Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
____________________________________________________

Contents of Vol. 16.012
October 13, 2006

1) Yoysef Vinogradov (Eliezer Niborski)
2) Ben Gurion and Ben Tzvi book in Yiddish (Dave Keusch)
3) Maria Fyodorovna (Hershl Hartman)
4) Przybyszewski (multiple authors)
5) o (Elye Palevsky)
6) o (Arie Kuzmack)
7) Song Sought (Beth Goldstein)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: September 21, 2006
Subject: Yoysef Vinogradov

Paula Eisenstein Baker fregt vu me ken gefinen informatsye vegn der karyere
funem yidishn bariton-zinger Yoysef Vinogradov.

A posheter nokhzukh inem yerusholaimer Indeks tsu der Yidisher Periodik (IYP),

      http://jnul.huji.ac.il/iyp/

brengt aroys di bibliografishe protim fun 12 artiklen vegn Vinogradov in
der varshever yidisher prese, tsvishn di yorn 1919 un 1925: in der
togtsaytung Der Moment, un in di zhurnaln Literarishe Bleter, Ilustrirte
Vokh, Ilustrirte Velt.

10 fun di artiklen zenen opshatsungen vegn dem kinstler un zayne kontsertn,
beshas di iberike 2 zenen a rey kapitlen zikhroynes funem zinger (gedrukt
in hemsheykhim in Moment).

Mit di beste vuntshn ale Mendelyaner oyf a gezunt un sholemdik yor,

Eliezer Niborski

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: September 29, 2006
Subject: Book by Ben Gurion and Ben Tzvi in Yiddish

I have in my possession a book written in Yiddish by David Ben Gurion and
Yitzhak Ben Tzvi.  The title is "The Land of Israel Present and Past."  It
was published by the Poale Zion Palestine Committee in the year 1918 in New
York. Since the authors were leaders in the fight between Yiddish and
Hebrew to determine the national language in the future Israel, I find it
unique that they wrote a book in Yiddish. Does anyone else know of this
book?  What would be a likely organization for this (classic) book?

Sincerely,

Dave Keusch

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: September 29, 2006
Subject: Maria Fyodorovna

Today's news reports of the burial of the remains of the mother (see
Subject) of Imperial Russia's last czar, Nikolai II, alongside him in St.
Petersburg brings to mind the raucous lines in the rousing song (1905?) of
the Bund (General Jewish Workers' Alliance of Lithuania, Russia and
Poland), the revolutionary but anti-Bolshevik major force in Jewish life
and culture:

lomir nikolaykelen bagrobn mit der mamen -- Let's bury Nikolai together
with his mother.

To which I add, despite some concerns about today's Russia's fascination
with its czars, that az men lebt, derlebt men -- If one lives long enough,
one's wishes come true.

Hershl Hartman

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: October 6, 2006
Subject: Przybyszewski

Answering Caraid O'Brien's question in Mendele vol. 16.011:

Stanislaw Przybyszewski (1868-1927) was a Polish writer of the Polish
avant-garde. For more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Przybyszewski

Gilles Rozier

Faith Jones adds the following:

His works were fairly popular among the Yiddish theatres. See for example
this 1916 Folksbine poster:

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?keyword=435127&submit.x=13&submit.y=11

Robert Rothstein comments about Przybyszewski:

His output, some small fraction of which was translated into Yiddish,
included novels, plays, poetry and literary criticism. He was a
controversial figure, whose most famous line was the first sentence of a
prose poem called "Totenmesse": "Am Anfang war das Geschlecht" (In the
beginning was sex). The available sources don't list any play with the
Polish or German equivalent of "Der emes," but I don't have access to his
full bibliography.

Eliezer Niborski adds:

You can read about him, for instance, at
http://www.culture.pl/en/culture/artykuly/os_przybyszewski_stanislaw
[Similar responses were received from Hugh Denman, Moyshe-Shaye Steinlauf,
and Lyuba Dukker.]

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: October 6, 2006
Subject:  o

In my Vilner yidish home, the definite article dos plus "o" was used when
pointing out or focusing on something in particular, e.g. Fun dem o man red
ikh - I'm speaking of this very (pointing/singling out) man.

Ot dos o iz di ekhte skhoyre- Now this (pointing/singling out) is the
genuine article/merchandise.

Elye Palevsky

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: October 9, 2006
Subject:  o

Ellen Cassedy asks about the expression "dos oh" and related ones like "dem
oh."

Using the definite article plus "oh" is a standard way of expressing
emphasis, with the form of the definite article depending, of course, on
the gender, number, and case of the noun that follows.  The "oh" is usually
spelled with just a komets-alef.  Thus, der o man = this particular man, di
o froy = this particular woman, etc.

Weinreich lists this form under der and di, but not dos.  Harkavy and
Niborski do not list it at all.

Arnie Kuzmack

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: October 10, 2006
Subject:  Song sought

A few years ago, at a Yiddish song evening at Beit Shmuel in Jerusalem, I
heard a song that I have been looking for ever since.  It was about a girl
whose parents were trying to marry her off, and every potential groom was
lacking something: a bisl fefer, a bisl zalts....

If anyone has the words and music to this song, I would be most grateful!

Beth Goldstein

______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 16.012