Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 08.151 May 6, 1999 1) dermonung fun der fishman-fundatsiye (Joshua Fishman) 2) Gezukht: materialn tsu "Der bavebter yid" (Sholem Berger) 3) Mame-Loshn '99 (Stephen Dowling) 4) tseylem kop (Mikhoyel Basherives) 5) tseylem kop (Hershl Hartman) 6) Rhymed phrases and tseylem-kop (Marti Krow-Lucal) 7) rhymes and Yiddish in America (Sam Kweskin) 8) similarly sounding words (Michael Meckler) 9) lullaby (Gie Laenen) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 2 May 1999 11:46:11 -0400 (EDT) From: Joshua Fishman Subject: dermonung fun der fishman-fundatsiye Der termin af ontsugebn aplikatsiyes tsu der "arn un sonye fishman- fundatsiye far yidisher kulture", in shaykhes mit proyektn af tsu shtarkn yidish tsvishn kinder un yugnt, iz oktober dem 31stn. Aplikatsiyes darfn zayn af yidish, nit lenger vi finf zaytlekh, mit a genoyem arbetplan (d"h, nit nor plener un tsiln, nor genoy mi umi hahoylkhim, vifl tsayt veln zey obgebn un pinktlekh af vos, un voz iz zeyer tsugreytung un derfarung in shaykhes mit der arbet vos darf geton vern), un lesof: a genoyem budzshet. Yeder aplikant darf ongebn dem nomen un adres fun der fun-shtayern-bafrayter organizatsiye vos vet ufpasn af ale hoytsoes un tsushikn a letst-giltikn finantsyeln barikht biz sof yor 2000. S'rov subventsn zenen af eyn yor un bavilikn fun $1000 biz $1500, khotsh a bisl lengere proyektn un gresere subventsn veln oykh batrakh vern. Aplikatsiyes (finf ekzemplyarn) darf men bizn termin araynshikn tsu "Aaron and Sonia Fishman Foundation for Yiddish Culture, 3340 Bainbridge Ave., Bronx, NY 10467. USA. Joshua Fishman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 4 May 1999 11:37:47 -0400 (EDT) From: Sholem Berger Subject: Gezukht: materialn tsu "Der bavebter yid" Der kumediker numer fun vebzhurnal "Der bavebter yid" darf aroys bizn sof yuli. Di redaktsye zukht derfar kolerley zakhn -- poezye, beletristik, eseyen, zikhroynes, vi oykh redes, droshes, forshungen, ophandlungen, retsenzyes, u"a -- abi me hot zey in ergets nisht gedrukt frier. Manuskriptn darf men shikn afn adres (blits- tsi shleppost) do untn. Mir kukn aroys af yeder zakh! Redaktsye, Der Bavebter Yid http://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/bavebter Sholem Berger, literarisher redaktor/ Refoyl Finkel, tekhnisher redaktor Sholem Berger 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 4 May 1999 21:10:35 -0400 (EDT) From: STdowling@aol.com Subject: Mame-Loshn '99 This is a reminder for those planning to attend Mame-Loshn this year that the deadline for planning on staying on campus is this Saturday, May 8th. Reservations for those planning on commutting are due by May 15th. Want to know more about the Mame-Loshn program? Information is available at the unofficial Mame-Loshn website at: http://metalab.unc.edu/yiddish/ML99 In addition to the published program, Mame-Loshn is proud to welcome back Yosl Weiss and to introduce a new member to the Mame-Loshn staff, Faye Kellerstein of Toronto. Ms. Kellerstein has been perfroming since 1981, has releasced a CD of Yiddish music and is the director of Toronto's Yiddish Kinder Chorus. More information about Ms. Kellerstein can be found at: http://www.feduja.org/artculre/artname/kellerstein_faye.stm If you would like more information, please call the Mame-Loshn line at 718-441-6063 or e-mail Stdowling@aol.com or Ruvn@aol.com Stephen Dowling 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 17:21:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Mikhoyel Basherives Subject: tseylem kop My friend the Yiddish poet Malke Heifetz-Tussman in teasing me once for being descended from Litvaks (she was from Ukraine) told me that Litvaks have to be presented with an argument thoroughly "lengthwise & widthwise" (af der leng un af der breyt) before they will finally accept it hence the image of a "cross". Mikhoyel Basherives 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 02:55:58 -0400 (EDT) From: Hershl@aol.com Subject: tseylem kop Replying to Faith Jones' query (Vol. 08.148), let me first express delight that the Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir is reviving the wonderful cantata, "oyb nit nokh hekher" and wish them great success. As to the meaning of "tseylem kop": Harkavy gives two: "cunning blade" (he means fellow, I think) and "heretic." Nokhum Stutchkoff's Thesaurus (oytser fun der yidisher shprakh)--a wedding gift my wife and I received in December, 1950, from Dovid Matis, then city editor of the "morgn frayhayt," later of the "forverts"--lists the term under the following categories: kluger (wise, or cunning, one), apikoyris (heretic), litvak (Lithuanian Jew--closest meaning in the context of Peretz's story), shvindler (swindler). All these epithets were leveled at Lithuanian Jews/misnagdim by khsidim. Hershl Hartman 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 1 May 1999 01:55:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Kromobile@aol.com Subject: Rhymed phrases and tseylem-kop For Harvey Varga: My mother and her cousin Leo (and my grandfather Motl) were all native Yiddish speakers, my grandfather from from Gomel and my mother and her cousin from New York. They were also all bookkeepers and/or accountants. The rhymed phrases they used may have belonged to a subdialect of family, financial or Gomel origin. I hope I remember the meanings correctly. Tunkl-munkl - a generic equivalent of any kind of fooling around, but especially sexual fooling around. Ifke-pifke - financial sleight-of-hand, cooking the ledgers: "there was some ifke- pifke with the books" drey-shmey - I believe this was also financial, but I'm not sure. For Faith Jones: I am astonished and delighted to hear that someone is performing "Oyb nit nokh hekher," music by M. Rauch and text by Itche Goldberg. If her partner could provide me with the music, I would be ecstatic! (I have the text already thanks to the generosity of Leonard Pritkin, who donated his mother Sonia's music the Secular Yiddish Schools in America Collection at Stanford, where it was made available to me). There is a proverb I learned this summer from my teacher Kalmen Weiser which says: "A litvak hot a tseylem in kop." (literally, A Litvak has a cross in/on his head). As I recall, we discussed the fact that Litvaks were considered fierce rationalists and thus (supposedly) had a greater propensity for apostasy than less rationalist Jews. Considering the enmity between misnagdim and khsidim, I think this meaning fits very well in the Peretz story. Perhaps Hershl Hartman or some other native speaker could comment. Or perhaps a note to I. Goldberg at "Yidishe Kultur" would be illuminating... Marti Krow-Lucal Sunnyvale 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1999 21:17:14 -0400 (EDT) From: ESSAIKAY@aol.com Subject: rhymes and Yiddish in America Meyg ikh areinvarfen meine tsvei koppekehs eykht, veygn vos Harvey Vargas hot gefreygt, un veygn vos Seth Wolitz shreibt (Vol 8. 148): One of those oddments of speech that Mr Vargas may have overlooked is "hilke-pilke", sometimes known as "baseball"... In regard to Seth Wolitz's comments on the dragging of feet on the part of American publishers toward Yiddish writing, I have found that evident almost every day on listening to classical music. Gott veyss, how many times I will hear a chansonette in medeival French about a shepherd and his sheep, or a canzone sung by a Bulgarian tenor about petals blowing in the wind...but a classical song in Yiddish??Veyss ikh vos!! There are so many beautiful songs to equal lieder by Schumann or chansons by Poulenc, yet no one seems to know about them, nor--and this might be far worse--they may KNOW about them, and deliberately stay away for fear of offending (?) that one listener in Texas who will then accuse the station of Bolshevism. Can any station owner honestly say that 95% of the listeners will understand an obscure art song by an all but unkown German musician of the 17th century? Yet, I am certain that MORE would be understood by yiddish oriented listeners to art songs in Yiddish. Unfortunately, the attitude "out there" prevails: "Yiddish? (followed by a mild sneer). "What's that?" Sam Kweskin 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 May 1999 16:27:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Michael Meckler Subject: similarly sounding words Concerning Harvey Varga's request for terms or phrases made up of a rhyming pair (Mendele Vol. 08.148): the term used in my family for what one now sees in restaurants and supermarkets as egglant pate or baba ghannoush is "kutshi-mutshi." I have never, of course, seen this word in print (either in the Hebrew alphabet or YIVO transcription), and I wouldn't hazard an etymology beyond suggesting the term may derive from the two main preparation steps (kukhn, mishn). This term may well be unique to my family, who seem to have displayed linguistic creativity in the naming of food items. Another such hapax (as far as I can tell) was my Zhitomir-born great-grandmother's name for a matzoh ball: "balobitshka." Michael Meckler 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 Apr 1999 13:55:14 -0400 (EDT) From: gie laenen Subject: lullaby I'm looking for the worths of an old Yiddish lullaby: Put your head on my knee. Leg dein Kop auf meine Knie. Can you help me? Kindly regards Gie Laenen ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 08.151 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