Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 09.004 May 16, 1999 1) Leyg dayn kop (Rita Falbel) 2) Leyg dayn kop (Ruben Frankenstein) 3) Leyg dayn kop (Monika Feil) 4) Lullaby (Bob Rothstein) 5) Nitl (Bob Rothstein) 6) Rhyming pairs (Ellen Cassedy) 7) Yiddish doggerel (Mel Poretz) 8) rhymes and song (Deena Mersky) 9) Sissel revisited (Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 15:22:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Rita Falbel Subject: Leg Dayn Kop In response to Gie Laenen who is looking for the words to the lullaby: Put your head on my knee. Leg dayn kop af mayne Kni, here they are. Leg dayn kop af mayne kni Gut azoy tsu lign Kinder shlofn ayn aleyn Groyse darf men vign Kinder hobn shpilekhlakh Shpiln ven zey viln Groyse shpiln nur mit zikh Muzn eybig shpiln Hob nit moyre ikh bin do Kvel dikh nit farshtoysn Host shoyn haynt genug geveynt Vi s'passt a groysn Ongeveynt un ongeklogt Kvel dikh itzt farvign Leg dayn kop af mayne kni S'iz gut azoy tsu lign Rita Falbel 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 05:44:49 -0400 (EDT) From: frankens@uni-freiburg.de Subject: Leyg dayn kop The lullaby Gie Laenen is looking for, was written by H. Lejwik (Lewi Halpern) (1888-1962) SHLOFLID SCHLAFLIED Leyg dayn kop oyf mayne kni, Leg den Kopf auf meine Knie, gut azoy tsu lign; so ist es gut liegen. kinder shlofn ayn aleyn, Kleine Kinder schlafen schon, groyse darf men vign. grosse muss man wiegen. Kinder hobn shpilekhlekh, - Kinder haben Spielzeug viel, shpiln ven zey viln: spielen wann sie wollen. groyse shpiln nor mit zikh, Grosse sind sich selbst zum Spiel, muzn eybik shpiln. muessen ewig wollen. Hot nit moyre - ikh bin do Musst nicht fuerchten, ich bin da, kh 'vel dir nit farshtoysen; werd dich nicht verstossen. host genug geveynt shoyn haynt, Hast heut schon genug geweint, vi es past a groysn. ganz wie alle Grossen. Ongeveynt un ongeklogt - Hast geweint und hast geklagt, kh 'vel dir itst farvign; nun will ich dich wiegen. leyg dayn kop oyf mayne kni, Leg den Kopf auf meine Knie - gut azoy tsu lign. so ist es gut liegen. 11.VII.1941 The German translation is by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger, the young poet from Czernowitz, Bukowina, cousin of Paul Celan, born in Czernowitz on the 15.8.1924 and died 1just 18 years old on the 6..12.1942 in the Concentration Camp Michailowka, Transnistria. Tomorrow in our "Oneg Shabbat" literary series in Freiburg Ursula Fritsch, a young composer and singer, is going to sing accompanying herself with guitar her own tuned songs by Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger, including this translation of the lullaby by H. Lejwik. Ruben Frankenstein, Freiburg 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 09:08:16 -0400 (EDT) From: Monika Feil Subject: Leyg dayn kop Here are the words of the lullaby: Leyg dayn kop oyf mayne kni, gut azoy tsu lign. Kinder shlofn ayn aleyn, groyse darf men vign. Kinder hobn shpilekhlekh, shpiln ven zey viln. Groyse shpiln nor mit zikh, muzn eybik shpiln. Hob nit moyre, ikh bin do, kh'vel dikh nit farshtoysn. Host shoyn haynt genug geveynt, vi es past a groysn. Ongeveynt un ongeklogt, kh'vel dikh itst farvign. Leyg dayn kop oyf mayne kni, gut azoy tsu lign. Best regards Monika Feil 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 May 1999 11:16:50 -0400 (EDT) From: ROBERT A ROTHSTEIN Subject: Lullaby The lullaby that Gie Laenen asked about (8.151) is H. Leivick's "Shloflid". The text can be found in the Mendele archives (issue 4.385) and in the most recent songbook by the Mloteks, _Lider fun dor tsu dor_, together with the music. Bob Rothstein 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 23:07:53 -0400 (EDT) From: ROBERT A ROTHSTEIN Subject: Nitl (yet again) Another contribution to the discussion of _nitl_, this time from Rev. Abraham Hirshovitz of Pittsburgh, whose commentary on Jewish customs, _Seyfer (oytser) minhogey yeshurun (yidishe minhogim)_, was published in a third edition in Vilna in 1914. (It also had four Hebrew editions, published successively in Vilna, Warsaw, St. Louis and Lemberg/Lvov/Lwow/Lviv.) The quotation below is also a good illustration of the _daytshmerish_ style of the time. Simen 271: Vorum mir lernen nit in di nakht fun "tkufes- teyves" velkhe mir rufn di nakht "nitl"? Vayl in di alte tsaytn hobn di antisemitn un di yidn-freser in dize nakht geloyert oyf di yidn, un vemen zey hobn gekhapt hobn zey geshlogn makes-retsekh, un file mol hobn merere yidn oysgehoykht zeyere neshomes fun di klep velkhe men hot zey geshlogn, un azoy vi dize nakht iz geven a nakht fun lebens-gefar un kayn regirung hot nit gekent dem hamoyn ophaltn, vayl der hamoyn hot gedeynkt dos shlogn yidn iz a mitsve in dize nakht, hobn darum undzere rabonim fun di alte doyres mesakn geven dos men zol tsumakhn di khadorim vu kinder lernen vi oykh di yeshives un yeder zol zitsn bay zikh tsuhoyz (lekutey pardeys), oykh nit tsu gebn dem meysis- umediekh kayn shum zkhus fun undzer lernen toyre. Why we don't study [Torah] on the winter night that we call "nitl" [Christmas]? Because in the olden days the anti-Semites and Judeophobes lay in wait for Jews, and whomever they caught they beat with murderous blows, and often many Jews breathed their last from the blows that they were struck, and since this night was a night of mortal danger and no government could hold back the mob, since the mob thought that beating Jews on this night was a virtue, so therefore our rabbis of old made a rule that the heders where children study and the yeshivas should be closed and everyone should sit at home (_Lekutey pardeys_ [a rabbinical work?]), also so that no merit should accrue to the instigator/the misleader [a reference to Jesus?] through our Torah study. Bob Rothstein 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 09:55:02 -0400 (EDT) From: CassBlum@aol.com Subject: Rhyming pairs My husband's family (two strands -- one Litvak and one Polish) uses the phrase "a ruzhe-buzhe" to mean "a big to-do," a big fuss. Ellen Cassedy 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 12:56:55 -0400 (EDT) From: EMPE@aol.com Subject: Yiddish doggerel When my mother said "bleh-shmeh" it was her critique of something I was going to do which she thought was hasty and totally devoid of merit; that it was a waste of my time/money/energy. My rabid Socialist father was not above adding his scatological two-cents worth: bleh-shmeh un kock awfn yam. What could be more counter-productive than that? I'd be happy to swap (privately) the bottomless fount of my Poppa's LIthuanian bawd. Mel Poretz 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 8 May 1999 15:55:34 -0400 (EDT) From: dmersky@mail.utexas.edu (Deena Mersky) Subject: rhymes and song "Hutch-plutch" , meaning "before you knew it", "quick as a wink" or "before you could say "Jack Robinson" has be used by both my Russian (Ukraine) and Polish (Pabianicz) sides of the family For my mother (Malke) on her forthcoming 95th birthday, I want to teach my 3 non-yiddish speaking grandchildren the words to "Tayere Malke (Gezunt zolst du zein) as a surprise gift. I now know only 3 verses, but I'm certain there are lots more. Could readers please share their knowledge with me ? A shaynem dank. DEENA H. MERSKY Austin, Texas 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 8 May 1999 12:20:10 -0400 (EDT) From: "Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett" Subject: Sissel revisited I have reviewed the Mendele discussion of sissel bread between 1991 and 1993. I would be interested in any further clarification Mendele readers would care to add. Sissel bread is noted in various sources for the turn of the century period in the United States as a "Galician" speciality. It was baked in the New York City area and elsewhere in the country, not only (or even mainly) in New England. During the period 1880-1904, most of the Jewish bakers were from Roumania, while those from Russia, though fewer, were considered the most skilled. A Jewish baker in California, born in 1921, remembers sissel bread being made by all the Jewish bakers in Los Angeles. It was made as follows. First, the ratio of rye flour to white was higher than in ordinary Jewish rye bread--more like 50% than 30% rye. This made the dough heavier. Second, the dough, after being formed into a round loaf (about 1.5 pounds), was proofed and then placed in a wooden box with 1/4 " of water in the bottom. The dough soaked up the water. The baker and his helpers would pick up the dough--it was wet and mushy on the bottom--to smooth the bottom with their hands. They then dropped the loaf in a bed of cornmeal. Third, from there the dough would be placed on a peel and into the brick oven--an American Standard Oven. They heated this oven with a gas flame thrower. When the temperature was right, they removed the flame thrower and baked the bread using radiant heat and, I assume (I can check) that they baked the loaves directly on the bricks (no pans or trays). Fourth, regarding the seeds, my baker said they were caraway, but a colleague who is a food historian and specialist in edible plants suggests that the seeds (small, black, pyramid shaped) may be Gith (Nigella sativa), which is used in white Armenian cheese, or onion seeds--they are indistinguishable to the eye. More than one kind of seed may have been used by various bakers. The crusty bottom of this loaf was specially prized. The baker explained further that they made and sold rye bread (If you wanted rye without caraway, you needed to ask for plain rye. If you asked for rye, you got caraway seeds.), light rye (less rye flour, more white flour), pumpernickel (with raisins), sissel, and khale. This account differs in some details from the one provided by Robert D. Hoberman on June 23, 1993, but is basically consistent with it. As for the seeds (see Mendele Vol. 1.98 and subsequent issues), there are several possibilities. I recall the flavor of the little black seeds on certain kinds of Jewish rye bread as something akin to caraway, fennel, cumin. Different bakers may well have used different seeds. What are tsherneshkes? Can someone describe them--appearance, flavor, use? If anyone can illuminate this topic further, I would be grateful. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett New York, NY ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 09.004 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