Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 7.045 August 2, 1997 1) Introduction (Leon Rosenberg) 2) yidish lerer "fodem"/heymzayt (sylvia schildt) 3) Mendele Moykher Sforim dislikes liberals in mitn derinen? (L. Fridhandler) 4) Green's Yiddish Films (Miriam Isaacs) 5) etimologyes (Paul Glasser) 6) Drimpln and Joseph Green (Heynekh Sapoznik) 7) Electronic dictionaries (Louis Fridhandler) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 01 Aug 1997 18:35:00 -0700 From: leon t rosenberg Subject: Introduction As a kind hot men nor yiddish gehert in mein heim. As a yunger man hob ich kemat alles fargessen. And yetst, as an alter man, is mir beshert tsu vider herren yiddish in kop, ober tsu vemen zoll ich dos redn? Koompt yetst E-Mail, Internet, Amerike Ganif. Host du dir a mitsve. Leo Kanowitz shreibt mir an electronishe briv a vort far a vort, un do bin ich. Leon Rosenberg 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 1 Aug 1997 21:39:40 +0100 From: creativa@charm.net (sylvia schildt) Subject: yidish lerer "fodem"/heymzayt di velt iz ful mit yidish, un me greyt zikh tzu af nokh a lernyor in di universitetn, kursn far dervaksene, un andere institutzies vu me kumt lernen mame loshn. yung un nit azey yung. un zikher zaynen faran a sakh mer onheybers ... vi azey makht men az mer fun di vos heybn on lernen yidish zoln derkumen tzu a hekherer madrege (ikh red fun amerike, frankraykh, yisroyl, kanede, dorem amerike, dorem afrike, avstralye) efsher volt geven a plan untzuheybn a fodem arumtzushooesn a bisl di ale problemen vos di lerer makhn durkh in hayntike tzaytn, nit nor pedagogik, nor eykh di praktishe problemen, sheferishe materyaln far hayntike studentn. efsher iz eykh a plan, liber shames, me zol shafn a reshime fun klasn af mendele review, vu me ken arayngebn naye yedies af a tzaytikn eyfn. der algemeyner publikum (afile ahavey-yidish) muz farshteyn az der ershter problem iz me zol zikh onshlisn in di klasn af a tzaytikn eyfn -- eyb nit iz oys klas. di administratzies vartn nit az di mentshn zoln zikh oystshukhenen fun zumer-vakatzies. tzum bayshpil, do in boltimor, heybn zikh on mayne yidish kursn dem 4tn september, darf men zikh registrirn sof oygust. azey fil inyonim vos me darf ibershmooesn. tekstn. frages. iberblikn fun naye lerern materyaln. eytzes me zol beser helfn brengen studentn iber di shverste onheyber genitungen, zey zoln beemes unkumen tzu di oytzres fun mame loshn. vu gefinen zikh mentshn vos hobn genug tzugreytung zey zoln kenen onfirn klasn? vi azey shaft men klasn far yingere mentshn? Un efsher ken men fun di ale yedies shafn a spetzyel heymzaytl far yidishe lerer in inyen fun pedagogik. shraybt, shraybt, lerer, studentn, farvalter fun shules, u.a.v. vos meynt ir? sylvia schildt baltimore, maryland the world is full of yiddish, and we are getting ready for yet another year of learning in the universities, adult ed. courses, and other institutions where people come to learn mame loshn. young and not so young. and certainly there afre far more starter ... how to make it happen that more beginners move onto a higher level. I speak of america, france, israel, canada, south america, south africa. perhaps it would be a plan to start a thread to discuss a little all the problems that teachers go through in our times, not only pedagogy, but also practical problems, creative materials for today's students. perhaps it's also a plan, dear shames, to create a list of classes on mendele review, into which one can submit info in a timely manner. the general public (even lovers of yidish) must understand that the first problem is timely registration -- if not, there is no class. administrations do not wait until people begin to wake up from their summer vacations for example, here in baltimore, classes begin the 4th of september, so people need to register by the end of august so many subjects we need to discuss. texts. questions. overviews of new teaching materials. advice on how to bring students over the hardest beginner exercises, that they should arrive at the treasures of mame loshn. where can we find people with enough preparation to be able to conduct classes? how do we get classes going for young people? And perhaps we can, from all this information, create a special homepage for yiddish teachers and the subject of pedagogy. write, write, teachers, students, school administrators, etc. whatcha think? sylvia schildt 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 1 Aug 1997 23:57:56 -0400 (EDT) From: Lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Mendele Moykher Sforim dislikes liberals in mitn derinen? Az me redt Yidish un me fregt, "Vos iz a Yidish bukh? iz der entfer mistome gants poshet: epes a bukh geshribn af mame-loshn. Di zelbe kashe af English ruft aroys an ander min entfer. Zey nor di artiklen inem letstn numer Pakn-Treger fun der Yidisher Bikher Tsentrale. Dort redt men fun Ulysses, The Amboy Dukes, The Metamorphosis, Delmore Schwartz's bashraybungen, un azoy vayter. Dortn iz faran nor eyn shmues vegn a bukh af mame-loshn. Ruth Wisse hot ongshribn an interesantn ibershmues vegn Di Kliatshe fun Mendele Moykher Sforim. Ober di diskutsiye iz untergegrobn az zi shlaydert arayn fun droysn mit gevald a modnem peyresh: in Mendele's 1871 bukh gefint zi politishe taynes kegn hayntike "liberals." Vos? Ver? Vemen? Baleydikn "liberals" mit nit-shayekhedike taynes iz bay ir, aponim, a klogekidke banemenish. Zi shlept es aroys funem arbl oder funem linken pyate, un es klept zikh vi an arbes tsu der vant. When speaking Yiddish and you ask, "Vos iz a Yidish Bukh?" (ambiguously understood as What is a Jewish book or What is a Yiddish book) the answer is most likely quite simple: some book written in Yiddish. The same question in English: What is a Jewish Book? evokes another kind of answer. Just see the articles in the latest issue of the Book Peddler from the National Yiddish Book Center. There are discussued Ulysses, The Amboy Dukes, The Metamorphosis, Delmore Schwartz's writing, etc. Only one discussion is about a Yiddish book. Ruth Wisse has written an interesting overview about Di Kliatshe by Mendele Moykher Sforim. However, the discussion is undermined when she forcibly pitches in a strange, exotic interpretation: she finds in Mendele's 1871 book political arguments against today's liberals. What the....! Insulting liberals with outlandish arguments is, apparently, her pathetic obsession. [Now, an almost a literal rendering of Yiddish] She pulls it out of her sleeve or from the left heel, and it sticks like a bean to the wall [that is, wildly irrelevant and off the wall]. Louis Fridhandler 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 2 Aug 1997 15:53:03 -0400 (EDT) From: Miriam Isaacs Subject: Green's Yiddish Films. To the inquiry on how to obtain information on Joseph Green's films, I would recommend a book I have just purchased entitled "Visions, Images and Dreams: Yiddish Film Past and Present" by Eric Golman. Put out by Ergo Media Inc. Miriam Isaacs 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 03 Aug 1997 10:51:37 EDT From: paullaure@juno.com (Paul D Glasser) Subject: etimologyes Af Shimke Levins kashe [7.044] vilt zikh bloyz entfern, az s'zenen faran yidishe verter fun romanishn opshtam, vos zey voltn geven gekent vaksn fun provensalish (punkt vi mit slavish-shtamike verter, vu s'iz fun der forem a sakh mol nit klor, tsi zey vaksn fun tshekhish tsi poylish, un oyb mir bashlisn, az poylish, iz dos iber historishe taymim, nit keyn fonologishe). Fun di verter vos Maks Vaynraykh rekhnt oys in zayn Geshikhte (tsveyter band, paragraf 114, zaytl 50, un 119.11, z' 69), voltn di vayterdike gekent zayn provensalish-shtamike: leyenen (loyt mayn provensalishn verterbikhl - legi), antshpoyzn (espous 'man'), pen (peno), prizant/prezent (prese`nt), afile der nomen Bendet (Benedit, oykh a nomen, af frantseyzish - Benoi^t). Bendet hot punkt azoy gring gekent aroysvaksn fun provensalishn Benedit vi fun italyenishn Benedetto. Nor tsi di dozike verter vaksn take fun provensalishm veys ikh nit. Hershl Glezer (Paul Glasser) Nyu-york 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 3 Aug 1997 11:46:33 -0400 (EDT) From: Sapoznik@aol.com Subject: Drimpln and Joseph Green Tayere Mendelyaner, Many thanks to all of you who wrote to answer my question about the derivation and meaning of the word drimpl. (and my humble appreciation for the kind words about the current state of my banjo "drimpln"...) Re: Joseph Green. One need go no further than the monumental book by J. Hoberman on the history of Yiddish film "Bridge of Light" (Museum of Modern Art/Shocken, 1991). Thoroughly researched, lavishly illustrated and eloquently written, it is a cornerstone work which should be in the library of any lover of Yiddish culture. Heynekh Sapoznik 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 3 Aug 1997 12:57:56 -0400 (EDT) From: Lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Electronic dictionaries Marvin Glasser's query re: a Yiddish-English electronic dictionary (7.043, 4) recalls a Mendele colloquy some time ago about the possibility putting Yiddish literature on CD-ROM. I don't think a Yiddish-English electronic dictionary exists but it, too, should be possible. After all, Encylopaedia Judaica including supplemental volumes, videos and sound files is available on one Compact Disc. Incredible, but true! Then there might be room for all the works of Sholem Aleichem, Peretz and Mendele on one disc. Imagine! Look up almost anything, compare and contrast, follow chronologies, etc. by rather simple searches. Now about dictionaries. How nice it would be to have Harkavy's Yiddish-English- Hebrew dictionary on CD-ROM. In book form you must start by looking up the Yiddish word. On a disc the dictionary would also be usable as an English-Yiddish-Hebrew dictionary. Weinreich's and other dictionaries (incl. Yiddish-French, French-Yiddish, etc., e.g.) could probably fit on the same CD. Heady fantasies? These days, they are no longer pipe-dreams. One potential problem: the type in Harkavy may not be clear enough to be scanned. If data entry by hand is necessary, expense rises markedly. Big questions: Where is the fund-raiser who can successfully pitch this idea to a willing entrepreneur? Would there be a market? Louis Fridhandler ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 7.045