Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 22.012
April 25, 2013

1) "Dray tekhterlekh" (Dina Lévias)
2) "Dray tekhterlekh" (Hershl Hartman)
3) "Dray tekhterlekh" (Joel Rubin)
4) "Dray tekhterlekh" (Al Grand)
5) "Dray tekhterlekh" (Saul Drajer)
6) Epes (Shimke Levine)
7) Dr. Barney Zumoff to be Honored (Fishl Kutner)
8) folg mir a derikhgang (Hershl Bershady)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 29
Subject: "Dray tekhterlekh"


In response to Helene B. Katz's posting Vol. 22.011 March 28, 2013:

Dear Helene,
Since you invite corrections, here are my two suggestions:

First of all, a grammatical mistake:
A yoke throwed off - the past participle of TO THROW is thrown, not throwed.

And, second, regarding your query about
"vi halt men shoyn bay zey",

I would say, "how dear they are to us".

Dina Lévias	

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 29 
Subject: "Dray tekhterlekh"

In response to Helene Katz:

Gebirtig's expression "vi halt men shoyn bay zey?" translates (not in rhyme or meter) as 
"when is it their turn?" As for klezmorim cutting, that's a humorous comparison of a  
tailor's work to that of a musician's. In a bygone era, hipsters "cut a rug."

Hershl Hartman

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 30
Subject: "Dray tekhterlekh"

Regarding Helene B. Katz's inquiry about Gebirtig's "Dray tekhterlekh":

This is the version performed by Klara Vaga in the Soviet Union, recorded 1957 and 
reissued in my CD anthology Shalom Comrade: Yiddish Music in the Soviet Union 
1928-1961 (Schott Wergo SM-1627-2):

Klara Vaga, voice, acc. S. Muradov, piano, /Dray tekhter/ (Three Daughters)

music and text: Mordkhe Gebirtig; 28771/3, recorded 19573:33

/Ven mit mazl, gezunt un lebn/

/S'eltste tekhterl veln mir oysgebn,/

/Veln mir tantsn: hop--hop --/

/Arop an ol fun kop./

/Veln mir tantsn, oy, veln mir tantsn --/

/Arop an ol fun kop./

//

/Oy, shpilt, klezmorim! shpilt mit lebn --/

/S'ershte tekhterl haynt oysgegebn!../

/Nokh geblibn undz meydlekh tsvey,/

/Vi halt men shoyn bay zey?../

/Ay, shpilt, klezmorim -- ir darft farshteyen!/

/Zol di gantse velt mit undz zikh freyen!/

/Fun undzer simkhe veyst nor eyn got,/

/Un der vos tekhter hot!../

//

/Ven kh'vel zen shoyn dos tsveyte meydl/

/Ongeton in vaysn khupe-kleydl,/

/Un mir veln zu der khupe geyn --/

/Arop fun harts a shteyn!/

/Oy, vel ikh trinken, oy, vel ikh trinken --/

/Arop fun harts a shteyn!../

//

/Oy, shpilt, klezmorim, me darf zikh sheydn,/

/S'tsveyte meydl gebn mir oys in freydn!/

/Nokh dos mizinkele hobn mir,/

/Vi halt men shoyn bay ir?/

/Oy, shpilt, klezmorim, far mekhutonim --/

/Zoln a leb ton amol kabtsonim!/

/A kind oysgebn, oy, gotenyu, /

/A meydl nokh dertsu!/

//

/Ven bay dos drite kh'vel shpiln hern,/

/Epes troy'rik vel ikh shoyn shteyn un klern:/

/S'letste tekhterl shoyn oykh avek,/

/zol zayn mit glik ir veg!/

/S'letste tekhterl, s'letste tekhterl,/

/zol zayn mit glik ir veg!/

//

/Shpilt, klezmorim, bazetst di kale --/

/Tsugenumen bay undz di kinder ale!../

/Shver geven mit di tekhter dray/

/Shverer nokh on zey.../

/Shpilt, klezmorim, oysgis mit trern,/

/S'letste betl vet haynt leydik vern.../

/Mir tsvey alte, mir aleyn --/

/Ver kon nokh undz farshteyn?../

/When we marry off our eldest daughter we will dance -- a burden will be lifted. 
Klezmorim, play full of life, for our eldest is getting married today. We still have two 
girls left, how do we manage their fate? Play klezmorim, you must understand, the whole 
world should be happy with us. Only God and the man who has daughters can understand 
our joy. When I'll see my second daughter in her wedding dress, and we'll escort her to 
the wedding canopy, a burden will be lifted, and I will drink. Play klezmorim,we have to 
part, we're giving our second daughter away in joy. We still have the youngest one, how 
do we manage her fate? Play klezmorim, for the in-laws,let the poor folks also a have a 
nice time once in a while. To marry off a child, and a daughter to boot! When the music 
plays for the wedding of my youngest daughter, I will sadly think: the last daughter's also 
gone, may her road be paved with happiness. Play klezmorim, seat the bride, they've 
taken away all our daughters. How hard it was with three daughters -- it will be worse 
without them. Play musicians, pour it out with tears, for the last bed will be vacant 
tonight. Just us two old folks, all by ourselves, who can understand us?/(Translation 
based on variant in Mlotek 1977: 210-211.)

Joel Rubin

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 30
Subject: "Dray tekhterlekh"

I am responding to Helen B. Katz's inquiry regarding the lyrics of Gebirtig's song "Dray 
tekhterlekh."  Although I am surely the least qualified Mendele subscriber to offer a gloss 
on Yiddish usage, I am hopeful that my years-long love and devotion to Gebirtig's deeply 
moving songs will transcend any academic shortcomings.  Ms. Katz is puzzled about the 
line: shpilt klezmorim, heybt on shnaydn! and asks "Why would the klezmorim cut 
anything"?  I'm certain that Gebirtig is using the word shnaydn metaphorically and 
poetically to indicate the rhythmic back-and-forth motion of the violinist's bow which 
sort of resembles a carpenter using his handsawsawing through a wood plank.  She also 
wonders what the expression vi halt men shoyn bay zey? means when the lyric refers to 
the unmarried daughters. Here the singer is expressing his impatience about the girls still 
to marry. Vi halt men shoyn bay zey could be loosely translated as "What's holding
them up"?  Gebirtig's songs often bring a lump to my throat and "Dray Tekhterlekh" 
always makes my tears flow.

Al Grand

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 29
Subject: "Dray tekhterlekh"

About the questions posed by Helene B. Katz regarding "Dray tekhterlekh" the meaning 
of "vi halt men shoyn bay zey" is "when will I be able to see them under the khupe."
About "shpilt klezmorim, heybt on shnaydn," it is a reference to the fiddler (maybe the 
most important instrument in a klezmorim kapelye). This image equates the fiddlestick 
motion of a fiddler with that of a butcher cutting meat with his knife. It is a not infrequent 
expression in popular Yiddish.

Best regards,

Saul Drajer

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 29
Subject: "Epes"

To Helene Katz:

"Epes" is not the equivalent, is almost the opposite, of "very."  It serves to soften the 
adjective, whereas "very" strengthens it. Although neither is an elegant translation, "I 
will stand there sort of sad / a bit sad"  would be closer to the sense of the Yiddish. ("vel 
ikh epes troyerik shteyn un klern")

Shimke Levine

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  March 28
Subject: Dr. Barney Zumoff to be Honored

The International Association of Yiddish Clubs, will present the Yiddish Lifetime Service 
Award to Dr. Barney Zumoff at the upcoming 15th IAYC conference in Pittsburgh, PA 
April 26-29, 2013.

Dr. Zumoff is an internationally renowned teacher and researcher in the field of 
Endocrinology and  has had a distinguished career in Yiddish cultural activities. Barney 
has been President of the Forward Association; long-time co-President of the Congress 
for Jewish Culture; V.P. of the Folksbiene; V.P.. of the Atran Foundation, and President 
of the Arbeter Ring. He is a prolific translator of Yiddish literature. Barney is an IAYC
Board member and a popular conference speaker.

Philip "Fishl" Kutner

8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 29
Subject: folg mir a derikhgang

Dear Mendelyaners,

Now that I'm in my dotage, certain expressions my father used come fluttering back to 
me.  One of these, which I translate as best I can phonetically, is: folg mir a derikhgang.  
I mutter this under my breath when my late teenage grandson asks me to do something 
that I consider quite complex, but that he, of course, dashes off without hesitation.  I think 
the expression literally means 'follow me through this passage, and is meant to be ironic.  
Is this a correct interpretation?

Many thanks,
Hershl Bershady

______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 22.012

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