Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 10.030 July 11, 2000 1) Yosl Mlotek (Perl un Yitskhok Krupit) 2) Yosl Mlotek (Shmuel Norich) 3) Glikl Hamil (Gershon Winer) 4) opkirtzungs-leksikon (Barry Goldstein) 5) kalye once more (Hugh Denman) 6) beyndl/amoliker oysleyg (Lucas Bruyn) 7) Alter Esselin web page (Joseph Esselin) 8) Yiddish songs (Vivian London) 9) Introducing Yiddish language to children (Lillian Leavitt) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 12:56:36 -0400 (EDT) From: "ivan krupit" Subject: Yosl Mlotek olev hasholem Yosl Mlotek, der eybik yunger eydeler mentsh, lerer, mekhaber, forsher un nokh, iz avek in der eybikeyt. Zayn nomen, ober, vet lebn, un es veln genisn fun zayn yerushe nit nor hayntike, nor oykh kumendike, yunge yidishe doyres. Durkh der tsayt, ven Yosl iz geven bildungs direktor fun arbeter ring, hob ikh mitgearbet mit im mer vi 30 yor. Er iz oykh gevorn mayn lerer, vegvayzer un guter fraynd. Nisht a tog iz farbay ven ikh hob nisht bavundert zayn energie, zayn banem, zayn ibergegebnkayt tsu yidish un yidn, tsu der yidisher kultur un bildung, un zayn vaytn blik vos hot derfirt tsu naye shafungen letoyves yidish. Der mentsh, Yosl, iz avek tsu fri; zayn arbet iz nokh nisht geven farendikt. Mir noytikn zikh nokh in zayn firershaft, farshtand un khokhme. Mir troyern tsamen mit zayn liber Khane un der gantser Mlotek mishpokhe. Zol di erd im nit zayn shver. Koved zayn likhtikn ondenk. Perl un Yitskhok Krupit, kinder un eyniklekh 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 14:49:21 -0400 From: Samuel Norich Subject: Hesped baym ofenem keyver fun Yosl Mlotek Mir hobn bagleyt Yosl Mlotek tsu zayn eybike ru. Ru'en vet er tsvishn di kvorim fun eygene. Fun yidn vos zenen geven zayne shkheynim ven er hot gevoint af Mila 61 in Varshe, yidn vos zenen geven shkheynim di ale yor'n vos er hot gevoint af Sedgwick Avenue in di Bronx, SKIFistn, khaveyrim fun Bund un fun Arbeter Ring, YIVO mentshn, sheris ha'pleyte yidn un hi-geboyrene, yidishe shrayber un tuer fun Forverts un andere yidishe kultur-institutsyes. Mir ale, vos hobn im bagleyt tsu dem gutn ort, teyln zikh mit di Mlotek mishpokhe, mit Yosl's shvester, Sore, mit zayn froy Chana, mit Zalmenen un Moishen un zayre foyen un kinder in zayer tifn tsaar. Mit zay veln mir benken nokh zayn khavershaft, nokh zayn ibergegebnkayt, nokh zayn tife mevines un nokh zayn umfargeslekher kol, nokh dem balibtn lirishn tenor, vos hot bagaystert ale zayne tsuherer. In di verter fun Edelshtat's lid, "Tsum folk vel ikh fun keyver zingen..." Ober mir tayln zikh mit di mishpokhe oykh in a tsvaytn zinen: mir zenen ale zayne yorshim. Yosl's oyftu letoyves yidish loshn un yidisher kultur hot baraykhert uns alemen. Mir veln im gedenken mit libshaft un tife dankbarkayt. Zol zayn lid vayter zingen. Shmuel Norich Generalfarvalter Forward Association 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 14:38:39 -0400 (EDT) From: Winer Subject: Glikl Hamil Re inquiry on Glikl Hamil (not Hamlin): Her _Zikhroynes_ is volume 26 (not 27) in the series Musterverk fun der Yidisher Literatur, rendered in modern Yiddish by Yosef Berenfeld. Available in most Yiddish libraries. N.B. Minkoff is the ahthor of a study on her which was published in New York in 1952. This volume is also found in Yiddish libraries. Gershon Winer 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 14:45:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Barry Goldstein Subject: opkirtzungs-leksikon Just to second Hershl Hartman's request re David Braun's reference (10.027) to his article on Yiddish abbreviations: any possibility of having it made available via Mendele? Or, failing that, a reference specific enough to order the original publication from YIVO or NYBC or where? Thanks. Barry Goldstein 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 06:58:52 -0400 (EDT) From: Hugh Denman Subject: kalye once more With reference to Mikhl Herzog's contribution [10.025:3] re the etymology of 'kalye' and a number of earlier postings on this topic: No, clearly the word has nothing whatever to do with 'kale' and it is preposterous to suggest that Prof. Herzog might have espoused so gross a misconception. However, since posting my own initial thoughts on the matter [10.013:2] I have received interesting private communications on the matter from both Mechl Asheri and Alexis Manaster-Ramer. I had originally posited that both 'kalye' and 'kalemutne' come from the same Slav root meaning 'muddy, dirty, befouled'. Mechl, on the basis of the modern meaning, compares the word with 'kalike' and says that he suspects the root is non-Indo-European. Furthermore, he argues, the etymology I posit cannot be correct, since no one would ever even jokingly refer to her/himself as a 'kalike' if the word contained such unpleasant resonances. To take the latter point first, that is not the way semasiological development works. It is quite common for words to both gain and lose pejorative connotations in the course of time. How many people hesitate to use the word 'porcelain', just because it has an etymology so obscene that even the OED is studiously vague on the point? On the other hand, it is perfectly true that 'kalike' < Uk. 'kalyka' is ultimately of Turkic origin. But, in my view, 'kalye' and 'kalike' do not come from the same root, which is not to say that the similarity in sound may not have had an impact on their semantic convergence. Alexis, meanwhile, puts the cat among the pigeons by recalling having encountered 'kalye' in _Pariz un vyene_, though he coyly abstains from citing chapter and verse. If 'kalye' is indeed to be found in this sixteenth century text written in Italy [We should consult the team in Trier.] then it can mean only one of two things, that my thesis is completely wrong or that 'kalye' must be added to the exiguous list of WY words of Bohemian or Sorb origin. What is clear is that there is more than meets the eye to this seemingly simple word and I thank my correspondents for having drawn my attention to ramifications that had escaped me. I still incline, on balance, to the view that 'kalye' is cognate with Ukrainian 'kal' and a number of other Slav words of related meaning. However, I'm not betting on it any more. While correcting previous errors, let me just add that, of course, the name of the firm in Liege which used to manufacture 'naganes' was Nagant, as other Mendelyaner rightly said. I was naive to let Fasmer (1950-) convince me otherwise. Hugh Denman London 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Jul 2000 14:52:14 -0400 (EDT) From: Marion Troia/Lucas Bruyn Subject: beyndl/amoliker oysleyg As a small contibution to the discussion on the pros and cons of reprinting Yiddish texts in their original spelling, I give below the transliteration of the fragment from 'I. Kotik's Memoirs', given by D. Assaf in an English translation in Vol. 10.029, in the context of a question re 'beyndlekh'. The original does not distinguish between 'ey' and 'ay' and the 'loshn-koydesh' words are of course in the Hebrew spelling. This spelling, used by the Klal-Verrlag, Berlin 1922, is slightly different from the spelling in the first edition, printed in Warsaw. Both differ only on minor points from the standard YIVO spelling and I think the 'original' spelling - which might of course not be the same as the spelling used by Kotik in his manuscript - hardly adds to the reading pleasure. I would like to add that I hope to finish the English translation of the second volume of the memoirs by the time the edition of the first will be published and that I am still looking for a publisher. Lucas Bruyn I. Kotik "Mayne Zikhroynes", Vol I, Chapt. XV, p.215-216 (in the second edition). ba unz zaynen geven tsvey menshn, vos hobn opgeshprokhn an eyn-hore in shtetl. eyner iz geven dovid der firer, vos flegt firn mel fun di miln in di gevelber. flegt er opshprekhn eyn-hore mit beyndlakh fun a toytn menshn. vu er hot genumen di dozige beyndlakh, veys ikh ad-hayem nisht. az ba emitsn iz gevorn geshvoln dos ponem, dos heyst, di bakn, fun a tson-geshvir, vi men ruft dos, oder der halz, flegt men geyn tsu ot dem dovod dem firer, flegt er shoyn nemen di beyndlakh un arumtantsn mit zey iber dem geshvilekhst un derbay sheptshen epes in der-shtil. un der khoyle iz geven betuekh, az oyb nisht haynt iz morgn, iz iber akht tog, iz iber tsvey, dray vokhn - un dos geshvilekhts vet opgeyn. far yedn in shtetl iz geven "klor", az a geshvilekhts kumt fun eyn-hore. a tsveyte opshprekherin fun an eyn-hore iz geven golde di magidikhe, dem mageds vayb. er, der maged, iz geven a groyser [216] lamdn, a godl beisroel, a boke in sh"s, un dos vayb, hot men geredt, hot oykh gekont lernen gemore. opshprekhn flegt zi shoyn eyn-hore mit tsvey eyer. mit beyde eyer un mit beyde hent flegt zi umshpatsirn ibern geshvilekhst fun ponem un halz, un hot oykh azoy gesheptshet in der-shtil. Di dozike "doktorye" hot gekost bilig - a tsener, un far an oriman - a zekser. ikh gedeynk, az ba mir iz etlikhe mol geshvoln gevorn dos ponem, varshaynlikh, fun di tseyn, un men flegt mikh firn tsu dovid dem firer. fun im hot men mer gehaltn, flegt er mir, gedeynk ikh, azoy kratsn mit di beyndlakh, vos zaynen geven spitsik, nisht keyn farfaylte, az ikh fleg shier nisht khaleshn fun yesurim. geshvind flegt er loyfn mit di beyndlakh ibern ponem. fleg ikh zikh betn, az men zol mikh firn tsu der magidikhe: zi shprekht op mit di eyer, iz azoy "glat", az s'iz a mekhaye, men hot mikh ober nisht gehert. - norele - hot men mir gezogt - es tut dir afile abisl vey, ober derfar vestu derfun gikh poter vern, un ba der magidikhe gedoyert zehr lang. amol flegt mir "opglikn": dovid der firer flegt nisht zayn in derheym; er flegt avekforn mit zayn fur in di miln arayn oder keyn brisk - breyngen mel, hot men mikh gefirt tsu der magidikhe. demolt hob ikh zikh "gefreyt" un bin geven iber gliklikh: a kleynikayt, loyfn mit spitsike beyndlakh iber a geshvilekhts! 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2000 17:45:22 -0500 From: "josephesselin" Subject: Alter Esselin web page "Honey and Arsenic" is the title of the web site devoted to the Yiddish poet Alter Esselin (1889-1974). The site was created by his son, Joseph and features 75 of Esselin's poems in both English translation and the Yiddish originals. Selected from the hundreds of his bittersweet lyrical poems that appeared in his three books, including the 1954 Kovner Prize Winning volume, Lider fun a Midbarnik (Poems of a Hermit). In addition there is critical commentary from well known critics, biographical memoirs, significant documents, a portrait gallery and audio intereviews with the poet. The site address is http://www.esselin.com Some people who have AOL as their server and/or have Mac computers sometimes have difficulties in access and find it helpful to use http://www.esselin.com/poetry.htm instead. Joseph Esselin 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 01:31:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Vivian London Subject: Yiddish songs Gloria Cohen asked about Yiddish songs. The five-volume Anthology of Yiddish Folksongs, published by The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and distributed by the University's Magnes Press, contains hundreds of songs with the music, the words in Yiddish and in English transliteration and with singable translations into English and Hebrew. Volume I - Love Songs, Lullabies. Introductory essay by Abba Kovner Volume II - Children's Songs, Family Songs, Weddings and Festivals Volume III - Humor and Satire, Hasidic Songs, Multi-lingual Songs, Poverty Toil & Deprivation, Jewish Soldiers' Songs Volume IV - Struggle & Resistance Songs, Ghetto & Partisan Songs, Religious & National Songs, and Homeward to Zion. (Volumes I through IV, which were published in the 1980s, were edited by Aharon Vinkovetzky, Abba Kovner and Sinai Leichter.) Volume V, which just appeared two months ago, is The Mordechai Gebirtig Volume, edited by Sinai Leichter. It contains 87 Gebirtig songs, including the 17 Ghetto songs. and rich introductory and explanatory material. The set, or individual volumes, can be ordered from The Hebrew University Magnes Press, PO Box 39099, Jerusalem 91390 Israel. Tel. 972-2-658-6656, Fax 972-2-563-3370, email magnes@vms.huji.ac.il Highly recommended! Vivian London Jerusalem, Israel 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 10:28:06 -0400 (EDT) From: leavitt@gateway.net Subject: Introducing Yiddish language to children I have an opportunity to introduce Yiddish language and perhaps some cultural programming to elementary school age children in a Jewish Day School. Can anyone suggest songs, poems, or strategies with which to begin? My own experience is teaching Yiddish to adults so this is a new realm and I will appreciate hearing from any who have experience teaching Yiddish to children. Thanks! Lillian Leavitt ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 10.030 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