Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 09.064 February 20, 2000 1) Jabberwocky (Perl Teitelbaum) 2) Jabberwocky (Al Grand) 3) Jabberwocky (Shimke Levine) 4) Jabberwocky (Arthur Sugerman) 5) Jabberwocky (Alexandra Virgiel) 6) right to ask a question (Ben Fogel) 7) Is this "Freedom of Speech" valid? (Elly Margolis) 8) Fir kashes vegn a shayle vegn Ruth Wisse (Marjorie/Mirl Schonhaut Hirshan) 9) Test of Mendele's new home page (Louis Fridhandler) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 08:58:12 -0500 (EST) From: PTAW85@aol.com Subject: Jabberwocky Robert Goldenberg zukht a yidishe iberzetsung fun "Jabberwocky". Refoel Finkels yidishe iberzetsung fun "Jabberwocky" iz geven gedrukt in Yugntruf zhurnal mit yorn tsurik. Ikh meyn, az dos iz geven in di 70er. Perl Teitelbaum Queens 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 11:50:25 -0500 (EST) From: Savoyid@aol.com Subject: Jabberwocky In response to Itsik Goldenberg's request for a Yiddish version of "Jabberwocky" (Vol 09.059) khaver Rafoyl Finkl had his scintillatingly "brillig" rendition published in the February 1976 edition of _Yugntruf_. I suspect it may be a copyrighted work and thus would hesitate to set forth the entire poem. But on the premise that it's o.k. to quote briefly from protected material - here is Finkel's effulgent Yiddish restatement of Lewis Carroll's first stanza [my transliteration]: YAMERVAKHETS S'iz brilik geven, di shlikhtinke toves Hobn gevirt un gevimlt in vabn. Gants mimzishe geven di borogoves; Di mame ret hot oysgegrobn. Al Grand 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 14:17:01 -0500 (EST) From: Stan Levine Subject: Jabberwocky Oyb ikh hob nit keyn toes, iz der yidisher Jabberwocky dershinen in an altn number "Yugntruf" (mit a tsen-tsvantsk yor tsurik), in der iberzetsung fun Refoel Finkel. Shimke Levine 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 22:42:25 -0500 (EST) From: "Arthur Sugerman" Subject: Jabberwocky In response to Itsik Goldenberg's query -- if you go to http://www76pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/translations/index.html you will find Raphael Finkel's Yiddish translation in a GIF which prints out very well. For your collection you will also find many other translations including Hebrew, Klingon and koine Greek. Enjoy! Arthur Sugerman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 14:11:16 -0500 (EST) From: "Alexandra" Subject: Jabberwocky In response to Itsik Goldenberg's inquiry about a Yiddish version of Jabberwocky: Funny you should ask that. "Yomervokhets" is a favorite of mine. Raphael Finkel's translation in alef-beys may be found at http://www.cs.engr.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish/jabber.html You might also find http://www76.pair.com/keithlim/jabberwocky/translations interesting. Translations of this poem in many languages. Alexandra Virgiel 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 13:22:55 -0500 (EST) From: bfogel@juno.com Subject: right to ask a question In taking exception to any statement made by a contributor to Mendele I would normally write to such person off the list. However, the anger and scorn displayed publicly by Professor Wolitz toward Marjorie Shonhut Hirshan requires, I believe, a public reply. The professor's anger is raised by Ms Hirshan's question if Professor Wisse is entitled to express an opinion. Note here Ms. Hirshan asks a question (albeit with the possible answer being in the negative) but only a question. Professor Wolitz defends Professor Wisse's right to express any opinion she chooses. Does not Ms. Hirshan have at least the right to ask a question? The very action Wolitz condemns he is guilty of doing himself. Ben Fogel Delray Beach, Florida 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 21:06:03 -0500 (EST) From: ChassiElly@aol.com Subject: Is this "Freedom of Speech" valid? I have no access to the article by Prof. Wisse that raised much ire on Mendele. However, having read news items concerning Prof. Wisse's opinions over the years, I am not at all surprised. It is not my purpose to question Prof. Wisse's competence to be an academic. All I know of her activities is that a graduate student of hers, while she was at Mc Gill University, Aaron Lansky, has done a stupendous service to Yiddish literature by having created and is still leading a movement that rescued hundreds of thousands of Yiddish books from destruction and built an imposing center in Amherst, Mass. for the study of and spread of interest in the literature of the Ashkenazi culture. My question concerns Professor Wolitz's defense of Wisse's right to use "academic freedom" to spew forth whatever is on her mind, regardless of its potential impact on her students, her position or her professional colleagues. It smacks of the tactics of those extremists who use the protective blanket of the First Amendment to protect their right against the rights of those they are defaming. Does Prof. Wisse have the right to denigrate the name of the chair she occupies, the Peretz Professorship? Peretz, after all, was the first literary figure to put his pen at the service of the feminist movement in any of the Western literatures with which I am familiar and, I suspect, in world literature. His "A Kass fun a Yiddeneh" is a devastating exposure on the state of women in Ashkenazi society. Does Professor Wolitz think that Wisse will stimulate many of her graduate students to become Aaron Lanskys with her negative position on the viability of Yiddish? Is her purpose as Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature to make it part of Harvard's Classics studies instead of being independent or part of Germanic studies? I don't think so. Elly Margolis 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2000 22:27:19 -0500 (EST) From: Marjorie Hirshan Subject: Fir kashes vegn a shayle vegn Ruth Wisse Di ershte kashe iz: Why would the Gale Chair of Jewish Studies be "astonished" and wish to stifle or censor the knowledgeable, democratic, open-minded shames of Mendele for posting this shayle regarding responsibility? Iosif Vaisman is certainly, at least, on a par with, if not a tad above "Wisse ....one of the most articulate members of the Jewish diasporic community" - for our venerable shames welcomes and allows the exchange and gloriously free expression of meyisheve Yiddish-lovers, scholars, teachers, learners, linguists, translators, writers, readers, speakers, hasidim, orthodox, secularists, atheists, humanists, professors, un azoy vayter.. Di tsveyte kashe iz: If a professor expresses an opinion unrelated to her field of expertise, should she not responsibly distance herself and her statement from the Peretz Chair she holds? In this instance, a Professor whose Chair bears the name Peretz made an opinionated statement which did not deal with Jewish studies, with Peretz's name fluttering on a banner overhead. Did this implicate him as ally, or sully his name? his idealism? his compassionate, uplifting politics? might we call this irresponsisbility? Di drite kashe iz: In the year 2000, would Wisse assign all women to bow low their heads and meekly ask for a warm roll when granted one final request? Would she have all women turn into foot-stools for their husbands? Di ferte kashe iz: Doesn't disparaging feminism belittle all that we treasure in Yiddishkayt? Isn't Yiddishkayt synonomous with mentshlekhkayt anymore? Lastly, to the Gale Chair of Jewish Studies in Austin, I bequeath an old axiom: The difference between a prejudice and a commitment, is that you can voice a commitment without hitting out in violent anger. Marjorie/Mirl Schonhaut Hirshan Boynton Beach, Florida 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2000 11:45:27 -0500 (EST) From: Lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Test of Mendele's new home page At Noyekh Miller's recent request (1/28/2000), I tried my version of AOL to try out his suggested test for AOL users of Mendele's new home page at http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/index2r.htm I was able to read the Yiddish because (apparently) I have the latest version of AOL which is AOL 5.0. This version uses (I believe) Internet Explorer 5. It may be that AOL users who can't use this new version of Mendele's home page should upgrade to AOL 5. It is free, either by downloading (long, long time for download), or request (on line) a CD-ROM disk by mail. The new home page seems still to be under construction, but it is very nice to see the yidishe oysyes appear on screen. Louis Fridhandler ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 09.064 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