Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 5.102
September 5, 1995

1) Some questions about yiddish grammar (Beatrice Santorini)
2) Puzzling proverb (Pinyeh Weichsel)
3) Gilgul (David Baron)
4) Zhlen (Louis Fridhandler)
5) Shnirele Perele (Sheldon Benjamin)
6) Itzik Manger's Hagar poems (Ethel Magal)
7) Children and the future of Yiddish (Morrie Feller)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 10:53:37 -0500 (CDT)
From: beatrice@zora.ling.nwu.edu
Subject: Some questions about yiddish grammar

i have several questions that i have come up against in the course of
doing some research on the history of yiddish.  any help is greatly
appreciated.

first, could someone please help me with translations of the following:

	for (1)-(3), I have no further context; the examples are from
	Zaretski's 1929 grammar.  (4) is from a folk song.

	(1)   Oy, ligt men in drerd!
	(2)   Vinter fun dire varft men nisht.
	(3)   Lomir geyn, ver vuhin es geyt.
	(4)   Vos mir shtot un ven mir, ven yarid, az keyn ferdl darf ikh
              nit.

second, what is "a lange tsung"?

third, are examples of "es" like the following (orthographically "s'")
restricted to poetry?

	(4)   Ven gefeln s' vet in klayzl, zogn zolstu zey ...
	(5)   Un vu gefaln s' iz a shprits fun undzer blut, ...

finally, zaretski says in his grammar says that it is impossible to
exclaim in yiddish:

	(6)   Sara kluge iz zi!
	(7)   Vi hot zi zikh getsaplt in zeyne orims!

it has to be:

	(6)   Sara kluge zi iz!
	(7)   Vi zi hot zikh getsaplt in zeyne orims!

is this true?  that is, is it completely impossible to use question word
order for exclamations?

many thanks in advance!

beatrice santorini

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 11:05:42 -0500
From: weichsel@math.uiuc.edu
Subject: Puzzling proverb

I think the best way to answer Shleyme Axelrod's question about the
meaning of  "Beser dray teg gezunt eyder eyn tog krank" is to quote a
similar shprechvort:

"Avekgeben dos hemt, abi sein a reicher man".  Clear?

Pinyeh Weichsel

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 18:09:37 GMT+0200
From: davidb@accent.co.il
Subject: Gilgul

The idea that a soul returns to this world until it fulfils all the
mitzves incumbent upon it is central to kabala teachings and khsidus.
It is hardly a stam "superstition" [5.101].  Numerous khsidishe stories
demonstrate the phenonmenon.

David Baron

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 4 Sep 1995 14:30:49 -0400
From: lfridhan@aol.com
Subject: Zhlen

In 5.097 (2) Dan Leeson asks about "a zhlen" referring to the occupation
of a family member, Moyshe, who kept records of vital statistics in a
Jewish community.  I tentatively offer a vague memory of reading
something in Yiddish about a petty official called "a tshlen."  Could
this be it?  There is a Russian word, tshlen, and it means a member, or a
part.

Louis Fridhandler
Walnut Creek, CA

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 05 Sep 1995 00:08:14 EDT
From: sbenj@mit.edu
Subject: Shnirele Perele

The words and music to Shnirele Perele can be found in vol.4 of the
Hebrew University Anthology of Yiddish Folksongs on p.248-9.  A word of
caution is in order, however.  This is a pulsating melody that is quite
difficult to get out of your head once you have experienced it.

Sheldon Benjamin
Boston

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 1995 9:33:57 -0200 (B)
From: ets@aleph.tau.ac.il
Subject: Itzik Manger's Hagar poems

Does anyone know of an edition of the complete cycle of Hagar poems.  I
am interested in both Yiddish and English language translation.  If there
is a dual-language edition, so much the better!

Ethel Magal
Tel Aviv, Israel

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 1995 06:02:15 -0700 (MST)
From: feller@indirect.com
Subject: Children and the future of Yiddish

Within the past five years I have attended four major gatherings devoted
to the furtherance of Yiddish.  The Yiddish Culture Week of the National
Yiddish Book Center, the Yiddish Institute of the Chicago JCC, the Second
International Meeting of Yiddish Clubs, and recently the Charlotte JCC
Yiddish Institute.  It has finally dawned on me that the attendees at
these events, for the most part, were senior citizens who were on a
"nostalgia trip".  (The NYBC does have a program especially designed for
children.)  If the survival and growth of Yiddish is to be dependent on
this aging group, Yiddish will, indeed, have no future.

Therefore, after teaching Yiddish to adults for the past number of years,
I have decided that I will now concentrate on teaching Yiddish to
children.  I am aware of the excellent programs for children which exist
here and there in the United States, Canada, Australia, Israel and other
parts of the world.  There are also many colleges and universities
offering courses in Yiddish and Yiddish culture made possible by the
distribution of Yiddish books by the National Yiddish Book Center.  The
Weinreich Summer Institute in Yiddish, and the Oxford Program are also
contributing to the revival of Yiddish along with the League for Yiddish,
Yugntruf, and the Workmen's Circle.  Other places in the world probably
have comparable Yiddish educational programs.  Recent new publications
such as "Yiddish 2" by Mordkhe Schaechter, "Yiddish" by Sheva Zucker, and
the journal "Naye Vegn" by Hemshekh Dor in Israel are also factors
contributing to the revival of Yiddish.

But, realistically speaking, these are only isolated instances. What is
needed is for Yiddish to be taught on a scale comparable to that of
Hebrew.  This means making Yiddish part of the curriculum of synagogue
schools and Jewish Community Centers.  To convince such schools of the
importance of including Yiddish, we have to develop and present cogent
reasons why no Jewish education can be complete without a Yiddish
component which is the gateway to a thousand years of Jewish history, and
to a vast depository of literature which depicts the soul of our people.
If Yiddish is to have a future, it must be founded on the inculcation of
Yiddish in our children and youth.

Morrie Feller
Phoenix

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End of Mendele Vol. 5.102