Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 23.005
July 18, 2013

1) Ikh hob zey ale in bod (Arnold Richards)
2) Sholem Aleichem's pogrom letters (Michael Boyden)
3) folg mir a gang (Barnett Zumoff)
4) "Sheyn vi di levone" lyrics sought (Sara Wolch-Zuckerbrot)
5) kiemizm (Dina Levias)
6) kiemizm (Mike Koplow)
7) kiemizm (Martin Horwitz)
8) vi halt men shoyn bay zey/kiemizm (Hershl Hartman)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 17
Subject: Ikh hob zey ale in bod	

What is the derivation of this term?

Arnold Richards

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  July 11
Subject: Sholem Aleichem's pogrom letters

I am trying to locate the text of Sholem Aleichem's pogrom letters which  he dispatched to the Yudishes tageblatt in 1905-6. I would appreciate it if someone could provide me with a reference or even a (digital) copy. 
Many thanks in advance.

Michael Boyden

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 18
Subject: folg mir a gang

I'd like to contribute to the discussion about this famous and difficult idiom. First, regarding the meaning: As Stanley Levine has correctly stated, the expression refers to getting to a place that is far away and difficult to reach, or to something very difficult and complicated to do. A good, short English translation is elusive-let's try "That would be a long, long trip!" (with the exclamation point a required, integral part of the expression) or "That would be some job!" Second, whether it should contain "mir" or "mikh"-the answer emerges from grammatical consideration: the expression should be "folg mir a gang," where the "mir" is what is called in English "the ethical dative," meaning "for me" or "for my sake." A good analogy would be the expression "zayt mir gezunt."

Barnett Zumoff

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 22
Subject:  "Sheyn vi di levone" lyrics sought

Hello,

I'm hoping that you can please help me.

My mother-in-law is 95 years old.  Recently she recited the opening lines to a Yiddish poem she learned as a young girl in Brooklyn.

Here's all that she remembered (phonetics...sorry!):

Shayn vee de
levana,

lichtig vee de shtern
Fuhn himel
ah matana

Hoping you know the rest of the poem.

Thanks very much,

Sara Wolch-Zuckerbrot

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 19
Subject: kiemizm

Dear Suzanne,
First of all: your "subject" line indicates the word as "kiemizm", while in the text of your
message it is "kiumism" : WHICH IS IT ?
Secondly : It is not just helpful, but absolutely essential to give  
the background/the context in which the word you are questioning appears.
Was your "Yiddish-language feature article" published in the States or  
another English-language country ? Or in a Slavic-language country? Your problem word is not authentic Yiddish. It is a borrowing, and to make an educated guess as to its meaning, it would  be important to know which language it is based on.

Dina Levias

[Moderator's note: the word in question stems from the Yiddish word "kiem" (in Hebrew "kiyyum") meaning "existence, survival"]

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: July 20
Subject: kiemizm

Suzanne Faigan asked what "kiumizm" is in the context of an article that also mentions Yiddishism, Hebraism, and culturism. This reply is a guess that I think may be good.

It sounds to me like the first part is from the Hebrew word "kiyyum," which means survive or sustain or the like. It has the same root as in the song "David melekh yisrael khai **vekayyam**" and in the prayer "shehkheyanu **vekiyyemanu**." So my guess is that "kiumizm" is something along the lines of survivalism or self-sufficiency-ism.

I hope this works in the context of Suzanne's article.

Mike Koplow

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 20
Subject: kiemizm

This would probably refer to a group which put the "future," i.e. kium,
of Yiddish as its chief principle.

Martin Horwitz

8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: June 19
Subject: vi halt men shoyn bay zey/kiemizm

In response to Stanley F Levine, "vi halt men shoyn bay zey"  translates more accurately as "when is it their time?" or "when do I get to do the same for them?"

The suggested "how are things progressing with them?" would have been  
"vos halt zikh shoyn bay zey?"

And, for Suzann Faigan, kiumizm translates as survivalism or preservationism -- the post WW II effort to preserve and project forward the physical and cultural life of the Jewish people. The wonderful new Comprehensive Yiddish-English Dictionary defines kium  
(or kiem, as shown there) as "existence; survival," and hobn a kium as "last, endure."

Hershl Hartman

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End of Mendele Vol. 23.005

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