Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 10.046 February 11, 2001 1) Alter Kacyzne's "goldene shikh" (Noyekh Miller) 2) A Purim lidl: Zayt zhe yidn sha un shtil (Lorele Cahan-Simon) 3) Silent night in Yiddish (Alexander Krischnig) 4) Marc Chagall's Yiddish poem (Troim Katz Handler) 5) naming conventions (Mikhoyel Basherives) 6) cantonists (Mikhoyel Basherives) 7) muz nisht vs. darf nisht (Martin Green) 8) shtrekfisl (Meylekh Viswanath) 9) Berlin in Yiddish literature (Ingedore Ruedlin) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 14:28:33 -0500 From: N Miller Subject: Alter Kacyzne's "goldene shikh" To some Yiddishists certain recent events in the United States seemed positively Chelemish, so I thought this might be a good time to share Alter Kacyzne's poem. The Yiddish version can be found in: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele/poetry.htm. Noyekh Miller alter kacyzne goldene shikh (khelemer nusekh) di zun hot zikh yom-tovdik -- likhtik tseshaynt: dem khelemer meylekhs geburtstog iz haynt. ot kukt er arop fun di hoykhe balkonen, tsi kumt shoyn dos folk mit der nayer matone. me trakht shoyn, me trogt shoyn di goldene shikh fun ekhtn dukatn -- a shokht oyf a shikht! dos folk hot di goldene shikhlekh gekavet, der meylekh zol trogn in oysher un koved. un ver es vet tren dem meylekh in gas -- zol makhn a vare azoy vi es past. der pinkes dertseylt, az in khelemer gegnt dem zelbn halb-you hat alts ofter geregnt. di khelemer gasn bagosn mit leym. vi tif iz di blote -- farshteyt-zhe aleyn! un khelemer fis hobn erlikh geknotn, mishabes leshabes di shitere blote. ver shlept zikh es shtil un gefaln bay zikh? dos driptshet der meylekh in goldene shikh. hot khelem farzamlt do hoypt-ministorn, di hoypt-redaktorn, di hoypt-senatorn, khazonim, dayonim, dertsu rabinat -- di greste asife hot khelem gehat. oyf dem iz nishto epes beser tsu zogn: der meylekh muz vayter di shikh zayne trogn, dos folk hot dokh erlekh un shverlekh batsolt, dem meylekh tsu zen a bashukhtn in gold! ey-vos? es blaybt iber der kleyner khesorn: dos gold geyt legamre in blote farloyrn? dos muz men farhitn, der khezhbn iz klor, der meylek muz onton kaloshn a por. bikhdey ober oykh fun dem gold zol men visn, muz yeder kalosh zayn fun fornt tserisn dos gold zol aroyskukn rekhoyvesdik-breyt un onfiln khelemer hertser mit freyd. bimey ober gor fun gehoybener blote der meylekh iz oykh fun di lekher dan poter; der meylehf aleyn un zayn gneydike froy zey kenen farshtopn di lekher mit shtroy. un ot iz di khelemer hoyf-uniform: tsvey tife kaloshn mit lekher fun fornt, di lekher mit shtroyene shpuntn farshtekt -- dos lozt sikh der khelemer meylekh in veg. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2000 11:10:14 -0500 (EST) From: Lori Cahan-Simon Subject: A Purim lidl: Zayt zhe yidn sha un shtil I'm looking for a Purim song called "Zayt zhe yidn sha un shtil". I have one verse and would like to know if there are more and what the music is. Here is what I have: Zayt zhe yidn sha un shtil (3) Mir fangen on dem pruim shpil. A purim shpil in gramen, Vos hot a toyznt tamen (2) Zayt zhe yidn sha un shtil (3) Mir fangen on dem purim shpil. A dank, Lorele Cahan-Simon 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2001 13:41:21 -0500 (EST) From: Alexander Krischnig Subject: Silent night in Yiddish My name is Alexander Krischnig, I am a 30 years old Austrian and I would like to ask you a little favour. I am very much interested into foreign languages and cultures, that's why I am collecting - among other things - the Austrian Christmas carol "Silent night" (German "Stille Nacht") in as many languages as possible. I have heard that the lyrics of this song exist also in Yiddish language, but as it is a Christian song I did not suceed in obtaining the Yiddish version so far (only the Hebrew one). Maybe, you have heard about a Yiddish version of that carol or maybe, you even have the lyrics, so I would be very much delighted and most thankful if you could either send it to me (if possible, in Hebrew with Latin transcription) or, maybe you could give me some hints where I might get it. It really means a lot to me and I am very much looking forward to receiving a positive reply from you. So, let me thank you in advance for your kindness. Best regards and greetings from Vienna un a sholem aleykhem! Alexander Krischnig 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 15:43:49 -0500 (EST) From: Troim@webtv.net (Frank Handler) Subject: Marc Chagall's Yiddish poem Sholem aleykhem, I am looking for the Yiddish original of Marc Chagall's poem, "To the Martyred Artists", translated by Moshe Kohn. Please reach me at my e-mail address. A sheynem dank. Troim Katz Handler 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2001 15:29:25 -0500 (EST) From: Mikhoyel Basherives Subject: naming conventions Most everyone knows that Jewish males are traditionally named so & so "ben" so & so or so & so "bar" so & so. It was always my understanding that "ben" is "son (of)" in Hebrew & that "bar" is the same in Aramaic. I have a couple of questions: Is there any convention which determines whether ben or bar is to be used or does it not matter? On another listserve someone wrote that "bar" is also an abbreviation of "ben Reb" (son of Mr. so & so). Is this true? The other listserve's members are not particularly knowledgeable in either Yiddish or Hebrew. I did see recently a signature from the 1700s in which "bar" had the 2 upper slash marks between the beyz & reysh that Yiddish uses for abbreviations. Thank you, Mikhoyel Basherives 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2001 12:59:51 -0500 (EST) From: Mikhoyel Basherives Subject: kant Recently a number of non-Yiddish speakers have mentioned that the Jewish "recruits" forced into serving in the tsarist army for 25 years during the tragic period of 1827-1855 were called "cantonists" because they were housed in camps called "cantons". I am wondering whether they are confusing the English word "canton" which does have as one meaning "quarters for military troops" with the Yiddish word "kant" which as far as I ever heard means only "region", "rim, edge". My older relatives always told me that "Di gekhapte yidishe yinglekh hot men gerufn Nikolayevske soldatn vayle Nikolay iz geven der tsar un kantonistn vayle zey zaynen farshikt gevorn in di vayte kantn". Does anyone know "kant" in Yiddish as also having the meaning of military camp, quarter for troops, etc. or is this merely a confusion with the English word? Thank you, Mikhoyel Basherives 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 09:15:59 -0500 (EST) From: "Martin Green" Subject: muz nisht vs. darf nisht Efsher vet emitzer gefinnen a teyos in mayn oys-taytshung fun'm untershied tsvishen di dozike tzvey oysdricken. (Nokh a frage: Zogt men in Yiddish "muz nisht", oder muz men shtendik zogen "tor nisht"?) "The verbs muz'n and darfen mean almost the same thing in the positive sense; but they differ in the negative; furthermore, they don't behave at all like the corresponding German modal auxiliaries, mssen and drfen. For example, Ikh darf nisht essen means, in Yiddish: "I don't need to eat"; while in German, the same sentence would mean, "I am not permitted to eat". To express the latter thought in Yiddish, one would say: Ikh tor nisht essen. In German, one who doesn't need to eat would say "Ich brauche nicht zu essen"; he could also say "Ich muá nicht essen" to express the idea that "no one is forcing me to eat". Martin Green Winnipeg, Canada 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 18:50:59 -0500 (EST) From: "P.V. Viswanath" Subject: shtrekfisl I got the following query from a friend; maybe somebody on Mendele can throw some light on it. A landsman of mine from Yonkers remembers that when, as a child, he asked his grandmother who lived in the tower of the Yonkers City Hall, she replied, "Shtrekfeesl." What could she have meant? Is this the name of some Yiddish bogeyman or what? Meylekh Viswanath 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 09:01:16 -0500 (EST) From: "Ingedore Ruedlin" Subject: Berlin in Yiddish literature Dear Mendelyaner, I'm working on a study of Yiddish literature from Berlin and am looking for literary texts, that somehow reflect the experiences there. Quite well known are Bergelson's Berlin stories as well as I. J. Singer's Karnovkies. Does anybody know other writers, who wrote stories, poems or novels located in Berlin or hinting at the time spend there? A dank Ingedore Ruedlin Potsdam, Germany ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 10.046 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net http://ibiblio.org/yiddish/mendele.html