Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 09.047 December 8, 1999 1) a groys landshaft durekh a kleyn fensterl (wlodek goldkorn) 2) Undzer shtime (Mordkhe Schaechter) 3) Yiddish newspapers in Paris (Gilles Rozier) 4) Source for An-sky's Finfter Turem (Lewis Gutman) 5) Emil Cohen (David M. Sherman) 6) Emil Cohen (Troim Katz Handler) 7) Emil Cohen (Mel Poretz) 8) royte (Sidney Weinstein) 9) royte (Mordkhe Saunders) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 17:35:31 +0100 From: "Wlodek Goldkorn" Subject: a groys landshaft durekh a kleyn fensterl noyekh miller asks about mendelistn grabbed by literarishe bleter. I am grabbed. I have a half a year collection of literarishe bleter (1928) and when I tell my friends about it's content (theater in paris, art in berlin, psychoanlysis etc.) they just don't believe. to your question. I have asked my father (he was a yiddish journalist and is a yiddish writer) about books, prices etc. According to him, the prices were rather high. But, the real problem was where to keep the books, in his words: "you have to owe an appartment, in order to buy books". So what the (not rich) Jews done in order to read books? There was a network of libraries, run by political parties (from mizrachi to bund) and by trade unions. wlodek goldkorn 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 06:56:09 -0500 (EST) From: MSchaecht@aol.com Subject: Undzer shtime Undzer shtime (Paris) hot zikh farmakht far tsvey yorn. Mordkhe Schaechter 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Nov 1999 07:53:40 -0500 (EST) From: "Gilles Rozier" Subject: Yiddish newspapers in Paris There is no more Yiddish newspaper in Paris. The last one, Undzer vort, disappeared in june 1996. The day before the last issue, an article was published on the front page of the great French newspaper "Le Monde" to "celebrate" the disappearing of the last daily Yiddish newspaper of the world. Actually, Undzer vort, with 3-4 issues a week., was no daily newspaper during the last years. The publishers of "Undzer vort" were very proud of this article (that was not the case of most France's Yiddishists !) and the last front page of Undzer vort was dedicated to this article : recognition lastly came from the French world... on his last day, as if it was the first sign of the coming of the Messiah, a "yoyme depagre. This fact is very symptomatic of the attitude of the majority of the old generation toward Yiddish culture. As immigrants in a very assimilationnist country, they shizophrenically considered that Yiddish culture was their only but impossible way of life. They couldn't live in an other culture because they were born in it, but it Yiddish culture for them and they didn't see the necessity to teach Yiddish to their children. The coming generations fortunately don't agree with this feeling, that's why the revival of Yiddish culture has been so strong in France during the last yeasr, and is still exponential. Gilles Rozier Paris 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 17:11:10 -0500 (EST) From: "Lewis M. Gutman" Subject: Source for An-sky's Finfter Turem I just finished reading Sh. An-sky's retelling of Der Finfter Turem in the Sept 24 Forverts and was wondering where it was originally published and whether a collection of folktales as retold by An-sky exists. Thanks, Lewis Gutman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 13:58:41 -0500 (EST) From: "David M. Sherman" Subject: Emil Cohen Yes, the name is Emil Cohen. I have both of his records (I think there were only two): "Emil Cohen" and "Tsinagogues and Tsenters". Autographed by him on the covers, because we bought them at an evening in Toronto when he came to entertain (at our shul, about 20 years ago). Yes, they're funny. Haven't listened to them in a while. I like his Gettysburg Address with simultaneous translation into Yiddish: "...conceived in Liberty ... zi hot geshvenget in Liberty ... s'iz a kleyn dorf lebn Monticello..." Have you checked the Judaica stores like Eichlers, or on-line Judaica sources? I believe his records were made into tapes as well, though I'm not positive. [Interpreter for old Yiddish man in Court] Judge: "Ask the man how old he is." "Vi alt zayt ir?" "Achtzik, biz hindert un tsvantsik." "He says he's eighty to a hundred and twenty years old." The judge gets angry and threatens to hold the old man in contempt. [It goes on for a while, then someone helpful steps in to ask the question instead of the interpreter:] "Vi alt zayt ir, biz hindert un tsvantsik?" "Achtzik!" David M. Sherman 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 16:15:14 -0500 (EST) From: Troim@webtv.net (Frank Handler) Subject: Emil Cohen Found In answer to Benjamin Charles Serebrin's posting, Searching for Emil Cohen, Cohen will be appearing at the Yiddish Culture Club of Century Village, West Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, Nov. 30, 1999, at l0 a.m. He performed there in March and was hilarious. As a concession to his age' he now sits during his shows. Reach him re his albums at (561) 968-5191. Troim Katz Handler 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 09:12:20 -0500 (EST) From: EMPE@aol.com Subject: Emil Cohen Emil Cohen was a Myron Cohen-type comedian, but far from Myron's rank. Played the Borscht Circuit and occasional tv in the early days. I would focus my attention for old records in the Miami area where there are several stores that have almost anything. I can't recall the names but one of the store names appeared regularly in the Sun-Sentinel's nostalgia column which answered inquiries such as yours with a referral to these particular stores. I bet that an inquiry to their consumer affairs desk would get you the address. As for the chicken joke, it is one of the great old saws in our repertoire. I'll tell it as I heard it for the first time over 45 years ago. I would have circulated it through Mendele but my heimish attempts at trans- literation would set of all kinds of linguistic alarms. All I know about Yiddish is what I heard from kindheit uhn. I never learned how to phoneticize it according to the YIVO precepts and I stopped sharing anything Yiddish with Mendele because some of the e-mail I would get from a few subscribers bordered on the hateful if I should spell a Yiddish word the way my mind's eye and ear told me that my tateh-mama's mamelushn might have been spelled and spoken. So, with apologies for the orthography, grammar and syntax, but not for my love of our delicious language, here is how I recall the chicken story. You start by describing the scene. An old, patriarchal man in traditional black coat, fur hat, long beard, etc., is sitting in the dock and the gentile judge (what other kinds did they have then?) has summoned the court interpreter, one Mr. Schneider, to interrogate the witness who has been accused of stealing a chicken. Judge: Ask him if he stole the chicken Schneider: Hust du geganvet der hun? Witness: (derisively) Ikh hub geganvet der hun? Schneider: Your Honor, the man freely admits to having stolen the chicken Judge: Ask him why he stole the chicken Schneider: Fahr vus hut du geganvet der hun? Witness: Awf kapores! Schneider: Your Honor, he says he stole if for a religious observance Judge: Ask him if he knows that he can be put in jail for six months for this crime Schneider: Vayst du, chaver, ahz du kenst zetsen in tuhrma fahr zex monahten? Witness: (In total denial, sarcastically) Ikh vell zetsen in tuhrma fahr zex monahten? Schneider: Your Honor, he is willing to serve out his term of six months Judge: Then tell him he is going to jail for six months. Case closed. Schneider: Chaver, du geyst in tuhrma fahr zex monahten Witness: (angrily) Ikh hub dir in bud! Schneider: (retaliatorily) Ikh hub dir in bud! Judge: IKH HUB DIR BEYDER IN BUD! Typical Yiddish spin and a lot more, including the justice system and the whole mishugas of living as a serf and a Jew in that time and place. I hope you enjoy this version which must be one of hundreds. If you don't mind this knee-jerk response, I offer you at no extra charge my very favorite Yiddish joke which is a personal treasure of mine. The irony is in the same vein as the chicken joke and it comes at the end with a rush. If you don't get into it from the first word, you will have a bunch of words and a reaction of "what's so funny about that?" New York courtroom scene, same as above. When Judge Reilly sees the Hasid witness in full regalia, he sends for the court interpreter, also named, by coincidence, Schneider. Schneider enters, approaches the bench and asks how he can be of service to the court. He is instructed to interrogate the witness. Schneider: Chaver, vus iz dyne nuhmen? Witness: (drawing himself erect in the box, smoothing down his long beard and his long coat) Sir, I would have you to understand that my name is Joshua Jacob Mordechai Epstein, the Second. Schneider: (addressing Judge Reilly) Your Honor, der mahn zugt ahz zyne nuhmen is Joshua Jacob Mordechai Epstein, der Tsvayter. Zeit mir gezunt Mel Poretz 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 12:40:15 -0500 (EST) From: Sir Sidney Weinstein Subject: royte Although I am not a yidish scholar, I believe I heard something some 70 years ago which may be relevant. My mother, a red head, born in Bucsacz [spelling], told me the kids in her school often teased her because of her hair color by chanting, 'Royte, royte, bleib a toyte," which, I assume, translates roughly as "Drop dead, Red." So, "royte" does seems to have referred to her hair color. Sidney Weinstein 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 18 Nov 1999 14:57:36 -0500 (EST) From: jsaunde1@csc.com Subject: royte RE: Jason Payne's translation query about "a royter Yid". I believe this refers to a Communist. Mordkhe Saunders ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 09.047 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