Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 09.016 July 15, 1999 1) Sholem-Aleykhem un Tsharli Tshaplin (Louis Fridhandler) 2) The Musical Legacy of the Jewish Labor Bund (Donna Gallers) 3) Doctor Tsemakh Shabad - book by Yulian Rafes (Zachary Baker) 4) Di Mishpokhe Karnovski on stage (Shloyme Zalmen Millman) 5) I. J. Singer's "A Fremder" (Larry Rosenwald) 6) pedeshka (Alan Shuchat) 7) Hamanataschen (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 8) Poe and Singer (Hannah B. Fischthal) 9) Di Toyte Hasidim (David Assaf) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 13:21:14 -0400 (EDT) From: Lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem un Tsharli Tshaplin In 9.013, 2, Larry Rosenwald asks about Sholem-Aleykhem and Charlie Chaplin, and Sholem-Aleykhem's appreciation of silent films. I may be able to add some relevant information. They are my two favorite geniuses because they were both so sensitive to the tragic ironies of the human condition, and yet, no matter how deep the sad possibilities, they each often found the humor, even joyous laughter, that trumped the pain. Sholem-Aleykhem seems to have understood the unique Chaplin gift although he never saw Chaplin's greatest masterpieces. Sholem-Aleykhem came to New York at the end of 1914 and died May 13, 1916. He had the opportunity to see all of Chaplin's knockabout films for Keystone (1914) and Essanay (1915). Chaplin's "The Tramp" was released in April 1915, and is acknowledged as the first blending by Chaplin of sadness and laughter. Sholem-Aleykhem died the day before the first of Chaplin's Mutual Films (1916-17) was released. There is an interesting book in Yiddish about Charlie Chaplin (Di Velt fun Tsharli Tshaplin, fun David Matis, New York: Yidisher Kultur Farband [YKUF], 1959. Kapitl zayen is entitled "Sholem-Aleykhem un Tsharli Tshaplin." The first two subheadings are 1) Sholem-Aleykhem redt zikh arop fun hartsn vegn Tshaplinen; and 2) Menakhem-Mendl, Tevye, Motl un Tshaplins Kleyn Mentshele. In one of my 1996 Sholem-Aleykhem articles for Fishl Kutner's "Der Bay" I wrote: The striking visual imagination of the master is readily apparent. Scenes leap from page to the mind's eye. He must have found writing scenarios very much his cup of tea. In Baym Kenig Akhashveres the boy narrator must sit at the Purim feast, not with his playmates, but with his Reb Itsi, his tutor. Or as the boy calls him, his governess, his Angel of Death. When Reb Itsi yanks his kerchief from his vest pocket, bits of tobacco fly all over, and into the boy's soup. Or this: Tevye stops to pray in the woods [Dos Groyse Gevins], heart heavy, no food to bring home. It's time for minkhe and he wants to stand for shimenesre in silence, but his horse bolts. His search for relief from gloomy thoughts in silent, fervent prayer is abruptly suspended. Holding on to the reins for dear life, Tevye yells prayers, not standing, as is proper, but running. Only in movies could that be rendered, impossible on a stage. Further, language was no barrier in silent movies. Chaplin, for example, was immediately understood everywhere. Sholem Aleichem seems to have perceived in Chaplin a human touch analogous to his own. This was during Chaplin's early knockabout slapstick period. An anecdote related by a young admirer has Sholem Aleichem defending Chaplin against the kind of condescending pedantry adopted by self-important critics of the day. [Der Tog, NewYork, Apr. 2, 1939. See also allusions to attending Chaplin movies in Dos Sholem-Aleykhem Bukh, p. 360; and Motl Peysi dem Khazns, Tsveyter Teyl, chapter XVI.] Some letters by Sholem Aleichem add important details about film plans. On Dec. 19, 1913 [New Style], Sholem Aleichem wrote from Lausanne to a Mr. Vorkl, apparently a go-between. It was a progress report about his scenarios. "....The first [of two] is entitled 'Tevye.' It goes without saying that I include only the first of the Tevye stories, 'Dos Groyse Gevins.' However, it is rich in new, quite new, very comical scenes [50 scenes]. And there are also fantastic scenes of which there is no trace in my original yarn. Everything is cinematographically organized. You and the whole world will enjoy. The second is entitled: 'Khave, Tevye's Daughter.' This also contains many new imaginative scenes and settings. The first scenario is mainly in a humorous vein, the second touches the deepest of feelings. Let your 'German' [presumably the financier] choose one. Maybe both? Does your 'German' understand that he is buying things that have a ready-made public, many tens, hundreds of thousands of devotees among you and in America? I'm still awaiting your answer to earlier letters. Perhaps you will send an accounting of these matters by telegram. Naturally, if we get to do business, you will also make money. You are not obligated to work for me for nothing. Time is money [Hebrew characters, taym iz moni], says Yankl ganef in Ameritshke. Write, write, and don't sleep through the slikhes [Prayers for forgiveness]! Your Sholem Aleichem." On Dec. 21, 1913, he wrote Vorkl about scripting scenarios of Motl Peysi dem Khazns, Der Farkishefter Shnayder, and Stempenyu. Eight months later the outbreak of World War I destroyed all such plans. Sholem Aleichem died May 13, 1916, before such promising seeds could be sown in the new, cinematically fertile American ground. If only Chaplin could have read Yiddish! Louis Fridhandler 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1999 20:40:19 -0400 (EDT) From: "Lisa Epstein" Subject: The Musical Legacy of the Jewish Labor Bund IN LOVE AND IN STRUGGLE: THE MUSICAL LEGACY OF THE JEWISH LABOR BUND The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research announces the release of a new recording entitled "In Love and In Struggle: The Musical Legacy of the Jewish Labor Bund", featuring new performances (in Yiddish and English) by The New Yiddish Chorale and the Workmen's Circle Chorus, both conducted by Zalmen Mlotek, a leading figure in Yiddish folk, theatre, and choral music. The recording also features solo performances by Adrienne Cooper and Dan Rous. "In Love and In Struggle" celebrates the vast Jewish labor song repertoire that developed in Yiddish from 1880-1945 in Eastern Europe and the United States. Available in CD and cassette, the recording features over sixty voices of all ages and backgrounds (including a children's chorus) singing about working people, strikes, freedom and justice, in selections ranging from rousing protest songs to lyrical songs of hope. The recording was inspired by a sold-out concert in January, 1998 at the Cooper Union in New York City, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Jewish Labor Bund, the socialist party and cultural organization founded in Vilna (Eastern Europe) in 1897 and still functioning today. The songs on the CD come from the Bundist repertoire and from other branches of the Jewish labor movement. The New Yiddish Chorale was founded in 1995 by Zalmen Mlotek to perform and record musically rich arrangments of traditional Yiddish songs, major works of the past written for chorus in Yiddish by major composers, and works of Yiddish poets as texts for new choral compositions. The Workmen's Circle Chorus was founded in 1915 and been under the direction of Zalmen Mlotek since 1980. Since its inception it has sung music which reflects the lives of Eastern European immigrants fighting for better working conditions, social justice, and a better quality of life. "In Love and In Struggle" is available for sale through YIVO. The CD and cassette are each accompanied by a beautifully designed and illustrated 32 page booklet with lyrics in Yiddish and English translation, notes, and reflections on radical Jewish politics. CD: $18, Cassette: $12. For order forms or more information, contact YIVO at (212) 246-6080. Donna Gallers 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 08:07:46 -0400 (EDT) From: Zachary Baker Subject: Doctor Tsemakh Shabad (book by Yulian I. Rafes) At the request of the author, I would like to bring to subscribers' attention the following newly published book: *Doctor Tsemakh Shabad: A Great Citizen of the Jewish Diaspora*, by Yulian I. Rafes; edited by Lisa Epstein & Steven Sedlis. Baltimore: VIA Press, Vestnik Information Agency, 1999. 228 p., illus. In English. ISBN 1-885563-17-5 Available from the publisher for $19 (+$3 postage) -- address: 6100 Park Heights Ave., Baltimore, MD 21215; tel. 1-410-358-0900. Here is a bit of background on the book, in the words of Lisa Epstein, Research Director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research: "Dr. Rafes' book places Dr. Shabad's medical activities in the context of medical science of the day. With a wealth of information hitherto unavailable in English, it provides a detailed description of the scope of public health efforts initiated or inspired by Dr. Shabad. "This work is a glowing tribute to Dr. Shabad, who was so greatly revered by the Jewish population of Eastern Europe during his lifetime. Dr. Rafes has poured his own passion for Jewish public health care, Jewish medical history, and the memory of Dr. Shabad into this project. "The name of Dr. Shabad has always been a highly revered one at YIVO. Not only was he one of the founders of the institution, but his daughter Regina married the brilliant scholar Dr. Max Weinreich, who shaped YIVO's intellectual direction for four decades, first in Vilna, then in New York. His elder son, Uriel, Dr. Shabad's grandson, was a brilliant linguist, also bringing scholarly leadership to YIVO. The history of the Shabad family and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, then, are inseparably intertwined." Throughout his long and distinguished career as a medical doctor and as a cultural and political figure, Dr. Shabad personified the integrity and intellectual distinction of his native city of Vilna, the fabled "Jerusalem of Lithuania." Dr. Yulian I. Rafes is the author two other recent books, also published by VIA Press: *The Way We Were before Our Destruction* (memoir of and documents about the author's gymnasium classmates in Vilna; in English) and *Paths of My Destiny* (memoir about Dr. Rafes' education and medical career in the former Soviet Union; in Russian). Zachary M. Baker P.S. For YIVO Library inquiries please contact Aviva Astrinsky, Head Librarian, e-mail: yivo3@metgate.metro.org 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 14:36:00 -0400 (EDT) From: MILLPERSON@aol.com Subject: Di Mishpokhe Karnovski on stage In his comments about I.J. Singer, Leonard Prager refers to dramatizations of Di Brider Ashkenazi and Yoshe Kalb, but passes over Di Mishpokhe Karnovski as though this was never presented on stage. Actually, I clearly recall that it was presented by Maurice Schwartz in the 1940's in an "uptown" theatre in N.Y. (By uptown, I mean that it wasn't downtown on 2nd Avenue, but rather in a theatre in the Times Square area.) My cousin was one of a group of children who appeared in the play, and he used to do a teriffic imitation of Maurice Schwartz ( but never where Mr. Schwartz could hear him). Shloyme Zalmen Millman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 1 Jul 1999 13:53:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Larry Rosenwald Subject: I. J. Singer's "A Fremder" I was glad to see _The Mendele Review_ offering its readers I. J. Singer's story, "A Fremder." I had some interesting experiences with that story, which I thought some Mendelyaner might like to hear about. 1. I read it first about fifteen years ago, and was drawn enough to it to translate it. I submitted my translation to _Response_, which accepted it; then, in doing some research for a prefatory note, I found that the story had been translated previously by Maurice Samuel, in a collection of IJS's stories published in 1938. I went to look at the Samuel translation, and found that clearly he'd translated a somewhat different text. I gathered that IJS had revised the story -- considerably to its advantage, in my judgment -- between its original publication in the _Forverts_ and the book publication in 1949. I thought that the differences between the versions, plus some differences in manner of translation, justified a new publication; so I wrote all this up in the prefatory note, and my translation was published in 1986. ("An Outsider," I. J. Singer, translated by Lawrence Rosenwald; _Response_ XV:2 (Summer-Fall 1986), pp. 43-52). 2. I'd originally shown the story to the poet and translator Reginald Gibbons, who was then the editor of _TriQuarterly_. His response was very striking. I'd told him about the story, and he'd asked to see it, but what he said when he saw it was, "You had me expecting something like Tolstoy, but the story just isn't that good -- it's thin and schematic." Which led me to wonder. For the reasons Leonard Prager suggests in his excellent introduction, I do think it's a fascinating story. But I wasn't sure then, and am not sure now, just how good it is. Best, Larry Rosenwald 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 21:13:20 -0400 (EDT) From: Alan Shuchat Subject: pedeshka? In The Family Markowitz by Allegra Goodman, a character says: "**I** was grouchy? I beg your pedeshka. Your father-in-law -- fine, future father-in law -- was the grouchy one." Is pedeshka Yiddish? I can't find it in Weinreich. It doesn't seem to be Russian. Polish perhaps? A sheynem dank, Alan Shuchat 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 13:49:24 -0400 (EDT) From: Gevaryahu@aol.com Subject: Hamanataschen I have been asked to post the following question about the etymology of "hamanataschen" and its relationship to "Oznei Haman." What we found so far is that the general opinion is that the German word "Mohn" for poppy seeds was combined with "Tasch" for pouch-pocket to form Mohntasch, for poppy pastry filled pocket. The similarity of sound of Mohn and Haman made it into hamantaschen. [e.g, Sefer Hamoadim on Purim in an article by Yom Tov Lewinsky (pp.153-154)]. I think that the explanation could be that the Hebrew definite article "Ha" was simply added to the old German "Mohntaschen" to create the Hamohntaschen. In Hebrew this pastry is called "Oznei Haman" pl. or "Ozen Haman" s. Again, it suggests that every one understood it to be some kind of pastry symbolizing the victory over Haman. How did "tasch" became "ozen" or the reverse? [I don't know if "Ozen Haman" came to Hebrew from Yiddish "tasch" or the reverse] Since "ozen" is not only ear but also a utensil handle traditionally with a hole in the middle, and since a regular punishment for a misbehaving kid was to pull his ear ["talash ozeno"-Pesikta Rabbati 115b], somehow these got mixed up-symbolism of punishing Haman by eating his ears. I know that this is not a strong explanation. Even Shoshan traces the age of the Hebrew "Ozen Haman" expression of Yemei Habenayim! (Middle ages) Neither Uriel Weinreich nor Alexander Harkavy deal with the etymology of the word. Did the Hebrew copied it from the Yiddish or was it the reverse? Gilad J. Gevaryahu 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 13:08:06 -0400 (EDT) From: HannahBF@aol.com Subject: poe & singer Dan Walden and I are researching Poe's influence on I.B. Singer. Any leads? Hannah B. Fischthal 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 08:07:48 -0400 (EDT) From: David Assaf Subject: Query: Di Toyte Hasidim I am about to publish an annotated multi-lingual bibliography on Braslav Hasidism (including about 1,100 entries). The bibliography will be published by Merkaz Shazar (Jerusalem) toward the end of 1999. For this purpose I'm trying to find out the earliest printed appearance of the term "Di Toyte Hasidim", which was definitely used by the opponents of Braslav as a term of disgrace and as a curse. Although I have the sense that the roots of this term trace back to the 1860s, the first printed example known to me is in an article published in the Warsaw newspaper "Der Moment" from September 1928. I would appreciate any information readers may have of earlier reference David Assaf Tel Aviv ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 09.016 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