Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 13.008 December 29, 2003 1) "der yid vos hot khorev gemakht dem templ" (Elye Palevsky) 2) Rekude Potash and "der yid vos hot khorev gemakht" (Harvey Spiro) 3) Rikude Potash (Yael Chaver) 4) Jews and the Spanish Civil War (Meyer Zaremba) 5) A Yiddish translation question (Arieh Lebowitz) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 16:35:57 -0500 (EST) From: EPalevsky1@aol.com Subject: Re: "der yid vos hot khorev gemakht dem templ" tsu dem fraynt kurland: di mayse hot geshribn avrom reisen. me ken es gefinen in "a. reisen dertseylungen" CYCO bikher falarg 1952. es iz take gor a geshmake maysele, b'frat nokh far a klezmer. elye palevsky 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 18:13:24 -0500 (EST) From: Harvey J Spiro Subject: rekude potash and "der yid vos hot khorev gemakht" ... This is in response to two entries in vol 13.006. In volume 2 of the Anthology of Yiddish Literature (Hyman Bass, ed; Congress for Yiddish Culture, pub, 1976), you can find a photo of Rekude Potash and three poems by her. There is no other biographical information there, however. This book was popular and should be fairly easy to find online or at one of several Yiddish book venues. The story, "der yid vos hot khorev gemakht dem templ," written by Avrom Reyzen, can be found in "From our Yiddish Literature," published 1983 in Israel by the World Council for Yiddish and Jewish Culture. Chava Turniansky was the editor. I'm pretty sure that you can find it elsewhere as well, e.g., in collected works volumes. Hope this helps. Harvey Spiro 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2003 13:20:36 -0500 (EST) From: "Yael Chaver" Subject: Re: Rikuda Potash Since people seem to be interested, here are some more details about Rikuda Potash: she was born in Czestochowa, Poland in 1906, began publishing Polish poetry in her teens and Yiddish poetry in the aftermath of the 1918 Lemberg pogrom. In 1924 she moved to Lodz, married the poet and writer Khayim-Leyb Fuks and had a daughter, and was active in the vibrant local Yiddish cultural scene. Potash immigrated to Palestine in 1934, where her brother Mordecai Narkis was Director of the Bezalel Art School Museum. She lived and worked in Jerusalem until her death in 1965, and was a participant in the remarkable artistic and poetic culture of the city in the 1930s and 1940s. Her personal and artistic relationship with the major painter Mordecai Ardon was especially significant for both artists (an article on this relationship is forthcoming in the Jerusalem journal "Et-Mol"). Potash's daughter now lives in the US; other family members live in Israel. Potash published three volumes of poetry in her lifetime: "Vint Oyf Klavishn" (Lodz 1934), "Fun Kidron Tol" (London 1952) and "Moyled Iber Timna" (Jerusalem 1960). A collected volume of poems, "Lider," was published posthumously in Tel-Aviv (1967). A volume of her short prose sketches, "In Geslekh fun Yerusholayim," appeared in 1968. Her modernist poetry is quite remarkable, shifting as it does between cultures, centuries and continents. As far as I know, my (rather literal) translations of her poetry are the first. At least five of her extremely interesting short stories have been translated; they are published, with a biographical note (which is not entirely accurate), in "Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers" (1994, Ontario: Second Story Press). The discussion of her work in my forthcoming book (twhich will appear in English and Hebrew versions) deals with some aspects of the poetry she wrote in Jerusalem. I hope this will spark enthusiasm for this unique poet. My current work focuses on her European poetry; I would be grateful for any comments, suggestions etc. that fellow Mendelyaners might have. [Note: I will be away from e-mail between the afternoon of Dec. 26 and Jan. 10] a sheynem dank in foroys, Yael Chaver 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Dec 2003 06:16:32 -0500 (EST) From: greenehcuzine@aol.com Subject: Re: Jews and the Spanish Civil War In Mendele Vol 13 number 7 H. Srebrnik writes: I had some material on the Botwin company in my article "Salud di heldn: Jewish Communist Activity in London on Behalf of the Spanish Republic," Michigan Academician 16, 3 (1984): 371-381. Henry Srebrnik Look into the Pakn Treger (The magazine of the National Yiddish Book Center) Fall 1997 Number 26. There's an article titled, "Troublemakers" that deals with Jewish veterans of the Spanish Civil War. Meyer Zaremba 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2003 01:52:48 -0500 (EST) From: LAWRENCE LEBOWITZ Subject: A Yiddish translation question The following query appeared on another list dealign with Judaica - but clearly this is the list to get an answer! Please reply to Mr. Schine directly. Arieh Lebowitz ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From: Robert Schine schine@middlebury.edu In a letter I am translating, there is a verb of which I can make no sense in the context. It is not in Weinreich's dictionary, and there is no copy of Yudel Mark's dictionary in this valley in Vermont: ..... zollstu mir glaych entfern un mir fun alles OISROIBEN. From the context, in which a brother is begging his sister in America to write back, I'd expect a verb meaning "to report," but "oisroiben" looks like German "ausrauben", to rob or plunder. I'd be grateful for some help. Robert Schine schine@middlebury.edu ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 13.008 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