Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 5.289
March 26, 1996

1) "Ikh hob gezen a barg" (Leybl Botvinik)
2) Yiddish at a bat mitsve (Morrie Feller)
3) Is it German or Yiddish? (Leonard Prager)
4) Az men zogt meshuge, gleyb! (Leonard Prager)
5) Yiddish journals (David Herskovic)
6) A libe iz an umglik af der velt (Keyle Goodman)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 05:58:00 +0200 (IST)
From: leybl@telecomm.tadiran.co.il
Subject: "Ikh hob gezen a barg"

tayere khaveyrim, tsi ken emetster an iberzetsung oyf english (oder oyf
hebreish) fun moyshe shulshteyns khurbn lid "Ikh hob gezen a barg" ? ikh volt
geven dankbar, dos tsu bakumen.

Dear friends, does anyone know of an English (or Hebrew) translation of Moyshe
Shulshtein's Holocaust poem "Ikh hob gezen a barg" ? I would appreciate
receiving this.

a dank in foroys,

leybl botvinik
netanya

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 1996 23:07:39 -1000
From: feller@indirect.com
Subject: Yiddish poem or short story suitable to recite at a Bat Mitzvah

Our granddaughter will become a Bat Mitzvah at our Temple at the end of May.
My wife has been requested to recite a poem or short parable in Yiddish during
the service.  I recall that there have several suggestions made with respect
to secular Bat Mitzvahs.  Perhaps some Mendelyaner can help us find an
appropriate poem or parable.  We feel that this represents a good opportunity
to show the appropriateness of using Yiddish as part of a synagogue service.

Morrie Feller
Phoenix

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 96 09:47:23 IST
From: rhle302@uvm.haifa.ac.il
Subject: Is it German or Yiddish?

Would someone brave enough to read Russell Hoban's latest novel
(_Fremder_ Cape, 1996 (or 1995) 184 pp.  0224043706) please report on whether
the title is Yiddish or German or ambiguously either. The word is virtually
identical in German and Yiddish.  Most "Is this German or Yiddish?" debates
concern old Yiddish texts.

"The protagonist is called Fremder Elijah Gorn, and from each element of
his name a strand runs....  Fremder (it means "stranger" as you are told
early on) wonders why he seems to have no coupling device enabling him
to plug into another person properly....  _Fremder_ is an anarchic
book..."_

   Tom Shippey, "Fun with flickers," TLS 8 March 1996, p. 24.

Leonard Prager
Haifa

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 96 11:39:16 IST
From: rhle302@uvm.haifa.ac.il
Subject: Az men zogt meshuge, gleyb!

In my notice in vol5.275 re "Az men git, nem," I made no categorical statement
regarding a "correct" form of the proverb -- in fact I asked what specific
proverb Yoram Brunovski had in mind.  Both "Az men git, nem" and "Az men git,
nemt men" are attested as the first parts of two distinct proverbs in
Bernstein under _gebn_ and in Stutshkov under _nemung_, but they don't appear
alone.  I see no reason to doubt that both expressions were used alone and
that "Az me git, nemt men" is a legitimate variant, used in some places and in
certain contexts and not in others.

The variants differ in sound and meaning.  The imperative version does not
require the "balance" which some find in the longer variant. This can be more
clearly seen in the saying, "Az men zogt meshuge, gleyb!"  (Bernstein,
_meshuge_).  It is obviously false that people always believe that a certain
person or idea is mad and so one doesn't say, "Az men zogt meshuge, gleybt
men."

The proverb is _advice_ against taking chances on such matters (as recent
tragic events so strongly confirm) -- it is a command not a generalization.
But no loss can accrue to those who march to either "Az men git, nem" or "Az
men git, nemt men."

Leonard Prager
Haifa

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: 26 Mar 96 06:05:43 EST
From: 100114.750@compuserve.com
Subject: Yiddish journals

Does anybody have an up-to-date list of all yiddish newspapers, magazines or
journals etc published worldwide? Please reply to the list so that others too
can benefit of this information.

a groysen shkoyekh

David Herskovic

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 26 Mar 1996 06:39:09 -0800
From: ac939@lafn.org
Subject: A libe iz an umglik af der velt

Fraynd Mendelyaner.  Mit a por vokhn tsurik [5.282] hot Marti Krow-Lucal
gebetn di verter fun dem lid.  Ikh hob nor vos gefunen di verter un ot zenen
zey.

Oy, a libe iz an umglik af der velt
Tsu vemen zi falt nor arayn,
Es kost op fil koykhes un gelt
Tsu ken mir den erger zayn?

Tsu vos hot mir getoygt tsu visn
A libe af der velt tsu brengen?
Mayn harts vert mir oysgerisn
Durkh a libe ken men zikh nokh hevengen.

Oy a libe ven zi firt zikh glaykh
Un eltern shtern zey nit
Iz nishto kayn besere zakh
Vi dos iz tsuker zis.

Haynt zitsn mir beyde af a bank
Tsu morgns tustu avekforn
Fun hartsveytik bin ikh shoyn krank,
Oy vey tsu mayne yorn.

Ikh vintch aykh ale a koshern pesakh!!!

Keyle (Kay) Goodman

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End of Mendele Vol. 5.289