Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 11.026 May 14, 2002 1) Rudnicki's phrase (Michael Steinlauf) 2) Sacco and Vanzetti in Yiddish literature? (Larry Rosenwald) 3) The Yiddish Apartments Database (Sholem Berger) 4) hilf mit gefinen poemes (Doodie Ringelblum) 5) Figures of Memory in Jewish-American Arts (Martine Chard-Hutchinson) 6) Bund Archive Inventory on the Web (Karin Hofmeester) 7) Dreydl (Lori Cahan-Simon) 8) Origin of Mazl-Bozhits? (Henryk Duda) 9) Yiddish Words (Sheldon I. Clare) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 12:18:50 -0400 (EDT) From: "Michael Steinlauf" Subject: Rudnicki In the Polish-Jewish writer Adolf Rudnicki's book "Teatr zawsze grany," he cites the following and marvels at the Jewish mind: "A mitsve a khazer a hor aroystsuraysn." Any ideas about what it might mean? A sheynem dank foroys. Michael Steinlauf 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 11:06:34 -0400 (EDT) From: "Lawrence A. Rosenwald" Subject: Sacco and Vanzetti in Yiddish literature? Dear friends, A quick question. In the _Penguin Book of Modern Yiddish Verse_, there's a note prefacing Halpern's poem on Sacco and Vanzetti that says, "many Yiddish poets and writers wrote commemorative works on this subject." I'm aware of Glatshteyn's poem, and of course Halpern's, but would be grateful if Mendelistn could point me to other Yiddish works, especially Yiddish poems. A dank, Larry Rosenwald 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2002 15:20:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Yugntruf Subject: The Yiddish Communities Project / The Yiddish Apartments Database Oyb me vil shafn yidish-redndike kehiles ba veltlekhe yidn iz vikhtik tsu voynen lebn andere yidish-reders. Mir viln dos mekayem zayn mit finantsyeler un informatsyoneler dermutikung far meglekhe balonim. Leyent vayter! 1. Yugntruf vet bavilikn stipendyes far 2,500 dolar a yor kedey tsu dekn di hoytsoes farn iberklaybn zikh lebn andere yidish-reders. Git zikh shoyn on! Der termin iz DEM 1TN YUNI nor me hot bedeye optsuleygn dem termin oyb s'zaynen do balonim. Gedenkt, az af di stipendyes zaynen barekhtikt yidish-reders fun di arbe-pinoys-haoylem, fun yunge-layt biz di yunge in hartsn. 2. Yugntruf hot nor vos aroysgegebn durkh der internets di Datn-baze fun yidish-dires. Der tsil iz aza: es zoln zikh farshtendiktn yidish-reders vos veysn fun derbayike dires vos zaynen do tsu farkoyfn, oder vos viln stam az andere yidish-reders zoln voynen lebn zey, MIT yidish-reders vos zukhn dires lebn andere yidish-reders. Vi azoy? Di tsvey tipn yidish-reders zoln zikh araynshraybn in der datn-baze un oysfiln di neytike informatsye. Mir darfn AYER HILF kedey mekayem tsu zayn di tsvey tsiln! Nokh mer protim shraybt dires@yugntruf.org oder geyt tsu undzer vebzaytl, www.yugntruf.org/dires/ . A dank! PS: Der proyekt iz NISHT NOR FAR NYU-YORKERS, oder amerikaner, nor far YIDISH-REDERS IBER DER GORER VELT. For the creation of Yiddish-speaking communities it's important for Yiddish speakers live near each other. We want to make this happen with financial and informational encouragement for the potential seeds of such communities. Read on! 1. Yugntruf will award stipends of $2,500 a year to cover the moving costs of those who would like to live closer to other Yiddish speakers. Apply now! Yiddish speakers anywhere, of any age, are eligible. The current deadline is June 1st but with sufficient interest the deadline will be extended. 2. Yugntruf has also just posted on the Internet the DATABASE OF YIDDISH APARTMENTS. It works like this: Yiddish-speakers who know of apartments near them, or just want to live near other Yiddish speakers, AND Yiddish-speakers who are interested in leaving near other Yiddish-speakers, log on to and post on our database. They meet each other, and a Yiddish-speaking community is born, with as few as two people. We need YOUR HELP to make this happen! For more information write dires@yugntruf.org or visit www.yugntruf.org/dires/ . Thank you! Sholem Berger 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2002 09:51:42 -0400 (EDT) From: "Doodie Ringelblum" Subject: hilf mit gefinen poemes Tayere Fraynt, Ikh shrayb tzu betn ayer hilf in di tzoograytoongen tzu mayn khasene vos koomt for in knape a khoydesh. Mir viln araynemen etlekhe yidishe poemes in der tzeremonye, oon mir hobn gefoonen tzvay pasike, dafke in Englisher iberzetzoong. Nor trotz groyse mioongen in Melboorn, Oystralye, oon bai farshidene in oysland, ken ikh zay nisht gefinen oyf Yiddish. Di poemes zenen "Du" foon Maylekh Ravitch oon (oyf iberzetzoong) "My bride" ; dos hayst mestome " Mayn Kale" foon Yosef Rolnik. Es ken zayn az di nemen foon di poemes zenen geendert gevorn baim iberzetzn - gib ikh zay iber vi ikh hob zay gefunen: My Bride - Joseph Rolnik She is devout my bride Who more devout than she? More devout than my bride - Only an angel can be. She is lovely my bride Who more lovely than she? More lovely than my bride - Only the sun can be. She is good my bride Who better than she? Better than my bride Nobody can be. You - Melakh Ravitch You are my entire world. When I eat my bread on my life I smell the smell of you You, my last harvest, my first wife. In the water I drink I can hear the waves of your blood, And you saying to me When my love drinks me, it is good In all the works I hear You speak to me, and no other, And if I do what the world wants, It is to please you, my wife, my children's mother. Oyb imetzer ken di poemes, bite git mir tzu visn, vos gikher oder shikt zay glaykh mit a telekopye ("fax") - +613 9532 7073. Mit groyse danken foon foroys Doodie Ringelblum Melburn, Oystralye. 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 02:18:19 -0400 (EDT) From: nikkin Subject: Call for Papers (June 1 deadline) Figures of Memory in Jewish-American Arts and Letters From the Early 20th Century to Today November 8-9, 2002 Papers are solicited which address Memory in its representations and its place in Jewish-American literature and arts, from the 1930s to today, in order to expose their strategies of continuity or rupture. How do artists and writers position themselves as Jewish Americans with respect to their predecessors? How has the notion of Memory evolved, and how is it envisaged now? While recognizing the plurality and heterogeneity of diverse systems of representation, should we speak of a general movement toward decomposing or recomposing Memory? Perhaps a metaphoric recomposition, to recall Cynthia Ozick's observations in her essay "Metaphor and Memory," which will serve as a starting point for our reflections. These are the kinds of questions to be addressed in our conference, which will subsequently result in the publication of a special issue of the Cahiers Charles V, in honor of Rachel Ertel, founder of the Centre d'Etudes Juives Am‚ricaines (Center for Jewish-American Studies), for her contributions to the fields of Jewish-American and Yiddish studies. Deadline for submission of abstracts: June 1, 2002 Martine Chard-Hutchinson m.chard@mellecom.fr Institut Charles V 10 rue Charles V 75004 Paris, France 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 08:01:36 -0400 (EDT) From: "Karin Hofmeester" Subject: Bund Archive Inventory on the Web Dear Colleagues, With the addition of a detailed inventory of the Bund archives the webguide to the unique and manifold Yiddish collections of the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam is now completed. Please see: http://www.iisg.nl/collections/yiddish/yidsearch.html#bund Karin Hofmeester 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Apr 2002 12:51:46 -0400 (EDT) From: Lori Cahan-Simon Subject: Dreydl Khaveyrim, I have been trying to solve a mystery, to no avail. Perhaps some of you can help me. I am looking to find out who originally wrote the music to the song known in Yiddish as "Ikh bin a kleyner dreydl" and in English as "I Have a Little Dreydl" and when they were written. The melody of the two songs is the same but the composers are listed as Michl Gelbart for the Yiddish version and Samuel Goldfarb for the English. As far as I know, neither highly esteemed composer would have any reason to claim or plagarize another's work, yet there they are, same tune, different composers named. It doesn't appear to have been an editor's error either, as Gelbart himself put the song in collections with his name, and Goldfarb's granddaughter relates the family story that he wrote it as a young man living in Brooklyn Heights, working at the Kane Street Synagogue and the Bureau of Jewish Education of New York. My guess is that it was written in Yiddish first. The lyrics in the Yiddish say, "Ikh bin a kleyner dreydl, gemakht bin ikh fun blay", whereas in English the dreydl is made of clay, which I have never seen in my life, as opposed to in the Yiddish, lead, which they most certainly were made of. Also, Goldfarb's granddaughter claims that the "traditional" Birkhat Hamazon [quotes and spelling hers] melody was written by him, which I don't believe to be the case. The 1926 edition of Goldfarb's The Jewish Songster does not have the song in question, and one would think it would be included, if it had been written at that time. Another source indicates there is an Argentinian recording of the Yiddish song from 1920, which I have not seen or heard. From various informants, I have not been able to place either song before the early to mid 1940s. I would like to know if any of you remember hearing either song before then, when it was and in what context it was heard or learned. If you have any song books from between around 1920 through 1945, would you look through them to see if they are listed with an identifiable date and let me know? Finally, if you know of any descendents or relatives of either Gelbart, Goldfarb, or S.S. Grossman (the lyricist of the English version) please let me know so I may contact them. A dank in foroys, Lori Cahan-Simon 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 20:05:46 -0500 (EST) From: Henryk Duda Subject: Origin of Mazl-Bozhits? Dear Colleagues, Modliborzyce is a small town near Janow Lubelski in East Poland. Could you help me explain an origin of the Yiddish name of this town: Mzl-Bozhic (=Mozl-Bozhits?) used by I. B. Singer in his Der Sotn in Goray (Jerusalem 1972): In Narol hoben di bkhurim ongehoybn tsu lernen dem Talmud Irushlmi un in Mzl-Bozhits hot a gbir tseteylt zeyn parmegn oremeleyt (p. 40). There are three possible explanation: 1. taboo - Jews try to avoid the Modli- which means to pray (Yiddish: modlen zih), 2. Volksetymologie, 3. phonetical adaptation of Modli- into Yiddish. Sincerely, Henryk Duda 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2002 22:17:34 -0500 (EST) From: sheldonc@email.arizona.edu Subject: Yiddish Words The following words appear in a Yizkor book concerning the Shtetl Olshon. Would someone be able to help me translate these words? They do not appear in Weinreich. Kadlehs, Shenikehs, Firkantik, Opgeshrign, Grintzayg, Rimer, Koshiol, Varsheyndlekh, Giter, Foonandernemen, Shtrayt. Sheldon I. Clare Tucson, AZ ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 11.026 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