Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 15.051
March 24, 2006

1) Yiddish Puppet Theatre in Shanghai (Deborah Berman)
2) Heavenly Footstools (Amitai Halevi)
3) Heavenly Footstools (Yankev Berger)
4) Budowitz (Cyril Robinson)
5) kuznye (Lyuba Dukker)
6) kuznye (Mikhl Herzog)
7) Soroka Vorona (Tamar)
8) Soroka Vorona (Yaffa Glass)
9) The Name Fagin (Sol Steinmetz)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 2
Subject: Yiddish Puppet Theatre in Shanghai

In an Ergo Video about Jewish refugees in Shanghai before and after the 
war, one informant mentioned Puppet Theatre. I am interested in 
descriptions of the activities of the theatre, images of the theatre and 
shows and participants. Thanks.

Deborah Berman

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 5
Subject: Heavenly Footstools

Would Yaffa Glass please consult her Rabbi again?
I could find no reference in Shemot 1:21 or Rashi there either to 
footstools or to the world to come.

Shemot 1:21 reads: "And it came to pass, because the midwives [who 
protected the newborn Israelite males instead of casting them into the 
Nile - A.H.] feared God, that He made them houses."  Rashi explains "He 
made them houses" to mean that He made them "houses of the priesthood, the 
Levites and royalty."  According to Midrash, the midwives were Moses' 
mother Yocheved and his sister Miriam.

Amitai Halevi

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 15
Subject:  Heavenly Footstools

I suggest advising the readership that a more defining view of the Hebrew 
word 'hadom,' can be found in Psalms 110:1.

The reference in Psalms clearly demonstrates the pejorative nature of
serving as a footstool.

Regards
Yankev Berger
4)----------------------------------------------------

Date: March 5
Subject: Budowitz

This note is in response to the inquiry of how to obtain the CD
Budovitz. On the back of this disc is Buda Musique, 188, bd Voltaire,
75011, Paris FAX: 01 40 24 04 27 e-mail: buda@ imaginet,fr Internet:
www.budamusique.com. Apart from the extraordinary authentic wedding
music, there are extensive notes.

Cyril Robinson

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  March 8
Subject:  kuznye

Kuznye iz a blacksmith's shop, and shmid is a blacksmith. This and many 
other classic Yiddish songs can be found in, for instance, Mir Trogn a
Gezang, both in a book and CD form.

Regards,

Lyuba Dukker

[Similar responses were received from Martin Jacobs, Dina Levias, Tamar, 
and Lillian Garfinkel, who also pointed to the Slavic origins of the word, 
cf. Russian 'kuznitsa' for 'smithy' and 'kuznyets' for 'blacksmith.']

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  March 8
Subject:  kuznye

The song:

In der kuzhne (= 'smithy's shop')bay dem fayer,
Shteyt a shmider un er shmit;
Er klapt dos ayzn,
Funken fayer fliyen,
Un er zingt derbay a lid.

Fun der frayheyt vos vet kumen,
Zingt er mutik, zingt er heys;
Un er shpirt nit
Vi es gist zikh
fun zayn ponem taykhn shveys.

Mikhl Herzog

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 8
Subject: Soroka Vorona

We play a derivative game in Hebrew - more or less: mom cooked some 
porridge, gave to each child, bending each finger in turn.  There was 
nothing left for the last one, so he ran and ran.  And you tickle the 
child's arm and neck - or invent any other variety of same.

Tamar

8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 8
Subject:  Soroka Vorona

Let me add my penny's worth.  There is a Israeli version to the Russian 
finger playing game 'Soroka Vorona.' It is called 'Savta Bishla Daisa.' It 
seems to be identical in finger movement and talks about a grandmother who 
cooked porridge and offered it 'to this finger' and 'to this finger.' But 
there was nothing left for the little finger, who ran and ran and ran. And 
then comes the tickle under the arm.

I played it with my boys and am playing it now with my grandson.

tradition...

Yaffa Glass

[Moderator's Note:  A similar game is also played in Ladino.  In this 
variant, a hen replaces the crow.  Surely, there must be numerous variants 
of the game, including the English "This Little Piggy."]

9)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 9
Subject:  The Name Fagin

It is widely believed that the name Fagin, in Charles Dickens's The 
Adventures of Oliver Twist (1837-8), is a Jewish name.  Since the novel's 
character is an archvillain and a Jew, this belief has been thought to 
reflect on Dickens as harboring ill will toward Jews. I want to call 
attention to an article about this name by David L. Gold, published in 
Beitrage zur Namenforschung (Heidelberg, Winter 2005), in which Gold shows 
that before May 1837 no such Jewish name existed, and even if it did, 
Dickens, for several reasons specified in the article, was unlikely to 
have known it. I recommend this scholarly article to readers who wish to 
learn the truth about this name.

Sol Steinmetz
______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 15.051


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