Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 15.035 November 27 , 2005 1) megayer zayn (Leizer Gillig) 2) Folkstimme (Suzanne Faigan) 3) Zhitlowsky (Kay Schweigmann-Greve) 4) Julian Tuwim (Michael Halber) 5) Shmerl (Lazarre Seymour Simckes) 6) Paul Celan Fellowships (Anna Lipphardt) 7) gehakte bankes (Yankev Berger) 8) Snobbery in Yiddish literature (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 21, 2005 Subject: Re: megayer zayn Further to Amitai Halevi's response to Felicitas Payk's question. the phrases "megayer zayn" and "zikh megayer zayn" are still used by people who speak Yiddish. Amitai Halevi's usage of "zikh megayer zayn" vs. "megayer zayn" is also correct, although I have never heard Yiddish speaking people say "misgayer" when speaking Yiddish. e.g.: Der ger hot zikh megayer geven. (The convert converted (himself).) Der bezdin hot im megayer geven. (The beit din converted him.) a hebrew active voice plus "zayn", but using "hobn" rather than "zayn" as the past tense auxiliary verb is a common expression in colloquial Yiddish. Not being a grammarian, I wouldn't venture a guess as to why this is so. My anecdotal observation has been that religious Jews use this construction more than secular Jews - perhaps because of their greater familiarity with Hebrew. My own secularly oriented Yiddish-speaking relatives would have used other Yiddish expressions in some of the following, whereas my khsidishe friends would express them thus: Zi hot megadel geveyn di shvesters yesoimim. (She raised her sister's orphans.) (zi hot gehudevet...) Er hot in zayn lebn keynmol nisht makhalel shabes geven. (He never profaned the sabbath in his life.) Der rebi vil mekhanekh zayn di kinder al derekh ha-Toyre. (The rabbi wants to educate the children according to the Torah.) (ertsien in'm Toyre-veg) A bokhur iz mekadesh a maydl mit a k'dushin-ringl. (A lad marries a girl with a wedding ring.) Ven a ger iz zikh megayer er zogt tsu az er vet mekayem zayn di toyre. (When a convert converts, he promises that he will fulfill the Torah.) un azoy vayter Leizer Gillig 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 22, 2005 Subject: Folkstimme, E. Falkovich In Naomi Shepherd's _A Price Below Rubies_, there is a reference to an American Yiddish periodical called Folkstimme, which was in circulation in 1965. Could anyone advise where copies of this periodical can be found today? (There were a few periodicals with this or a similar name produced earlier in the century.) Also, the particular articles I am interested in are by the linguist and lexicographer E. Falkovich. Has anyone done any research on him? Many thanks, Suzanne Faigan Sydney 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 22, 2005 Subject: Re: Zhitlowsky I published an essay about "Die Ueberfuehrung der religioesen juedischen Tradition in Poesie und saekulare juedische Nationalkultur bei Chaim Zhitlowsky" (The transition of Jewish religious tradition into poetry in Chaim Zhitlowvsky), that might be helpful for Tao-Yee Lau. It appeared in a book in honour of the 65 birthday of a professor of mine, Felicitas, Randfiguren: Spinoza-Inspirationen; Festgabe fuer Manfred Walther, Hannover-Laatzen: Wehrhahn, 2005). It exhibits Zhitlovskys idea of transition of religion in poetry and his understanding of a secular Jewish nation based on his Yiddish essays about this issue and a long essay "Der Sozialismus und die Nationalitaetenfrage" Zhitlowsky wrote in German in 1899. I was interested in the connection between Zhitlowskys ideas and German philosophy, especially to Johann Gottfried Herder and Karl von Savigny. Zhitlovsky studied with Prof. Ludwig Stein, a well known professor for philosophy at his time and was familiar with these figures. I am interested in him because his idea of defining a nation could be very fruitful for the actual European discussion on European identity and beside that I like him as an independent thinking intellectual. Being a nonmarxist socialist in his times was quite hard! Kay Schweigmann-Greve 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 22, 2005 Subject: Re: Julian Tuwim Julian Tuwim (1894-1953) was born into an assimilated Jewish family, where Polish was a spoken language; ? In Yiddish tongue I cannot write because I do not know it, nor knew it, and had never heard it at home? ? stated the poet. (Mariusz Urbanek. Tuwim. Wydawnictwo Dolnoslaskie. Wroclaw 2004 , p. 6). According to S. L. Shneiderman, who interviewed the poet for Literarishe Bletter in Warsaw, "Tuwim spoke enthusiastically about H. Leivick, whose poems he read in Polish translation, and the Lodz Polish-Yiddish journal, Miesiecznik Literacki (Literary Monthly). He expressed his readiness to cooperate in preparing an anthology of Yiddish poetry in Polish. The project never materialized, however, because of a lack of interest on the part of the Yiddish writers." (S. L. Shneiderman Notes for an Autobiography) I believe _Julian Tuwim far kinder_ /Yidish, Leyb Olitski. Varshe. Yidish-bukh. 1954 /Tsum dikhters ershtn yortsayt/, has a translation of Lokomotywa. The poem was initially translated to Hebrew by Emma Levin-Talmi (1938) and later by Benjamin Tenenbaum-Tene (1944) and Miriam Yelin (1951). Following Tuwim's collections for children may also include Lokomotywa: Shimshon Meltzer Ha-zamir sheyikher lashuv (1959), Arie Khoroshi Adon Tralalon ve-od ve-od or Gadi Levadi he-khakham mi-kulam (1982) and Szoszana Raczynska Le-yeladim be-ahava (1987). This information is based on Ryszard Loew. Hebrajska obecnosc Juliana Tuwima /Julian Tuwims?s Presence in Hebrew/. Hasefer. Tel-Aviv 1993. Michael Halber Vancouver, British Columbia 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 25, 2005 Subject: shmerl What are the meanings of the word "shmerl" and its etymology? Lazarre Seymour Simckes 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Novermber 26 Subject: Paul Celan Fellowships CALL FOR APPLICATIONS Paul Celan Fellowships for Translators 2006 1. Objective The Institute for Human Sciences (Institut fuer die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, IWM) invites academics to translate important works in the humanities or social sciences from an Eastern to a Western European language, or vice versa, or from one Eastern European language to another. The division of Europe deeply impaired the East-West reception of literature and debates in the humanities and social sciences for decades. The effects are still felt today. The IWM translation program was established in 1987 to help fill the resulting gaps in the relevant literature on both sides and thus improve access to and exchange between formerly isolated cultures. To date, more than 60 translators from 14 countries have been invited to work at the Institute. An overview of translations published under the auspices of the Paul Celan Program is available at www.iwm.at/translations.htm. The program bears the name of the poet and translator Paul Celan, whose work - perhaps more than any other's in the 20th century - thrives on the diverstiy of European cultures and also mediates between them. 2. Conditions Paul Celan Visiting Fellows will be invited to spend three to six months at the IWM in 2006 to pursue their translation project while working in residence at the Institute. The fellows will receive a stipend to cover living expenses, travel, health insurance and incidentals. The IWM will provide Paul Celan Visiting Fellows with a guest apartment, an office, a personal computer and access to e-mail and Internet, in-house research facilities and other relevant sources in Vienna. The fellows will participate in the scholarly community and activities of the IWM. Deadline for Application is 22 December 2005 (date of receipt). Institut fuer die Wissenschaften vom Menschen Fellowship Coordinator Spittelauer Laende 3 1090 Wien AUSTRIA Read more at: http://www.iwm.at/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=60&Itemid=25%208 Advance copies by e-mail are accepted: fellowships@iwm.at Anna Lipphardt 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 27, 2005 Subject: Re: gehakte bankes It is a rewarding experience to learn new things, and then to have them reinforced. I had previously indicated that the concept of 'gehakte bankes' was not familiar to me. Indeed, when I read the explanation that was offered, it caused me a raised (i.e. disbelieving) eyebrow. Well, wouldn't you know, but I am translating the Cieszanow Yizkor Book, and I come across the following description, relating to someone laid low with an illness while fleeing 'khappers' from Russian Poland into Austrian Galicia: (Forgive my transcription): Der feldsher hot bafoyln tsu hakn Avrom'n oder hinter zyne oyern tsu shteln blutaygel, bankes in gortshitze un nokh azelkhe refues. The range of 'black magic' practiced those days certainly was extensive................ Regards Yankev Berger 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 27, 2005 Subject: Snobbery in Yiddish literature I'm sure that what I'm about to write has been observed by others, to wit: Yiddish literature seems to be silent in the matter of snobbery. Where Jane Austen and Proust couldn't have put pen to paper if they'd been forbidden to record the angst of upwardly-mobile strivers (among others) our Yiddish writers have completely ignored that aspect of things. We have, to be sure, plenty of talk about yikhes and literary descriptions of how affluent Russian and Polish Jews spent their money on German spas, French tutors (for the daughters mostly) and gold jewelry, but barely a word about how these things were used in the struggle for social status. Does this mean that there were no snobs in Yiddishland? Hard to believe. A more reasonable interpretation would be that the comedy-of-manners genre didn't interest most Yiddish readers, and that might be due to the much larger proportion of poor, rural and working-class people who made up the Yiddish audience and for whom the snobbery of the affluent was more revolting than amusing. It goes without saying that I may be wrong about my "data" (I can think only of Bergelson and even he is no Thackeray), so I would appreciate being corrected. Similarly, if there's a better explanation I'd like to see it. Noyekh Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 15.035 Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead, choose one of these two: Messages for posting on Mendele Personal and other messages to the shamosim