Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.230 February 17, 1997 1) Mezinke (David Herskovic) 2) Tevye's aphorisms (David Herskovic) 3) More Yiddishe dueten-lider (Bernard Katz) 4) "A keselgarten!" (Khayem Bochner) 5) "A keselgarten!" (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 Feb 97 20:02:18 EST From: 100114.750@compuserve.com Subject: Mezinikel [See further 6.200, 6.223-7] I always thought 'mezinek' to be a corruption of the posik, 'ki ven zkinim hi loy'. It is in berayshis (Genesis) where it tells the story of Yosef and his brothers. It says that Yankev liked Yosef more than his other sons because he was a child born to him in old age. The key word here is 'zekinim' which has its root in 'zokayn', Hebrew for 'old'. I always took it for granted that 'mezinek' is a corruption of the above with the 'n' changing places with 'k'. Is this normal in language development? And is it possible that the Ukrainian and Russian words cited in connection with 'mezinek' have their roots in the Hebrew? I also think that the image of the mezinek may have its origin in the above biblical story. Yosef and Binyomin, two children born to their old father, are given special treatment. Yosef gets a special shirt while Binyomin is never allowed out of sight. The whole story is built around Yosef being punished for behaving like a spoilt kid, a trait of a mezinek, Yankev's reluctance to let Binyomin go and Yehuda's intercession on behalf of his youngest brother. As regards the tradition of dancing with a broom, mentioned by Fay Lipshitz [6.223], the minheg is alive and dancing all over the world in frim communities. As the weddings have a mekhitse I only see the father dancing with the broom. David Herskovic 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 Feb 97 20:02:27 EST From: 100114.750@compuserve.com Subject: Tevye's aphorisms First of all my thanks to Louis Friedhandler --mendele's eminent resident Sholem Aleichemologist- and Mechl Asheri [6.226, 6.227] for carrying on where I left off. Sorry for my concision. I must differ with Reb Mechel in the meaning of S A's phrases. The posik 'im begapoy yovoy begapoy yaytsay' referrs to a Hebrew slave. There are only two ways for a Hebrew to become a slave. Either he is poor and sells himself or he is caught thieving and cannot afford to pay up so he is sold with the proceeds going to the victims. When his time comes to leave, after six years, the posik says that if he arrived on his own he leaves on his own, but if he brought a wife along he takes her along with him. The idea of a Jew being a slave, whether a pauper who can think of no better way of making a living but selling himself, or a thief that gets caught, implies a shlemazel of sorts. And this is in my opinion what Tevye means when he says 'az men laygt aran a krenk nemt men aros a kadokhes', whatever went in comes out. It is a way of saying you get what you pay for. The attribution of the quote to Rashi adds a geshmak to the quotation that I simply cannot explain. I can only compare it to seeing 'omar abay'ye, omar rove'* in Bialik's 'Hamasmid', 'baye shenolde beyomtev'* in IB Singer's childhood memories and countless similar phrases in Yidish and early Hebrew literature. (*Talmudic phrases). Is it the creativity and the profanity of the apikorses? Is it the satisfaction at knowing they went through the same Cheider and Yeshive system that I did? Whatever and however, geshmak it is! Reb Mechel also mentioned 'vi a hon in benay odom'. Sorry but I must again disagree. The tradition of Kapores, (yes, Reb Mechel, I do do it with a chicken except when they price the chickens so high that it's an avayre to spend that kind of money) starts with a prayer 'Benay odom' (Sons of man) which is said three times. During this prayer the chicken is held still, as opposed to the circular motion made later, and the chicken with its stare ends up looking into the makhzer. From this comes the above phrase which is used for a klotz looking at something he or she has no idea about. For eg. if you caught Bill Clinton reading Voltaire or Boris Yeltsin scanning a balance sheet you could make this comment. The phrase that Reb Louis asks about is, I believe (I do not own the book), in the first part where Tevye is on the way home from Boybrik and is stopped by two ladies wanting a ride. In the middle of the way the horses refuse to move. He whips them and when it doesn't help he tries to reason with them. The horses, it seems, adhere to a different strand of logic than Tevye's and this too doesn't work. He then exclaims in resignation 'ayn khokhme, veayn aytse, veayn tevine keygn a krank ferd'. The phrase is a play on a verse in Proverbs which says 'There is no wisdom and no advice (strategy) and no intelligence against [the will of] G-d. David Herskovic 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 23:51:22 -0500 (EST) From: bkatz@uoguelph.ca Subject: More Yiddishe dueten-lider Further to my message distributed in 6.216 I have come across another two duets for female and male voices. They are found in _Mir trogen a gezang, the new book of Yiddish song_ compiled by Chana E. Mlotek and published by the Workmen's Circle. It is sung by Lorin Sklamberg and Shura Lipovsky on the tape cassette _On Wings of Song_ (WC21) issued by The Workmen's Circle. The song is "Pozharne komande", by Wolf Younin and Sh.Kahn, written about 1927-28, and is actually in Yiddish and Polish (Russian?). Found on the same tape is "Oh kum shoyn shtiler ovnt", sung by Yosl Mlotek and Shura Lipovsky, which is also in _Mir trogen a gezang_. Bernard Katz Guelph, Ontario 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 22:14:53 -0500 From: bochner@deas.harvard.edu Subject: "A keselgarten!" Noyekh Miller writes [6.228]: Blaybt fort a kashe: thirty years closed down and people in der heym still didn't know about Ellis Island? Of course they did. Why then retain the older name? Veys ikh nisht. Ikh oykh nisht. But by coincidence I have ready at hand evidence that this phenomenon was not limited to Yiddish, or to Jews. The current issue of _Language_ has a review of a recent dictionary of the Hungarian usage of Hungarian immigrants to the US. And the title: "Tu'l a Kecega'rda'n", which translates as "Beyond Castle Garden". The reviewer (Edith Moravcsik) remarks: "The name was kept among the immigrants even after the station was moved to Ellis Island in 1890". Apparently Castle Garden had quite a reputation. Ober far vos? Di kashe blaybt a kashe ... Khayem Bochner 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 From: nmiller@trincoll.edu Subject: "A keselgarten!" Khayem Bochner's comments above suggest that although the kashe blaybt a kashe it could profitably be rephrased. For it is by no means limited to Castle Carden and may be but one more instance of everyday ethnogeography. Simply put, place names die hard but we don't know why. Need more examples? Start with Lemberg, a name that disappeared in 1918 to be replaced first by Lvov and now by Lviv. Its Yiddish name remains Lemberg. And what of Vilnius and Kaunas which stubbornly remain Vilne and Kovne? Or Preshburg, which everybody else called Pressburg until about 1919 when it became Bratislava ..and continues to be assigned to Hungary in the bargain? Noyekh Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.230