Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 5.302
April 14, 1996

1) Simulirte virklekhkeyt (Ruvn Millman)
2) Judeo Alsatian again (Dan Leeson)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 12:58:54 -0400
From: ruvn@aol.com
Subject: Simulirte virklekhkeyt

Adam Whiteman fregt (Mendele 5.299) tsi me hot gehert nokh terminen far "V.R."
Ikh gedenk nisht vu, ober es dakht zikh mir az ikh'ob ergets gehert zogn "der
kmo-emes."  Say vi ken "Simulirte virklekhkeyt" nisht zayn "V.R." vayl
"Virtual" iz nisht "simulirt" nor "kemat."  Loyt mir, volt a "Simulirung"
geven a "moshl fun epes" un a moshl iz aleyn a fuler emes nisht kemat an emes.

Ruvn Millman

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 1996 19:23:52 EDT
From: leeson@aspen.fhda.edu
Subject: Judeo Alsatian again

This is a note about what appears to be an important book on Yiddish, though
it is going to take a few minutes for me to get around to it.  Be patient.
There is a purpose to the story.

In an effort to understand the matter of the language called "Judeo Alsatian"
and its relationship, if any, to Yiddish, I posted on this list several times
over the past year.  Frankly, I was confused about the nature of the thing
with which I was dealing.  On one hand, some said that this was simply a
variant of Yiddish, though I could barely understand a single written word.
Others suggested (and to which I concurred) that this was a completely
independent language derived from the still-spoken Alsatian dialect.  My
interest derives from the difficulty of dealing with genealogic documents from
the 18th century that were said to be written partly or completely in Judeo
Alsatian.

The bottom line is that I wound up more confused than when I began.  I'm not
trying to give anyone guilt (though it is always meritorious and pleasurable
when that noble end is achieved), only remark that many of the postings
contradicted each other.

I had suggested that the Alsatian language sounded very similar (at least to
my untrained ear) to Romansch, a language spoken in nearby Switzerland.  I had
spent several weeks in an Alsatian village last summer and heard a great deal
of Alsatian spoken locally as well as on TV out of Strasbourg, though only for
a short period each day.  Everything else out of Strasbourg was, of course, in
French.  For my suggestion that Alsatian sounded like Romansch, one poster
asserted that there was no such relationship.

Keeping in mind that the discussion was about three languages - one Alsatian,
one, Judeo Alsatian, and the third Yiddish. Some spoke of Judeo Alsatian and
Alsatian in the same breath. Other suggested that Judeo Alsatian and Yiddish
were fundamentally the same thing.  Yet, in visiting Strasbourg, I had a
Yiddish conversation with one of the residents there.  So if Judeo Alsatian
was really Yiddish why could I not deal with documents from late 1700 that
were purportedly written in this language? (My conversation was with Chasidim
in Strasbourg, so the fact that we communicated in contemporary Yiddish means
nothing with respect to a potential relationship between Yiddish and Judeo
Alsatian.)

The bottom line is that I am begining to think that a lot of people besides
myself are confused on this subject so maybe I am not the world's champion
dopey, all of which brings me to my point.

Because I wanted to learn something more about the whole subject of Judeo
Alsatian (for the purpose genealogic research into marriage contracts and
betrothal agreements of 18th century Alsace, none of which I can make any
sense of), I began searching the literature on the subject.  And it was a
recent discovery I made that I want to bring to the attention of the
Mendelayners, namely a book published in 1994 which was a collection of the
papers presented at a colloquium held on Jan. 16/17, 1989 in Mulhouse, edited
by Astrid Starck, and entitled "Le Yiddish occidental: Actes du Colloque de
Mulhouse" (German title: "Westjiddisch: Mundlichkeit und Schriftlichkeit"), as
published by Verlag Sauerlander (Aarau, Frankfurt Main, Salzburg).

First, let me admit freely that there are a lot of essays in this book that
are very difficult to me.  My French is good, but my German is less so.  So
understanding the subtlties of Robert Schlaepfer's "Florence
Guggenheim-Grunberg: "Ihr Beitrag zur Erforschung des Westjiddischen" is
difficult.  But it is not a shlep nor a trial, but a pleasure, to read
Alexandre Derczansky's "Les rapports du yidich occidental et de la litterature
yidich ancienne."

It is in Astrid Starck's three contributions ("La litterature orale yidich
alsacienne," "Le Yidich occidental (alsacien) dans l'oeuvre de Claude Vigee,"
and "Bibliographie du yidich alsacien") that the matter of Alsatian Yiddish
and its distinctions from Judeo Alsatian is made much more clear.

To the still confused, I reproduce something in Judeo Alsatian so that one can
see how very far it is from Yiddish, though some words are from Hebrew, some
are from Yiddish, and some are from Aramaic.   A certain Rabbi Joehoshuah Ben
Jauseff wrote a letter in Judeo Alsatian only about 40 years ago to his Swiss
cousin Abraham, who lived in Basle.  The letter is dated "Pesach, 5727," and
was the subject of Claude Vigee's paper entitled, "A Peissach Brief."
Spellings are given exactly as they appear and only diacritics are not
reproduced due to Internet's inability carry them.  A small portion of the
original letter is given and a liberal English translation (taken from the
French version of the letter in Vigee's paper) follows.

Of particular interest in this letter is that, not only is it in Judeo
Alsatian, but the subject spoken of is the character of Judeo Alsatian as a
language; i.e., as one might speak lovingly today about Yiddish, remembering
it from one's youth.

      "Liwer Cussin Awerham in dr Bores-Medine

      "Dr Ungel Itzig hot mr ajer Sejferle iwer's Elsaesser- Jiddisch Loschen
      uff Yontev zur Metone vermassert. Ehr kenne mrs' maneschumme glawe,
      s'hot mr e grousi Simche gemacht, alli die Chochmes vun unserio Awes-
      Awosejnes sou gutt newenander gstellt, wie der Al-Cheit am Yom-Kipper,
      ganze mehanne ze geniesse.

      "S'iss beemess a rachmones un a nefare, dass sou a jaufenes Loschen nur
      noch vun a baar Balbattem wie ihr un unseraans sou halwer in dr Schtike
      un im Schmachle medawert werd: mr hette oser nix debaj ze verschteckle,
      denn sou ebbes chenediges sodd mr dr granz Jiddischkaat in unserm
      Harjett sei Aulem zum Modell vorliege.  Awer dou heleft nix dergeje.  In
      dere miese Welt iss hait alles, wie im Zarfes, mechulle! Zegar noch
      unser Jiddeschmuss muss im Goles gebore geih."

And now a liberal English translation:

      "Dear Cousin Abraham in cow-land [said to be an Alsatian-Jewish
      expression in reference to Switzerland]

      "Uncle Isaac has sent me, as a Pesach gift, your little book on the
      patois of the Alsatian Jews.  Upon my soul, believe me that it gave me
      great pleasure to see the aphorisms of our ancestors nicely arranged,
      side-by-side, like the list of sins in the public confession at Yom-
      Kippur, and to be able to enjoy it completely at my ease.

      "In truth, it is a crime and pity that such a beautiful language should
      no longer be spoken, except in secret, with a half-smile, by the rare
      heads of families such as you and I.  We truly have nothing to hide.  On
      the contrary, one should be able to give examples of this gracious idiom
      to all the Jewish people, from one end of G-d's universe to the other.
      But these are vain wishes; even our Jewish jargon has become proof of
      our exile. Like France, this sad world is in perpetual descent.

      "For my own pleasure, defying evil fate, I want to write to you today in
      the maternal language of the Jews of Alsace according to the ancient
      way..."

I have a lot more reading to do on this subject, but I thought that the
Mendelayners would enjoy knowing about this book which treats Western Yiddish
(i.e., France, Germany, etc.) and its distinction from Eastern Yiddish (i.e.,
Poland, Hungary, Russia, etc.).  Though more derived from my own ignorance, I
am now reduced to a such state of total confusion about the relationship
between Yiddish, Judeo-Alsatian, and Alsatian, that I think I'll rest a while.
I need some cold compresses on my head.

Oh yes.  The book also makes reference to something called "Judeo Lorraine"
and I'm not going near that with a ten-foot Pole (pun intended).

Dan Leeson
Los Altos, California

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End of Mendele Vol. 5.302