Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 13.013 February 11, 2004 1) Re: vos heyst 'a mentsh' (Harold Bershady) 2) Re: vos heyst 'a mentsh' (Ellen Cassedy) 3) The use of Yiddish in America (Bianca Feenstra) 4) Chemical literature in Yiddish (Stephen Cohen) 5) oy iz dos a riml (Miriam Brillman) 6) Der Emes and Minkhen (Aaron Rubinstein) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Feb 8, 2004 From: "Harold J. Bershady" Subject: Re: vos heyst 'a mentsh' Faced with a fellow immigrant from her home town (Sokolifke, near Kiev) who was essentially a "proster yid" but had done well in business and was parading about, bragging of his success, demeaning his competitors and "putting on airs," my grandmother would sometimes mutter: "Ekh mir a mentsh>" There was no mistaking her meaning: this man was the antithesis of the decency, composure and respect for one;s fellows that are among the hallmarks of a genuine mentsh. Is it not possible that in "A Mensh fun Buenos Aires" Sholem Aleichem used mentsh in just the same ironic sense? Harold Bershady 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Feb 8, 2004 From: CassBlum@aol.com Subject: Re: vos heyst 'a mentsh' Re: Mechl Asheri's interesting comment on Sholom Aleichem's use of the word "mentsh" to refer to a procurer in the white slave trade: Since, in the story, the reprehensible, non-mentsh-like character refers to HIMSELF as a mentsh, maybe we can conclude that the author is using the term ironically. This would be in line with Sholom Aleichem's practice generally. Ellen Cassedy Takoma Park, MD 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Feb 9, 2004 From: Subject: Questionaire: The use of Yiddish in America I'm Bianca Feenstra. I live in Holland and I need people who are willing to fill in a questionaire about the use of Yiddish in America (topic I'm rsearching).Please help me! I really need some people who can tell me some things about their use of Yiddish and I've tried to find people in all possible ways, but nothing worked for me until now. It will take about 10 minutes to fill in and you will be of great help to me. If you are willing to fill in the questionaire, please mail me at: feens100@iec.nhl.nl. Thanks very much. Bianca Feenstra 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Feb 9, 2004 From: Steve Cohen Subject: Chemical literature in Yiddish Dear Mendelists (or maybe, Mendeleveyens?), I wish to let you all know that my article, "Khemye: Chemical Literature in Yiddish", has just been published in the _Bulletin for the History of Chemistry_, the official journal dedicated to chemical history by the American Chemical Society, Vol. 29, Number 1, 2004, pp. 21-29. Interestingly, the editor chose one of my figures, that of industrial uses of shvebl-zayers (sulfuric acid), as the cover picture. To find out more about the article, contact Dr. Paul R. Jones, Editor University of Michigan Department of Chemistry 930 N. University Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1055 USA prjones@umich.edu I believe my article is the first survey of scientific literature in Yiddish. It covers 20th-century chemical literature, from complete textbooks to teachers' guides, news for the layperson, references (e.g., dictionaries and thesauri), and propaganda, from both Eastern Europe and the USA. Stephen Cohen (Shloyme-Khayim) 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Feb 10, 2004 From: "ms miriam brillman" Subject: oy iz dos a riml Here's a question about the meaning of a Yiddish expression: "oy is dos a riml" Are any of your subscribers able to help? Miriam Brillman 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Feb 11, 2004 From: "Aaron Rubinstein" Subject: Der Emes and Minkhen I work at the National Yiddish Book Center and I'm trying to learn more about our collection, particularly books published in the Soviet Union just before and during WWII, and books published in Europe directly after WWII. I'm having trouble finding information about the two Yiddish publishers who seemed to be the major printers in these locations during these times: Der Emes- the Soviet press edited by Leyb Strongin during WWII. Minkhen- A post-WWII German D.P. camp press. Any information on either of these publishers would be very helpful. Thanks, Aaron Rubinstein ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 13.013 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