Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 09.017 July 15, 1999 1) Tayere Malke (Diana Woll Zurer) 2) Seeking Words & Sheet Music for Mirele (Lou & Anne Rublin) 3) "Handl Handl" (David Krycer) 4) khreyn (Dan Slobin) 5) shimmel lechel (Fay Berger) 6) Shimmelekhl (Al Grand) 7) shimelekhl (Sylvia Schildt) 8) shimmel lechel (Harry Krane) 9) children's games (Lori Cahan-Simon) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 09:57:49 -0400 (EDT) From: DIANA ZURER Subject: Tayere Malke At Sholem Aleichem Folkshul 45 in the Bronx, we had a version of Tayere Malke which we sang for birthdays. It could easily be revised for a 95th birthday. Does this bring back any memories for any Mendelyaner? Tayere - insert name -gezunt zolstu zayn Gis on dem becher, dem becher mit vayn Tzu dayn geboyrentog vintshen dir haynt Dayn tateh mamenyu, lehrer un frayndt Glickleche yohren un freydikhe teg Mazel un broche, gezunt on an ek. Diana Woll Zurer 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 21:42:39 -0400 (EDT) From: Zkbogin@aol.com Subject: Seeking Words & Sheet Music for Mirele My wife, Anne, and I have been active participants in the Phila. Workmen's Circle Chorus for quite a long time. We are seeking the Yiddish words (and English if available) for the song titled 'Mirele', as well as the sheet music. Please respond directly to us at lrublin@voicenet.com Thanks in advance. Lou & Anne Rublin 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 16:36:54 -0400 (EDT) From: David Krycer Subject: Song query: "Handl Handl" A couple of years ago the singer Freydi Mrocki learnt a beautiful song from a 90 year old resident of the Montefiore Homes here in Melbourne. The man who taught her said this song used to be sung, and was composed, by a handler that he remembered who would hawk his wares through the shtetl. I was surprised when I heard the whole 3 verses, bridge(s) and chorus - it sounds like a very sophisticated song for a 'simple' salesman to write! Here are the first verse, bridge and chorus, Kh'hob oysgeton fun zikh di shand Genumena shtekele in der hand `Kh drey zikh arum fun hoyf tsu hoyf `Kh`heyb di oygn ganz hoykh aroyf Alte hoyzn alte shikh, vos ir vilt nor hern handl ikh Azoy handl ikh. Handl,handl `kh`koyf alte zakhn Handl, handl kh'hob nisht shabes tsu makhn Handl, handl kh'koyf alte zakhn Handl, oy handl, kh'hob nisht shabes tsu makhn The second verse is about living in "shmotche gas", the third about his daughter for whom he has no nadn (dowry) Has anyone heard of this song? I haven't found it in any of the usual reference books I've seen or recordings I've heard. I'd much appreciate any extra information, if there is, on this one, David Krycer 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 20:28:32 -0400 (EDT) From: "Dan I. SLOBIN" Subject: khreyn The word for `horseradish' is common to the Slavic languages (e.g., Russian khren, Polish chrzan, Bulgarian khryan, Serbo-Croatian khren, Slovenian khren, Ukrainian khrin, Czech kren, etc.). It has no apparent Indo-European connection. Various Turkic origins have been proposed (e.g., Chuvash kher- `red-hot'). -Dan Slobin Berkeley, California 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 21:33:02 -0400 (EDT) From: JuniperViv@aol.com Subject: shimmel lechel My husband played Shimmel Lechel in Wiliamsburg, Brooklyn in the 30's. One boy closed his eyes and put his head against the lamppost. A few boys would stand behind him.One would touch his back in a circular motion and say "You make a shimmel lechel and someone sticks it in." It had a sing song rhythm. Then one boy would poke the back with his finger in the center of the circle. Then the first one had to turn around and guess which boy stuck his finger in in the shimmel lechel. Fay Berger 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 22:13:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Savoyid@aol.com Subject: Shimmelekhl In response to Shimen Kass's inquiry regarding the way the game "shimmelekhl" is played [Vol. 09.010] - it was, as I recall a guessing game wherein one of the kids would fold his arms while leaning against a tree with his eyes shut. The children would gather around him while one of the group would draw a circle around his back while chanting: "I make a shimmelekhl and someone sticks it in!" At the end of the chant one of the kids in the group would quickly poke his finger into the imaginary circle. The one whose eyes was shut then swivels around and tries to guess whose finger was poked into the hole drawn on his back. At this point I'm a little vague about what follows but I think this whole procedure was done to determine who was to be "it", say, for instance in a game of "hide-and-seek." Re: the etymology of "shimmelekhl" - the second part, "lekhl" is, of course, "little hole." As for what "shimme" could mean, dos veys ikh nit. Al Grand 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 23:15:01 -0400 (EDT) From: Sylvia Schildt Subject: shimelekhl Ikh veys nit tzi dos iz an emes tzi nit -- nor ikh hob amol gekent a shrayber Avram Davidson velkher hot proponirt az kinder shpiln shtamen fun kishef ritualn un az shimelekhl (bay undz in brunzvil, eyn vort) shtamt fun simulacrum, a kishev ring.. I don't know if this is true or not == but I once knew a writer Avram Davidson who proposed that children's games come from magic rituals and that shimelekhl (one word, back in Brownsville) comes from "simulacrum", a magic circle or ring. Sylvia Schildt Baltimore, Marylabd 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 10:20:45 -0400 (EDT) From: Harry Krane Subject: shimmel lechel To Shimen Kass: The game "shimmel lechel" was played like Hide and Seek. The person who was IT covered his/her eyes by leaning on a trree or lamp post. One other person in the game (of several players) made a circle on "IT's" back and said "I make a shemmel lechel and someone sticks it in" and pokes the person who is IT in the middle of the imaginary circle drawn. Then all hide. IT has to find the person who did it. This is as I remember it and my wife, who was an actrive member of the "CONG" on Pennsylvania Avenue in Brooklyn, concurs. Since she is the Maven, it must be so. Harry Krane 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1999 08:15:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Lori Cahan-Simon Subject: children's games Tayere Mendelyaner, I am still looking for children's songs, games, rhymes, fingerplays, etc. for my collection. I have 6 finger- and baby-play from your kind responses now. Those of you who went to Yiddish shuln, can you recall anything for me? Most people I ask don't seem to remember, but I know from reading the archives that the scholars who discourse here have very good memories. One man from my shul said to me,"We were too poor to sing." Another told me, "I didn't have a childhood. They had me peddling papers at the age of four and a half." They both seemed angry at me for asking, and resentful at their childhoods-long-past. Isn't that a shame? Why is it that even though we love our children so and have produced such great music and literature that there seems to be a paucity of such material for children? Please be kind enough to spend a few minutes searching the recesses of your minds for me, dredge up what you might remember and let me know about it. Does anyone know where I can get these books, whose titles were sent to me by Gila Flam? Cahan, Y.L. Yiddish Folksongs with Melodies, Yivo, New York 1957 Beregovsky, M. Yiddish Folksongs - several editions from the former USSR. Engel, Joel; Kinder Lider,Berlin 1923 A hartzikn dank, Lori Cahan-Simon ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 09.017 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