Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 16.005 July 12, 2006 1) gilgul(Sema Chaimovitz Menora) 2) Multiple questions in Yiddish (Dan Goodridge) 3) Query about words (David Goldman) 4) Wikipedia in Yiddish(Yoyne Freer) 5) Judeo-Slavic (Roberta Newman) 6) Chaim Pevner's "Yiddish, a Dying Language"(Francine Perlman) 7) Chaim Pevner's "Yiddish, a Dying Language"(Dan Goodridge) 8) Yinglish and Hebrish (Melinda Mandelbaum Stein) 9) Yiddish Radio(George Katz) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 23, 2006 Subject: gilgul In one of the Yiddish discussion groups I attend in the Chicago/Skokie area, a member mentioned growing up hearing the word "gilgul" which, he said, was used in his Yiddish circles to refer to a person with devil-like attributes. I am unclear as to how gilgul came to mean a devil? If this epithet comes from the kabbalistic concept of gilgul, of Transformation and metamorphosis and entering different life spheres, how did it end up being a pejorative term? Is there not a positive take on gilgul hanefesh(soul transmigration), which refers to the passing of a dead person's soul into another being to atone for sins committed in the soul's previous "gilgul"(life sphere)? Or does the term gilgul, without its kabbalistic inferences, simply refer to a person who has turned and turned like a galgal(wheel, in Hebrew) into some terrible person. A shaynem dank, Sema Chaimovitz Menora 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 24, 2006 Subject: Multiple questions in Yiddish It seems to me that the sentence "Moyshe hot gekoyft fish un Arn hot gekoyft fleysh; itst veystu ver vos hot gekoyft un vos ver hot gekoyft." Should read, "...itst veystu ver hot vos gekoyft un vos hot ver gekoyft." In regard to Chaim Pevner's "Yiddish is a dying language", it seems to me that the views expressed therein are egocentric and exclusivist. I do not believe that "modern" Yiddish, as taught in universities is any less legitimate than that spoken in 19th century Poland, any more than "modern" English is a bastardization of the "King's English" I learnt at school some 70 years ago. I accepted, with great pain, the blurring of the use of cases in sentences containing personal and relative pronouns: the use of "who," "whom," "I," "me," etc., but they are the reality and a signal of the continuing evolution of the language. The "split infinitive," anathema in my day, deserving of a rap on the knuckles, is now completely legitimate. Yasher koyekh, I say to the Universities who are struggling against unspeakable odds to keep Yiddish alive! Dan Goodridge 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 25, 2006 Subject: query about words I came across several words that perhaps you could shed some light on. There is a verb "durkhtn" in "Loz zikh im durkhtn az a porits iz gekumen mit a ekstra papir, volt er gemuzt shpanen, azoy zol er yetst shpanen ferd." There is apparently a rain coat or something called a "svita" which is not merely a "suit." Then there are a couple of Russian words that seem to relate to a person who is a postman (because "post" in Russian is "potchta" and the endings are Russian), and his horses used to deliver mail. He could harness his wagon and transport people. He is called a "Potshtor." And then this sentence: "Es farshteyt zikh az er muz heysn shpanen potsht un opfirn mikh tsu der grenets." The "potshtor" also made use of "3 ferd potshtove." Thanks, David Goldman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 3, 2006 Subject: Wikipedia in Yiddish I just found this--haven't seen it mentioned on the list yet: Yiddish version of Wikipedia http://yi.wikipedia.org/ Yoyne Freer 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: July 9, 2006 Subject: Judeo-Slavic Martin Jacobs may want to have a look at the following artifact, a Torah mantle with Czech rendered in Hebrew letters from Susice, early 20th century, on the web site of the Jewish Museum in Prague http://www.jewishmuseum.cz/en/apredmet_04_11.htm. There is an informative caption that may provide some assistance with further research into the topic. Roberta Newman 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: July 9, 2006 Subject: Chaim Pevner's "Yiddish, a Dying Language" I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and never lived on the Lower East Side. I never heard Yiddish as a child. I am not a Hassidic Jew. And yet, it tugs at me to learn it, so I do. I study in classes with Weinreich's College Yiddish. I am going to Vilna this August for the Vilnius Yiddish Institute of intensive Yiddish studies. I love even the grammar. If we study YIVO grammar and pronunciation with native speakers as teachers, our Yiddish too will soften into that fluidity and be recognizable and welcome to all Yiddish speakers, no matter how they got there. And then we latecomers will also be "native" speakers. I want to be so fluent that Yiddish is what I talk to myself in all day (I already do that but I'm not so fluent). And in a couple of years, I will write stories in Yiddish. I don't really care how many or how few readers there will be. An artist (I am an artist) hopes that at least one other person will kvel about her paintings, so if one person likes my stories I'll be happy. And then I might teach a course in drawing, all in Yiddish. Why? Why not? I love this language. Francine Perlman 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 24, 2006 Subject: Chaim Pevner's "Yiddish, a Dying Language" In regard to Chaim Pevner's "Yiddish is a dying language", it seems to me that the views expressed therein are egocentric and exclusivist. I do not believe that "modern" Yiddish, as taught in universities is any less legitimate than that spoken in 19th century Poland, any more than "modern" English is a bastardization of the "King's English" I learnt at school some 70 years ago. I accepted, with great pain, the blurring of the use of cases in sentences containing personal and relative pronouns: the use of "who," "whom," "I," "me," etc., but they are the reality and a signal of the continuing evolution of the language. The "split infinitive," anathema in my day, deserving of a rap on the knuckles, is now completely legitimate. Yasher koyekh, I say to the Universities who are struggling against unspeakable odds to keep Yiddish alive! Dan Goodridge 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: July 10, 2006 Subject: Yinglish and Hebrish Jack Berger's posting, referencing the incursions of English and Hebrew into Yiddish, reminds me of a family story. While I was spending a year in Israel, my father a"h, came to visit me and also his sister, a"h, who resided in Ramat Gan. The two siblings had grown up together, speaking Yiddish as their first language, in Poland. Post-war, they had found one another in D.P. camps and later separated to live in the U.S. and in Israel. Now it was some twenty-five years later, and as we all sat in my aunt's living room, Dad asked his sister, "efsher hostu a kaltn trink in der 'fridge'?". She responded, "Nu, nem dekh a 'mits' fun der 'mekarer'." Until I pointed out the non-Yiddish in each's speech, neither even realized the corruption of their mame-loshn!! Melinda Mandelbaum Stein 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: June 23, 2006 Subject: Yiddish radio Is there a listing anywhere of Yiddish Radio Broadcasting Programs that can be accessed on the internet? I'd be much obliged for this information. George Katz ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 16.005