Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 10.056 May 6, 2001 1) Tsaytungen (Sholem Berger) 2) Yugntruf-Yidish-vokh 2001 - URL Correction (Shoshke-Rayzl Yuni) 3) Prufrock (Al Grand) 4) Prufrock (Norman Fruman) 5) who knows Hadassa Rubin? (Laura Mincer) 6) _The Lexus and the Olive Tree_ and Yiddish (Yankev Berger) 7) word for charity collector (Arnold Tein) 8) "beganefter goy" (Julian S. Bielicki) 9) a fintstere nakht (Brad Nash) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 13:29:07 -0400 (EDT) From: "Sholem Berger" Subject: Tsaytungen Letstns iz aroys a bukh fun eseyist Nicholson Baker ("Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper") vegn an emesn skandal: dos aroysvarfn un mamesh farhefkern milionen bikher un tsaytungen -- dos alts tsulib zeyer kloymershtikn tsefalenish. Ober der emes iz punkt farkert: alte tsaytungen tsefaln zikh nisht, oyb me halt zey af a pasikn oyfn. Geshribn hot er, farshteyt zikh, merstns vegn english-shprakhike bikher un tsaytungen. Nor es vilt zikh fregn vegn hayntike *tsaytungen af yidish* (nisht di tsvishn-milkhomedike un nisht di gor alte), vegn di toyznte numern Tog un Morgn-zhurnal un Forverts (un me redt shoyn nisht vegn di ale hayntike khoreydishe tsaytungen). Afile der Forverts-association aleyn hot nisht di alte numern -- zey zaynen ale mikrofilmirt (far keynem nisht gedakht). Tsi hot men aroysgevorfn di ale amerikaner yidishe tsaytungen? Vos hot men geton mit zey? Tsi pasn zey zikh arayn in di plener fun di Amherst-mentshn? Di gantse zakh varft on a shrek: tsi halt men zey? un tomer nisht, vi azoy ken men zey yo haltn? Sholem Berger 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2001 10:36:48 -0400 (EDT) From: "Susannah R. Juni" Subject: Yugntruf-Yidish-vokh 2001 - URL Correction Di anumltike meldung vegn der hayyoriker yidish-vokh hot gehat an umrikhtikn "URL" (veb-adres). Der rikhtiker adres far mer protim, lemoshl registratsye-materialn, iz: http://www.yugntruf.org The recent posting about the current year Yidish-Vokh contained an incorrect URL (web address). The correct address for more details; e.g., registration materials, is: http://www.yugntruf.org Shoshke-Rayzl Yuni Susannah R. Juni 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2001 07:37:47 -0400 (EDT) From: Al Grand Subject: Prufrock I am impelled to make a minor adjustment to Al Madansky's posting of the Saul Bellow/Isaac Rosenfeld Yiddish rendition of T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (Mendele Vol 10.053). I feel that Eliot's famous couplet "I grow old . . . I grow old / I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled . . ." scans a tad better in the following Yiddish version than the way it appears in Madansky's posting: "Ikh ver alt . . . Ikh ver alt / Un mayn pupik vert mir kalt." Al Grand 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 00:28:29 -0400 (EDT) From: Norman Fruman Subject: Prufrock Down the years I have heard a couple of verses of the Yiddish translation of Eliot's "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." They differ slightly but significantly from what has been posted here recently instead of: In tsimer vu di vayber zenen Ret men fun Marx un Lenin Ikh ver alt...ikh ver alt... Es vert mir in pupik kalt I've heard: In der tsimer vu di vayber zenen Ret men fun Karl Marx un Lenin Ich ver alt, ich ver alt, In der pupik vert mir kalt. In the latter lines the iambic rhythm of Eliot's original is maintained. Does anyone have any idea whether more of the original was tranlated? Many thanks to Al Madansky for supplying what he has. Norman Fruman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 16:10:16 -0400 (EDT) From: "Laura" Subject: who knows Hadassa Rubin? Hi Dear Mendelianer! My Polish friends, Zofia and Rafal Borzyminski, historians of the Warsaw Jewish Historical Institute, are about to publish a 3000 pages Dictionary of Polish Jewry. Pruszynski and -Ska should print the Dictionary in the next autumn. I am trying to help them, since they still don't have an E-mail. At the moment, they have a doubt that maybe some Mendelianer will be able to clear. Namely, they know the fate of Haddassa Rubin. It was impossible to know if she is dead or alive, and where. What follows is - is more or less - the translation of the first part the voice concerning her (and excuse me for my clumsy English). Every suggestion will be welcome! "Rubin Hadassa (1912 Frampol - ????) Yiddish poet. She comes from the circle of "Lovers of Sion". She got a lay education on in Polish schools. In the 20ies her family lived in Zbaraz and in Krzemieniec. Rubin belonged to the artistic circle of "Yung Vilne", and in 30ies to a leftist group of Warsaw poets. A member of the Communist party, she was imprisoned (1935). The experiences of that period are expressed in the lyric "Durkh dratn", that were partially written in jail. Her debut was in 1935 in the Vilna magazine "Vilner Tog" edited by Z. Rajzen. She spent the years 1939-1946 in the Soviet Union, in Kirgisistan. Back in Poland, she took part to the renewal of Yiddish cultural life. She was a president of the "Jewish Association for Culture and Art", and later TSKZ in Szczecin (to 1952). Then she was a member of the magazine "Yidishe Shriftn" (1956-1959). In 1960 she left for Israel. " A groysen dank for your help Laura Mincer, Rome [Moderator note: Several Hadasa Rubin's books were published in Israel in the 1980ies and 90ies: In tsugvint. Tel-Aviv : Farlag Yisroel-bukh, 1981 Eydertog. Tel-Aviv : Farlag "Yisroel-bukh, 1988 Rays nisht op di blum. Tel-Aviv : Farlag Y.L. Perets, 1995 -i.v.] 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 21:26:39 -0400 (EDT) From: Jack Berger Subject: Thomas Friedman's _The Lexus and the Olive Tree_ and Yiddish I think khaver Fridhandler [TMR 5.005] is too optimistic. About a half year, or so ago, The Atlantic Monthly ran an interesting article on so-called 'small languages.' Yiddish would fit that category. The author of the Atlantic article indicated that a minimum of about one million speakers are needed to keep a language alive. This assumes some sort of 'cultural matrix' in which the language is imbedded as a tool for communication in day-to-day living. Sadly, the Shoah eradicated the Eastern European matrix that served that purpose for Yiddish. Even the 'tens of thousands' who may remain around the world, but whose ranks are diminished daily, cannot replace that tragic and permanent loss. As much as I love my mameloshn, and strive to give it some life and meaning around me, I don't have a good feeling about its longer-term survivability. In a parallel universe, where Vishiac's Vanished World uses the Internet, maybe the thesis makes some sense. I fear this is not the case in ours. Regards Yankev Berger 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 18:57:45 -0400 (EDT) From: "Dr. Arnold Tein" Subject: word for charity collector Wonder if you can give me the Yiddish word for the man that collects mone from the Tzadakah boxes. Thank you Arnold Tein 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2001 15:34:43 -0400 (EDT) From: "J.S.Bielicki" Subject: "beganefter goy" what does it mean "beganefter Goy"? Thomas Mann uses its expression. Julian S. Bielicki 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 23:34:18 -0400 (EDT) From: bnash@law.harvard.edu Subject: a fintstere nakht Is anyone familiar with the content of a Yiddish joke that begins "s'iz geven a fintstere nakht in braunsvil" [It was a dark night in Brownsville]? Some Yiddish speakers in my family used to repeat this line and chuckle, though they never finished the joke. I presume it was considered somewhat off color. Brad Nash Cambridge, MA p.s. The late Shloyme Axelrod z"l apparently posted a question about this joke on Mendele some years ago, but I wasn't able to find any response to his query in the archives. ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 10.056 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