with
which I'm involved with my eydem dem computer meyvin.

Hershl Hartman

______________________________________________________
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