Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 10.023 June 26, 2000 1) Volhynian dialect (Shaya Mitelman) 2) Yiddish in the camps (Tamar Fox) 3) "oyb men vil fleysh.." (Berish Goldshteyn) 4) shoklen; upbeat stories (Earl Callen) 5) Maurice Schwartz webpage (Paul W. Ginsburg) 6) shmir zikh oys di shikh (Bob Berk) 7) Y.L. Peretz in Spanish (Marcos Levin) 8) Women Professionals in Eastern Europe (Yankev Berger) 9) kale gevorn (Milt Koosman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 22:40:00 -0400 (EDT) From: Serge Mitelman Subject: Volhynian dialect The pronounciation that H.Sapoznik ascribes to Rovno is actually common everywhere in the Ukraine: nuvnt-nivnter/close-closer. I think the question about Volhynian dialect is more complicated than "zugn, kimen and shtitl". Our theater was said to perform in this dialect, but I wonder whether this theatrical dialect exists anywhere at all. Saying "i", where it would be "ey" in Odes, Proskerev, or Keshenev, is widespread across all other Ukrainian gubernyes. For example, in Shpole (Der Shpoler Zeyde reb Arye-Leyb, Itsik Fefer), which is in Kiever gubernye: "mome/tote, kimen, zugn, vig (way)/shtitl, obm (have), blimen (flowers), etc." On the other hand, in Kupel (Khayim Beyder, Aleksander Lizen), which is in Volhynia: "mome/tote, kimen, zugn"; in Korosten or Zhitomir, which is also in Volhynia: "Shleyme/meyre (fear), kimen, babe (nit bobe), zugn, shtirn (forehead; but shtern - star)/shtitl, etc.". I guess the latter is how Shulem-Aleykhem would have said it. Shaya Mitelman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 00:59:00 -0400 (EDT) From: "Tamar Fox" Subject: Yiddish in the camps Re Yiddish in the camps: The (Hungarian-born) narrator of Imre Kertesz' _Fateless_ (translated by CC Wilson & KM Wilson, 1992, Northwestern Illinois Press) is told by Carpatho-Russian fellow inmates, upon admitting to not speaking Yiddish: "Di bist kein Yid, di bist a sheigetz' . Tamar Fox Tel Aviv 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 10:31:53 -0400 (EDT) From: Barry Goldstein Subject: Re: "oyb men vil fleysh.." efsher zol ikh enfern mayn eygene frage; ken zayn az er hot gemeynt "a ki [d.h. reb yankl] git bloyz milkh [d.h. yidish]; oyb men vil fleysh [d.h. english] muz men es [reb yankl, nokh a mol] derhargnen." ober vi an analogie, gefelt zi mir gor nit. mistome (vi di kinder zogn) "you had to be there." vegn yankel kane's entfer (Mendele 10.22) : when the teacher said "a ku git nor milkh; oby men vil fleysh muz men es derhargenen..." quite simply says to his students... s'iz mir nit azoy poshet un gor nit azoy klor. ober vos veys ikh. berish goldshteyn 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 13:52:23 -0400 (EDT) From: Earl Callen Subject: shoklen; upbeat stories I'm new here and I have 2 questions: 1. Men davening. They rock and bob. The verb shokelt: is it transitive: shokelt sich? or not? 2. We like to take turns reading Jewish stories at the holidays. I rewrote Mordechai Spector's delightful "A Meal for the Poor" into a play format, so we can go around the table at Pesach after the meal, reading the parts. But it's the only happy story I can find in the (translated into English) Yiddish literature. (I can't read Hebrew). Do you know of any other upbeat Yiddish stories, preferably with lots of colorful characters? We think of Sholom Aleichem as a warm, zestful, loving writer, which he is, but in truth, in substance his stories are all very sad. And with good reason. But not good for happy hour. Thanks, Earl Callen 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2000 14:56:31 -0400 (EDT) From: "Ginsburg, Paul" Subject: Maurice Schwartz webpage I would like to announce that I have added a page to the Sudilkov Online Landsmanshaft website dealing with one of its famous sons; Maurice SCHWARTZ. Along with a brief bio, there is a link to a clip of him in the 1939 movie "Tevye" Take a look: http://members.xoom.com/sudilkov/famous.htm Paul W. Ginsburg Bethesda, Maryland 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2000 01:29:52 -0400 (EDT) From: rci Subject: shmir zikh oys di shikh I received this answer to my post (10.022) from a Mendelist: The expression is "A dank, a dank. Shmer zikh oys di shikh un shtel arayn in shank." Literally it means "Thanks. Thanks. Smear your shoes [with it] and put them in the closet." Figuratively it means the same as "Your thanks and $1.50 will get me on the subway." Bob Berk 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 13:19:28 -0400 (EDT) From: marcos levin Subject: Y.L. Peretz in Spanish I am looking for any information about the existence of Y.L. Peretz work translated into Spanish. Aa far as I remember, I had seen only small and sporadic fragments in my young years in Argentine. Nowadays, here in Israel, I did not find any of them in that language. Shall somebody illustrate me about such translations, the editorial/s, addresses, and any complementary information, I will be deeply thankful. Ich hob kein kanntschaft vegn maizes oder geschiktes geschribn by Yitzok Leib Peretz, un zu Spanisch ibergezetzn, Eib est is imetzer tsewishn die chaverim, wo kann mich helfn zu gefinnen oder zu trefn verlage oder addressn, will ich getrai un dankfil sein. Seit mir moikhel far main Yiddish: Ich hob tzuruk gekommen tzu mein mammelushn far tzwei yorn, nach a fuftzig yorn "shvitat-lashon". "Starei iak maliei", hat mein bobe gesogt in hir "goiesh" (Ukranian dialectal form). Regards! Marcos Levin Israel 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 13:57:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Jack Berger Subject: Women Professionals in Eastern Europe I have run across three independent instances of documentation in which talented Jewish women, in pre- WW I Eastern Europe (Czarist Russia), found an outlet for their ability as dentists. I wonder if this may not be coincidental. Does anyone know, or have a theory, as to why this might have been a pursuit that would have seemed either more attractive or easy for Jewish women to pursue? Regards Yankev Berger 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 14:58:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Miltonk2@aol.com Subject: kale gevorn Mikhl Herzog (10.015) says that my unique interpretation of "Kahle gevoren" needs an interpretation of his phrase "di kahle iz kayle gevorn"....I think Mikhl has created a yiddish pun. Of course some cynics might interpret that phrase as the reason for the large divorce rate. Milt Koosman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 10.023 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