Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 10.029 July 6, 2000 1) Yosl Mlotek (Rifke Patt) 2) Yosl Mlotek (Herman Taube) 3) Glikl Hamlin (Lilian Dubb) 4) zay mir nit keyn feter (Dovid Braun) 5) opkirtzungs leksikon (Dovid Braun) 6) purimshpil (Perets Mett) 7) beyndl (David Assaf) 8) Nadir's "der rebe Elimeylekh" (Lori Cahan-Simon) 9) kipelekh (Lori Cahan-Simon) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 00:52:36 -0400 (EDT) From: RebPatt@aol.com Subject: Yosl Mlotek A por persenlekhe verter vegn Yoslen......Haynt zaynen mir geven tzuzamen mit mishpokhe un fraynt bai der levayeh fun Yosl Mlotek. Farshteyt zikh az der zal iz geven ful. Di vos hobn geret, hobn dertzeylt vegn Yosl's arbet , nokh vi a yunger man, in der Yiddishe kulturele un arbets bavegn in Bund, in Varshe. Un shpeter, zayn arbet fun a gantz lebn, do in Amerike, in di Yiddishe shuln, in Arbeter Ring, in Forverts. Kaseyder, hot men dermont as Yosl is geven DER adres fun der Yiddisher velt. A few personal words about Yosl Mlotek.....Today , together with family and friends, we were at the funeral of Yosl Mlotek. Of course, the hall was filled to capacity. Those who spoke, described Yosl's work, while still as a young man, in the Yiddish cultural world and in the Jewish socialist Bund movement in Warsaw. And later, his lifelong work, here in America, in the Yiddish secular schools, in the Workmen's Circle, in the Forward. Again, and again, mention was made that "Yosl was THE address of the Yiddish world." Now that Yosl is gone, it is up to each of us, in our own ways, to see to it that the Yiddish world that he was certain would have a viable place here in America, continues to thrive. And very personal words were spoken by Yosl's two sons, his sister, and three of his grandchildren. Others can better remark about the great significance of Yosl's work in the Jewish world, and in the Yiddish world, in particular. My recollections are mostly personal ones. The lives of the Mlotek and Patt families have been intertwined for virtually all our lives. My parents, Monye and Brokhe Patt, were close friends with Yosl yet in Warsaw, in the youth movements of the Bund. And those ties continued here in the Bronx, NY for all these years. My brother, Avram, and I grew up with the Mlotek kids, Zalmen and Moishe, along with the children of the few members of our families that survived the Holocaust, and a wonderful circle of close friends who were, and are, in every sense of the word, true meshpokhe. We have watched as the paths of our various lives have spun off in so many different directions, while the core of our beings remained close to each other in mind and in spirit, and devoted to each other, and to our special Yiddish world. Yesterday, when I spent some time with Khane in her apartment, we looked through some old photo albums of Yosl's early years in America. There they were: the Patts, the Mloteks, and others, and.....me.....a kid of about 8 years old, the first-born, within this group of friends, of the next generation, born an American citizen. And, oh boy ! When Yosl met and married this beautiful American girl, Khane. WOW! May father called her "di Varshever meydl fun der Bronx." And while I was there, the phone never stopped ringing. There were calls and e-mails from all over the world and from many parts of the U.S. This afternoon, after the funeral, again at Khane and Yosl's home, we reminisced and remembered. Everyone had a maysele to tell, an anecdote to repeat, about some time or event, whether large or small, that was intimately connected with Yosl. Many of us recalled the large Peysakh sedorim in my parents' home, which always ended with everyone sitting back to enjoy singing together, led, of course, by Yosl and Khane. I recalled my years travelling from the Bronx to lower Manhatan to attend the Arbeter Ring Mittl Shul----which I didn't love (sorry, folks), and where I paid scant attention to the instruction and read movie magazines under the table during class. But when Yosl was my teacher, this close family friend, a member of the family, I really did try to pay more attention. After all, es past nisht... how would it look...it could be embarrassing...We talked about our great times in Camp Boiberik, or Kinder Ring, or Hemshekh (depending on your age), and compared notes about our experiences in various arbeter ring shuln. And I recalled my five years as Organization Director of the Workmen's Circle when I had the opportunity to work as a professional Jewish communal worker side by side with Yosl Mlotek. We talked about our own children, the next generations, and the different ways that many of them are finding for themselves to be connected to Yiddish and to Yiddishkayt. I started out above by saying that I had a few personal words to share about Yosl. The few turned into many. Each of us who had the pleasure of knowing Yosl could fill manuscripts of anecdotal stories about our connections with him, and more importantly, his connection with us. How special to have known and been a part of the life of a person who has had such a tremendous impact, both personal and professional, on so many lives. His life and his work continue to be an inspiration to others, and his caring ways and smiling eyes remain ingrained in our memories. Koved zayn ondenk. Rebecca (Rifke) Patt 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 10:15:23 -0400 (EDT) From: HTaube218@aol.com Subject: Yosl Mlotek -Olov Hasholem Ikh hob gevust az Yosl Mlotek filt nisht gut, ober when Boris Sandler, redaktor fun 'Forverts' hot mir ibergegebn az Mlotek is mer nishto hot dos mikh ingantzen dershitert. Ikh will do nisht shraibn vegn zaine farindstn far Yiddish, far Yiddishe literatur un kultur, far zaine laistungen un zaine ainzamlungen fun Yiddishe poezie un folks lieder (tzuzamen mit zain lieber Chane - tzu lange yor), zain baishtajer tzu Yiddishe dertziung un zain ubergegebnkait tzum "Forverts", "Kultur un Lebn" un di filtzolige yousgabn fun Kultur uptail fun "Arbeter Ring". Ikh will bloyz dermonen vegn der menshlikhait fun Yosl Mlotek. Mit etlekhe yor tzurick hob ikh mitgemacht a hartz operatzie - nisht far kaynem gedakht. Yosl Mlotek hot zikh dewust vegn dem fun Mordkhe Strigler - Olov Hasolem un hot glaikh telefonirt tzu main froy in Washington, in "Geogetown Hospital". Fir teg shpeter hot er vieder telefonirt tzu mir a haym. Ikh hob zikh shpeter dewust az Yosl alayn iz demut geven krank un mikh gerufn fun zain haym. Zain avekgayn hot mikh un mayn froy ayngehilt in tifn troyrer. Koved Zayn Ondenk! Herman Taube 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 05:31:08 -0400 (EDT) From: "lilian dubb" Subject: Glikl Hamlin Glikl Hamlin was published in the series: Musterverk fun der yiddisher literature by the Yivo Literatur gezelshaft in Argentino. Glikl Hamlin - zichroines was Vol. 27 of the musterverk and was published in 1971. The National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst may have a copy by now, (unless it was sold off already. I am fom Cape Town S.Africa, and in January of this year we sent off a substantial and comprehensive collection of over 2000 Yiddish books sasvaged by our local Yiddish Book Rescue Project. I was the convener of that project and I remember seeing that book there. In fact we had most of the books in that Musterverk series and all were sent to NYBC. I hope this info will be of help in tracking down the book. There is available an English translation published a few years ago. Lilian Dubb 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 07:43:43 -0400 (EDT) From: David S Braun Subject: zay mir nit keyn feter It stands to reason, because of the tenuous logical connection between grandmothers and wheels, that the saying "Ven/az di bobe volt gehat reder volt zi geven an omnibus/a tramvay" arose as a sanitized take-off on the grandmother/grandfather version, discussed numerous times over the years on Mendele. As for the well-known saying "(Tu mir nit keyn toyve:) zay mir nit keyn feter un koyf mir nit keyn shikh!", perhaps it originated as the sanitized version of "Tu mir nisht keyn toyve: zay mir nit keyn shvoger un tren nisht mayn shvester!" (which I learned from a Transylvanian source whose identity I won't disclose, in order to protect my grandfather's dignity). Dovid Braun Jerusalem 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 08:01:54 -0400 (EDT) From: David S Braun Subject: kirtsungen un roshe-teyvesn, revisited My article includes Yiddish (i.e. not "Whole/Merged Hebrew") abbreviations exclusively. An abbreviation such as _geb'_ or _gesht'_ ('geboyrn, geshtorbn'), which may be found on Yiddish matseyves, will be found as part of my list, while, for example, p"n (poy nitmen/nigber 'here lies buried') won't. Hebrew rashe-tevot are listed in Dov Ashkenazi & ??, _Otsar Rashe Tevot_ - a standard Judaica reference work. (Sorry, I've forgotten the second compiler's name.) Dovid Braun Jerusalem 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 08:11:05 -0400 (EDT) From: Percy Mett Subject: purimshpil Moyshe-Shaye Steinlauf writes (10.028): Sotn: Di tkufe falt dray teg in rosh-hoydesh tamuz. Demolt iz groyse hitsn un groyse blitsn un groyse glitshn. Es zenen aroysgegangen tsvey yunge meydlekh, eyns fun zibetsik yor, un eyns fun akhtsik yor, un gefaln un zikh tsebrokhn a beyn in marz [sic]. Tkufe in the passage in question probably refers to menses. Is that it? Or is there more? I do not think so. tkufe in Hebrew/yiddish refers to the solstice/equinox. The summer solstice is called tkufes tamuz. The incidence of the tkufe is traditionally associated with potential hazards. For example water in a vessel at the time of the tkufe is considered to be dangerous to drink, unless a piece of metal was in the water at the time. Furthermore, the month of tamuz is associated with an evil spirit called ketev mriri which preys on those who wander out alone during the middle of the day. These would fit in with the quoted passage, bearing in mind the nonsense element of the purimshpil. Perets Mett 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 09:15:34 +0200 From: David Assaf Subject: beyndl With regard to Martin Green's note (10.027) on the use of bones for "medical" purposes, it is noteworthy that Falik Zolf, who was a Kamieniec Litewski native, was probably influenced from the well known memoir of Yechezkel Kotik (Mayne zichroynes, Warsaw 1913), also from the same town (Max Weinreich defined Zolf's book as "a continuation of Kotik's memoir" (see: Oyf fremder erd, p. 6). In his memoir (vol. I, chap. XV) Kotik tells the following: There were two people in our township who knew incantations against the "evil eye." One of them was David the carterer who delivered the flour from the mills to the shops. He used to neutralize the "evil eye" by means of the small bones of a human skeleton. To this day it has remained a mystery to me how he came by those small bones. If anyone's face swelled, in other words his cheeks swelled up due to an infected tooth, as it is called, or suffered from a sore throat, he would go to David the carterer. He would take hold of those small bones and circle the swelling with them, all the while whispering incantations to himself. And the patient was convinced that, if not at once, then the next day or the following week or so, the swelling would disappear. There was no doubt in the minds of the town's inhabitants that the swelling was caused by the "evil eye." The other person who knew how to neutralize the "evil eye" was Golda, the preacher's wife. The preacher was an outstanding Torah scholar, with great knowledge of the Talmud, and of his wife, it was said that she too knew how to learn Gemarrah. She would cancel out the "evil eye" by means of two eggs, one in each hand, with which she would circle the swelling or the sore throat and also whisper incantations to herself. This "medicine" was cheap - ten groshen; six - for the poor. I remember my own face swelling up several times, obviously from toothaches. I was then taken to David the carterer who was considered more effective. I remember that he scratched me with those small bones. They were rough and sharp and I nearly fainted from the pain. He would run quickly, round and round, the small bones placed over the face of the patient. I pleaded to be taken to the preacher's wife: she did the same thing - but with eggs - and the procedure was so simple and easy, a virtual "pleasure." But no one listened to me. "Foolish child," they said, "though he might hurt you a little, you'll get rid of the swelling much faster. The method used by the preacher's wife takes much longer to heal." Sometimes I was "lucky." David the carterer would be away from home carting flour from the mills or to Brisk, and I'd be taken to the preacher's wife, instead. I was truly "overjoyed" at that. It's no fun having someone run over your swollen face with the jagged tips of little bones. An annotated edition of the first volume of Kotik's memoir will be published soon by Wayne State University Press. David Assaf Tel Aviv, Israel 8)---------------------------------------------------- D0te: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 18:27:54 -0400 From: Lori Cahan-Simon Subject: Nadir's "der rebe Elimeylekh" I am looking for the words for the Moshe Nadir poem of Der Rebe Elimeylekh, from which the song was made. Does anyone either have an accessible source or could it be emailed to me or to the list? Lori Cahan-Simon 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 05 Jul 2000 18:27:54 -0400 From: Lori Cahan-Simon Subject: kipelekh I was discussing cookies of the old country with a friend. She recalls a cookie which her bubbe used to make, a big, puffy affair with a sour cream dough she called kipelekh. I have heard from another source of a caraway roll, also called kipelekh. I have seen a cookie called kipfel advertised at a deli, but they seem to be more like kikhel. What does anyone know of the food that went along with these names? Lori Cahan-Simon ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 10.029 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