Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 08.140 April 19, 1999 1) Israel Zangwill (Andrey Bredstein) 2) 'Der Dishwasher' (Anne & Lou Rublin) 3) nitl (Mikhl Herzog) 4) Paris and Vienna (Joachim Neugroschel) 5) 'Pariz un Viene' (Jerold Frakes) 6) Pariz un Vyene (Marion Aptroot) 7) Mikolai Gibs (Ada Holtzman) 8) Bar Mitzvah poem (Diana Woll Zurer) 9) a pur shailis fin Englend (S.L.) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 09:21:35 -0500 (EST) From: Andrey Bredstein Subject: Israel Zangwill Tsi hot der englisher shrayber un tsienist Yisroel Zangvil geredt yidish? Dakht zikh, az nisht. Un gikher fun alts iz dos zelbe mitn loshn-koydesh. Me kon ober zayn zikher: keyn yidishn alefbeys hot er nisht gekont, af yednfals biz 1906. A bavayz deruf gefint zikh in a zamlbukh "Af vos badarfn yidn a land" (Tel-Aviv, 1978). In 1906 "iz Sholem-Aleykhem aroysgeforn af a bazukh keyn Rumenie... Fun Rumenie, fun Galats, hot er ongeshribn dem bakantn shriftshteler un gevezenem tsienist, dan teritorialist, Yisroel Zangvil, folgndikn briv af yidish mit lataynishe oysies". Der briv heybt zikh on azoy: "Sehr geehrter Kollega! Verzeiht mir, wouss ich red mit euch mein Louschen. Ihr kont mir oupzoulen Mido keneged Mido - un antworten mir auf euer Louschen. Ai tomer wel ich euch cholilo nit verstehn? Lemai Ihr wed mich nit verstehn?" A koshern peysekh undz alemen. Andrey Bredstein 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Mar 1999 23:59:57 -0500 (EST) From: Louis Rublin Subject: 'Der Dishwasher' We are seeking the complete words and sheet music for a Yiddish song titled 'Der Dishwasher' Recollection of 'Der Dishwasher' - 1st stanza & chorus is: 1st stanza:In a restaurant Chorus:Ich vash Hob ich gezeyn Mit meyne shvache hent An alter man Ich vash un vash In kitchen shteyn Fardinen a por cent Arum im rasht Fun fri biz shpet Er redt keyn vort Far a shtikel truken broit Er shteyt un vasht Ich vash un bet Di dishes dort Af zich aleyn dem toyt Un mit gefil Zingt er shtil Anne & Lou Rublin 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 17:17:09 -0500 (EST) From: "Mikhl Herzog" Subject: nitl -- again Concerning Marc Sachs posting (08.138): There are two Jewish "practices" said to be associated with Christmas Eve--a) fear of venturing out on the street (hence staying at home), and b) playing cards. Neither is known as "nitl", the designation for the holiday itself. The word _nitl_ has been derived, variously, from Latin _(dies) natales_ (Max Weinreich et al.) and from Hebrew _nitla_ 'the hanged one' (Paul Wexler). Mikhl Herzog 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Mar 1999 21:28:10 -0500 (EST) From: ACHIM1 Subject: PARIS AND VIENNA (PARIS UN VYENNE) after my recent posting about Elye Bokher's PARIS AND VIENNA, I received several letters inquiring whether this medieval Yiddish epic was available in English. so far: no. But I'll be using it in some way in an anthology of Yiddish fiction from 1382 to the present--which I'm preparing for an American trade publisher. at this point I haven't decided how much of PARIS AND VIENNA to use: a few chapters or an overall digest of the complete story or....? I'll also be using several chapters from E.B.'s BOVVE-BUKH plus a load of other early Yiddish material--it's quite fascinating..... Incidentally, if you happen to be in London this coming June, you might want to catch a British production of my adaptation of Sholom Asch's GOD OF VENGEANCE. It's going to be directed by Lawrence Sommers at the Lkhaim theater. Take your mom and your granny--the play takes place in a Jewish brothel and there are a few hot lesbian scenes--the heterosexual parts are a lot drearier. take the kids and anyone else you can drum up--I get royalties. Take your entire congregation!!!! let me know how you like it! Joachim Neugroschel P.S. PARIS AND VIENNA was published by Max Niemeyer Verlag, Tu"bingen, 1996. 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 01:00:49 -0500 (EST) From: "Jerold C. Frakes" Subject: 'Pariz un Viene' I can only share Mr. Neugroschel's recently expressed enthusiasm for the sixteenth-century Yiddish epic, 'Pariz un Viene' (Mendele 08.138). The published version of the text which he names, however, is yet another an example of a long tradition in Germanistic scholarship of treating early Yiddish simply as disguised, deformed, and debased German that must be 'cleaned up' and published as if Middle High German. 'Pariz un Viene' is indeed a masterpiece of Yiddish and European and world literature. But surely Mendele-subscribers need not approach this sixteenth-century Yiddish text via a late-twentieth-century academic 'translation' into quasi-Middle High German. The actual, original Yiddish text is available in the 'Israeli edition' (mentioned but not identified by Mr. Neugroschel), edited by the masterful scholar of early Yiddish literature, the late Chone Shmeruk (z"l), 'Pariz un Viene,' Jerusalem 1996 (ISBN 965-208-125-6). That's the one to read. Unless, alas, you prefer your Yiddish disguised, deformed, and debased as German. Jerold Frakes 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 07:08:22 -0500 (EST) From: aptroot@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de (Marion Aptroot) Subject: Pariz un Vyene As Joachim Neugroschel has already said, Pariz un Vyene/Paris un Wiene is a wonderful work of older Yiddish literature; it is probably the greatest work of Renaissance Yiddish literature and simply "a good read". I wholeheartedly concur with Joachim Neugroschel on his description of Erika Timm's "German" edition, but would recommend reading the "German" and the "Jerusalem" editions next to each other. The "Jerusalem" edition by Khone Shmeruk and Erika Timm includes the text in Hebrew characters as well as introductions by professors Shmeruk and Timm and a detailed linguistic analysis by Erika Timm and Liliane Gehlen (in Hebrew). The "German" edition by Erika Timm in cooperation with G.A. Beckmann includes a very detailed introduction (in German), the text in transcription with detailed footnotes, and glossaries of the Hebrew-Aramaic, Italian (Romance) and Germanic elements. I know that there are many Yiddish enthusiasts who shrink back at the idea of reading anything in transcription, but these editions are complementary. (Timm's linguistic analysis can not be found in the German edition!) =46urthermore, reading older Yiddish texts requires a lot of preparation and the pronunciation requires knowledge of variants of older Yiddish and a detailed analysis of the text in question, so a transcription is very helpful. The two editions are: Erika Timm, ed., Paris un Wiene. Ein jiddischer Stanzenroman des 16. Jahrhunderts von (oder aus dem Umkreis von) Elia Levita. Tuebingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1996. Khone Shmeruk and Erika Timm, eds., Pariz un Vyene. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1996. For those who would like to know what the original looks like there is a facsimile edition: Jean Baumgarten, ed., Paris un Viene (Verone, 1594). Bologna: Universite di Bologna, 1987. I hope many more people will enjoy reading Pariz un Vyene. Marion Aptroot 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 04:17:49 -0500 (EST) From: ada01@netvision.net.il Subject: Mikolai GIBS Shalom, I typed and posted a poem in Yiddish and its translation to Hebrew, written by Mikolai GIBS: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/4017/GIBSMIK.HTM It is a poem without a title, which I found in the Yizkor Book of Gombin. It was the first poem in the Yiddish part, pages 5 and 6. It was written in Warsaw, November 1966. My late father, Meir Holtzman of blessed memory, translated it at the time to Hebrew. Is anyone out there who reads Hebrew/Yiddish is willing to try and translate to a poem in English? Anybody knows anything about Mikolai GIBS? Who was he? Was he a member/ survivor of the GIPS family from Gombin? Did he write other poems or literary works in Yiddish? "Mikolai" looks like the Hebrew name MICHAEL, in Russian. Thanks, Shalom, and happy Pesach to all, Ada Holtzman 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 08:24:31 -0500 (EST) From: DIANA ZURER Subject: Bar Mitzvah poem A request for a poem suitable for a Bar Mitzvah was posted a week or so ago. I responded by e-mail directly to the person, but perhaps this is something of general interest. A gut yom tov tzu alemen. A poem that I read at the Bar Mitzvah of one my sons (8 years ago) was Aaron Zeitlin's Zayn A Yid - To Be A Jew. If you'll forgive my transliteration here it is: Zayn a yid heyst eybik loifen tzu got Afilu az m'iz an antloyfer; Dervarten tzu hairn a liadeh tog (afile az m'iz a koyfer) s'kol fun moshiach's shoyfer. Zayn a yid heyst nisht kenen aroys fun got afile az me vil es; Nisht kenen oyfheren tfileh tzu ton Afile noch aleh tfiles Afile noch aleh afiles. A translation by Robert Friend is: To Be A Jew Being a Jew means forever running to God even if you are His betrayer. means expecting to hear any day, even if you are a nay sayer, the blare of Messiah's horn; means, even if you wish to, you cannot escape His snares, you cannot cease to pray - even after all the prayers, even after all the "evens." This may be in Howe, Wisse, Shmeruk's Penguin Book of Modern Yiddish Verse - I don't remember. A poem I have read in shul is Leivick's Yom Tov - it references Passover - and is lovely. You might think it suitable. It's on page 753 of Harshav's book. If you don't have access to that, let me know and I'll send it to you. A poem I might have considered was Glatshteyn's Steal Into the Prayerbook on page 367 of Harshav. It actually isn't easy to find one, given the major themes of Yiddish poetry. Mazel Tov to you all. Diana Woll Zurer 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 27 Mar 1999 16:56:22 -0500 (EST) From: SL@aol.com Subject: a pur shailis fin Englend Ich hob a sach fargenigen fin ir list "mendele". Main mishpuche kimt fin Galicia in yenner tzaten un yiddish iz fer mir zair interesant. Ich bin a student fin Cambridge University, England un ich hob a platz zu studeririn in Harvard University fer a Masters. ich bin gevain kein mul nisht in America un fardus ich vais nisht a sach fin der merkazim fin der yiddishe leiben in der nairer fin Boston. ich vil freigen koidem koil vi azoy gait der yiddishe leiben un lushin in Harvard un zvaiten, ken aimisten mir giben a pur aitsiz?? Ich vinch alle havairim fin "mendele" a frailichen un kusheren paisich. S L ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 08.140 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://metalab.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html