Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 14.024
December 22, 2004

1) Introduction (Sara Pokrassa)
2) Serele un Berele (Nicole Taylor)
3) likhtpakhter (Moyshe-Shaye Steinlauf)
4) On-line Yiddish course (Nancy Dudwick)
5) Fun with Dick and Jane (Rose Jimenez)
6) Etymology of "Berye" (Norman Buder)
7) gender of _yortsayt_ (Dovid Braun)

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1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 21, 2004
From: RITAPOKRASSA@aol.com
Subject: Introduction

mayn nomen is sara. ikh farshtey veynik english un derfar entfer ikh nisht.
oyb ir kent mir shraybn oyf yidish vel ikh aikh danken zeyer.ikh gris aikh
alemen un dank aikh far di nayes vos ir shikt mir fun der yidisher velt un
kultur.

sara pokrassa

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 13, 2004
From: nicoletayloruk@hotmail.com
Subject: Serele un Berele

Does anyone have any information on the Yiddish reading primer featuring this
brother and sister? I believe it was published in Mexico but I'm keen to
know when, and where it was used.

Nicole Taylor
London

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 13, 2004
From: msteinlauf@earthlink.net
Subject: likhtpakhter

Two of the most onerous taxes that afflicted Jews in the 19th century were the
taxes on the two Jewish staples: kosher meat and shabbes candles. These were
taxes levied by the kehilla on its members; obviously they were a
disproportionate burden on the poor. Often the collection of these taxes was
leased; the lessee was known as a pakhter or arendar. So a likhtpakhter was a
candle tax collector.

Moyshe-Shaye Steinlauf

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 13, 2004
From: NancyLD@aol.com
Subject: On-line Yiddish course

I read with interest about the young man who is interested in an on-line
Yiddish course.  I would be interested in the same, except that I do not  have
Yiddish language fonts on my computer and don't know how to install them.

Nancy Dudwick

[Thanks to a number of talented yidishistn, getting Yiddish up and running on
one's computer is simple--especially for those using Windows.  It is also free.
http://www.shoshke.net/uyip/blitspost.htm]

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 14, 2004
From: Rjimi@aol.com
Subject: Re: Fun with Dick and Jane

In reply to Marjorie Hirshan about the attitude of the "Forward" toward
Yiddish:  I have found that, aside from the occasional transliterated poem
found in the column, "The Yiddish Vinkle", The "Forward", as most Yiddish
organizations really care more about Hebrew and the teaching thereof, than
they care about Yiddish,

I think that the translation of the "Fun with Dick and Jane"  is considered
very "cute" as are most of the so-called translations into Yiddish from
English.  Has she had the unfortunate experience of reading "Twas the Night
Before Chanukah"?

Rose Jimenez
Long Island

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 21, 2004
From: Norman.Buder@verizon.net
Subject: Etymology of "Berye"

Does anyone know the etymology of the word "berye," meaning "an efficient,
skillful person"?

I am told that Leo Rosten, in Joys of Yiddish, maintains that "berye" is
derived from the Hebrew  "briyah," meaning "creature" or "creation." But is
this hypothesis plausible, given that Yiddish has the word "briyeh" precisely
in the same sense as the Hebrew?

Is it possible to demonstrate that "berye" is derived from the name of
Bruryah, the wife of Rabbi Me'ir in the Talmud, who is renowned for expertise
in Halakhic issues and wisdom in reacting to tragedy?

Norman Buder

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 21, 2004
From: dovid@MIT.EDU
Subject: gender of _yortsayt_

A student of mine astutely asks why the gender of _yortsayt_ is masculine,
when _yor_ is neuter, _tsayt_ is feminine, and compound nouns in Yiddish take
the gender of the head noun.  Any answers or references out there?

(Yes, this is probably an old word in Yiddish and its importance is culturally
specific to Ashkenazic Jews; Max Weinreich has already written about it being
different from the German _Jahreszeit_ 'season'.  So much we know.  None of
that explains the unpredicted gender, however.)

Dovid Braun
Cambridge, MA

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End of Mendele Vol. 14.024

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