Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 13.028
March 25, 2004

1) Avrom Karpinovitsh (Asya Vaisman)
2) Binem Heller (Jack Berger)
3) Swiss dialect website (Enrique E. Gildemeister)
4) peysekh lid (Itzik Gottesman)
5) Monish (Sylvia Schildt)
6) matim (Meyer Wolf)
7) alef-beys (Meyer Engel)
8) Rikuda Potash (Yael Chaver)

Visit Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net


1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 24, 2004
From: vaisman@fas.harvard.edu
Subject: Avrom Karpinovitsh

Fun Tel Aviv iz ongekumen di troyerike nayes az der bavuster yidisher
shrayber Avrom Karpinovitsh iz nifter gevorn. Er iz geboyrn gevorn in Vilne
in 1913, un zayn gantsn lebn iz er geblibn a bazinger fun zayn heym-shtot.
Karpinovitsh hot gevoynt in Rusland in tsayt fun der tsveyter velt milkhome,
un in 1944 iz er tsurik keyn Vilne. Zint 1949 hot er gevoynt in Yisroel.
Karpinovitsh iz geven der direktor fun der filarmonishn orkestr in Yisroel,
der forzitser fun der veltrat far yidisher kultur, un a firer fun yidishn
shrayber farayn. In 1981 hot er bakumen di Manger premie far zayne
literarishe shafungen. Er hot geleynt lektsies bay yidishe seminarn in
Yisroel, Rusland, Poylin, un andere lender biz di letste yorn. Tsvishn zayne
bikher, zaynen do Der veg keyn Sdom (1959), Baym Vilner durkhhoyf (1967), A
tog fun milhome (1973), Oyf Vilner gasn (1981), Tsu fus keyn Erts-Yisroel
(1985), Oyf Vilner vegn (1987), Di geshikhte fun Vilner ger-tsedek Graf
Valentin Pototski (1990), Vilne, mayn Vilne (1993), Geven, geven amol Vilne
(1997). Er hot oykhet geshribn a biografie fun Bronislav Guberman un der
pyese Itsik Vitenberg. Zayne verk zaynen ibergezetst gevorn af farshidene
shprakhn vi Hebraish, Rusish, Daytsh, un Shpanish.

Koved zayn ondenk.

The prominent Yiddish writer Avrom Karpinowitz passed away in Tel Aviv. He was
born in Vilna in 1913, and his whole life he wrote about his home town.
Karpinowitz lived in Russia during the second world war, and in 1944 he
returned to Vilna. He moved to Israel in 1949. He was the director of the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the chairman of the World Council for Yiddish
Culture, and a leader of the Yiddish Writers Union. In 1981 he received the
Manger prize for his literary achievements. Almost until the end, he worked
for Yiddish and Yiddish culture, lecturing at seminars in Russia, Poland, and
other countries. His books include Der veg keyn Sdom (1959), Baym Vilner
durkhhoyf (1967), A tog fun milhome (1973), Oyf Vilner gasn (1981), Tsu fus
keyn Erts-Yisroel (1985), Oyf Vilner vegn (1987), Di geshikhte fun Vilner ger-
tsedek Graf Valentin Pototski (1990), Vilne, mayn Vilne (1993), Geven, geven
amol Vilne (1997).

He also wrote a biography of Bronislav Guberman and the play Itsik Vitenberg.
His works have been translated into various languages, including Hebrew,
Russian, German, and Spanish.

Koved zayn ondenk.

Asya Vaisman

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 24, 2004
From: jsberger@optonline.net
Subject: Re: Binem Heller

Ever since I hear Chava Alberstein's rendition of Heller's 'Mein Shvester
Chayeh,' I have been looking for such a collection in vain. I have
translated this one into English.

I would love to read more of his work, if it is available.

Jack S. Berger

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 24, 2004
From: RGildem550@aol.com
Subject: Files on Swiss dialect website

The Alsatian Yiddish and other dialect files on www.dialekt.ch are audio
files; I have not always been able to get them to play on every computer.

Enrique E. Gildemeister
Brooklyn, NY

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 24, 2004
From: gottesman@yiddish.forward.com
Subject: Re: Peysekh-song

The song is usually called "Atsabeyhem kesef vzohov". The only version
printed with music that i know of is found in Chaim Kotylansky's collection
"Folks-gezangen" page 48.

itzik gottesman

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 24, 2004
From: creativa@charm.net
Subject: Re: Monish

In the intro to the 4th and last condensed version of Monish, of 1908 (a
work first published in 1888) Perets stripped the poem of its discursive
passages on Yiddish language and traditional Jewish behavior, refined the
vocabulary of some Slavic elements and clipped the lines to a sharper
staccato rhythm.

The final version reads:

Er hot lib a blat gemore,
Er hot kheyshik tsu a svore ...
"Shor shenoygekh es hapore"

This purification, nota bene, happened in 1908, the year of Czernowitz, at
which Perets was an honored speaker. It may have motivated him, but this is
just a guess.

Sylvia Schildt

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 24, 2004
From: wolfim@earthlink.net
Subject: Re: matim

Perets' use of matem zayn is found in his short story 'nile', this time in a
less-charged context,  which more clearly illustrates its meaning. Several
paragraphs into the story, we find:

"Der khazn zogt di shimen-esre, un Khayim-Ber shteyt nokh alts, ongeshpart
mitn kop on der vant. Es dakht zikh, az er davnt, in kop dokh ligt nisht di
kavone funem davnen.

'Ki saavir memsheles zodoyn min hoorets' -- iz der khazn matim.

Meyer Wolf

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 25, 2004
From: engel27@worldnet.att.net
Subject: alef-beys

hob ikh far aykh alemen a naye kashe.

The early Soviet regime sponsored written language reform to promote an
easier path to literacy, not just for Yiddish speakers, but for many of the
national groups that became part of the USSR in the aftermath of the October
revolution and the Civil War that followed.

In this country, both the Workmens' Circle and the International Workers'
Order adapted the Soviet orthography, which is almost completely phonetic.
They did retain the shlus forms. Why is it that most former students in the
shules of both of these organizations, at least those that I've run into,
though they learned all or most of the letters, were not taught alphebetical
order? This, of course, is a huge handicap in using a dictionary. It is not
credible to me that this was simply an oversight; after all, we did usually
have alphabet charts on the walls.

I would be most grateful for any theories, suppositions, wild guesses, or,
by some lucky coincidence, even factual accounts. If you have an alef-beys
mnemonic, song, poem or other crutch, please send it along.

Marvin (Meyer) Engel

8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 24, 2004
From: ychaver@socrates.Berkeley.EDU
Subject: Rikuda Potash

The loshn-koydeshdike-readers among you might be interested in reading my
short article about the Yiddish poet Rikuda Potash, in the most recent
(February 2004) issue of "Et-Mol," a history journal published in Israel by
Yad Ben-Zvi. I also present some less well known aspects of the major
Israeli painter Mordecai Ardon, nit keyn knaper Yiddishist in his own right,
with whom Potash had a significant relationship for many years.  The article
is based on a chapter of my book "What Must be Forgotten: Yiddish in Zionist
Palestine," forthcoming in both English (Syracuse University Press) and
Hebrew (Yad Ben Zvi) this year.

Yael Chaver

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End of Mendele Vol. 13.028

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