Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 7.030 June 30, 1997 1) Di Sofridzhetke (Pessl Beckler-Semel-Stern) 2) Dos shtetl bashteyn (Bob Rothstein) 3) Yiddish National Book Center - Follow Up (Zvi Oster) 4) ben Yishai (Alvin Greenberg) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 29 Jun 1997 17:34:28 -0700 From: pessl@juno.com (pessl beckler-semel-stern) Subject: Di Sofridzhetke Ikh hob ersht geleyent di nokhfrage fun Kalman Weisern vegn dos lid, Di Sofridzhetke. Di mame mayne, mien zol zi zikh, iz gekumen keyn Amerike in 1913 un hot ongehoybn zingen Yidishe vodevil lider, tsvishn zey, a lid vos by ir hot dos geheysn, Mayn Kale. Di verter zaynen azoy: Mazl-tov git mir op haynt, un hert aykh ayn farvos A khosn bin ikh gevorn haynt; in gikhn ver ikh a balabos. Oykh vel ikh aykh tzu mayn okhtzayt (?) bet. Ikh mayn aykh ale nit kayn vitz. Ikh vil aykh forshteln mayn kale, zi kumt fun galitz. Mayn kale, trogt a bloye hetke, mit a geln feder in der zat. Zi iz a sofridzhetke, zi trogt hoyzn anshtat a klayd. Di geyt tzi mitings ale; zi spitcht dort un nemt kayn blof. Derun fraynde, kumt un zet mayn kale, un shrayt oys, mazl-tof. Mayn kale iz aherkekumen, kholile nit far noyt A herkot hot zib bald genumen; gevorn bald oys moyd. Zi smukt shoyn oykh a sigaret, ven in kompeni zi zitzt Dri mol a vokh sheyvt zi di bord, un froyen rekht zi spitcht. Mayn kale..... Ir farshteyt shoyn aleyn, az dos lid is fun di fule lider vos hobn khoyzik gemakht fun di vos hobn gekemft far froyen rekht. Ven di froyen-fray bavegung hot in di 60er yorn tzurik oyfgeblit, hot di mame shoyn aleyn farshtanen, as dos lid is enlekh tsu dem troyerik-barimt lid, Rumenye, un zi hot es mer nit gezungen. Pessl Beckler-Semel-Stern 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 29 Jun 1997 23:54:38 -0400 (EDT) From: ROBERT A ROTHSTEIN Subject: Dos shtetl bashteyn To add to what Mendy Fliegler (7.027) and Andrey Bredstein (7.029) had to say about the Yiddish proverbial expresssion "dos shtetl bashteyn": the late Dr. Israel Furman in his _Yidishe shprikhverter un rednsartn (Tel-Aviv, 1968) has two relevant entries. "1664. Er ken zayn shtetl aleyn bashteyn. [...] Men banutst di r[edns]a[rt] oykh in der ershter perzon. Geveyntlekh zogt men dos, az eyner git eytses oder vil helfn. Bekheyn, batayt 'aleyn' an opzogn fun der hilf, oder der eytse. [The proverb is also used in the first person. One usually says this when someone offers advice or wants to help. "Aleyn" thus means a rejection of the help or the advice.] "1665. Er ken zayn shtetl bashteyn. Mit der r[edns]a[rt] zogt men aroys zayn gleybn in der feyikayt fun emetsn, az er farshteyt zikh tsu helfn in a shverer situatsye, oder vet kenen di shvere arbet durkhfirn ukhdoyme. Bikhlal iz es an aroyszogn fun tsutroy tsu eynem. [...] 'Shtetl' hot in der r[edns]a[rt] dem batayt fun plats, postn, ort, shtele, shtandpunkt un bikhlal situatsye. -- Noent fun dem batayt iz in yidish dos vort shtot (in shul). -- 'Bashteyn' hot dem zin fun toygn, durkhfirn, menatseyekh zayn. -- Di tsvey verter in di ongevizene bataytn zenen undz akhuts do, nish bakant. Di bataytn zenen fun daytsh, vu zey zenen ofter, nor in daytsh heyst es nisht Stadt, nor Statt oder Sta"tte. In yidish-taytsh hot men enlekh gezogt: 'Der kann sein Sta"tche bestehen.' S'iz ober genutst gevorn nor in a shlekhtn zin, lemoshl, vegen a shleger." [With this proverb one expresses belief in someone's ability to cope with a difficult situation or to carry out a difficult task etc. In general it is an expression of confidence in someone. In the proverb 'shtetl' means 'place, position, location, point of view or situation in general.' The word 'shtot' in the sense 'seat in a synagogue' has a similar meaning in Yiddish. 'Bashteyn' has the meaning 'qualify, carry out, triumph.' The two words in the given meanings are unknown to us except here. The meanings come from German, where they are more common, but in German the word is not 'Stadt' but 'Statt' or 'Sta"tte.' One said similarly in Judeo-German: 'Der kann sein Sta"tche bestehen.' It was used however only in a negative sense, e.g., with respect to a pugnacious type] Bob Rothstein 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 9:14:44 EST5EDT From: "Zvi Oster" Subject: Yiddish National Book Center - Follow Up I am glad to report that the June 27,1997, "Forwerts", includes an article about the opening of the Yiddish National Book Center in Amherst MA. A brief history of the center, followed by a description of the facilities which includes a collection of 1.3 million (!) books in Yiddish, is given. I am still puzzled about the reasons for chosing the location of the "National Yiddish Bicher Centrale", away from major Jewish Centers. I am also puzzled by the fact that during the opening ceremonies, held on June 15, 1997, no mention was made of NYBC's role besides "samlung" or of its collaborative endeavors with other institutions promoting Yiddish culture. Is this going to be a central warehouse for Yiddish books discarded by their dying owners and distributed for safekeeping and study to other libraries, or is it going to be more than that. Hopefully, the questions will be answered. Zvi Oster 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Jun 1997 09:59:32 -0500 (CDT) From: Alvin Greenberg Subject: ben Yishai - a query I'm new to the Mendele list and uncertain about my participation because I neither speak/read Yiddish nor am very knowledgeable about either the history of the language nor its current status. I am, however, delighted to see the level of interest in literature, poetry in particular, on the list, and would like to query other participants for any knowledge about a particular Yiddish poet. His name is (was) David Greenberg--my great-grandfather--and he wrote under the name ben Yishai. I've been doing some research on him out of interest as a poet myself and because the family has not had any of his work (or, for that matter, much memory of him). His dates are 1853-1917, he emigrated (1883) from Volhynia, and lived in Cincinnati. I have found three of his poems in Die Yiddische Velt (Cleveland), where a wonderful obituary notes that he was widely published in all the leading Yiddish newspapers (don't we miss the days when newspapers published poetry!) and that "thousands of Jews" attended his funeral (perhaps a bit of an exaggeration given the size of the local Jewish community at that time). He is also given a reference in Radar's Concise Dictionary of American Jewish Biography (1994), so obviously he was (outside the family, that is) quite well known (he's referred to there as both poet and composer); that entry also refers to a listing in Eisenstadt's Hakme Yisroel be-Amerika which I have not yet found. Information/advice from anyone who knows anything about this poet/ancestor of mine would be greatly appreciated--including suggestions for (practical) routes for further research. Many thanks. PS: Those with a particular interest in poetry might enjoy the current (Spring 1997) issue of the literary magazine Prairie Schooner, edited by Hilda Raz, which (despite its unlikely title) is devoted to contemporary Jewish writing in America (this current issue, that is). This is admittedly a flagrant plug, since I also have some work there regarding this great-grandfather of mine. Alvin Greenberg St. Paul, MN ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 7.030