Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 7.005
May 21, 1997

1) Menakhem Mendl (Mechl Asheri)
2) Biographical information sought (Estelle Souche)
3) Dan Leeson in the English Forward (Joel Maxman)
4) Dan Leeson in the English Forward (Ruth Fisher Goodman)
5) Dan Leeson in the English Forward (Chana Mlotek)
6) Dan Leeson in the English Forward (Mordkhe Schaechter)
7) Earning and learning (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 12:39:10 +0300
From: donnom@netvision.net.il
Subject: Menakhem Mendl

Vays ikh nit fun vanen nemt reb Louis Friedlander az "Der nomen
Menakhem-Mendl hot in 1888 nisht geklungen azoi bakant far di yidishe
leyeners. In 1903 iz der nomen farknipt un gebunden gevorn mitn
bakantn Menakhem-Mendl vos iz oysgevaksn a luftmensh u.a.v."

Der emes iz az Mendl iz an iberzetz (tsi a tsunemenish -- lomir zikh
nit mevakayekh zayn) fun'm loshn-koideshdikn nomn Menakhem shoyn lang
far 1888 un oftmol getrofn in kombinatsie. Lmoshl, der Rebbe Menakhem
Mendl Vitebsker iz nifter in yor 1788 -- akurat hundert yor frier.
Rebbe Menakhem Mendl Rimanover iz nifter in yor 1815, Menakhem Mendl
Kosover in 1825, Menakhem Mendl Kotzker in 1859 un vayter asakh.
Kaynmol iz der nomn taki nit farbindn mit luftmenshkayt (oyb s'iz do
aza vort), un ad hayoym. Der Lubavitcher Rebbe z"l, nifter a por yor
tsurik, hot zikh oikh gehaysn Menakhem Mendl.

Mechl Asheri

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 01:07:28 +0200 (MET DST)
From: esouche@ens.ens-lyon.fr
Subject: Biographical information sought

I am looking for biographical information about the following writers
(and especially interested in knowing whether they're still alive):

	Reyzl Zhikhlinski
	Meyer Frumkin
	Sholem Shtern
	Pesye Pomerants-Honigboym (/ Hershfeld-Pomerants)
	Avrom Bik
	(Youri) M.A. Sul

Al dos beste,

Estelle Souche

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 08:55:00 -0500
From: jmaxman@rosenman.com
Subject: Dan Leeson in the English Forward

Dan Leeson writes:

   The fact that Forward is no longer published in Yiddish ....

When did publication stop?  I seem to remember receiving an issue in
the mail just this past Friday!

Joel Maxman
New York City

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 19:35:30 -0400 (EDT)
From: ruthfg@aol.com
Subject: Dan Leeson in the English Forward

Dan Leeson says that the Forward is not published
in Yiddish. it is: the Forverts.

Ruth Fisher Goodman
Wilmington, DE

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 21:04:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: emlotek@aol.com
Subject: Dan Leeson in the English Forward

Der khoshever shrayber filt zikh geshmeykhlt vos der englisher
forverts hot aktseptirt zayn dertseylung un es opgedrukt in dem
yoyvl-oysgabe, Ober mayn freyd iz mir gevorn farshtert, nokhn leyenen,
vi er shraybt, az der yidisher forverts eksistirt nit mer.  Oyb er
volt geleyent dem zelbikn  ekzemplar fun englishn forverts vi s'geher
tsu zayn, volt er gezen az mir (Chana un Yosl Mlotek), tsum bayshpil,
firn on mit undzer rubrik "Perl fun der yidisher poezye" zint l970 on
oyfher. Vu iz er di ale yorn?  Vi ken er derklern aza fardrislekhe
toyes?  Vos far a mendelyaner iz er vos iz azoy veynik bahavnt?

Chana Mlotek

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 12:20:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: mschaecht@aol.com
Subject: Dan Leeson in the English Forward

The Forverts is still published in Yiddish biz hindert in tsvontsik.

Mordkhe Schaechter

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 11:56:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: shirshan@aol.com
Subject: Earning and learning

Although bereft as a child of the wonderful insights regarding
bilabial fricatives and labiodental fricatives (for which I thank
Ellen Prince, Arn Abramson and Rick Turkell) I too have an anecdote.

My father, whose raison d'etre was earning and learning, attended
(with deep enthusiasm) night school classes in English for foreigners.
One night he came home looking pale, ashen, distressed, and announced
he had been chosen to be Mr. Holland in the June closing assembly. We
thought he should be delighted.

"No," he replied, "I have to tell about George Goetals (sic)." Yiddish
having no "th" sound, he couldn't pronounce Goethals.  Whenever he had
free time, we sat with a mirror for him to study the tongue placement
for creating "th" as compared to touching the roof of your mouth to
create a "t". Each time he could create the "th" sound, he was
gleeful, but when he had to join it to the rest of the sounds, he
slipped back to the "t". His sense of failure and suffering matched
the intensity of his efforts.

It took two full months, with the help of his beloved teacher, Mrs.
Jarvis, (I cna't believe I remember her name these 55+ years), for us
to fill him with a sense of pride in his other new-found English
skills, and motivate him to the point where it didn't matter if his
pronunciation was not perfect.

He performed stalwartly, like a trouper. And when he said, loud and
clear, "George Goetals was..." to me he looked like Spenser Tracy.

Although he sounded like Akim Tamiroff.

Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan

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End of Mendele Vol. 7.005