Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 13.031 March 31, 2004 1) iberkhazern (Andrey Bredstein) 2) alef-beyz (Hershl Hartman) 3) shikse (Mel Poretz) 4) shikse (Sylvia Schildt) 5) shikse (Ruth Goodman) 6) Binem Heller's poems (Yitzhok Luden) 7) yisker-bikher (Leah Zazulyer) 8) yisker-bikher (Rose Jimenez) Visit Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net/index.utf-8.htm 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 29, 2004 From: bredstein@mail.utexas.edu Subject: re: iberkhazern in letstn numer (13:30) hob ikh alpi toes ongeshribn, az me shraybt dos vort "khazer" mit a khof. (in der emesn, darf men es shraybn mit a khes.) ikh veys nisht aleyn vi azoy es iz forgekumen - a ferd mit fir fis spotiket zikh, un a mentsh avade un avade oykh... zayt mir ale moykhl un hot a gliklekhn tomid! mit di beste grusn, Andrey Bredstein 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 29, 2004 From: hershl@earthlink.net Subject: Re: alef-beyz With much respect and honor to Sylvia Schildt, I believe she may be projecting her own experience in the Arbeter Ring shuln to the many others who did not -- as she did -- go on to graduate both mitlshul and lerer seminar. I, too, am a product of the full scope of Yiddish Secular education, but in the Ordn (Jewish Peoples Fraternal Order) shuln. By the mid 1940s, students at the Kursn far Lerer un Hekherer Yidisher Bildung (School for Teachers and Higher Yiddish Education, JPFO) were reading the Yiddish literary classics in the original; that is, with Hebrew words NOT transliterated. My training there allowed me to proceed immediately to become a cub reporter with the Yiddish daily newspaper, "morgn frayhayt," (Morning Freedom) which, despite its support of the Soviet Union, never accepted Soviet-style othography. My many contacts over the years with contemporaries and younger folks who were graduates of Arbeter Ring elementar (elementary) shuln -- but who did not go on to mitlshul and higher education -- leads me to believe that they, too, were not taught the Hebraic elements of Yiddish in their original spelling during their elementary school years. The difference, then, is not in political orientation, but in the individual's level of education achieved. Incidentally, we students at the Kursn also studied Tanakh from Yehoyish's masterful translation, and under the tutelage of the outstanding historian of kh'sides (hasidism), Menashe Unger, who wrote regularly for the non-partisan Yiddish daily, "der tog" (The Day). As I recall, he also taught elementary Hebrew (which allowed me to win a Golden Ayin for Hebrew studies at Christopher Columbus High School, where we used the same textbook as at the Kursn.) Hershl Hartman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 29, 2004 From: EMPE@aol.com Subject: Re: shikse I hope Mr. Itsik Goldenberg misplaced a pair of quotation marks which might have attributed to a source other than himself his comment about the "unusually unsavoury connotation" associated with the word "shikse." If, however, that's how he, personally, interprets and uses the word for Gentile woman, I have to question what century the man is living in. I hope this is one of many postings of protest you receive dealing with his unsavory, arcane and seemingly bigoted revelation. I found his submission to be offensive in the extreme. Mel Poretz 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 29, 2004 From: creativa@charm.net Subject: Re: shikse Once and for all, shiksa is an anglicization of sheygetz; shoresh sh-g-ts. It is the feminine form. Meaning non-Jew. Gratuitous negative implications notwithstanding, that's the origin of the word. Being led down the garden path to creepy crawl critter is where you get from _not_ reading the Hebrew/Yiddish alphabet. Sylvia Schildt Baltimore, Maryland 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 29, 2004 From: RuthFG@aol.com Subject: Re: shikse In answer to the question about: shiksa, shegetz. It comes from the Hebrew meaning abomination. Ruth Goodman 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 29, 2004 From: luden@netvision.net.il Subject: Re: Binem Heller's poems Di poeme fun Binem Heler "oy hot men mir mayn velt tsebrokhn" iz geven gedrukt in der Tel-Aviver tsaytung "Letzte Nayes" beerekh in tsvishn 1956 un 1958 un oykh in dem khoydesh-zhurnal "Lebns-Fragn". Di genoye date ken ikh nisht oysgefinen. Yitzhok Luden Tel-Aviv 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 30, 2004 From: fam_wats@geneseo.edu Subject: Re: yisker-bikher A propos Mr Berger's cogent statement [TMR 08.004] about Yizkor books...When the World Jewish Congress/Random House initiative was announced some years ago, I saw to it that a very fine, very long, survivor's carefully researched book about his life and times before, during, and after the Holocaust, which he had written in Yiddish and then self-translated (adequately) into english over a life time---was sent to that project. I think the memoir very impressive; it begins in my parents' Belarus shtetl. I understand that a few such books have or are about to be published by WJC and/or Random House, which had first pick. I have been in contact with the WJC and know that the manuscript is still in the running for the future---whenever that might be! I believe that I was told that the WJC received at least 250 submissions, though varying in length from one page to this 850 handwritten pages in Yiddish book. Leah Zazulyer 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 31, 2004 From: Rjimi@aol.com Subject: Re: yisker-bikher I have two Yiskor Bikher. My father's town was Gnieveshov (?) in Poland and my mother's city was Mizrich (?) in the Ukraine. My mother's book is completely in Yiddish. I have no difficulty translating that into English. My father's book is in both Yiddish and Hebrew. I don't know for what reason, since I do not read Hebrew. Would Yivo have any role in translating any of these books for the sake of the continuity of information they contain? Rose Jimenez ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 13.031 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu