Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 13.012 February 7, 2004 1) Glikl's language (Marion Aptroot) 2) Soviet Yiddish Press, 1942-45 (Robert Moses Shapiro) 3) Re: vos heyst 'a mentsh'? (Mechl Asheri) 4) Music of the Jewish labor movement (Arieh Lebowitz) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Feb 2, 2004 From: Marion Aptroot Subject: Glikl's language In Vol. 13.011 Enrique Gildemeister asked for literature on Glikl's language. For a long period, the standard work on Glikl's language was A. Landau's article "Die Sprache der Memoiren Glckels von Hameln", Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft fr jdische Volkskunde VII/1 [1901], p. 20-66. In recent years, there have been a number of additions, most notably: Erika Timm, "Glickls Sprache vor ihrem sozialhistorischen und geographischen Hintergrund." In: Monika Richarz, ed., Die Hamburger Kauffrau Glikl. Jdische Existenz in der frhen Neuzeit, Hamburg: Christians Verlag 2001, p. 49-67. Israela Klayman-Cohen, Die hebr„ische Komponente im Westjiddischen am Beispiel der Memoiren der Glckel von Hameln, Hamburg: Buske 1994. Marion Aptroot 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Feb 2, 2004 From: Robert Moses Shapiro Subject: Soviet Yiddish Press, 1942-45 People interested in Yiddish in the former Soviet Union should see the important article, with accompanying bibliographic lists of hundreds of individual articles by author, title and topic, written by Dov-Ber Kerler, "The Soviet Yiddish Press: During the War, 1942--1945," 30 pp., published in Shapiro, Robert M., ed., _Why Didn't the Press Shout?: American and International Journalism during the Holocaust_ (New York City and Jersey City: Yeshiva University Press with KTAV Publishing House, 2003), pp. xx, 665, ISBN 088125-775-3, $49.95. The book consists of 30 chapters dealing with the press during the Holocaust in more than a dozen countries and more than a dozen languages. It was named a Finalist for a National Jewish Book Award. The volume is dedicated to the late historian, Lucjan Dobroszycki. Robert Moses Shapiro 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Feb 4, 2004 From: Donn O'Meara Subject: Re: vos heyst 'a mentsh'? The three answers to the question "vos heyst a mentsh" all assert as clearly as possible that the word implies in a human being (one, even in a dog, r"ltz) integrity and praiseworthiness, if not actual nobility. How then does one explain Sholem Aleichem's use of the word in "A Mensh Fun Buenos Aires"? The "mentsh" referred to is a procurer, for whatever my opinion is worth, about the lowest form of humanity, in what used to be called the white slave traffic. This is obviously not Sholem Aleichem's intended meaning; by "mentsh" he means simply a person. It is notable, however, that the usual word for person in Yiddish is "yid" (with the obvious exceptions) and that Sholem Aleichem nowhere in his story uses that word to describe his subject, giving "mentsh" a neutral meaning as it were. The procurer refers to himself as a mentsh, but his meaning is also clear: a person of consequence, far superior to the misery from which he arose as a child. Outside my home, Yiddish is the language I speak most, because I live in a place where it is still widely spoken and, of course, because I love it. To me, "mentsh" means in some contexts simply a person but in most contexts a "real" person. A yid I know just went through several months of declining health into a state of emese sakonos nefoshos and was miraculously pulled out of it by the latest development in pacemakers, implanted only a week or so ago. His current comment is, "Before, I felt like" (and in fact was), "a soon-to-be customer for the khevre kadisha, but now I feel like a mentsh!" I do understand that the entire discussion in Mendele referred to its use in English, but felt that its use in Yiddish, whence it comes, ought also to be clarified. Mechl Asheri 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Feb 7, 2004 From: Arieh Lebowitz Subject: Searching for music of the Jewish labor movement Trying to see what recorded musical material is available that is related to the historic, multifaceted, Jewish labor movement in one way or another. Does anyone know if it is still possible to secure a copy of the LP record, "Yiddish Sons of Work and Struggle," released in the 1970s by the Jewish Students' Bund in NY? Saw mention of it on website: http://campuscgi.princeton.edu/~klez/zemerl/show.pl?title=Brider%2c+mir+hobn+geshlosn I've already learned of the more-recent CD, "In Love and Struggle: The Musical Legacy of the Jewish Labor Bund," recorded July 1998 by The New Yiddish Chorale and the Workmen's Circle Chorus, mentioned on website:http://www.jhom.com/personalities/ansky/the_oath.htm and Zahava Seewald and Psanim's "Ashkenaz songs 2: work and revolution," sub rosa, Brussels 1999, mentioned on website: http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/int/shvue/shvue.htm Any assistance would be deeply appreciated. Thanks! Arieh Lebowitz ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 13.012 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