Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 16.017
December 31, 2006

1) lamed-vovnik (Sidney D. Markman)
2) "Kotsk" (Jack Berger)
3) "Night" (Larry Rosenwald)
4) "Night" (Troim Katz Handler)
5) "Night" (Jerold Frakes)
6) "Nosn Beker fort aheym" (Harriet Murav)
7) Shlomo Rosenberg (Albert Goldin)
8) Yiddish Journals (Harris Engelmann)
9) dos telerl fun himl (Yaffa Glass)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 13, 2006
Subject: Lamed-vovnik

for Alina Polonskaya

The responsibilty to ensure the continued existence of the world created by
ha-shem falls on the shoulders of 38 righteous men.  the lamed-vovniks
[lamed-vov is the number 38 in Hebrew]...no one knows who they are, even
they are unaware of the burden the bear....

May i suggest the novel written by Andre Schwarz-Bart, "The Last of the
Just," 1977, translated from the French, "Le Denier des Justes," first
published in France in 1959.

Sorry, that i reply in English, not mama loshn. My Yiddish is quite
coloquial, from the heart, not the head!

Sidney D. Markman

[Moderator's Note:  The number 36, not 38, is meant here.  A similar
response was also sent by Yaffa Glass]

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 13, 2006
Subject: "Kotsk"

I remember this song as it was recorded by Moshe Yess, and I confirm the
content as described.

My current translation effort of the Tomaszow-Lubelski Yizkor Book has a
chapter that begins as follows:

A large part of what Tomaszow occupies in many Hasidic writings is thanks
to the Kotsk Rebbe, R' Menachem Mendl Morgenstern, k"z. He is known
throughout the Hasidic world as "R' Mendele Tomashover," who began to
direct his Hasidic way of life in Tomaszow, and afterwards resituated in
Kotsk. He was a son-in-law of R'Isaac Neu, a wealthy and learned man, from
among the best of the balebatim in Tomaszow, who promised him permanent
financial support, so that he could sit and learn without being disturbed.

The writer goes on to describe the Kotsker Rebbe as an analytically gifted
but dispassionate scholar.  Yet, despite this, the sense of the writer's
remarks leads one to believe that this same "analyst" was able to whip up
religious ecstasy among his followers. Consider this excerpt:

The Hasidim pushed themselves to the table where the "Warsaw Genius" sat
and listened to his explanation of the Rebbe's Dvar Torah. Immediately, the
Rebbe called R' Itcheh Meir into his private room, and when he subsequently
emerged, he was totally soaked through with sweat.

When the Hasidim approached him, asking that he tell them what it was that
the Rebbe discussed with him, he did not want to give them any reply.  All
he said was to the elderly Hasid, R' Hirsch Tomashover: It is necessary to
start going to school all over again... Oh, does he cut out the veins....
But it does not matter, now I have found my Rebbe, to whom I can attach
myself, for surely, a fire burns here!....

And full of great joy, R' Itcheh Meir began to dance with the Hasidim, and
once again, they began to sing the words,

"In Tomaszow a fire burns
A new light rises...."

What I think we see here is that it was joyful to his followers, his
disciples, and the select few whom he deemed qualified to constitute his
Court. That this might not have been the perception of others may not be
relevant. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Jack Berger

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 14, 2006
Subject: "Night"

For a very thoughtful account of the relations between Eli Wiesel's two
works "La Nuit" and "Night," see chapter five of Naomi Seidman's "Faithful
Renderings."
best,

Larry Rosenwald

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 14, 2006
Subject: "Night"

I have just ordered and received Eli Wiesel's "Night" in Yiddish from the
National Yiddish Book Center.

Troim Katz Handler

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 15, 2006
Subject:  "Night"

The posts by Dena Mandel and Ronald Florence concerning the original of
Elie Wiesel's "Night" bring up an issue that is quite important in a
literary-historical, as well as cultural sense. It is also a very
interesting story of the process by which the Yiddish original (!) was
transformed into "La Nuit," a story that I have heard from someone who
participated in that process. But it's not my story to tell.

Jerold Frakes

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 15, 2006
Subject:  "Nosn Beker fort aheym"

I am interested in viewing the Yiddish language version of "Nathan Beker
Returns Home" (Nosn Beker fort aheym), a film from the 1930s with Mikhoels
as Nathan's father. The Yiddish film center has a Russian language version,
but not the Yiddish, as far as I can tell.  Any information would be much
appreciated.

Harriet Murav

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 18, 2006
Subject:  Shlomo Rosenberg

I would appreciate any help in locating family or descendants of Shlomo
Rosenberg, who wrote a historical novel about Shabtai Zvi published in
1965. He lived in Riverdale, NY.

Albert Goldin

8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 18, 2006
Subject: Yiddish journals

Dear Mendelyaner,

I am writing because I would like to know about the current state of
journals in Yiddish. For example, how many of them are there currently, how
often are they published, and what is the price of a year's subscription? I
would particularly like to know the state of "Yidishe Kultur" and
"Tsukunft."

A dank foroys,

Harris Engelmann

9)----------------------------------------------------
Date: December 20, 2006
Subject: dos telerl fun himl

My late mother used to use the following sentence if and when implying that
something is of the best quality and difficult to give. She would say "Vos
vil zi, dos telerl fun himl?" Has any one ever heard this expression and,
if so, does any one understand it and its meaning? I know a telerl is a
plate.  This is about all I understand.

Thank you,
Yaffa glass

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End of Mendele Vol. 16.017