Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.253 February 13, 1996 1) A lecture by Moshe Taube (Marion Aptroot) 2) Yosef af der Yidish-Vokh (Ruvn Millman) 3) The Yiddish canon (Clare Kinberg) 4) Yiddish tangos (David Robboy) 5) Khasidish or misnagdish (Louis Fridhandler) 6) Der Rebe Elimeylekh (Zachary Baker) 7) Reliques of the GDYL (Meyer-Leyb Wolf) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 16:08:20 -0500 (EST) From: aptroot@husc.harvard.edu Subject: A lecture by Moshe Taube The Harvard Center for Jewish Studies announces a lecture by Moshe Taube Department of Russian and Slavic Studies Department of Linguistics The Hebrew University of Jerusalem The function of repetition in literary Yiddish Wednesday, February 21, 1996 4:15 p.m. Rosovsky Hall Harvard-Radcliffe Hillel 52 Mt. Auburn Street Cambridge, MA Marion Aptroot 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Feb 1996 18:54:45 -0500 From: ruvn@aol.com Subject: Yosef af der Yidish-Vokh Tayere Mendeleyners! Af der hayoriker Yugntruf Yidish-Vokh zenen gekumen, azh fun Tokyo, fir Yidishistn. Eyner, Yankl Halpern vos iz der aroysgeber fun a zhurnal, "Der Yapaner Yid," hot zikh gelernt zayn mizrekh-eyropeyish mame-loshn fun der mamen ober di andere dray hobn zikh gelernt Yidish in Yapan. Ven er iz geven af der Yidish-Vokh, Yosef eyner fun di dray, hot forgeleyent a shraybarbet zayne, un letstns hob ikh es bamerkt gedrukt in "Der Yapaner Yid." Vayl ikh'ob gemeynt az dos vet aykh zayn interestant hob ikh gebetn a derloybnish dos ibertsugebn af Mendele...hot hanoe. This year's Yugntruf Yidish-Vokh was host to four Yiddishists who came all the way from Tokyo. One of them, Yankl Halpern, the publisher of a journal, "Der Yapaner Yid," learned his Yiddish at home whereas the other three had learned Yiddish in Japan. Yosef, one of the three, read a paper of his for the first time at Yidish-Vokh. Not long ago I noticed it, printed in "Der Yapaner Yid." Since I thought that it would be of interest to you, I obtained the permission to submit it to Mendele...enjoy. Far vos ikh lern zikh yidish fun Dzshun Yosef Akaishi Ikh shtel zikh for az ir vundert zikh far vos a yapaner -- an aynvoyner fun an indzl inem Vaytn Mizrekh -- zol zikh lernen Yidish. Kimat yeder yid vos Ikh tref fregt mir di zelbe frage. Khotsh es zaynen faran a sakh gelegnhaytn far Yapaner zikh tsu bakenen mit Yidishe kultur, veynik fun undz hobn di gelegenhayt tsu lernen Yidish in Yapan. Inem dozikn artikl vel Ikh aykh dertseyln far vos Ikh tu dos. Ikh shrayb lider. Hob Ikh gedarft zukhn a konkurent. Ikh hob gehaltn in eyn zukhn: Stegan Malarme, Paul Valery. T. S. Eliot... un Ikh hob im sof-kol-sof gefunen! Ikh zog aykh az loyt mayn meynung der bester nokhmilkhomediker dikhter in Eyrope iz a Rumenisher yid, Paul Tselan. Er shtmat fun Tshernovits. Zayne lider zaynen ful mit yidishkayt. Ober tsu ersht hob Ikh gornisht gevust vegn yidishkayt. Ikh hob gor bavundert zayne lider, vos er hot geshribn af Daytsh. Un demolt iz mayn tsil bashtimt gevorn -- shraybn poezye beser vi Paul Tselan! Ober kdey tsu shraybn lider beser vi Paul Tselan hob Ikh gedarft tif shtudirn zayne lider, nit nor zeyere shprakhike strukturn ober oykh zeyer yidishe neshome. Hob Ikh ongehoybn tsu lernen yidishkayt. Ikh hob gelyent khumesh inem Hebreishn original in der eybershul fun Sofya-Universitet in Tokyo. Ikh hob oykh gekoyft gemore un medresh. Un Ikh hob ongehoybn geyn in shul fun Tokyo, vu Ikh hob zikh getrofn mit mayn lerer R' Yankl Halpern un ongehoybn zikh lernen Yidish mit zeks khadoshim tsurik. Vos iz afile mer modne vi a yapaner vos lernt zikh Yidish iz der fakt az es iz meglikh zikh tsu lernen Yidish in Yapan fun aza vunderlekhn un freylekhn lerer vi R' Yankl Halpern. Ikh gloyb az ven s'voltn geven a sakh lerers vi er voltn efsher a sakh nit-Yidn in Azye zikh oysgelernt redn Mame-Loshn. Eyn tog vil Ikh leyenen ale lider geshribn af Yidish! Un Ikh vil iberzetsn nit nor di lider fun Paul Tselan, nor oykh sheyne Yapanishe lider af Yidish. Di Yapanishe regirung toyg take nit, ober Yapan hot a sakh gute lider! Yidish iz mir gefelen. Ikh veys nit far vos. Ikh hob gemeynt az dos iz di shprakh far mir. Nu, hob Ikh shoyn a bisl gebitn mayn tsil; dos heyst, shraybn lider beser vi Paul Tselan -- ober af Yidish! Ruvn Millman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Feb 96 18:06:04 -0800 From: p01230@psilink.com Subject: What? No Women? I don't recognize every name on Meyer Wolf's suggested canon, and since it's still a work in progress (forever?), I want to put a word in to not forget/ignore that women wrote in Yiddish, too. There are many, many women on the "should read" list: Molodowsky, Korn, Serdatsky, Heifetz-Tussman to name just a few of the few that I am familiar with. I would say that required reading would be Irena Klepfisz' introduction to "Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers" to begin to look at why, in 1996, none of the hundreds of women published in Yiddish would make it on to on early draft of a Yiddish "Canon." p.s. I hope I'm wrong and that some of the names I don't recognise are women who I've not yet heard of, but should have! Clare Kinberg 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Feb 96 21:32:08 PST From: robboy@ssd.intel.com Subject: Yiddish tangos Zelma Teicher [5.252] asked for the names of the 5 tangos that my group (which we call the Yiddish Theatre Ensemble) sang: Yes, "Mayn Yidishe Meydl" is a tango, and that's one of them. It's by Sholom Secunda and Anshel Schorr (1927) from the show of the same name. It is currently in print in "Great Songs of the Yiddish Theater," edited by Norman H. Warembud, published by J & J Kammen Music Co. (now New York Times Publishing). Two other tangos in that book are: "Oygn" by Abraham Ellstein and Molly Picon (1934) from the show "Eyn Mol In Leb'n" or "Eyne in a Milyonen," according to two different sources. "Tif Vi Di Nakht" by Abraham Ellstein (1933) from the show "A Brivele Der Mam'n." The other two in our medley of five are "Ich Hob Dich Tzufil Lieb" by Alexander Olshanetzky and Chaim Towber (1934), and "Ven Ich Zol Dich Farliren" by Max Kletter (1942). Not in print that I know of, but there are recordings. David Robboy 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 01:00:10 -0500 From: lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Khasidish or misnagdish Discussions of _Az der rebe tantst_, _Sha shtil_ and _Der rebe Eylemeylekh_ raise a question completely new to me: "Were they meant to disparage khasidim?" I can only guess the answer, but I am reminded of parts of a version of _Az der rebe tantst_ I heard growing up in Montreal. In what I remember, the khasidim did not simply repeat the rebe's actions. They raised the ante on the rebe. The ideas suggest a sophisticated humor, and do sound disparaging, now that I think back on them. This is what I remember: 1. Az der rebe zingt, tantsn ale khasidim 2. Az der rebe est, shlingen ale khasidim 3. Az der rebe shloft, khropen ale khasidim Louis Fridhandler 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Feb 96 06:58:30 PST From: bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu Subject: Der Rebe Elimeylekh Here is what Chana Mlotek has to say about the song "Der Rebe Elimeylekh" (from the 4th edition of "Mir trogn a gezang: favorite Yiddish songs of our generation" [New York: Workmen's Circle Education Department, 1987], p. 168): "A Yiddish version of the English song, Old King Cole. Poem and music by Moshe Nadir (1885-1943). One folklorized version was published anonymously by S. Bastomski in 1923. The text and music were published by M. Nadir in 1927, as well as in the author's book 'A Lomp Oyfn Fenster' in 1929." Zachary Baker 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Feb 1996 03:09:38 -0500 From: wolfim@chelsea.ios.com Subject: Reliques of the GDYL In reply to inquiries on project materials of The Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language: As far as I know, the project materials are currently housed in the Butler Library at Columbia University and perhaps, in part, at YIVO. Texts on Disk There is a good deal of modern stuff among the computer-readable texts, but it is not easily accessible. When the process began, texts were input on punched cards and for most of the period in which inputting took place, the nature of the process was such that an error rate of 10% was the rule -- yes, one out of every 10 letters an error. Unfortunately proofreading of the material was sporadic, limiting its usefulness. There are better ways of inputting the material nowadays -- except for those texts whose sources are not legible to an electronic scanner. Citation Bibliography The bibliography which David Goldberg authored and input is everything he says it is. It was stored in a customized database whose software base is not only antiquated, but can only run on a machine which is long extinct. The data is nevertheless recoverable. If the source cardfile still exists, it is presumably among the materials at Columbia or YIVO. Meyer-Leyb Wolf ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.253