Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.271 April 4, 1997 1) What song is this? (Marvin Engel) 2) Help needed with Yiddish letters (Teresa A. Pollin) 3) Yiddish study programs (Wendy Surinsky) 4) Biographical information sought (Wolf Krakowski and Paula Parsky) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 26 Mar 1997 17:40:48 -0500 From: maengel@erols.com Subject: What song is this? Ikh zukh di verter un informatsya vegn a lid, oder efsher tsvay lider vos mayne eltern un andere lodzer hubn gezingen mit groys frayd. "er hot gemaynt zayn lebn makhn beser, hot men im arayngedrikt a zagranitshne meser." zagranitshne oder a za granitshne, ich farshay in gantsn nisht dos vort (di verter.) andere verter vos kenen efsher zayn fun dos zelbiga lid: "er iz gevaldig tsufridn vos di mame hot im gehat." (tsvay mol) ikh ken gut zingen di por verter, un oib emitser vet mir gebn vos faylt oys vel ikh far aykh gern zingen dos lid oyf ayere simkhes. uber gedenk, ir vayst mayn shtime nisht. ikh vil oykh fregn tsu emitser vayst fun shraybungen vegn di yidishe khorn fun arbeter ring un di frayhayt khorn. antshudikt mir oyb di temes zenen shoyn diskusirt gevorn in mendele. There is a song that I'd like to have identified. It was sung with great glee by my forebears. er hot gemaynt zayn lebn makhn beser hut men im arayngedrikt a zagranitshne meser. I undoubtedly have the penultimate word wrong and I haven't the faintest idea what it means. Also, and possibly from the same song: er iz gevaldig tsufridn vos di mame hot im gehat (repeated) I know the melody fragments that go with these words. If I can get the rest of the lyrics I'll gladly perform this (these) at simkhes on request; but be careful what you ask for-- And while I am on the topic of music, does anyone know of any accounts or collections of the Workmen's Circle and Freiheit choruses? If any of this has been covered in earlier issues, please forgive the repetition. Marvin Engel 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 27 Mar 97 14:45:56 EST From: tpollin@ushmm.org Subject: Help needed with Yiddish letters My name is Teresa A. Pollin, I am an archivist in the Photo Archives in the US Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. I would like to enlist your help in a project that I am currently working on. I am looking for a volunteer to read and write English summaries of approximately 50 handwritten letters. The story is as follows: A young girl, 15 years old, left Warsaw for the US in 1936. She joined her maternal aunt in Chicago, while her parents and siblings stayed behind. The family corresponded extensively in Yiddish until October 1940. The German decree did not allow any correspondence in Yiddish, so the family started to write postcards in Polish or Yiddish written in Latin letters. The young girl sent food packages to the family in the Warsaw ghetto. The content of the postcards is heartbreaking - begging for help, continuously asking for more food packages, describing living conditions in a synagogue. The correspondence ended abruptly in December 1941, after Germany declared war on America on December 11, 1941. The young girl, today a woman, is still guilt-ridden about her inability to rescue her family. All perished in Treblinka. She forgot her Yiddish and her Polish, her children are very eager to understand the family dynamics and through that their mother. I translated the Polish material for them, but my Yiddish is not good enough (according to my sister it is non-existent). If you are willing to help, please contact me either by e-mail: tpollin@ushmm.org or by phone: 202 - 488-6128 (please feel free to call collect). Thank you very much for including this posting on your list. Teresa A. Pollin 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 19:15:53 -0500 (EST) From: wsurinsk@nimbus.ocis.temple.edu Subject: Yiddish study programs I am trying to get information about summer Yiddish study programs offered at Hebrew University and the University of Tel Aviv. I wonder if any mendele subscribers have e-mail addresses for people involved with either of these programs. I would appreciate it if somebody has this information if he/she could please send it to me. Thanks very much. Wendy Surinsky 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 29 Mar 1997 17:23:56 +0000 From: media@kamea.com Subject: Biographical information sought We would like to ask Mendelyaners for any biographical information or any sources of same for the following individuals: Max Perlman Ben Zion Witler Avrom Yitse Brudno Bernardo Feuer Samson Kemelmakher We've checked the EJ and books which contain songs by Brudno and Feuer, but would like fuller information, if anyone can help. A sheynem un hartsikn dank, Wolf Krakowski Paula Parsky ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.271 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