Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.051 July 12, 1995 1) Bunem Viner (Leybl Botvinik) 2) Shepn/shlepn (Shleyme Axelrod) 3) Shepn/shlepn (Hershl Bershady) 4) Shepn/shlepn (Paul Pascal) 5) Music notation (Sholom Pearlman) 6) Teaching Yiddish (Anna Gonshor) 7) Davka (Anno Siegel) 8) Koala Farlag (Zachary Baker) 9) Reading material for kids (David Sherman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Jul 95 07:05:26 IDT From: leybl@telecomm.tadiran.co.il Subject: s'iz gefaln a demb: bunem viner, zikhroyno levrokho mayn tayerer fraynt fun der vaytns, bunem iz mer nito. vi golde hot es ibergegebn, iz er take geven a demb. -- a demb in a vald vu kemat ale beymer zaynen shoyn opgebrent un opgelendt gevorn. muzn mir, deriber, farflantzn naye beymer. s'vet gedoyrn lang, lang, biz s'vet shteyn vider aza demb vi bunem, un keyn glaykhn vet shoyn mer nit zayn. a varemer yid, an ibergegebenem tsu yidish un tsum reynem, sheynem bundishn ideal. er iz geven a tuer far yidish, un nit nor a reder. er hot bavizn a sakh tsu ton in shtarkn un farteydikn undzer geroydeftn mame-loshn. di ale vos hobn im gekent vet zey shtark oysfeln dem kiln shotn vos er hot geshpreyt in zayn farteydikn yidishe shprakh un kultur. koved zayn ondenk. leybl botvinik netanya 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Jul 1995 10:45:03 -0400 (EDT) From: ptyaxel@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Subject: Shepn/shlepn Patty Becker (5.050) asks about _shepn_/_shlepn_/_schlepn nakhes_. The usage can be summed up this way, I think: _dem goles shlept men, ober nakhes fun kinder shept men_: 'One wearily drags around the Exile, but one derives/draws proud pleasure from one's children.' The overlap in meaning between "drawing" and "dragging" adds to the similarity in sound in producing the confusion, which is quite widespread. The "c" in "sch" has no function, and so "sch" has no place in YIVO's standard romanization scheme; the standard forms are _shepn_ and _shlepn_. (Mendele 4.170 has a simplified guide to the YIVO system.) Shleyme Axelrod Buffalo, New York 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Jul 1995 20:40:19 -0400 (EDT) From: hbershad@sas.upenn.edu Subject: shep, shlep, nakhes and khohp There is a difference between saying "ikh hob nakhes" and "ikh khop nakhes: -- yes? The first receives, the second snatches. Is this analagous to saying "ikh shep nakhes" vs "ikh shlep nakhes"? Hershl Bershady 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 11 Jul 95 23:31:40 EDT From: 75332.2735@compuserve.com Subject: Shepn/schepn/shlepn Patty Becker has asked about the distinction, with regard to nakhes, between shepn and shlepn. One does _not_ shlep nakhes, unless one has children from whom nakhes is not forthcoming. Men _shept_ nakhes, one _draws_ nakhes, as one draws water from a well. Shlepn suggests dragging a burden, which nakhes is the antithesis of. (Of course, one could argue that the English words *draw* and *drag* come from the same root, but for that argument make your posting to "Villiam, _English_ Literatur un Lengvidzh", not to Mendele.) As for spelling, *schlep* is German in orthography. Standardized Yiddish transliteration into English, following the YIVO model, keeps it simple: sh means sh. (You'll _see_ *sch*, but that spelling is rong.) ;) Paul Pascal Toronto 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Jul 1995 21:45:56 -0600 (MDT) From: pearlmas@essex.hsc.colorado.edu Subject: Music notation It is so enjoyable to read the many Yiddish songs that are posted from time to time. A good number of them, however, are new to me--as they may well be to plenty of other subscribers--and I would like very much to know the music to which the words are sung. Being new to the Internet in general, I wonder if someone has already developed a functional form of music notation that can be transmitted via email, without requiring graphic computer capabilities. The "tonic sol-fa" notation, consisting of English characters (doh, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, doh' abbreviated "d,r,m,f,s,l,t,d' ") and certain punctuation marks, might be adapted. For example, Hatikvah might be written: (Tempo 4/4) |l,t,:dr|m-:m-|fm:fl'|m-:--| [un vayter] where, in the key of C, "la," would be the note A below middle C; the "|" is a bar-sign, and the " : " marks the mid-bar. The symbols "," and " ' " after a note would indicate it belongs in the octave above or below the central octave, respectively. If this is of interest to others, I would welcome a more simple and effective approach. We could discuss it by direct personal mail, so as not to bore other Mendelyanern with a topic that may not be of general concern. Sholom Pearlman Denver, Colorado 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Jul 1995 00:23:35 EDT From: cxag@musica.mcgill.ca Subject: Teaching Yiddish In response to Helen Abeles's question regarding day schools that teach Yiddish, allow me to share a deep secret:) with the Mendele fraynd. There exists in dem vaytn un kaltn Canada, in der shtot Montreal a day school system of over l600 students that teaches Yiddish from kindergarten through to senior high school. There are 2 elementary branches and ahigh school oyfn nomen Yiddishe folks shuln un Peretz shuln un Bialik High School. These schools are celebrating 80 years of existence and are the largest school within the Montreal Day school system which includes over 20 schools and approx. 60000 students. Di vos zorgn zikh vegn dem kiyum fun Yiddish voltn b'emes badarft zikh araynkhapn tsu undz in shtot zen vos fara oytzres mir farmogn onhebndik mit di shuln, dernokh di velt barimte Yiddish Folks Bibliotek un gevis undzer Yiddish teater vos shpilt 2 mol in yor, 3-4 vokhn. Montreal was and continues to be an active centre of Yiddish culture, Yiddish learning and Yiddish activity in general. As for the schools, I would be happy to hear from anyone interested in what we do here. I'll be back in Montreal early August. Dervayl hot mir alle a gezuntn zumer. Anna Gonshor Montreal 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Jul 95 11:33:03 +0200 From: anno4000@w172zrz.zrz.tu-berlin.de Subject: Davka In 5.039 Harvey Spiro says he has heard "davka" creeping into Yiddish spoken in Israel. I believe the word must have been in use in at least some dialects of Yiddish long before Israel existed because it has made its way into German. "Aus Daffke" is used to describe the motivation (or rather absence of a rational motivation) for an action, meaning "for spite", "for no good reason", "just because I wanted to." It's a bit on the colloquial side of the language, as are many of the German words of Yiddish origin, but it can be found in most dictionaries. Anno Siegel Berlin, Germany 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Jul 95 07:32:59 PDT From: bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu Subject: Koala Farlag (Melbourne) For those interested in recently published Yiddish children's books (of a secular nature, that is; there is also a burgeoning literature in Yiddish aimed at Hasidic children and youth), the fittingly named Koala Farlag, in Melbourne (3 Lubrano Street, East Brighton, Victoria 3187, Australia), has published a number of titles. Most are aimed at young children who are just beginning to learn to read Yiddish. The latest publication by Koala Farlag is "Tantsndike Dinozavers" (Dancing Dinosaurs), by Rebecca White, a 14-year-old student at Leibler-Yavneh College in Melbourne. A press release issued by Koala Farlag notes: "She formerly studied Yiddish at Sholem Aleichem College's Sunday School, and has since continued her interest in Yiddish by taking private classes. In fact, it was a homework assignment last year set by her Yiddish tutor, Mrs Bobbi Zylberman, which led to Rebecca's debut as a published author.... [Dancing Dinosaurs] tells of a little girl, Malkele, who can't get to sleep because she imagines dinosaurs coming out of her doll box. But Malkele's fears are overcome when her father promises he will eat up any dinosaurs he finds in her bedroom -- with horseradish!" The cost of the book is $5.00 (Australian), plus $3.00 (Australian) for postage and handling. For those Mendelnikes who happen to be near Gold's or Sunflower Bookshops, in Melbourne, it is also available for purchase there. Zachary Baker 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Jul 95 12:29:06 EDT From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca Subject: Reading material for kids Harvey Spiro asks about reading material for kids. If you don't mind the religious content, there's a fair bit of new material available from the Judaica stores in Boro Park (Eichler's on 13th Ave., for example), in New York. These are produced by and for the Chassidic Yiddish-speaking community, so they're infused with that culture. Some of it is rather good, and some of it comes with accompanying tapes (e.g. Di Alef-Beys Velt). David Sherman Toronto ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.051 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu ****Getting back issues**** 1. 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