Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 11.006 June 16, 2001 1) Research Fellowship Offered by Friends of SYSA (Joshua Fishman) 2) Director of Archives, YIVO Institute (Roberta Newman) 3) Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature (Stephen Meyer) 4) yiddish capitalization (Lorele Cahan-Simon) 5) Yiddish and the Spanish Civil War (Gerben Zaagsma) [Moderator's note] 6) erben? erven? A word in a Bergelson story (Barry Goldstein) 7) Israel Medres (Vivian Felsen) 8) Yoivl-numer "LEBNS-FRAGN" (Itzhak Luden) 9) Sitting before Traveling (Dara Horn Schulman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 06:42:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Joshua Fishman Subject: Research Fellowship Offered by "Friends of SYSA Collection" The Board of Directors of the Friends of the Secular Yiddish Schools in America Collection, an archival collection housed at the Department of Special Collections, at Stanford University Libraries, proudly announces the first SYSA research fellowship for the year 2002 in memory of Moyshe Goldstein, Yiddish teacher par excellence established with the love and generosity of Drs. Steven and Gail (Gella Messinger) Shak. The awardee will be required to work on a topic related to the secular Yiddish schools in America during a specified 3-month in-residence period, using the impressive resources of the SYSA Archival Collection. Upon completion, a publishable paper (in English or in Yiddish) will be presented by the awardee at a public gathering at Stanford University Libraries. Submitted applications will be judged by a panel of distinguished scholars in Jewish Studies, education, bilingualism and ethnic studies. The award offers the sum of $2000 and may be held simultaneously with other awards. The deadline for submission of applications is November 1, 2001 and notification of award will be no later than December 15, 2001. For complete application details, contact: THE FSYSA FELLOWSHIP COMMITTEE Joshua A. Fishman, chair P.O. Box 19295, Stanford, CA 94309-9295 E-mail: FSYSA@aol.com http://www.fsysa.org Joshua Fishman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 30 May 2001 14:36:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Roberta Newman Subject: Director of Archives, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research invites applications and nominations for the position of Director of the Archives. The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research was established as the Yidisher visnshaftlekher institut (Yiddish Scientific Institute) in Vilna, Poland in 1925. Relocated to New York City in 1940, YIVO co-founded the Center for Jewish History in 1995, and in 1999, became the first of five Jewish research and cultural organizations to move into the Center's new complex at 15 West 16th Street in Manhattan. Collecting materials documenting the life and creativity of East European Jewry has been a major focus of YIVO's mission since the Institute's inception. The approximately 1,400 record groups that make up the YIVO Archives occupy over 10,000 linear feet of shelf space and consist of over 22,000,000 documents. These collections consist predominantly of organizational records, manuscripts, correspondence, and printed materials. The Archives also holds photographs, films, videotapes, sound recordings, art works, and artifacts, most of which have been organized into the following special collections: Music Collections, Sound Archive, Photographic Archive, Film Archive, and Art and Artifacts Collection. The primary languages of the documents are Yiddish, English, Hebrew, Russian, Polish, French, and German. The collections, while covering a wide range of topics relating to Jewish history and culture around the world, concentrate on four main areas: East European Jewish history; history of the Jews in the United States; Yiddish language, literature, and culture; and the Holocaust. In 1992, YIVO acquired the Bund Archives, one of the foremost Jewish collections specializing in the history of the socialist and labor movements. The Director of the Archives is responsible for the leadership and management of the department and is charged with overseeing accessioning, processing, cataloging, preservation, and access to materials; supervising collection development, automation, and preservation projects, and other initiatives designed to safeguard and provide improved access to collections; initiating grants related to archival needs and supervising their realization; and administering the departmental budget. The Archives Director will lead a staff of 10 in developing a shared vision for reference services and collection development; overseeing the ongoing implementation and assessment of initiatives that support that vision; analyzing and reshaping the Archives' services and policies in response to the needs of YIVO's clientele; and playing a leading role in Center-wide projects and committees. He/she will also be expected to develop strategies for increasing scholarly use of the collections and boosting public awareness of the Archives. The successful candidate will have demonstrated abilities in leadership and fiscal management, at least 5 years administrative experience in a research archives, proficiency in Yiddish, a reading knowledge of Hebrew and a Slavic language, a background in East European Jewish studies, and experience in processing manuscripts and other archival materials. Familiarity with digital archives trends and developments is preferred. Availability as of September 1, 2001 is desired, if possible. Salary and benefits are highly competitive. Send nominations and letters of application to: Search and Screen Committee c/o Dr. Carl J. Rheins, Executive Director YIVO Institute for Jewish Research 15 West 16th Street New York, NY 10011-6301 FAX: (212) 292-1892 Applications will be reviewed until the position is filled. YIVO is an EOE. Roberta Newman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 00:20:55 -0400 (EDT) From: "Stephen Meyer" Subject: Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature St. James Press is currently seeking scholars to contribute brief essays to an upcoming reference book on Holocaust literature. The book's advisory board includes Michael Berenbaum, chairman; Sidra Ezrahi; Marilyn Harran; Radu Ioanid; Lawrence Langer; Annamaria Oral-Bukowska; Alvin Rosenfeld; John Roth; Ernestine Schlant; Lenore Weitzman; and Susan Zuccotti. The book will provide critical introductions to two hundred authors in four categories of Holocaust literature: fiction, poetry, drama, and memoir. In addition, the book will feature three hundred fifty essays analyzing individual works by these authors. At present we are still trying to assign the following Yiddish authors and works: Yitzhak Katznelson: 1) Song of the Murdered Jewish People; 2) Vittel Diary Itzik Manger: Shtern in shtoyb Abraham Sutzkever: 1) Burnt Pearls: 2) Ghetto Poems; 3) Green Aquarium; 4) The First Night in the Ghetto: Poems, Variants; 5) The Fortress Hirsh Gilk: Never Say Kadya Molodowsky: Paper Bridges: Selected Poems Rachmil Bryks: 1) A Cat in the Ghetto; 2) Ghetto Factory 76 Chaim Grade: 1) My Fight with Hersh Rasseyner; 2) With Your Body in My Hand; 3) My Mother's Sabbath Days; 4) The Seven Little Lanes For the sake of consistency, contributors who wish to write a critical introduction to an author will also be asked to write a separate essay for each of the author's selected works. The essays will need to be between 500 and 800 words, and will be due August 31, 2001. There is a $50 honorarium per essay. To obtain our guidelines and a complete list of authors and titles, please contact: Stephen Meyer Associate Editor, Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature 248A North Higgins Avenue, PMB 237 Missoula, Montana 59802 (406) 543-0906 Fax: (406) 549-0560 E-mail: meyer@bigsky.net Stephen Meyer 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 22 May 2001 08:05:56 -0400 (EDT) From: Lori Cahan-Simon Subject: yiddish capitalization When writing the title of a song in Yiddish transliterated to Roman characters, does one capitalize every word or just the intitial letter and personal or geographical names, or not even names? A dank, Lorele Cahan-Simon 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 18:24:02 -0400 (EDT) From: Gerben Zaagsma Subject: Yiddish and the Spanish Civil War Dear list members, I am currently working on an MA thesis about Jewish volunteers who fought in the Spanish civil war, specifically based on Yiddish sources. I have started collecting materials and compiling a bibliography some time ago and up till now found a number of interesting Yiddish sources. I wonder if some people would be able to help with some specific questions I have: - In the Polish International Brigade there was a Jewish company called Botwin, named after the Jewish Polish communist Naftali Botwin. The company published its own newspaper, of which 5 issues were published. The first of these were handwritten and if my information is correct the very first was called Freiheits Kemfer. YIVO holds the last two printed issues but up till now I have not been able to find information on the whereabouts of the other issues. - there was a journalist called Gina Medem (Vladimir Medem's wife) who reported for a number of Yiddish newspapers from the front. I would be interested to find out if she has left a personal archive and, if so, where it might be kept. I know these questions are quite detailed. Apart from them I would be grateful for any suggestions and information on this very interesting topic. Kind regards, Gerben Zaagsma London, UK [Moderator's note: several answers can be found in my posting in Mendele 7.067:2 (Sep 1997). "Frayhayts Kemfer" preceded "Botvin": the former was published from August 1937, the first issue of "Botvin" was published in December 1937. Three Gina Medem's books might be of interest: Los Judios voluntarios de la libertad un ano de lucha en las Brigadas Internacionales, Madrid : Ediciones del Comisariado de las Brigadas Internacionales, 1937; A lebensveg : oytobiografishe notitsn, Nyu-York, G. Medem Bukh-Komitet, 1950; Lender, felker, kamfn, Nyu-York, G. Medem Bukh-Komitet, 1963. Several other interesting references (in addition to those listed in my previous posting): Yaakov Glants, Fonen in blut (Shpanye 1936), Meksike : Gezbir, 1936 Aaron Kurtz, No-pasaran: lider, balades un poemes fun Shpanishn folk in zayn kamf kegn fashizm, Nyu York : Kooperativer Folks-Farlag, 1938 Shmuel Leyb Shnayderman, Krig in Shpanyen, Varshe : Yidishe Universal-Bibliotek, 1938 Lebns farn lebn : vegn di Yidishe volontirn in Shpanie (red. Betsalel Fridman), Bronx (New York) : Bronkser Mitelshul fun Internatsiyonaler Arbeter Orden, 1939 Zigmunt Shtayn, Der Birger-krig in Shpanye : zikhroynes fun a militsyaner, Paris : A. Schipper, 1961 Gershon Dua-Bogen, Oyf di shpurn fun gvure, Varshe : Yidish bukh, 1965 Moyshe Zaltsman, Yosef Epshteyn (Kolonel Zshil) : der heroisher Yidisher frayheyts-kemfer, Pariz : Societe d'imprimerie periodiques, 1980 -Iosif Vaisman] 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 18:54:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Barry Goldstein Subject: erben? erven? A word in a Bergelson story I'm in the midst of transcribing Dovid Bergelson's "in a fargrebter shtot" ("In a Backwoods Town") for Noyekh Miller (a notorious slave driver, but I need the work) and the Onkelos project. Chapter VI, paragraph three is: loyt ot dem neyem psak hot alishes fus nit getort kumen in boine arayn, un rekhenen hobn zikh di katsovim badarft nit mit im nor mit zeyer eygenem nomen, far velkhn der rov hot zikh geervt. [In keeping with this decision Elisha would have to stay out of the abattoir, while the butchers were held accountable not to him but to a representative appointed by the orthodox rabbi. (translator: Bernard Guilbert Guerney)] The last word is the problem. It's probably geervt with a veys, not geerbt (beys and veys are not distinguished in what is otherwise very close to modern orthography). Noyekh's Wostok edition has it giml - ayin - komets ayin(!) - reysh - veys (or beys) - tes. Neither ervn nor erbn (nor erven, erben) are in Weinreich, Harkavy, or Stutchkoff. Weinreich does have "erv zayn (far)" (ayin, reysh, veys) -- vouch or answer (for), guarantee, underwrite (as does Harkavy), which is close in meaning: "for whom the rabbi vouched (pledged himself)". Any information (not excluding folk etymologies made up on the spot) on this would be welcome. Is Bergelson just coining a nonce-word or has this appeared elsewhere? The footnotes to the story and a forthcoming glossary project need to know. a dank. Barry Goldstein 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 13:46:53 -0400 (EDT) From: Vivian Felsen Subject: Israel Medres Your May 30th newsletter included a press release from Bernard Katz about the 2001 Canadian Jewish Book Awards wherein he very kindly suggested that my translation from the Yiddish of Montreal of Yesterday by Israel Medres would be of special interest to subscribers of Mendele. Correcting the inadvertent misspelling of the name of the author (the name is Medres, pronounced "medrish" as in "beys medrish"), has given me the opportunity to provide some additional information about Montreal fun Nekhtn, originally published in Yiddish in 1947. For over forty years, from 1922 until his death in 1964, my grandfather, Israel Medres, was a full-time staff writer for the Montreal Yiddish daily, the Keneder Adler, contributing in numerous capacities including news editor, labour editor, court reporter, political affairs columnist,and felletonist. In 55 short chapters, his book, Montreal of Yesterday, deals with every aspect of Eastern European Jewish immigrant life in the period from 1900 to 1920, including where people worked, what they were reading, Yiddish theatre and vaudeville, religious Jews, socialists, anarchists, Zionism, courtship and marriage, trade unions and strikes, and the defense of the Talmud in the Quebec Court of Appeal the same year as the Beilis case in Imperial Russia. The English translation of Montreal of Yesterday is available through its Montreal publisher, Vehicule Press, at vehiculepress.com. I am presently completing the translation into English of Medres' second book, Tsvishn Tsvey Velt Milkhomes. Vivian Felsen Toronto 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 10:36:30 -0400 (EDT) From: Subject: Yoivl-numer "LEBNS-FRAGN" Der Yoivl-numer 50 yor "lebns-Fragn" iz di teg dershinen in Tel-Aviv in a fargreserter tsol zaytn un anthalt a groyse tsol bagrisungen fun farshidene perzenlekhkeytn un organizatsyes fun der gantser velt. Dem zhurnal kon men abonirn oder bashteln oyf dem folgendikn adres: "lebns-Fragn" 48 Kalisher st. Tel-Aviv 65165, Israel. oder telefonish: 03-517 67 64. Itzhak Luden 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 3 Jun 2001 15:52:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Dara Horn Schulman Subject: Sitting before Traveling My husband's family has a custom that I have not seen elsewhere. Before he or any other family member leaves the house for a long journey, his mother and grandmother make the person leaving the house sit down on a couch or chair and recite the following: "Mazl, glik, brokhe, hatslokhe; mazl, glik, brokhe, hatstlokhe; mazl, glik, brokhe, hatslokhe; forn gezunt un kumen gezunt; forn gezunt un kumen gezunt, forn gezunt un kumen gezunt." Only then is the person allowed to get up and leave the house. They are very meticulous about this. I know what all the words mean, but I was just wondering if anyone has ever seen or heard of this custom before, or knows anything about its origins. If it is any help, my husband's grandmother is originally from Slonim in Poland (now part of Belarus) and seems to have brought this with her from there. Any information would be of interest to me. Thanks, Dara Horn Schulman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 11.006 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