Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 7.073 October 7, 1997 1) shprakhn un dialektn (Andrey Bredstein) 2) language/dialect debate (Stan Nadel) 3) yiddish linguistics (Richard Fraser) 4) Anarchist songs (Gitl Dubrovsky) 5) Davenen (Gitl Dubrovsky) 6) Food in Song (Wolf Krakowski) 7) Ruth Wisse's "A Little Love in Big Manhattan" (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan) 8) Vegn yidishe lider un shprikhverter oif shpanish (Eliahu Toker) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 19:46:08 +0300 From: "Andrey Bredstein" Subject: shprakhn un dialektn Khoshever fraynt Alexander Maxwell hot tsugegebn dem a bisl tsu visnshaftlekh-trukenem vikuekh vegn shprakhn un dialektn (066:4; 066:6; 070:3,7) a nayem rikhtung - a mer poshete un a mer klore. Tsvishn andere interesante un vikhtike makhshuvim shraybt er oykh: "Manaster Ramer's observation that Weinreich was "at least part of the time" a linguist is absolutely correct, but he wasn't being a linguist when he claimed that mideaval Yiddish was a language not a dialect, he was propagating his conception of Yiddish nationalism based on a language". Un dos iz zeyer noent tsu eynem fun di groyse "yidishistishe rabeyim", vos zayn nomen zol tun shaynen bizn ek velt arayn, - Ber Borokhov, heyst es. S'iz take keday amol arayntsukukn in udzer pirkey-oves, a shteyger, in Borokhovs verk. Ot iz der pinktlekher oystsug fun zayn program-artikl "Di ufgabn fun der yidisher filologie": "Me darf zikh klor makhn dem khilek tsvishn LINGVISTIK un FILOLOGIE. Lingvistik iz an algemeyne visnshaft, filologie - a natsionale. Lingvistik kon zikh basheftikn oykh mit lakhlutn toyte oder lakhlutn vilde shprakhn; di filologie zetst ober foroys, az a shprakh, mit velkher zi git zikh op FARMOGT a KULTUR-HISTORISHN VERT lepokhes far dem over. Geveyntlekh ober geyt di filologie nokh vayter un shtitst zikh af der ibertsaygung, az ir shprakh hot a natsionaln vert in der tsukunft. Ver s'gleybt nit inem kiem fun der yidisher shprakh, kon efsher nokh zayn a yidisher lingvist, ober nit keyn yidisher filolog. Lingvistik hot tsu ton nor mit di formen fun der shprakh, un di filologie - mit di kultur-produktn fun der shprakh." [Ber Borokhov. Shprakh-forshung un literatur geshikhte. T"A: I.-L. Perets, 1966, z. 54] Andrey Bredstein 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 12:35:31 -0500 From: nadels@swosu.edu (Stan Nadel) Subject: language/dialect debate I'm in fundamental agreement with Alexander Maxwell's comments on the language/dialect debate, but he did get his dates wrong on Stalin: Yiddish national identity is of course extremely contested: there's a great quote where Stalin (of Birobozhidan fame, unless I have my dates wrong) says that the Jews aren't a nation, because they haven't got a national territory to inhabit. Stalin wrote *On The National Question* when he was commissar of nationalities, long before he became the dominant force in the CP-USSR and long before he authorized the establishment of a Jewish colony in Birobidjan. Stan Nadel Weatherford, OK 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 17:00:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Gruvnruvn1@aol.com Subject: yiddish linguistics Let me introduce myself briefly. My name is Richard Fraser, an internist in the boston area and have been studying/speaking Yiddish for about 7 years. I am in the process of writing a book (in english) on Yiddish. I recently finished a 40 page chapter on immigration which has taken some two years to write. Currently I am OBSESSED with yiddish linguistics. Having read Max Weinreichs book cover to cover several times , I am presently moving on to the 1985 oxford winter symposium by Dovid Katz on dialects and the origin of Yiddish and just received Goldstein's collection of papers on Yiddish linguistics. Being relatively new to the list, I am in the process of POURING through the archives. Several members of mendele have been extremely helpful and I am reaching out to others for suggestions, theories, Books, articles, thoughts, references, ANYTHING. Thank you. Richard Fraser 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 17:32:51 -0400 (EDT) From: GDubrovsky@aol.com Subject: Anarchist songs John Patten mentioned that David Edelstadt's songs are still sung by Anarchists. Does anyone know the titles of any of these songs and where they can be found? Thank you. Shana Tova to all Mendele readers and writers. Gitl Dubrovsky 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 17:51:07 -0400 (EDT) From: GDubrovsky@aol.com Subject: Davenen I am not a linguist, nor do I know much Hebrew, but to my simple mind, it seems to me that the word "daven" is somehow connected with "dvar-torah." Just a thought. Gertrude Dubrovsky aka gitl dubrovsky 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 06 Oct 1997 18:15:05 -0500 From: "Wolf Krakowski, Paula Parsky" Subject: Food in Song Yidishe Maykholim, Composed by Samson Kemelmakher, Performed by Wolf Krakowski on Kame'a Media CD "Gilgul" ("Transmigrations") Ordering info: http://www.kamea.com Yidishe Maykholim Varnishkes mit keyz un mit piter Af shvistog hot gegebn mir mahn miter. A milekhikn zup mit milekhike beygelekh Geven bay indz a file shtib mit yingelekh un meydelekh CHO: Yidishe maykholim, ir zent in mahn zikorn- Di mame hot gekokht mir un gebakt Kh'vel kayn mol nisht fargesn Geshmak geven dos esn- Gefilte fish mit knishes mit kabak Mit lokshelekh, a yoykh, mit pastrome A frish neshome gegebn mir di mame. Ale ir maykholim un gefilte fish, Far dem hob ikh zi shtark gelibt, gegebn ir a kish. Af yomkiper m'hot fargosn mit a gleyzl Un m'hot farbisn a kishke mit a 'eldzl. Ahln tsu kol nidre, tsi hern in der shil, Gefirt hot mikh di tate, imetim geveyn ikh fil Di fir kashes gefreygt bay dem futer Af peysekh hot gekokht, gebakt mayn muter. Geveyn dos lebn zis amol, est fin kole gits Af pirim un af peysekh, rosheshone un af shvis Af yidish yontoyvim, es bakt zikh inem oyvn. Di mentshn lakhn un me leybt zikh git Me pravet zikh dem seder, di kinder geyn in kheyder Mit gelt a sakh af khanike bashit. Wolf Krakowski 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 18:25:10 -0400 (EDT) From: SHirshan@aol.com Subject: Ruth Wisse's "A Little Love in Big Manhattan" Let us now praise famous women, all the while thanking Iosif for posting that address on the web for Mame-loshn at Harvard. Seeing di oysyelekh in Harvard Magazine is enough to ensure a happy rosh hashone to us all. Whatever else has aired on Mendele about Ruth Wisse, whatever her "literary politics", now, belatedly, I am reading a smashing book of hers that I heartily recommend: _A Little Love in Big Manhattan - Two Yiddish Poets_, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 1988, ISBN 0-674-53659-2. This non-fiction book reads like a novel, as you review the beginnings of Yiddish poetry in America, of the intellectual life of these 20th century poets, of how language and content was freed from a political focus and from the sweatshop poets, and how Di Yunge developed and grew into an influential trend in literature. The two poets she spotlights are gentle, handsome, beloved Mani Leib (she likens him toJoseph among his brothers) and combative Moishe Leib Halpern. She blows the breath of life into them, revealing their literary struggles, their immigrant foibles, their titilating affairs, their flaming friendships, all the while enriching us with quotations from their poetry to match their experiences in life. We gain insight into the entire group, di Yunge, seeing them more intimately -Zishe Landau, David Ignatoff, Reuben Iceland, Opatoshu, Leyeless, Raboy, and all the others. It has been written that biographies and books about poets always sell in much greater numbers than their slim, slim (oyf mir gezogt) volumes of poetry. Reading this multiple biography by Wisse, you will understand why. Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan Boynton Beach, Florida 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Oct 1997 11:51:09 ARG From: "Eliahu Toker" Subject: Vegn yidishe lider un shprikhverter oif shpanish Tayere mendelyaner: Ikh bin a do nisht lang tsugekumener pasazhir tzu ot o di vunderbare mendele-raize iber di veltn fun yidish loshn, ober shoin a gor alter arbeturer inem varshtat fun klaibn un oisklaibn, iberzetsn un iberdikhtn yidishe lider un shprikhverter oif shpanish. A groise teil fun main mi iz shoin in bukhform, vi lemoshl "El resplandor de la palabra judia", an antologye mit a dray hundert lider fun a zibetzik yidishe dikhter, un etlekhe antologyes gevidmet gevise dikhter, vi lemoshl Glatstein un Sutzkever, un oikh kleine antologyes fun yidishe shprikhverter un kloles, ales ibergegosn oif shpanish. Khutz forshteln zikh, vil ikh dertzeiln Reb Marvin Engel az es iz faran in yidish a groiser oisval zaftike kloles, vi lemoshl: "Gots broje zol arain in dain pekele tsores" "Ale tsein zoln bai dir aroisfaln, nor einer zol dir blaibn, oif tseinveitog." "A grois gesheft zolstu hobn, ful mit skhoire; vos du host zol men bai dir nit fregn un vos men fregt zolstu nit hobn." Dos zenen nor etlekhe, als muster, fun a lange reshime. Es zenen oikh faran "shtarkere" kloles, dos heist grebere, ober zei hobn, in maine oign, vintziger khein. Vegn Sutzkever's lid "Mayn mame" ibergedrukt fonetish durkh Lisa Duhl, vil ikh ibergebn az in main Sutzkever-antologye zainen ibergezetst oif shapanish di teiln 6 un 7. Ikh veis nit vifl shpanish rednde zenen tzvishn di mendelyaner, oiser di buenos-aireser landslait, vi Kijak oder Lichtenboim. Ikh vintch ale mendelyaner, a khsime toive Eliahu Toker Buenos Aires - ARGENTINA ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 7.073 Mendele on the Web: http://mendele.commons.yale.edu http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html