Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.051 August 13, 1996 1) Shnek (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 2) Spinoza and Yiddish (Chana and Yosl Mlotek) 3) Spinoza and Yiddish (Heather Valencia) 4) Chasha (Rivke Steinig) 5) Yiddish theatre in Montreal (Zachary Baker) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 15:17:41 -0400 From: gevaryahu@aol.com Subject: der taytsh fun "shnek" (a frizur) Joachim Neugroschel (6.049) asks about the haircut style named "shnek". Weinreich mention the word schneck to mean a snail, or a screw. In English (from German) schnecken refers to a spiral shaped pastry. Thus I can speculate that the haircut named shnek or schneck is the old spiral hair style where the hair was rolled in a spiral shape on the back of the head. I remember seeing this kind of hair style in Israel in the late fifties-early sixties by fancy European ladies. Gilad J. Gevaryahu (Gottesman) 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 22:55:44 -0400 From: chaniyos@aol.com Subject: Spinoza in Yiddish poetry Allan Nadler asked [6.049] if there are any Yiddish poems about Spinoza. We can inform him that Meylekh Ravitch wrote 20 poems about Spinoza which are published in his book "Di lider fun mayne lider", Montreal l954. They are titled: ll/24, l632 - 2/22, l677; Lid fun zayn yugnt, fun der hefkerdiker nakht farn kheyrem; Der kheyrem; Di verter fun kheyrem; Raynsburg; Vizye; Der toyt; Vizye fun zayn letstn tog; Teologish-politisher traktat; Di briv; Di geometrishe form fun der etik; Di aynteylung fun der etik; Di etik - ershter teyl; Spinoza un du; Fartsveyflung un fal; Hunderter yorn, oyto-da-feen --; Ru; In likht; Kategorish lid; and Bashert iz mir efsher -. In Itsik Fefer's famous poem "Ikh bin a yid" the 8th stanza starts: "Der roysh fun markn amsterdamer / Hot mayn Shpinozen nit geshtert / Aleyn di roymen makhn gramer." (in his book Roytarmeyish). A. Almi has two passages: "Ikh her zikh ayn mit ale eyvrim, nervn: / Shpinoza shushket epes tsum Rambam" (in his poem "Bikher") and "Az Moyshe iz toyt, / Konfutsius, Sokrat, / Shpinoza un yom" (in poem "Lekhayim tsum toyt"), both poems in his book "Shirot aharonot/Letzte gezangen". Chana and Yosl Mlotek 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 09:31:00 +0100 From: h.m.valencia@stir.ac.uk Subject: Spinoza and Yiddish There is a poem by Abraham Sutzkever on Spinoza which Allen Nadler might like to look at. This is called "Shpinoze" and is on p.593 of Sutzkevers Poetishe verk, vol.1. It is an extended version of a poem called "A nakht mit shpinozn" which was published in the volume Lider in 1937. The two later sections were written in the Hague and Amsterdam in 1947. The differences between the two versions is interesting- the different use to which he puts this figure illuminates developments in his life and ideas in the intervening ten years. Heather Valencia Stirling, Scotland 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996 23:46:38 -0400 (EDT) From: rsteinig@suffolk.lib.ny.us Subject: Chasha According to _Jewish Personal Names: Their Origin, Derivation and Diminutive Forms_ by Rabbi Shmuel Gorr, Chasha is a variant of the biblical name Ketziah (Job, 42:14). Ketziah was the name of one of Job's three daughters and of a variety of cinnamon used in the incense offerings om the Temple in Jerusalem. Rivke Steinig 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Aug 1996 10:28:28 -0500 (EST) From: yivo1@metgate.metro.org Subject: Yiddish theatre in Montreal A book on the history of the Yiddish theater in Montreal has just been published. Here is the bibliographical information: Larrue, Jean-Marc. _Le theatre yiddish a Montreal_ = Yiddish theatre in Montreal. Foreword and postscript by Dora Wasserman. Montreal, Editions Jeu, 1996. 166 p., illus. ISBN 2-920999-04-4 The price of the book is approximately $25 (Canadian). Its North American distributor is Agence de distribution populaire, 955, rue Amherst, Montreal, Quebec H2L 3K4. In Europe is is distributed by Editions Lansman, Rue Royal, 63, B-7141 Carnieres (Morlanwelz), Belgium. The text is in French and English (parallel columns), with Dora Wasserman's contributions also appearing in the original Yiddish. Jean-Marc Larrue is a Quebec theater historian who has also written a book on the history of the Monument National, the venue for much of the Yiddish repertory that was performed in Montreal. (The Monument National was built and for many years owned by the Association Saint Jean Baptiste, which is best known as an organization that is devoted to Quebecois cultural and political nationalism.) Larrue's book treats the history of the Yiddish theater in Montreal from its beginnings to the present day. Most of the photos accompanying the text -- even those sections dealing with the earlier history of the Yiddish theater -- are for productions of the Yiddish Drama Group of the Saidye Bronfman Centre, a highly accomplished amateur troupe that has been performing since 1958, under the direction of Dora Wasserman (who has lately been succeeded by her daughter Bryna Wasserman). All in all, a significant contribution to the Yiddish theater outside of its North American center of New York City. Zachary Baker ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.051 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.cis.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.cis.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu ****Getting back issues**** 1. Anonymous ftp archives are available. ftp ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files A table of contents is also available, along with weekly updates. 2. Mendele archives can also be reached as follows: via WWW: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mewais.html via gopher: gopher://sunsite.unc.edu/11/../.pub/academic/languages/yiddish/mendele via ftp: ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/academic/languages/yiddish/mendele