Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 14.011 October 3 , 2004 1) Karl May in Yiddish (Heike Rudloff) 2) An etymological observation (Jack S.Berger) 3) Yiddish Western/Frontier texts (Warren Hoffman) 4) Songbooks (Lorele Simon) 5) I.B. Singer's "Two" (Cornelia Baulsom-Loewy) 6) Is it a Yiddish idiom? (Todd Hasak-Lowy) 7) "Sunrise, Sunset" in Yiddish (Marisa Romano-Cufaro) Visit Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 23, 2004 From: zimber.schoeffing@breisnet-online.de Subject: Karl May in Yiddish Dear friends of Yiddish! Is there anyone who could help me? I know that stories from the German author Karl May (Carl Friedrich May/ Dr. Karl May ) have been translated to the Yiddish Language. Unfortunately I don't know which story it was and in which year the translation appeared. I am very interested to get more information about that. Is it possible to get a copy of the text somewhere or are there books still on sale ? Mr. Gruschka from phil.fak. University Duesseldorf gave me the information that if there is anybody who could help my research I will find him in "Mendele.net". I would be very glad to hear of you. Thanks for a mail! I am very sorry my English is very bad and I cannot speak Yiddish. Best regards. Heike Rudloff 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 18, 2004 From: jsberger@sigmaxi.org Subject: An etymological observation I present the following snippet from my ongoing translation of The Szczebrzeszyn Yizkor Book. My footnote contains an observation of something that I learned, and was new to me. Accordingly, I thought I might share it. Jack Berger ****** In the morning, and towards evening, it is understood that we studied and prayed. However, during the afternoon, the Radzyner shtibl served clandestine activities of Zionism, because then, during Czarist times, Zionism was illegal. From the outset, the older boys were wary of us. When we drew near to their table, they would hit us mercilessly, but later on, they would gradually draw us into their `work.' We would stand watch, standing up to 20 meters from one another, and when we would espy the police guard or the watchman at a distance, we would begin to pass the signal from one to another, using a code word: `Lekha Dodi' or `Brakh Dodi KaTzvi' and the one standing close to the shtibl was supposed to shout inside: `Fly like a lapwing'....16 16 The Yiddish phrase in question is `Tchivchok geyt...' The lapwing is a bird known for its erratic flight trajectory, making it hard to bring down or capture. Of equal interest, is the fact that this is very likely the source of the Israeli Hebrew slang expression `Tchik-chak' which is used to indicate that you want to get something done quickly and without delay. 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 8, 2004 From: whoffman18@earthlink.net Subject: Yiddish Western/Frontier texts Does anyone know, in addition to the works of I. Raboy and _Kentuki_ by Schwartz, are there any other Yiddish texts out there that deal with Jews in the "Wild West" or on the Frontier? f Thanks, Warren Hoffman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 11, 2004 From: lorelecs@juno.com Subject: Songbooks Firstly, I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to look in your collections to help with my questions in the past. I really appreciate your efforts, which help my research. Secondly, I am writing to ask for your assistance yet again. I'm looking for the cover and first pages up to page 7 (which I am missing) of an old book of Yiddish and Hebrew lyrics, called Unzer gezang (not the one by Leon Wajner). I am also searching for a few old Yiddish songbooks mentioned in the index with the following authors/editors or titles: Gezang un shpil (Maybe from Y. Gladshteyn) Lefkovitsh Bulkin Klingen hemerlakh (R. Boyarske ) Y. P. (Yud Pey) Katz Frayhayt lider Tsen lider (Mikhl Gelbart) Folks lider "lire" (Lamed-yud-resh-alef) If any of you have these in your collection or library, I would appreciate hearing from you. a dank in foroys, Lorele Simon 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 27, 2004 From: codab@t-online.de Subject: I.B. Singer's "Two" I am trying to locate the Yiddish original of a story by I. B. Singer = called "Two" in English. It was translated by Joseph Singer and appeared = in the English version in THE NEW YORKER in 1976. As this story will be part of a Bashevis-Colloquium in Hamburg on Nov. 21st 2004, it is quite urgent to find the source. I'd be very greatful for a hint. A sheynem dank, Cornelia Baulsom-Loewy 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: September 14, 2004 From: thasak@aall.ufl.edu Subject: Is it a Yiddish idiom? I'm writing on the Hebrew version of Benjamin III, and I'm wondering if a phrase that appears in the first paragraph of chapter fourteen--"like a mouse rescued from a pitcher of milk"--is in fact the translation of a Yiddish idiom. In Hillel Halkin's 1996 tranlsation of the Yiddish the same phrase is used. If someone could verify that this is a Yiddish idiom (and tell me what it implies), that would be great. Todd Hasak-Lowy 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: October 1, 2004 From: Nicola.Cufaro@ba.infn.it Subject: "Sunrise, Sunset" in Yiddish This is the yiddish text of "Sunrise, sunset", as translated by Shrage Friedmann in the first yiddish stage performance by Shmuel Rudensky of "Fiddler on the Roof": Tog ayn, tog oys Golde: Iz dos mayn meydele, dos kleyne? Iz es dos yingele ikh zey? Tevye: Git nor a kuk vi shoyn dervaksn zenen zey! Golde: Ven iz zi azoy sheyn gevorn? Ven iz er oysgevaksn hoykh? Tevye: Ersht nekhtn hobn zey geshpilt in hoyf! Bokherim: Tog ayn tog oys, tog ayn tog oys, dos iz undzer loyt! Meydlekh: Tog ayn tog oys, tog ayn tog oys, dos iz dayn basher! Loyfn di yorn nokh anander, trogn zey freydn mit a trer. Golde: Zol ikh mit eytses zey farzorgn? Zol ikh zey helfn efsher, zog? Tevye: Got helft zey yedern frimorgn, tog bay tog. Pertshik: Zey zeyen oys vi naygeboyrn. Hodl: Punkt vi a nay porfolk zet oys. Pertshik un Hodl: Iz nokh a khupe do far undz nor bloyz? Ale: Tog ayn tog oys, tog ayn tog oys, dos iz dayn basher! Loyfn di yorn nokh anander, trogn zey freydn mit a trer. Winter 2002-2003 a big Italian production of "Fiddler on the Roof" has been performed, with dialogues in Italian and songs in a new Yiddish translation, which I have done. An English/Italian stage book to this production collects photos of this performance directed by the Italian Jewish actor Moni Ovadia, texts of all the lyrics in Yiddish (both transliterated and in hebrew letters), English and Italian, and a CD with all the songs in Yiddish. Book references: Moni Ovadia "A Roof suspended between Heaven and Earth" Ricordi-BMG Publications 2003 ISBN 88-7592-726-x (Interested readers can e-mail the publisher: print@ricordi.it - www.ricordi.it) Hereunder my new translation of "Sunrise, sunset": Tog ayn, tog oys Golde: Hob ikh dos meydele getrogn? Iz dos mayn yingele, mayn kind? Tevye: Ven zaynen zey tsu layt gevorn? Ze nor atsind! Tevye: Ersht nekhtn zaynen zey geven kleyn, zis! Bokherim: Tog-ayn tog-oys, tog-ayn tog-oys, teg flien farbay! Meydlekh: Tog-ayn tog-oys, tog-ayn tog-oys, dos redl zikh dreyt! Golde: Ken ikh zey zogn kluge verter? Ken ikh zey makhn gring dem veg? Tevye: Itst muzn zey aleyn zikh lernen, ale teg. Hodl: Punkt vi a nay porfolk darf ton. Pertshik un Hodl: Vet oykh a khupe nokh far undz zayn do? Ale: Tog-ayn tog-oys, tog-ayn tog-oys, dos redl zikh dreyt! Hartsike grusn fun Italie Marisa Romano-Cufaro ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 14.011 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu