Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 10.038 November 6, 2000 1) dictionaries (Susan Herschorn) 2) Groyser yidisher verterbukh (Philip "Fishl" Kutner) 3) Yiddish Dictionary (Andrew Sunshine) 4) A strong case of confusion of the genus Allium (L. Bruyn) 5) Shomer revisited (Louis Fridhandler) 6) "Chicago Yiddish" (Scott E. Meyer) 7) New YIVO Compact Disc/Cassette (Aaron Taub) 8) Yiddish Songs and Tales from the Shtetl - Review (Loretta Denner) 9) Gor oder gornisht (Chava Respitz) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 23:26:09 -0500 (EST) From: Susan Herschorn Subject: dictionaries I too, am very disheartened by the delay in the publication of this great work. As a recent inductee into learning the language of my parents and forebears, I am often stymied by my inability to obtain enough dictionaries to help me reading what is available. One of the most wonderful aspects of the language is that it is so phonetic, no matter what the orthography. However, the orthography does often reflect regional variations in pronunciation. I do feel that debates over orthography often have their origins in dialectic differences and the politics of the various regions at the various periods in history. Reading M. Shechter's book, Yiddish II, one cannot help but be overwhelmed by differences in spelling and regional pronunciations. On the other hand, his footnotes provide information on these regional/dialectical differences, and so help a beginner such as I to make sense of what I read when I read works in the original. I applaud the sentiments of both Hugh Denman and Barry Goldstein. I, too, want such a dictionary (before my time is up) and in whatever form I can get it. Susan Herschorn 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 09:03:45 -0500 (EST) From: Philip Kutner Subject: Groyser yidisher verterbukh The comments made both by Barry Godstein and Prof. Hugh Denman in Vol. 10.037 are right on target. A starving person doesn't want to wait until others argue ad infinitum whether the fish should be pan fried or cooked over the fire--it even could be eaten raw. Perhaps a little more of an outcry will be enough to get the movers and shakers to start moving and shaking. -- mit frayndshaft, Philip "Fishl" Kutner San Mateo, CA 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2000 22:48:52 -0500 (EST) From: "Andrew Sunshine" Subject: Yiddish Dictionary I am writing in response to Gershon Winer's recent posting concerning the Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language, a project with which I was associated for some years when its headquarters were located at Columbia University. What is the basis for Winer's claim that orthography, and not funding, is the major obstacle to publishing new volumes of the dictionary? Who are the people who are making it into an obstacle? Toward the end of his notice, Winer writes: "Fearing that plastic surgery on the existing dictionary will evoke a wave of criticism in Israel and abroad, the present solution appears to be-keeping the project in deep freeze." Who is the agent in this sentence? That is, WHO fears the repercussions for publishing a new volume of the dictionary in YIVO orthography, instead of the orthography of Volumes I-IV (which is what Winer means by "plastic surgery" here)? It is true that orthography was an issue in the 1980s when the project was receiving significant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. What reason is there to think that this is still an issue? Andrew Sunshine 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 04:44:59 -0500 (EST) From: "Marion Troia." Subject: A strong case of confusion of the genus Allium. In TMR volume 04.015 L. Prager writes: Regarding the Rebbe of Lakhovitsh's saying, Assaf points out that "Kotik wrote: 'az es iz faran a bazunder eyver [alef, bet, reysh] ba a idn, vos hot nor hano'e fun tsibele um shabbes' [p. 16]. Now, _eyver_ means 'penis', but this is not just a dirty joke! According to the sages, Ezra ha-Sofer made this rule of eating GARLIC on Fridays to improve sperm count (the Talmud recommends that scholars have intercourse on Friday night). So, Kotik has probably confused the onion with garlic, and made this mistake, or maybe he understood Hebrew _shum_ to mean 'onion'?" Assaf has a strong case regarding confusion of onion and garlic, since the onion's aphrodisiacal qualities were said to be second only to those of garlic. Also, the onion and garlic belong to the same genus Allium. It is clear from the context that Kotik is speaking about onions and not about garlic and that he is quoting his father. May be his father misquoted the Rebbe of Lakhkovitsh or may be the Rebbe of Lakhkovitsh misquoted Ezra ha-Sofer, but it is most unlikely that Kotik misquoted his father or that his father told the story in Hebrew and that Kotik Junior understood Hebrew 'shum' to mean onion. Interersting as Assaf's comment may be, it hardly relates to Kotik. L. Bruyn. 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2000 14:40:29 -0500 (EST) From: Lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Shomer revisited Review by an experienced editor not only helps hone a contribution but teaches valuable lessons to the contributor. So it was with my translation of Ravnitski's memoir about Sholem Aleichem (TMR 4:15). My footnote about Shomer's writing reflected Sholem Aleichem's vigorous attack on Shomer (pseudonym of Nakhem Meyer Sheykevitsh) rather than a balanced view. Leonard Prager suggested a modification, and I agreed, because he informed me that there is a body of scholarly work, mainly in Hebrew, in which Shomer's contribution to Jewish literature has been re-evaluated and found to be respectable in many aspects. I can't read Hebrew, but there is a Yiddish book by Shomer's children which adds to his defense (_undzer foter shomer_ by Rose Shomer-Bachelis, ikuf farlag, 1950). I have owned it for some years, have read some of it, but only recently paid special attention to the following ink inscription on a flyleaf: tsu mayn libn un trayern fraynt kalman marmor, rose shomer batshelis. Then, in English, Los Angeles, Cal. May 31, 1950. The pseudonym had become the family name. Despite their father's continuing success in America after Sholem Aleichem's attack of 1888 (shomers mishpet), the family was still pained more than 60 years later. A Morgn-Zhurnal, 1940 Yiddish article by Yankev Glatshteyn (undzer elter-feter shomer) defending Shomer is reprinted in the book (pp. 223-227). This was to commemorate Shomer's 35th yortsayt. I'll translate the first paragraph because it sets the tone and displays the power and charm of Glatshteyn's style. (Glatshteyn writes) When Sholem Aleichem pronounced his stern judgment of Shomer in 1888, he surely must have thought he had completely eradicated Shomer, but time is a more even-handed judge. If not for this judge, writers would simply eat each other alive. The even-handed judgment of time, however, transforms the untamed literary jungle into a serene zoological garden; and each writer receives his due recognition. Glatshteyn was right. I also want to indicate an error in an anecdote told by Rose Shomer-Bachelis on p. 184. It leaves a puzzle, and the probable correction suggests a possibility that may be especially interesting. Shomer died Nov. 26, 1905. He was in the hospital for 2 months dying of cancer (chest pain on one side). Rose spent many hours at his bedside. She writes in Yiddish: (My translation) Once I read to him the news in a Yiddish paper that Sholem Aleichem had become ill with consumption (shvindzukht), and was then in a hospital in Italy. "That is God punishing him for me," my father called out softly. All of us in our household knew the bitterness father felt toward Sholem Aleichem. However, he had never talked to us about it; but, to the writers who visited us, he had often protested against the injustice he suffered from Sholem Aleichem. The puzzle: If shvindzukht refers to Sholem Aleichem's tuberculosis then that began in mid-summer 1908, when Shomer had already been dead for over two-and-a-half years. The reference to a hospital in Italy seems to firmly place the event in connection with Sholem Aleichem's life after the summer of 1908, and that must be an error. Rose Shomer-Bachelis probably simply displaced some facts. Her memory of 1905, 45 years later, may have in fact concerned news of another traumatic experience suffered by Sholem Aleichem. In October 1905, Sholem Aleichem and his family survived the perils and terrors of the pogrom in Kiev. They escaped harm by leaving their home and hiding in a hotel. Perhaps it was news of this ordeal that provoked Shomer's bitter death-bed comment. The possibility that this detail in the life of Sholem Aleichem of 1905 was covered in an American newspaper is not surprising but interesting. Sholem Aleichem did not come to the United States until October, 1906. Louis Fridhandler 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2000 15:07:26 -0500 (EST) From: "Scott E. Meyer" Subject: "Chicago Yiddish" I have kidded with others about the possibility of something we call "Chicago Yiddish." I'm not sure how it came to be or whether the name is accurate, so I turn to this list for advice and council. The current definition of Chicago Yiddish includes those words that end with the sound "ah" (as in matzah, challah, shivah, bubah, latkah, shiksah, pushkah, and kishkah) and are instead pronounced as "ie" (as in matzie, challie shivie, bubie, latkie, shiksie, pushkie, and kishkie). Yet there are other words that seem to qualify, but for some reason, don't ("mitzvah, mikvah, bimah, t'fillah)--or maybe they do and I just haven't heard it. Is it correct to assume that one who pronounces Yiddish/Hebrew words in this manner has a Chicago-area connection. I don't know, but I'd love to find out. I assume that this form of Yiddish had its origins overseas, but where? And why was it adopted by only one (or a few) American cities? Please help me add words to the lists of qualified and unqualified "Chicago Yiddish" words. I'd also be happy to hear of those who use these same pronunciations, but have no Chicago connection. I'd like to get to the bottom of this and share the results with any who would be interested. Scott E. Meyer 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 11:13:14 -0500 (EST) From: Aaron Taub Subject: New YIVO Compact Disc/Cassette Dear Mendele Subscribers: The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research has just released a new compact disc/cassette entitled "Taybele and Her Demon" And Other Selections from Yiddish Literature. Selections include works by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Kadia Molodowsky, Zalmen Shneour, Peretz Miransky, Chaim Grade, and Aaron Zeitlin. The works are read in Yiddish by renowned Yiddish actor and dramatic reader David Rogow. Introductory essays by the scholars David Roskies and Nahma Sandrow are included in the accompanying notes. This is the second in a series of YIVO compact discs/cassettes of Yiddish literature read by David Rogow. The compact disc/cassette is available for purchase through The Center for Jewish History Shop (917) 606-8220 and The Jewish Book Center of the Workmen's Circle (212) 889-6800 X 285. Aaron Taub New York, NY 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 11:04:13 -0500 (EST) From: Denner Loretta Subject: Review--Performance:Yiddish Songs and Tales from the Shtetl On October 23, at Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa, Ca., Isabelle Ganz, mezzo-soprano, and Craig Bohmler, piano accompanist, performed Yiddish songs for an audience of students and staff of the college and members of the community. Dr. Ganz, who teaches voice at the University of Houston (TX), is best known in the field of Jewish music for her interpretations of Sephardic music, especially in conjunction with the group ALHAMBRA. Bohmler, who has composed Operas, songs, and award-winning musicals, is a noted Bay area pianist and conductor, as well as composer. Ganz's and Bohmler's program was warm, haymish, and superbly professional, while it made accessible songs associated with Shtetl life to many in the audience who'd had no contact with Ashkenazi cultural traditions, let alone the music of Ashkenazi Jews. In presenting such songs as "Yome, Yome, zing mir a lidl" Ganz first explained the context, and then proceeded to sing the songs in a warm, resonant, and expressive voice. The piano accompaniment and Ganz's guitar-playing gave the songs the feel of Yiddish and a strong taste of the shtetl. For the time of the program, the Shtetl visited Santa Rosa. Loretta Denner Santa Rosa, Ca. 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2000 22:57:25 -0500 (EST) From: Chava Subject: Gor oder gornisht How about this slogan for the US democrats? "Oder Gore oder Gornisht" Chava Respitz Montreal [Moderator's note: Mendele does not endorse any political candidates. The following is posted as an example of contemporary Yiddish urban folklore only. -i.v.] ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 10.038 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://ibiblio.org/yiddish/mendele.html