Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 09.031 October 5, 1999 1) Golda Gross on Singer (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan) 2) Golda Gross on Singer (Lynda Kraar) 3) A suke (Lorin Sklamberg) 4) A sikele (Eve Quarrendon Jochnowitz) 5) a sukele (Itsik Goldenberg) 6) "hilitse" (Mikhl Herzog) 7) "kitke" (Mikhl Herzog) 8) fitsh nos (Mordkhe Schaechter) 9) "lapatsan" (Paul Gross) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 10:36:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Marjorie Hirshan Subject: Golda Gross on Singer I found Golda Gross' angry, literary loyalty and impassioned reverence for Singer somewhat disarming, and yet, her view of Joseph Sherman's very respectable and realistic review had me wondering if I had read the same issue of TMR. Asking us for blind, unconditional love of Bashevis, she condemns Sherman's review and reviewers as filled with 'disdain', 'contempt' and 'derision' and asks that everyone back off, that we see no evil and sha, sha, speak no evil. Bashevis, the masterful writer whom we love for his impassioned 'bearing witness' and immortalizing our Jewsih/Yiddish cultural tradition, and then triumphantly garnering a diamond tiara for Yiddish, was less than perfect as a man. Why does looking at this make Ms.Gross confuse such analysis with 'demonizing' him? Negative personal reputation has no impact upon intelligent, open-minded appreciation of art. And does not being less than perfect (and part of a dysfunctional family) often trigger the art? The wholesome seem to take to tennis or become astronauts.... Hadda, after all her analyzing him, has credited Singer with changing the entire course of her life. This doesn't sound like a Singer-basher. Sherman has given time and research to understanding Singer the man, and shares him with anyone who will listen. Is this bashing? So Singer was penny-pinching; so he didn't pay his translators; so he didn't pay his emotional debts to friedns and lovers. We still all hungrily drink from his cup; we read and re-read Singer. We revere his masterful art. Perhaps, our appreciation is deeper, intensifies after seeing/accepting his imperfections as a man. Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan Boynton Beach, Florida 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1999 10:30:32 -0400 (EDT) From: TelAviv893@aol.com Subject: Golda Gross on Singer I agree with Golda Gross's bottom line on Isaac Bashevis Singer -- just read him. Ge-endikt. This posthumous bashing is eerily reminiscent of the abuse hurled at the late R' Shlomo Carlebach. As though he were expected to issue a response! Jews maligning the deceased masters eerily resembles an I.B. Singer plot. Pity he's not around to write it. Lynda Kraar Teaneck NJ 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 08:41:30 -0400 (EDT) From: LorinSklam@aol.com Subject: A suke Funny, I was just asking Chana Mlotek about this lovely song last week, and, coincidentally, she had just looked it up. It's based on a poem by Abraham Reisen, In suke: A suke a kleyne Fun breter gemeyne Hob ikh koym mit tsores gemakht! Gedekt dem dakh Mit a bisele skhakh Un ikh zits in ir sukes bay nakht. Fun vint dem kaltn Vos blozt durkh di shpaltn Mayn likhtele leshn zikh vil; Dos makh ikh mir kidesh, Un zet nor a khidesh: Dos likhtl brent ruik un shtil! The song appears in several variants and other verses have been added anonymously. I first heard it performed by the Rabbis' Sons, as recorded in 1967, very Simon and Garfunkel. So here are their additional stanzas: Tsum ershtn gerikht Mit a blasn gezikht Brengt mir mayn tekhterl arayn: Zi shtelt zikh avek Un zogt mit shrek: Tatele, di suke falt bald ayn. Zay nit keyn nar, Hob nit keyn tsar, Zol dir di suke nit ton bang; Es iz shoyn gor Bald tsvey toyznt yor Un di suke zi shteyt nokh gants lang. A slightly different version, with a different tune, appears in volume two of the Anthology of Yiddish Folksongs published by Hebrew University. Lorin Sklamberg 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 12:38:32 -0400 (EDT) From: eve jochnowitz Subject: A sikele (A sukele) The song "a sikele" can be found on the cassette Yiddish Classics: Heymishe idishe gezang Volume I. A Suki and Ding production. This beautiful and haunting song has become part of my sikes repetoire as well. This version does not make it clear that the dialog is between a parent and daughter, but I have heard versions that do. A sikele a klayne fun bretelekh gemayne hob ikh mir a sikele gemakht badekt dem dakh mit a bisele skhakh zits ikh mir in sikele bay nakht a vint a kaltn bluzt durkh di shpaltn un di likhtelekh zay leshn zikh fil es iz mir a khidesh vi ikh makh mir kidesh un di likhtelekh zay brenen gantz shtil zay nisht kayn nar hob nit kayn tsar zol dikh di sike nit zayn bang es iz shoyn gur bald tsvay toyznt yur un di sikele zi shteyt nokh gants lang ha rakhaman, hi yokim luni es sikes dovid ha noyfeles Eve Quarrendon Jochnowitz 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 22:52:32 -0400 (EDT) From: robert goldenberg Subject: a sukele Jonathan Bellman on Mendele 09.030, asks about the song "A sukele." It was recorded on a CD titled "Heymishe idishe gezangen" (Yiddish Classics) by Suki & Ding. It can be ordered at 212-724-9351. There is also a song "A suke" which can be found on 2 tapes (or CDs), one titled "Gut Yom-Tev Kinder" by the Workmans Circle Choir, available from the W.C. bookstore in Manhattan. Also recorded by Louis Danto on "Masterpieces of Jewish Art Song." on the Cadenza label. Itsik Goldenberg 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 00:57:25 -0400 (EDT) From: "Mikhl Herzog" Subject: Query about "hilitse" Ellen Cassidy (9.029) is puzzled by "hilitse". The word in question is Slavic-origin _ulitse_ (palatalized "l", stress on the first syllable) meaning 'street'. Its form signifies a) a Southern Yiddish area in which etymological "u" is realized as "i" (cf. kimen, piter, git, etc.), and b) and area of "h"-dropping--thus of the tendency to "restore" non-etymological "h". Taken together, these point to Yiddish in the Southern (possibly Southwestern) Ukraine. Mikhl Herzog 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 00:57:24 -0400 (EDT) From: "Mikhl Herzog" Subject: "kitke" Mendel Katz (09.030) asks about "kitke". The primary meaning of Yiddish _kitke_ is suggested by Polish _kitka_ 'aigrette', 'ornamental plume'. Map 147 of Volume III of the _Language and Culture Atlas of Ashkenazic Jewry_ (in press) depicts the geographic variation in its occurrence and meaning. Responses to questions concerning the word, where it is known, fall into 3 groups: 1. a _kitke_ is specified as a _khale_, or its meaning is a response to the question "Vos hot men gebakn af shabes" (implying that kitke = khale); 2. a _kitke_ is specified as a "geflokhtene khale"; 3. a _kitke_ is a decoration on the _khale_, usually a braid or a strip of dough. Mikhl Herzog 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 17:44:46 -0400 (EDT) From: MSchaecht@aol.com Subject: fitsh nos It should have been spelled: fey, yud, tes, shin (space) nun, alef, samekh. The meaning: soaken wet. Mordkhe Schaechter 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 08:49:28 -0400 (EDT) From: PRGHOME@aol.com Subject: "lapatsan" Would somebody be kind enough to tell me the meaning of "lapatsan?" The word appeared in an otherwise charming piece ("A Tsuzammenfli Fun Klasiker") in the September 24th FORWARD. Hartzliche begrisungen, Paul Gross ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 09.031 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