Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 13.032
April 8, 2004

1) iberkhazern (Seth Wolitz)
2) iberkhazern (Mechl Asheri)
3) Avrom Karpinowitz (A. Cassel)
4) shikse (Jack Berger)
5) A new Yiddish list (Binyumen Schaechter)
6) Niborski-Vaisbrot Dictionary (Michael Sweet)
7) M. Ben-Zion (Paula Eisenstein Baker)
8) News from all over (Noyekh Miller)

Visit Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net/index.utf-8.htm

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 29, 2004
From: slwolitz@pop.earthlink.net
Subject: Re: iberkhazern

zeyer sheyn ayer farshtendenish vegen iberkhazern. vos gefelt mir in dayn
yiddish, es ret zikh tsu mir vi a yiddish vos ikh hob gehert bay mir in der
heym. nit Yivo yidish un nit Sovetish yidish un nit, zol got unz helfn,
loksn-yiddish fun yisroyl vos farmisht loshn-keydish mit yidish az m veyst
nit tsi m'ret yidish tsi hebreyish.

Seth Wolitz

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 6, 2004
From:<donnom@netvision.net.il
Subject:Re: iberkhazern

In Rick Turkel's comment on the confusion surrounding "iberkhazern" he said
that: "I've always believed that it's impossible to fully understand Yiddish
as a non-native speaker without a solid grounding in Hebrew (and at least
one Slavic language, preferably Polish or Ukrainian), and this is a perfect
example of why." He raises several interesting points.

First, while not a native speaker (my first languages were English and
Spanish, which remains the language of my immediate home to this day), I
have been speaking Yiddish on a daily basis for over sixty years and must be
considered if not a native speaker, the next thing to it.

I do have a fairly solid grounding in Hebrew (although I don't  speak it at
all fluently) but speak no Slavic language. In the first respect, I agree
wholeheartedly with what Dr. Turkel says. But the absence of acquaintance
with Polish or Ukrainian I really cannot consider an impediment to "fully
understanding Yiddish". I know too many perfectly fluent Yiddish speakers
whose other language is Hungarian or Rumanian to think otherwise.

Further, it is an empiric fact that over 95% of the men under fifty who
speak Yiddish to their wives, children and peers wear black, have beards and
are married to women who cover their hair, characteristics which apply
mutatis mutandis to their children. Most of them are a couple of generations
away from any Slavic language. This leads me to a further conclusion.

I believe that it is impossible fully to understand Yiddish without a solid
grounding in Yiddishkeit. I was surprised to find that innumerable people
teaching courses in Yiddish at a university level are unable to carry on a
conversation in Yiddish and I think the reason is that the Yiddish language
is a natural outgrowth of religious Yiddishkeit and that you can't have the
former without knowing the latter, whether you are observant or not.

I recall correspondence with an extremely pleasant teacher of Yiddish at a
large Western university who told me of great difficulty in giving the
students a Yiddish word for marshmallow (the confection). I didn't say so,
but this struck me as being an extreme of futility, because that 95% of
daily Yiddish speakers don't eat marshmallows because they contain gelatin
which isn't kosher, although I suppose there might be a marshmallow with a
hekhsher somewhere or other.

A more germane case would be the Yiddish word for toilet paper, which anyone
aspiring to an elementary command of the language would have to know. The
common word is "asher yotzer papir" and any advanced student would probably
know it. If, however he doesn't know why, or if he does but can't say the
brokho (we won't even consider if he says it when he should), his knowledge
is essentially sterile and, (to misuse a metaphor), like all sterile
organisms is incapable of reproduction and the chances of his children
speaking Yiddish are mighty small.

The other day a native Hungarian speaker told me in perfect Yiddish that the
banks charge a mayontek for a certain service. He spoke no Slavic language
but used that Slavic word correctly in Yiddish. I am sure he would also say
and understand "asher yotzer papir" and would know why. No Polish or
Ukrainian, but Yiddishkeit, yes.

Yomtov is over (here at least) but best wishes for a gitn moyed!  (Of
course, I forgot - my age is showing -- akhron shel Pesach is coming up
too).

Mechl Asheri

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 4, 2004
From: acassel@comcast.net
Subject: Re: Avrom Karpinowitz

I was saddened to read of Avrom Karpinowitz' passing. (Mendele Vol 13.28) My
first Yiddish teacher, the late Meyer Dwass of Chicago, had begun in his own
later years to translate some Karpinowitz stories. I Does anybone know if
any of Karpinowitz' stories have been published in English? The few I've
read -- in Yiddish and in Dwass' manuscript English translations -- are
delightful, rich, heymish and highly evocative of fargangene Vilne.

A. Cassel

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 4, 2004
From: jsberger@optonline.net
Subject: Re: shikse

There appears to be a general misunderstanding afoot, regarding the use of
the words 'sheygets' and its feminine form, 'shikse' in Yiddish.

Despite Mel Poretz's negative reaction, Itsik Goldenberg is absolutely right.

Sylvia Schildt errs, because the usage comes from the Hebrew 'shekets' --
shin-kuf-tzadi (sofit) -- which in fact is a thing to be detested. We are
told in the Holy Writ, 'Shakayts TeShaktsenu' which is an admonition TO
abhor. See for example, Leviticus 11:11.

The usage primarily refers to creatures of the sea without fins and scales
(i.e. arthropods and mollusks) which are "creepy crawly things." However the
notion of 'shekets' is more general.

A "sheygets" is the masculine form elided into Yiddish. The Hebrew Feminine
form is "shiktsa." The elision to the Yiddish 'shikse'  should be readily
apparent.

Jack Berger

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 4, 2004
From: bschaechter@nyc.rr.com
Subject: A new Yiddish mailing list

Tayerer Yidish-libhober / Dear Yiddish-lover:

For the Yiddish Brave of Heart - an e-mailing-list of people who want to
learn the Yiddish they can't find yet in a Yiddish dictionary:

1) Ir vilt a mol visn "Vi Zogt Men ______ Af Yidish?" nor
ir hot nisht vemen tsu fregn?

2) Ir vilt kenen farbreytern ayer Yidish-vokabular durkh blitspost?

3) S'iz itst do aza ort vu ir kent fregn ayere Yidish-frages un farbreytern
ayer yidish-vokabular!  Se heyst VZMAY:  Vi Zogt Men Af Yidish?

Der seykhl fun VZMAY iz, az se zenen do a sakh mentshn vos hobn nisht ba der
hant ken yidish-meyvn af tsu fregn vi me zogt gevise yidish verter oder
frazes vos me vil nitsn un vos me ken nisht gefinen ba Uriel Weinreichn in
verterbukh.  Ikh shrayb zikh bazunder adurkh mit a por yidish-mevinim vegn
di meglekhe entfers tsu di kashes fun di bateylikte, un dernokh tseshikt men
di tshuves tsu der gantser reshime.  Dervayle zenen do a 350 bateylikte fun
arum der velt.

Oyb ir vilt zikh bateylikn, git a kvetsh af <VZMAY@nyc.rr.com>.
Nor oyb ir entfert vet men aykh shteln af der reshime.

Binyumen Schaechter

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 4, 2004
From:  msweet@wisc.edu
Subject: Niborski-Vaisbrot Dictionary

I've seen various highly complimentary references on the list to Niborski
and Vaisbrot's Yiddish-French dictionary---have used Niborski's dictionary
of Loshn-koydesh shamike verter with great profit. Unfortunately, the
Yiddish-French dictionary seems to have gone out of print from nearly the
moment of its publication: I've searched all the Yiddish book sites, the
Medem Library, and general book sites to no avail. If anyone has a clue on
how to obtain this valuable resource I'd be most grateful. A sheyem dank in
foroys.

Michael (Meyshe-yankl) Sweet

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 5, 2004
From: eisenbak@stthom.edu
Subject: Re: M. Ben-Zion

In my posting to Mendele last week (Vol. 13.029) about having determined
that the author of the 'M. Ben- Ziona' poems was B. Almuni, I neglected to
acknowledge the extraordinary help I have had from Veronica Belling, the
Jewish Studies Librarian at the University of Cape Town, and I take this
opportunity to do so.

Librarians and archivists are some of my favorite people, and I here
apologize for not having mentioned how helpful Veronica has been; in
addition to going to Johannesburg to verify the date of the first issue of
the Yiddish newspaper there, she may now have located the daughter of the
poet! Stay tuned.

A freylekhn peysekh to all!

Paula Eisenstein Baker

8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 8, 2004
From: nmiller@trincoll.edu
Subject: News from all over

az me lebt derlebt men. In Britain the new Chairman of the BBC is Lew Grade,
who also happens to be Vice-Chairman of the JMI International Forum for
Yiddish Culture.

Noyekh Miller

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End of Mendele Vol. 13.032

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