Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 11.010 July 7, 2001 1) Strasbourg Yiddish Festival (Dan Leeson) 2) "Erev Pesach in Vilkoviskh" (Naomi Fatouros) 3) Rosetta Project Yiddish pages (Edward Cherlin) 4) Alis in Yiddishland (Edward Cherlin) 5) puteny? (Perets Mett) 6) An-ski expedition (Ben Weinstock) 7) Funem yarid (Itsik Goldenberg) 8) mirele efros (Joel Berkowitz) 9) Mikhl Likht (Malkeh Bachman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 7 Jul 2001 14:58:55 -0400 (EDT) From: leeson0@attglobal.net Subject: Strasbourg Yiddish Festival I regret to have to report that the presence of the Yiddish Mamas and Papas here in Strasbourg on July 6 was accompanied by tragedy. During the performance a violent storm arose with winds of almost hurricane force. The concert, taking place in a tent, was buffet by winds, but a large tree fell onto the tent killing 11 people and seriously injuring 35, 17 of whom are said to be seriously injured. Children were included in this group. Only by chance did my wife and I choose not to go to that evening concert because of activities that we planned for on July 7. So what was supposed to be a joyous, pleasant event, turned into tragedy. Dan Leeson 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2001 01:28:44 -0400 (EDT) From: NFatouros@aol.com Subject: "Erev Pesach in Vilkoviskh" Someone from the Eastern European Jewish History (EEJH) mail group asked today whether anyone knew where to find a copy of Mordechai (Max) Pustopedsky's poem "Erev Pesach in Vilkovishk." I offered to write to you on that person's behalf, because I am almost certain someone in Mendele would know the answer! Naomi Fatouros Bloomington, Indiana 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 02:50:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Edward Cherlin Subject: Rosetta Project Yiddish pages Tayerer Mendelyaner, The Rosetta project at http://www.rosettaproject.org seeks to compile information about 1,000 languages, including Yiddish, in order to store it for the ages, and is asking for volunteers who have certain information about the various languages. I entered information about Yiddish books and Web sites covering the topics they asked for, including the YIVO orthography and several Yiddish scripture translations. They would like someone to extract the information, format it in PDF, and upload it to their site. The project will secure copyright permission before publishing any of the uploaded material on the Web. At present the only uploaded material in Yiddish is B'reshis 1-3 (just past "di kh'rubim un di flamike shverd"), in the 1926 S. Bloomgarden translation. The project has had some software problems and some problems with language data. If you search for "Yiddish" on the site, you will find Western Yiddish, as in Germany. To find Eastern Yiddish, as in Poland, Russia, and so on, enter "Yiddish, Eastern" in the search box. Eastern Yiddish is of course the language of almost all Yiddish literature. The project requests A description of Yiddish The B'reshis text (other translations welcome) Alternate creation texts Orthography Swadesh word list (100 common words) Inventory of phonemes Audio files Color terms Other texts The same information is requested for Ancient and Modern Hebrew, Samaritan, Aramaic, and Ladino. If information for other Jewish languages is available, it would also be accepted. Edward Cherlin 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 26 Jun 2001 14:42:44 -0400 (EDT) From: Edward Cherlin Subject: Alis in Yiddishland Martin Jacobs recently requested information from the Mendele list on Yiddish translations of Lewis Carroll. I have witnessed a performance of Jabberwocky recited in Yiddish under the title "Yomervokhets", with simultaneous translation into juggling, at the KlezmerMania show in Berkeley CA. A quick search on Google for "yiddish jabberwocky" returns 96 hits, including Refoyl Finkel's Alis in Vunderland, Kapitel 1, Arof dem krolik-lokh. It was published in Der Bavebter Yid, and is now available at http://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/bavebter/numer.1.2/sholem.alis.html. Mr. Jacobs might also be interested in the translation currently underway into the artificial language Lojban. I can send him a copy when it is done. See http://www.lojban.org for general information on Lojban. It was designed to make mathematical logic speakable, so it is ideal for much of Carroll. It is also conceivable that it could be applied to Talmudic studies, although perhaps not likely. Edward Cherlin 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2001 13:09:06 -0400 (EDT) From: Perets Mett Subject: puteny? efsher ken emetser dos vort 'puteny' (?= a fan vu men preglt makholim) Is anyone familiar with the word 'puteny' meaning a frying pan? If so what is its origin? Perets Mett 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 20:34:49 -0400 (EDT) From: "Ben Weinstock" Subject: An-ski expedition Dear Mendele readers, If you would like to learn more about the An-ski ethnographic expedition, please go to www.roadfromletichev.com click on "More Details," and scroll down to Chapter 6, "Folksongs." Sincerely Ben Weinstock 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 22:10:29 -0400 (EDT) From: Goldenberg Subject: Funem yarid In Mendele 11.008 Jim Feldman asks about an edition of Sholem Aleichem's Funem Yarid in modern orthography. The Workman's Circle published an edition in 1940 "gekirtst un fartaytsht fun Yudl Mark, mit derklerungen fun verter oyf yeder zaytl un mit a verterbikhl tsum sof." Perhaps copies might be available from The National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. Itsik Goldenberg 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 10:39:08 -0400 (EDT) From: Joel Berkowitz Subject: mirele efros In response to Jim Feldman's question about MIRELE EFROS, there are no published English versions of the play (though he could find it in Hebrew; Israelis pronounce it "Mirele Efrat," of course). Translations of several Gordin plays by his son Alexander can be found in the Jacob Gordin Papers in the YIVO Archives. MIRELE may or may not be among them, though even if it is, the dialogue would undoubtedly sound very dated by now. Joel Berkowitz 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 11:33:02 -0400 (EDT) From: Batshira@aol.com Subject: Mikhl Likht I am working on Mikhl Likht's "Protsesiyes" / Processions, in the context of a larger (dissertation) project. I have become quite warmly interested in this neglected poet. His archives at YIVO are modest, and I think I have tracked down whatever published criticism exists of his work. If anyone has come across information about Likht in the course of their work on other poets, or if anyone has anecdotal information, memories, or names of relatives or friends of Mikhl Likht, I would be grateful to hear. A dank in faroys, Malkeh Bachman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 11.010 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