Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 09.043 November 15, 1999 1) Yiddish and Haredim (Ellen Prince) 2) Haredi literature (Larry Rosenwald) 3) Haredim and Yiddish (Allan Nadler) 4) Abraham Brumberg on Yiddish (Shaya Mitelman) 5) "Yiddish neighbourhood" in Buenos Aires (Saul Drajer) 6) Abraham Shulman (Norma Brewer) 7) Yosl Cotler (Marti Krow-Lucal) 8) Lullabye (Ellen Cassedy) 9) Pious Voices - correction (Miriam Isaacs) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 00:07:55 -0500 (EST) From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: Yiddish and Haredim I'd like to add a p.s. to Miriam Isaacs eminently reasonable response to the discussion here on Yiddish and Haredim. Depending on one's method of dating, Yiddish is between 700 and 1000 years old. The percentage of that time when it was blessed with the likes of Mendele, Sholem Aleichem, Manger, etc is *very very small*. If the past 125 years saw a flowering of Yiddish literature, it was only at the end of nearly a millenium of Yiddish as *the language of a group not unlike the Haredim*. I wonder how many of the Yiddish writers that we all respect so much were read by their own parents! So, if the super-orthodox kept it going all that time until their children, the 'secularists', created the literature you valorize, presumably they can do it again (tho probably not in our lifetime). The future of Yiddish depends *only* on whether there are children growing up speaking it as their mother tongue, within a *Yiddish* speech community -- which is what the haredim, and only the haredim, are providing. How they spell 'undzer' and what they think of the Goldfadens, the Singers, the Weinreichs et al is so irrelevant to the issue as to be laughable. Ellen Prince 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 11:19:49 -0500 (EST) From: Larry Rosenwald Subject: Haredi literature Sholem Berger writes, "Haredi and secular Yiddish literature do differ. Not in quality -- I would venture to say that dross dominates among the veltlekhe just as much as among the Haredi (perhaps less so in poetry)." A question - the issue for me wouldn't be whether dross is more common than gold in both repertories; it would be where the gold is, and how fine. That is - what are the works of haredi Yiddish literature that are up there with Bergelson and Chaim Grade? Best, Larrry Rosenwald 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 12:43:34 -0500 (EST) From: Allan Nadler Subject: Haredim and Yiddish Regarding the Blumberg/Heschel exchange on the Haredim and Yiddish, it seems to me painfully obvious that Blumberg is deliberately, ideologically blind to anything positive that might emerge from the Orthodox world, even if its net result will be the virtual salvation of Yiddish. There is no doubt that the genres, styles and forms of Yiddish writing in the Haredi world are experiencing an unprecedented expansion. Not only is there an explosion of Yiddish journalism and belletristic literature. The Haredim are even engaged in genres that until very recently were considered completely trayf, including historiography. To cite one example. The last published book in English translation by the Israeli historian Jacob Katz ("A House Divided", Brandeis University Press, 1998) dealt with the radical split of Hungarian Jewry into Neolog, Status Quo and Orthodox movements. I reviewed it for the English Forward and stated that it is the first full, book-length study of this topic ever published. Alas, I was wrong. As I discovered while browsing in a Sforim store in hasidic Montreal last summer, a year before Katz's book appeared in English, a Yiddish volume, entitled "Di Shpaltung in Ungarn" was published anonymously in Brooklyn, dealing with the exact same themes as those handled by Katz. Yes, it is a highly polemical and clearly biased account of the history of mid-19th century Hungarian Jewry, but it contains all of the basic historical facts, names and dates, and is not that much worse, or more slanted, than much of the Zionist-oriented Jewish historiography produced by generations of professional, university based, Israeli historians. It is quite evident to me that these new tendencies in Haredi Yiddish literature reflect the fact that, for all their isolationism, they are aware of, sensistive and reactive to, trends in the wider Jewish society. Rather than "makhn avek mit di hent", those concerned with the very survival of Yiddish should celebrate this unexpected phenomenon. Allan Nadler Madison, NJ 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 23:26:15 -0500 (EST) From: Serge Mitelman Subject: Abraham Brumberg on Yiddish I'd like to comment on several points made by Abraham Brumberg in his latest contribution (09.041). It appears that he went too far in his ardent dismissal of Soviet Yiddish. He claims that "gradually parents began to realize that the future for their children lies not in the Yiddish schools, but in the Belorussian, Ukrainian and - primarily - Russian". This is exactly how Soviet authorities substantiated the closure of Jewish schools (that's right, they were called Jewish) in 1939 and then in 1948. This statement reflects a thoroughly superficial awareness of the situation and has nothing to do with reality. Jewish parents did prefer to send their children to study in their native, and often only (at age 7), language - as one can tell from all available statistics (cf. Charles Fuchsman, 09.037). Moreover, the enrollment was usually automatic without extensive inquiry into the parental preferences. And finally, Jewish schools were regarded highly precisely in terms of the children's future perspectives, so that significant number of gentile children was sent by their parents to study in Yiddish. Unlike many other national schools in the USSR, graduates of Jewish schools had an opportunity to further their education in numerous technical schools and university departments in Yiddish as the language of instruction (even compared with Belorussian and Ukrainian). If one seeks a first-hand information - one should contact Khaim Beyder, a current editor of Di Tsukunft, who graduated from one of the Odessa University Yiddish departments. When the schools were abruptly closed, children were transferred to primarily Ukrainian and Belorussian, but not Russian, facilities. "When they started, they had the full help, financial and otherwise, from the state (that is, the republican governments )". All schools in the USSR were public, maintained by the state (and not the quite nominal republican governments). "Yiddish schools were gradually denuded of Jewish content". Has anyone decreed what is "Jewish content"? Do you mean that being based on communist ideology denuded Jewish schools of their Jewish content? And by analogy - Russian schools of their Russian content? Then what content were they left with? (Sounds absurd, ah?) All subjects (algebra, physics, chemistry, geography, etc.) were taught exclusively in Yiddish, with strong preparation in classical and contemporary Yiddish (and not only) literature (see Charles Fuchsman, 09.037, for by far incomplete list of mandatory authors). This may, of course, be argued, but "dehebraization" of Soviet Yiddish - above any other considerations - pursued rather utilitarian, as opposed to ideological, ends. In its "revolutionary spirit" it reflected the orientation on spoken language, which wasn't nearly as loshn-koydesh-laden as the written one. The same processes were taking place in Russian and other languages of the land. As far as I know, some publications in America and Romania followed similar orthography. As "castrated" Russian literature still managed to produce the likes of Babel, Bulgakov, Pasternak, Platonov, Sholokhov, Brodsky, Bakhtin - "castrated" Yiddish literature, in its own right, churned out Izi Kharik, Moyshe Altman, Yankl Yakir, Elye Shekhtman, Yankev Shternberg, Ikhil Shraybman, Yosef Kerler, Lev Berinsky, etc., etc. Tolstoys they may not have been, but were they in any sense less talented than their fully virile Western counterparts? If one tends to collectively negate them, it's purely a matter of literary taste (or rather distaste) or ignorance. This literature held certain prominence in the Soviet literary milieu: I can hardly think of any other Yiddish belles-lettres as much translated as Leyb Kvitko and Shike Driz (Bashevis incl.) - literally millions of children in the USSR grew up with their children's poetry, and Sholem-Aleykhem was a must for any Russian envisioning himself a part of intelligentsia. The tragedy is - as Mr.Fuchsman put it - in the continuous oppression and destruction of anything Jewish in that part of the world, but to put blame on the victims is near-sighted, to say the least. Shaya Mitelman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 7 Nov 1999 16:36:25 -0500 (EST) From: "Saul Drajer" Subject: "Yiddish neighbourhood" in Buenos Aires There is no such a neighbourhood in Buenos Aires today. Years ago use to be Once, or Villa Crespo, but today young generations dont speak yiddish anymore. One can listen to a "yiddish vort" at the IWO (YIVO) premises at Ayacucho 483. Saul Drajer 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1999 09:27:34 -0500 (EST) From: Norma Brewer Subject: Abraham Shulman I should like to thank Yaakov Dovid Shulman for his moving and informative eulogy to his father , ABRAHAM SHULMAN, the Yiddish writer. I wish Mr Shulman 'Long Life'. Could he possibly publish in Mendele one or more of his father's humorous pieces? I should also like to ask him, when he feels able to, to explain the reference to "Yaacov Dovid: a well-known Amshinov name". My own paternal grandfather was Yaakov Dovid. I have never heard of the Amshinovs, and would be grateful for some information about them. He might be kind enough to write to me direct, if this is not suitable for Mendele. Thank you. Norma Brewer [Moderator's note: here is the bibliography of some of the Abraham Shulman's (1913-1999) books: Geshikhte fun Yidishn yishev in Balarat. [Melburn]: Yivo, 1946.. 38 p.; 21 cm. Gelekhter in der nakht: humoreskes un felietonen. Pariz: [s.n.], 1953. 172 p.; 23 cm. Tsvishn shvarts un vays: eseyen un felyetonen. Pariz: Vayter, 1955. 175 p.; 23 cm. Der himl iz nokh alts far di geter ... notitsn fun rayzes. (Le ciel est encore aux dieux.) Pariz : Farlag Tsiko, 1960. 211 p. ; 22 cm. The old country. New York: Scribner, 1974. x, 210 p.: ill.; 29 cm. ISBN 0684140179. The new country. New York: Scribner, 1976. vii, 208 p.: ill.; 29 cm. ISBN 0684147041. Coming home to Zion : a pictorial history of pre-Israel Palestine Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, 1979. xiv, 236 p. ; 27 cm. ISBN: 0385142560 Adventures of a Yiddish lecturer New York : Pilgrim Press, 1980. xii, 156 p. ; 22 cm. ISBN: 0829803912 The Case of Hotel Polski: an account of one of the most enigmatic episodes of World War II. Editor Abraham Shulman. New York: Holocaust Library: Schocken Books, 1982. 240 p.; 22 cm. ISBN 0896040348 (pbk.), 089604033X (hard) Jewish humor : program for Workmen's Circle groups New York, N.Y. : Workmen's Circle, 1985. 20 p. ; 28 cm. The prophet Jeremiah is alive and prosperous in New York New York, N.Y. : Astra Press, 1990. 254 p. ; 23 cm. =i.v.] 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 11:47:21 -0500 (EST) From: Kromobile@aol.com Subject: Yosl Cotler A wonderful book entitled "muntergang" by Yosl Cotler ("Yosel Cutler" in 1934 Library of Congress transliteration) has fallen into my hands. It has interesting stories and exceptionally beautiful and ingenious illustrations, also by the author. I know that Yosl Cotler was, among other things, a puppet-maker and puppeteer, and also that he died in an automobile accident in the 1930s. But that's the extent of my knowledge. Does anyone know any more about him? Can anyone steer me in the direction of biographical materials concerning this artist? A sheynem dank! Marti Krow-Lucal Sunnyvale 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 18:28:50 -0500 (EST) From: CassBlum@aol.com Subject: Lullabye A friend is searching for a lullabye in which the mother laments that the baby must think that night is day. The birds, the rooster, the shepherd have all gone to sleep; only the baby is awake. My friend is looking for both the Yiddish and the English versions. Ellen Cassedy Bethesda, MD 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Nov 1999 10:33:16 -0500 (EST) From: Miriam Isaacs Subject: Pious Voices - correction This is a follow up.I had posted a notice about the publication of the journal issue entitled Pious Voices: Languages among ultra-orthodox Jews- Volume 138 of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language. After I mentioned it-because the publishers had moved- some people told me they had trouble ordering a copy. I have written and since gotten hold of information about the US distributor for Mouton De Gruyter. Contact Teresa Fozard, Journals Division, Walter De Gruyter, Inc. 200 Saw Mill River Road. Hawthorne, NY 10532. (914) 747-0110 fax (914)747 1326. Thank you and sorry for those of you who had trouble. For those in Europe the main office is in Berlin. A dank Miriam Isaacs ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 09.043 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