Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 07.098 November 6, 1997 1) Shakespeare's _The Merchant of Venice_ in Yiddish (Leonard Prager) 2) To Accompany: bagleytn oder baleytn? (Louis Fridhandler) 3) Still more about "Schmoozing" (George Fogel) 4) The Merchant of Venice in Yiddish (David A. Brenner) 5) early Yiddish book illustrations (Gilles Rozier) 6) shmooze (Nathan Kravetz) 7) Eugene Debs (Shana Lipsker) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 04 Nov 1997 23:01:56 +0200 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Shakespeare's _The Merchant of Venice_ in Yiddish Shakespeare's _The Merchant of Venice_ has been a subject of constant interest among Yiddish writers for decades. No one has yet fully scanned the voluminous periodical literature on the subject. The following sketch of the subject varies slightly from my treatment in _Yiddish Culture in Britain_ (1990). TRANSLATIONS There have been many translations and adaptations of MV in Yiddish, including a number of narrative prose versions. _Der koyfman fun venedig (shylok) / ertsehlung / nokh sheksper's komedye / mit bilder_, translated by F. (Warsaw, 1897/1898, 30 pp.) was the earliest prose narrative version. YIVO owns a copy of this scarce book. F. is probably Meyer-Yankev Freyd (see Leksikon fun nayer yidisher literatur 7:494; no place or date of publication is indicated). F.'s version was followed by A.S. Halperin's prose _Shylock_ (Warsaw: Tsukermans folks-bibliotek, 1904, 32 pp.) and Mortkhe Holtsblat's similarly titled prose version (Warsaw: Goldfarb (Helios), [1928/1929]. Mortkhe Holtsblat [Mordekhai Holzblat] was M. Zamler [M. Samler]. The young poet Yoysef Bovshover's somewhat germanized _Shylock or The Merchant of Venice_ first appeared in Alexander Harkavy's _Der nayer gayst_ ('The New Spirit') [New York, 1899] and was published in book form several times: _Shylock_ (New York: Katzenellenbogen, [1899], 116 pp.); _Shylock_ (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., 1911, 116 pp.). (There may also have been a 1902 edition). Translations of MV in manuscript include one by A. Goldberg [handwritten ms. in the Yivo archives]; one by Abish Maizels, produced in London (1946) [typescript in Labor Archives, Bet Lessin, Tel Aviv]; one by Mark Shvayd [Shweid] [ms. in Yivo archives], one by Moyshe Shor [in Yivo archives]; and one other by an unknown hand [in Yivo archives]. Zalmen Zylberzweig (_Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre_ 2:1260) writes that Avrom Morevski completed a verse translation of _The Merchant of Venice_ in l926. Leon Krishtol (1894-1959) translated _The Merchant of Venice_ for the New York Yiddish stage [according to Leksikon fun nayer yidisher literatur 8:266], but there does not seem to be a record of the whereabouts of the ms. M.-Y. Pomerants wrote a letter to the editor of _Teater shpigl_ (November 1946) asking "Ver is take geven der ershter iberzetser fun shekspers 'Soykher fun venedik' oyf yidish?" (p. 10), which is followed by A. Mayzel's reply, "Mayn entfer tsu mr. pomerants" (pp. 10-11). Pomerants writes that Vilyem Edlin [William Edlin] translated all of Shakespeare's works into Yiddish. A.A. Roback points out that it was D.M. Hermolin, not Edlin. PERFORMANCES IN UNDETERMINED OR UNLOCATED TRANSLATIONS (1) Yankev P. Adler was the first to produce this play in Yiddish on 5 December 1901 in New York; (2) Yankev Zilbert staged the play in Europe in Ruvn Fridman's translation; 3) Rudolph Schildkraut played Shylock in German while the rest of the roles were played in Yiddish, New York 1912 and 1921 [Greta Meyer played Portia (see _Leksikon fun yidishn teater_ 2:1298)]; (4) Moris Shvarts's production, New York, 1921; (5) Zigmunt Faynman in London in Moris Mayer's [Morris Myer's] translation; (6) Vilna Troupe directed by Dr. Milhl Vaykhert [Michael Weichert] in Yisroel Shtern's translation, 1929; (7) Jewish State Theatre in Kiev (Ukraine), 1948 (according to Yankev Mestel); (8) Alexander Granach's production, New York, 1938. THEATER HISTORY: The theater history of _The Merchant of Venice_ in English includes productions where the role of Shylock was spoken in Yiddish or in a Yiddish-sounding English. In 1821 the London-born Junius Brutus Booth (1796-1852) of the famous Booth family of actors moved to America where he became the leading Shakespearian actor of his period. For some unrecorded reason he claimed to be of Jewish descent and, as reported in _The Reader's Encyclopaedia of Shakespeare_ (ed. Oscar James Campbell, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1966, p. 77) "played Shylock with a Jewish accent." It would be very interesting to know what this accent was like and who its living models were. M.J. Landa writes that Booth is reported to have played Shylock in Hebrew in 1818, which he rightly dismisses as absurd (_The Jew in Drama_, p. 85). To this day Gentiles -- and some Jews! -- confuse Hebrew and Yiddish. Booth may have played Shylock in his imitation of contemporary Jewish English, either in its Sefardic or Ashkenazic varieties. It was probably the latter and thus influenced principally by Western Yiddish. We learn that Booth "was troubled by intermittent bouts of insanity and alcoholism;" _he_ may have thought he was speaking Hebrew when he played Shylock. According to the _Universal Jewish Encyclopedia_ ("Theatre" X, 216), "An actor named Sherenbeck, described as a 'Rochester-Israelite', acted Shylock in Yiddish" at the benefit of Miss Helen Faucit on July 9, 1817, at Covent Garden. Landa writes: "But there was no Yiddish translation at that time. The 'Jewish dialect' was the broken English in which all Jewish parts of the play were played." (_The Jew in Drama_, p. 85). Yankev P. Adler in New York in 1903 played the role of Shylock _in Yiddish_ in an English-language production [Ref: _Leksikon fun yidishn teater_1:21]. Witter Bynner, drama critic for _Critic_ wrote of "Jacob Adler's masterful Shylock" (July 1905, p. 26). M.J. Landa has written: "...it is the sober and interesting fact that when Maurice Moscovitch played Shylock in Yiddish at the Pavilion Theatre in the East End of London sometime before he appeared in the character in English in the West End, the Jewish audiences roared with laughter at the trial scene. They were bewildered by the whole piece and could not understand why it had such a hold over people and why it enjoyed its extraordinary reputation in English.... They could not take the play seriously. To them it was the worst form of travesty - - mockery." (M.J. Landa, _The Shylock Myth_, London: W.H. Alden, 1942, p. 38.) [This section is indexed in Landa's book under "Yiddish laughter at the trial scene."] In 1920 Moskovitsh ended his career as a Yiddish actor when he started to play the role of Shylock in English at the Royal Court Theatre. The production ran for nine months in London and an additional month in Manchester; M.M. toured the world as Shylock for a decade (see Y. Podruzhnik's review, "Moshkovitsh's shaylok," _Renesans_ 1 [1920]). Morris Schwartz likewise appeared in scenes from _The Merchant of Venice_ on the Keith Vaudeville Circuit in 1930. Many English-language productions of _The Merchant of Venice_ have had Shylock speak English with a recognizably "Jewish" [read "Yiddish"] accent of the sort affected by Fagin in the film version of the musical _Oliver_. In "Teater velt / adlers trupe un moshkovitshes shaylok" (_Unzer veg_ 1:11/12 [19 December 1919], 11-12), A[aron] K[rolenbaum] writes that "Moshkovitsh hot in der englisher vi in der yidisher prese shoyn aroysgerufn kemat a gantse literatur mit zayn shpiln: di englishe retsenzentn zaynen iberasht fun zayn yidishkayt in der role, di yidishe -- fun zayn anti-yidishkayt. Ver iz gerekht?" ('Moskowitz's acting has produced practically an entire literature in both the English and Yiddish press: the English reviewers are impressed with how Jewish he is in the role [of Shylock], the Jewish reviewers -- with how anti-Jewish. Who is right?'). A.K. goes on to say that neither is right, for Moshkovitsh sins against art more than he sins against the Jews. Many great Yiddish actors have been drawn to MV in Yiddish and have not succumbed to the lure of the larger English-language theater world. Ayzik Samberg was one of a line of notable Shylocks. In the last production of the play in Yiddish in Britain, at the New Yiddish Theatre in 1946, the director was Robert Atkins, a non-Jew. Abish Mayzels [Meisels] did the translation; Meyer Tselniker [Zelniker] played Shylock. Of this production, the _Manchester Guardian_ (11 September 1946) wrote: "...a new translation by Mr. A. Meisels which is much better that that presented by Mr. Moscowitch in this region before he went on the English stage. It is literal and exact and occasionally reaches the poetical" (see British press reviews in _Teater shpigl_ [October 1946]). Other reviewers wrote: _Evening Standard_ (14 September 1946): "It was not the first time that "The Merchant" has been played by Yiddish actors, but hitherto the part of Shylock has been mellowed and almost robbed of offense. Not so Mr. Meisel's version which we saw on Monday night. It is a literal translation." A.B.L. in _Jewish Chronicle_ (13 September 1946): "Mr. Meisel's text is remarkable for faithfulness to the original. It makes few concessions to soft-pedalling the vicious side of Shylock. But the few are significant." _News Chronicle_ (9 September 1946): "You will hear a translation so close and literal that you always know where you are." SHYLOCK THEME: The Shylock theme has been developed by many Yiddish writers. Moyshe Broderzon wrote a sketch called "Shaylok lakht" ('Shylock Laughs'), in which the central character is Edmund Kean (reprinted in Moyshe Broderzon, _Oysgeklibene shriftn_, Buenos Aires: Joseph Lifshitz Fund, 1959, pp. 163-170). Ref: Moyshe Rubin, _Tipn un geshtaltn_ Buenos-Aires, 1939 [ch. on _Merchant of Venice_]; Yankev-Shmuel Toybes [Jacob Samuel Taubes], "Bamerkung tsu shekspers 'shaylok'", _Oyf yidishe yesoydes_, London: Naroditski, 1948, pp. 39-45; Zilbertsvayg, Z. _Leksikon fun yidishn teater_ 5:4647-4648. See, too _Shakespeare and Shylock by Avrom Morevski (Translated into English by Mirra Ginsburg, St. Louis, MO: Fireside Books, n.d. [1967]). The original, Morevski's Yiddish essay on Shylock (Vilna, 1937), was dedicated to Muni Weisenfreund [= Paul Muni]. Morevski concludes here that "Shakespeare is ever with man who is oppressed and persecuted" (p.95). Moris Shvarts [Maurice Schwartz] adapted and produced Ari Even-Zahav's _Shylock and His Daughter_, inspired by Shakespeare's _Merchant of Venice_. Leonard Prager 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 4 Nov 1997 18:17:16 -0500 (EST) From: Lfridhan@aol.com Subject: To Accompany: bagleytn oder baleytn? Al Grand thought he found a misprint in Weinreich (7.095, 9). I would have thought the same had I noticed that _accompany_ was defined as baleytn, not bagleytn. In the Y-E section, it's clear that Weinreich prefers baleytn. Look up bagleyt... and he refers you to baleyt.... Harkavy lists bagleytn and defines it, while he gives baleytn as equal to bagleytn. Harkavy seems to prefer bagleytn. Stutshkof list both, each with apparently the same meaning. It seems obvious that the German _begleiten_ is the root. Yiddish not only changed the vowels (very ordinary), but (for some) dropped the g. Any other examples? Linguists help? Louis Fridhandler 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 04 Nov 1997 14:13:04 -0500 From: "Fogel, George" Subject: Still more about "Schmoozing" According to the November, 1997 issue of "Inside Borders" (a free periodical published and distributed by the Borders Bookstore chain) November is Jewish Book Month. One of the books listed is "Schmoozing" by Joshua Halberstam (Perigee Books $13.00, paperback). If I might quote from the blurb: "From the rigorously observant to the resolutely atheistic, Jews talk about exactly what it means to be Jewish in America. This book captures private conversations about assimilation in middle-class suburbs, the lasting legacy of the Holocaust, persisting stereotypes, the ancient roots of Judaism, the latest developments in Israel, the Jew in popular culture, and much more." I would gather that the auther considers the word a synonym for a good heart to heart talk, which is what I've always understood it to mean. For what it's worth, I too have heard schmoozing used in the "butter up somone" sense, and like Al Grand, it has alway grated on my ears. For better or for worse, I've always chalked it up to the Yiddishization of America, via the Catskills. George Fogel 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 5 Nov 1997 00:04:55 -0700 (MST) From: Brenner David A Subject: The Merchant of Venice in Yiddish: I have a hunch, based on intertextual evidence from the turn of the (last) century, that _The Merchant of Venice_ was colloquially known simply as "Shaylok" in Yiddish-speaking Eastern Europe as early as the mid-19th century. David A. Brenner Ithaca, NY 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 05 Nov 1997 11:37:29 +0100 From: Bibliotheque Medem Subject: early Yiddish book illustrations See the book of Khone Shmeruk, Haiurim lesifrey yidish bemeot hataz - hayaz : hatekstim, hatmunot venemaanehem, Akademon, Jerusalem, 1986, 88 p. ( in hebrew with a lot of illustrations) Gilles Rozier 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 05 Nov 1997 14:06:31 -0800 From: nathan kravetz Subject: shmooze Al Grand is right about shmooze: chatting, conversing, something quite informal and relaxed. But as to dealing with someone who needs buttering up, the best word is "shmeer." It might also help in bribing someone, as the case may be. Hail Poetry! Nathan Kravetz Los Angeles 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 05 Nov 1997 22:26:23 -0800 From: Raymond Berger Subject: Eugene Debs Dear Mendele: I am in dire need of locating any speeches, writings, or clips by or about Eugene Debs and his giving talks to Jewish groups. Also, does anyone have any info on the talk he gave at the Thalia Theater in Chicago around 1897 to a jewish labor group? This is for my research project! Thank You, Sincerely, Shana Lipsker ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 07.098 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu Mendele on the Web: http://mendele.commons.yale.edu http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html