Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 09.029 October 4, 1999 1) "Pious Voices: Languages Among Ultra-orthodox Jews" (Miriam Isaacs) 2) Homentashn (Bob Hoberman) 3) Yisroel Shumakher (Moyshe-Shaye Steinlauf) 4) Definition of a Yiddish Word (F. Lynn) 5) yivnikah (David Phillips) 6) vos meynt er mit ot dem termin? (anshl mihaly) 7) Yoshe Kalb (Sinai Rome) 8) Romanized spelling (Rukhl Eissenstat) 9) Shrouds/takhrikhim; hiletse (Ellen Cassedy) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 7 Sep 1999 09:51:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Miriam Isaacs Subject: "Pious Voices: Languages Among Ultra-orthodox Jews" Announcing the publication of "Pious Voices: Languages Among Ultra-orthodox Jews", a focus issue - Vol 3, #138 of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language, issue editors -Miriam Isaacs and Lewis Glinert. This volume contains a series of articles that address issues of language and identity among haredim. The articles and book reviews offer an in-depth understanding of the dynamics of language, religion and group identity for this population in contemporary settings in enclaves in Israel, America and Great Britain. Because of the rate at which this population is developing, this volume is essential in understanding trends in modern Judaism and modern Israel, in heritage languages, and in the relationships between language and religion. Articles include 1.Haredi, 'Haymish' and 'Frim': Vitality and Language Choice in a Multilingual Community. - by Miriam Isaacs 2. We Never Changed Our Language: Attitudes to Yiddish Acquisition Among Hasidic Educators in . - by Lewis Glinert 3. Perceptions of English Learning in a Hasidic Jewish Sect. - by Joan Abraham 4. Women's Badkhones: the Satmar Poem Sung to a Bride.- by Zelda Kahan-Newman 5. Contentious Partners: Yiddish and Hebrew in Haredi Israel. - by Miriam Isaacs 6. Gender, Literacy and Religiosity: Dimensions of Yiddish Education in Israeli Government-Supported Schools.- by Bryna Bogoch Book Reviews 1. New Perspectives on Hasidim in the New World, New World Hasidim: Ethnographic Studies of Hasidic Jews in America, eds. Belcove-Shalin - Reviewed by Ayala Fader 2. Like a Meteor - Prime of Yiddish, Ari Passow. - reviewed by Mark Southern 3. A Language in the Making-Frumspeak: the First Dictionary of Yeshivish - Reviewed by Sam Weiss The publisher is Mouton de Gruyter. Inc. 200 Saw Mill River Road, Hawthorne NY 10532 email 100064.2307@compuserve.com Miriam Isaacs 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1999 12:06:40 -0400 (EDT) From: "R. Hoberman" Subject: Homentashn Italian Jews have a Purim pastry called orecchi di Haman 'Haman's ears' (I might have spelled the Italian wrong). There is a description of this I think in Claudia Roden's recent cookbook or in Joan Nathan's. They are not at all like Ashkenazi homentashn, and they're shaped a bit like ears. Possibly the Italian name, translated into Hebrew as ozney haman, was arbitrarily assigned to the Ashkenazi poppy or prune pocket. Who knows when? Even Shoshan's "Middle Ages" category is very broad and vague, but you could find early attestations in the big Ben Yehuda dictionary. So where did American Jews get the idea it was Haman's hat? Just from George Washington's three-cornered model? Bob Hoberman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1999 10:26:42 -0400 (EDT) From: "Michael Steinlauf" Subject: Yisroel Shumakher Vegn Yisroel Shumakhers dates un andere frages fun M. Rozier (Boris Tomashevskis dates, grazyn in Zilbertsvaygs Leksikon, ukhdoyme) khob ikh shoyn geentfert in Mendele mit etlekhe khadoyshim tsurik. Ober es shat nisht mistome ibertsukhazern: loyt Nosn Gros in "Toledot ha-kolnoa ha-yehudi be-Polin, 1910-1950" (Yerushelayim, 1990), z. 56, zenen Shumakhers dates 1908-61. Al dos guts Moyshe-Shaye Steinlauf Philadelphia 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 30 Jul 1999 16:51:56 -0400 (EDT) From: "Ronald B. Lynn" Subject: Definition of a Yiddish Word Found this word on an Ivanetz Map. Cannot find it in any Yiddish dictionary. Can you help - it is spelled - [fey, yud, tes, shin, tsadek, vov, ayin, samekh]. Thanks, F. Lynn 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 19:04:48 -0400 (EDT) From: phillipd@fbm.com Subject: yivnikah I'm editing a manuscript and it includes what is described as a "Yiddish-sounding word" "yivnikah". Said to mean "frozen horse droppings," pluralized in English as "yivnikahs," ascribed to native speaker of Yiddish. Can your readers supply (by email) any information on this word? David Phillips San Francisco CA 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 15:56:17 -0400 (EDT) From: Alain Mihaly Subject: vos meynt er mit ot dem termin? Dovid tsukerman shraybt az der termin "profesionele yidishistn" hot im shokirt un fregt vos er (ikh) meyn(t). ot iz vos er meynt. ikh farshtey az ot der termin ken zayn tsvey(oder mer)taytshik. kh'hob im nor banutst kedey tsu banomenen mentshn vos arbetn "profesionel" (fakhmenish) inem gebit fun der shprakh, mentshn vos zey (kenen) shraybn di lern-bikhlekh. un gor nisht andersh. mit khavershaft tsu di ale profesionele un nisht-profesionele yidishistn oyf ale kontinentn. et desole pour Lori Cahan mais mon anglais est pire que mon yiddish. anshl mihaly 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 09:46:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Sinai Rome Subject: Yoshe Kalb - I.J.Singer I wonder if any member of Mendele could help me with the following: Some time ago the cable company here in Jerusalem screened a film, by a company called Yiddishshpiel, which was simply a recording of the stage play "Yoshe Kalb" by I.J.Singer, without any mention of the actors or director involved. As I had recorded the film on timer, and (as happens so often in this country) the film overran the time allotted and I had not allowed for any extra time, I missed the last few minutes of the film. The part I got up to was the climactic scene where Yoshe has to answer before the Bet Din how can he reconcile the fact that he had apparently married a second wife when his first wife was still alive, as an aguna. The last thing I saw was where he admitted he had no explanation. Could anyone please fill me in with the ending? Many thanks, Sinai Rome 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 03:46:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Eissenstat@aol.com Subject: Romanized spelling There is another reason to use Romanized spelling rather than di Alef-Beys -- I, for one, am such a novice at the computer that I feel fortunate to be able to read and send email at all! I would need a patient teacher to train me to get more complicated than that! By the way, in my last trip to Jerusalem, May '99, I witnessed lots of Yiddish being spoken, in the Romema area, not just Mea Shearim, and among little kids -- some were hasidic in appearance, others modern orthodox. Rukhl Eissenstat 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 15 Sep 1999 11:25:57 -0400 (EDT) From: CassBlum@aol.com Subject: Shrouds/takhrikhim; hiletse In story by Blume Lempl, a woman -- born in Poland in this century and living after the war in the U.S. -- sews herself a shroud (takhrikhim). It has long sleeves and a high collar, "farendikt mit a shliarkele, vi s'past far a tsedeykes." Does anyone know what style is customary for a pious woman's shroud? Would the COLLAR be ruffled ("farendikt mit a shliarkele"), or would the shroud itself, i.e., the hemline, be ruffled? Also, the woman reflects on "di shmole hiletse" where she grew up. What is "hiletse"? Thank you for your help. Ellen Cassedy Bethesda, MD ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 09.029 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