Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.205 January 3, 1996 1) Elye Shekhtman (Zachary Baker) 2) Knas-mol (Refoyl Finkl) 3) Dialects and standards (Hersh-Leib Oster) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 2 Jan 96 15:01:29 PST From: bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu Subject: Elye Shekhtman (1908-1996) Fun Yisroel kumt di troyerike yedie, az der bakanter yidisher shrayber Elye Shekhtman iz nifter gevorn dem 1tn yanuar 1996. Elye Shekhtman iz bakant der iker tsulib zayn roman fun groysn farnem, "Erev," vos iz tsum ershtn mol aroys in a farkirtster (d"h tsenzurirter) oysgabe in Moskve, 1965, un dernokh in Tel Aviv, 1974 (4 bend in 2), 1979 (band 5-6) un 1983. "Erev" iz a roman "vos nemt arum dos lebn fun yidn in Rusland fun onheyb tsvantsikstn yorhundert biz di zibetsiker yorn" (Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur, band 8, shpalt 768). Elye Shekhtman iz geboyrn gevorn in Vaskovitshi (Polesye), dem 8tn september 1908. Er hot shtudirt in literarishn fakultet fun Yidishn pedagogishn institut (Odes), dernokh gevoynt in Kharkov un Kiev biz es hot zikh oysgebrokhn di Daytshe-Sovetishe milkhome, ven er iz gevorn an ofitsir in Roytn armey. Er iz arestirt gevorn kurts far Stalins toyt, un nokh zayn bafrayung hot er gevoynt in Kiev biz er hot oyle geven keyn Yisroel in 1972. Akhuts "Erev" hot er oykh geshribn di bikher "Afn sheydveg" (Kharkov, 1930), "Farakerte mezhes" (Kharkov - Kiev, 1932-1936), "Polyeser velder" (Kharkov - Kiev, 1940), "Ringen oyf der neshome" (Tel Aviv, 1981), un "Baym shkie-aker" (New York, 1994). Loyt dem vos undzer Mendelyanern, Shoshana Balaban Wolkowicz, git iber, hot Elye Shekhtman bakumen a sakh literatur-premyes, araynge- rekhnt di Itsik Manger-Prayz, di Khayim Zhitlovski-Prayz, di Fernando Jeno premye (Mexico -- far "Baym shkie-aker"), Pras Rosh-Ha-Memshalah, un di Kultur-kongres premye. Koved zayn ondenk! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * We have just received sad news from Israel: The well-known Yiddish writer Elye Shekhtman passed away on January 1, 1996. Shekhtman was best known for his epic novel "Erev," first published in a condensed (censored) edition in Moscow, 1965, and subsequently in Tel Aviv, 1974 (4 vols. in 2), 1979 (vols. 5-6) and 1983. "Erev" "encompasses the life of Jews in Russia from the beginning of the 20th century until the 1970s" (Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur, vol. 8, col. 768). Elye Shekhtman was born in Vaskovichi (Polesie) on September 8, 1908. He studied in the literary faculty of the Jewish Pedagogical Institute (Odessa), and after that resided in Kharkov and Kiev until the outbreak of the German-Soviet War, when he became an officer in the Red Army. He was arrested shortly before Stalin's death and after his release he lived in Kiev until he went on aliyah in 1972. Aside from "Erev," he was also the author of the books "Afn sheydveg" (Kharkov, 1930), "Farakerte mezhes" (Kharkov - Kiev, 1932-1936), "Polyeser velder" (Kharkov - Kiev, 1940), "Ringen oyf der neshome" (Tel Aviv, 1981), and "Baym shkie-aker" (New York, 1994). According to information provided by our fellow Mendelyaner, Shoshana Balaban Wolkowicz, Elye Shekhtman received numerous literary awards, including the Itsik Manger Prize, the Chaim Zhitlowsky Prize, the Fernando Jeno award (Mexico -- for "Baym shkie-aker"), Pras Rosh-Ha-Memshalah (Israel), and the Congress for Jewish Culture award. Koved zayn ondenk! Zachary Baker 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 2 Jan 1996 10:35:33 -0500 From: raphael@cs.engr.uky.edu Subject: Knas-mol in vaynraykhs verterbukh shteyt az a ,,knas-mol'' iz an ,,engagement ceremony''. ikh volt gezogt az dos zol zayn ,,shraybn tnoyim''. blaybt di frage, far vos heyst dos knas-mol? a ,,knas'' iz a shtrof; dos iz a vort fun mishne un gemore. a ,,mol'' meynt a sude, vi in ,,mol-tsayt'', ober men zet men dos vort bloyz in getseylte oysdruken. fun vanen kumt di dozike oysdruk, ,,knas-mol''? Refoyl Finkl 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 2 Jan 1996 11:47:10 EST From: zoster@radiol.som.sunysb.edu Subject: Dialects and standards Regarding this matter, here is a story first : "Tzvei fraind bagegenen zich noch a zerlange tzait. Meh tzekisht-tzech, meh veint a bissl ,meh dermontzeh fun di amulikeh gite fraind. "Iz vuzhe tit Yankl?" "Oi a broch! er iz nifter gevoren" Freigt vider der ershter parshoin : "Nifter-pifter, parnuse hot er?" Clearly, the first fellow was not familiar with the verb "nifter" a euphemism for passed away. This anecdote is frequently used to describe the "balegules, am-hu-uretz" persons, whose Yiddish is not up to par. Another, but true story : In the immediate post W.W.II era the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe were flooded with free handouts of Soviet Union published Yiddish literature. Even as a very young teenager I could realize immediately that the Yiddish of these publications was different compared to books published elsewhere. The spelling of the Soviet Yiddish was grotesquely phonetic : words appeared much longer than in "standard" Yiddish" It appeared as if the Yevsektia - the Jewish Section of the communist party, responsible for these publications, has decided to eradicate all traces of the Hebrew roots from the written Yiddish and hopefully quench the Zionistic aspirations for a "solution of the Jewish problem". The formal justification for the extreme phoneticism was to facilitate reading by the "illiterate, suppressed masses of the Jewish proletariat", lacking the appropriate Hebrew background. Thus "kheyder" became "chaf-ayin-iud -dalet-ayin-reish," rather than "khet-dalet-resh", and "Khayim" became "khaf-alef-yod-ayin-mem" instead of "khet-yod-mem" Since there is little hope that Yiddish will again become a language of a vast segment of the Jewish population, with the exception of the Orthodox, there appears to be no choice but to accept the dialects and expressions as they are currently represented in the literature and hope that future generation scholars will be able to understand and translate the texts.. Hersh-Leib (Zvi) Oster ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.205