Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 7.011 June 3, 1997 1) Serebriani and Menakhem Mendl (Mechl Asheri) 2) Sheremitsi (Andrey Bredstein) 3) Der Bavebter Yid (Sholem Berger) 4) Ha-orets / porets (Shulamith Berger) 5) The _Forward_ corrects itself (Zellig Bach) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 22:11:19 +0300 From: Donn O'Meara Subject: Serebriani and Menakhem Mendl Louis Fridhandler has undoubtedly done Mendele in general a service in quoting and very briefly analyzing Yisroel Serebriani=92s article on Sholom Aleichem, with special reference to Menachem Mendel. And here, it would appear, we must examine the function of Mendele: is it to enlighten people whose only knowledge of Yiddish and consequently Yiddish writers is academic? Or is it to serve as a medium for discussion among Jews whose Yiddish is already there and who have read Sholom Aleichem mit di klayne pintelech? I had hoped it was the latter, but in the year or so that I have been receiving the Mendele bulletins I have come to the reluctant conclusion that for every knowledgeable Yiddish speaker like Louis Fridhandler there must be fifty who can best be classified in the words of a friend of mine as "Yiddish faddists".=20 Look: Serebriani is not necessary to tell us that Sholom Aleichem honed and refined his Menachem Mendel stories. In what is, in my opinion for whatever it=92s worth, the finest of them all, "Es Fidelt Nisht", its title page tells us that it was written between 1900 and 1909. I don=92t imagine anyone thinks it took Sholom Aleichem nine years to write it. He took nine years to produce what he felt was the definitive version of it and the evidence is there before one even starts reading it. And a careful reading of Sholom Aleichem will show that almost never does he use a word or phrase without having a carefully thought-out reason for it. Take, for example, one of the Ayzenban Geshichtes =96 A Mensh fun Buenos Aires. Two translators of this piece into English have treated it somewhat differently in translation but have translated the title the same: "The Man from Buenos Aires". Surely it can be argued that the difference between "A" and "The" is negligible and that many languages have one but not the other or neither, but this is not so. If it were, neither English nor Yiddish would have separate words for the indefinite and the definite article and neither would be what it is.=20 Further, Sholom Aleichem uses a word in the title that can mean either "man" or simply "person" and almost always means the latter. The common word for "man" among Yiddish speakers was and is, "Yid" =96 Jew -- and in the writings of Sholom Aleichem this is almost always the case. The title is thus indefinite in two ways and when the story is read it becomes evident why: the "man" from Buenos Aires never defines himself=20 except to make clear that he does business in "imported" merchandise. "Mayn gesheft iz alayn aygentlich nit in Buenos Aires. Mayn gesheft iz...umetum, oif der gantse velt: in Paris, in London, in Budapest, in Boston, un di hoipt-kantor, does buro, iz in Buenos Aires". And while we spot from the very beginning that he is a procurer, the innocent passenger-narrator is finally forced to ask him, "Vos iz, aygntlich, ayer gesheft? Mit vos handlt ir?" The two translators give two different answers. According to one, the procurer answers, "Not in prayer books, my friend, not in prayer books!" The other translator has it, "Not in Chanuka candles, my friend, not in Chanuka candles!" Sholom Aleichem says neither. He has the procurer answer, "Nisht mit esroigim, mayn fraynt, handel ich, nisht mit esroigim!" The subtlety of Sholom Aleichem=92s answer is lost in both translations. Neither prayer books nor Chanuka candles are imported as esroigim are and indeed must be. Neither are "foreign" and exotic, no matter how well known, as are esroigim. Sholom Aleichem could just as easily have said, "sidurim" or Chanuka licht", but he didn=92t. What he said was esroigim and not by chance. In truth, throughout his works you will find that nothing he says is casual, every single word is the product of hard and exacting labor and it is the totality of these small details that makes him the genius he is. To any reader willing to put in just a fraction of the work Sholom Aleichem put in to what he wrote, all this is obvious from the beginning. Serebriani is right, but who needs him to point out the obvious? Not Louis Fridhandler, I would be willing to bet, and if Mendele is being edited for people who do need him, perhaps I=92m in the wrong place and not without company. Mechl Asheri 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 00:47:12 +0400 From: Andrey Bredstein Subject: Sheremitsi Di kashe, vos Claus Buryn fregt (vegn shemeritsi) in 7.010:4, shlept nokh zikh nokh a tsveyte: vos far a proshek hot Eli gehaltn in a papir? Mir veysn, az er iz "an emeser mentsh. Er hot faynt ligns"; imkeyn, vos zoln mir im nit gleybn ven er zogt aleyn, az shemeritsi heyst terkisher fefer? Un haynt der kolir. Fun eyn zayt, "der proshek iz roytlekh", fun der anderer, hobn mir "...epes a gele zakh! Dos iz take der proshek, vos mayn bruder Eli fartraybt mit im mayz." Dakht zikh, az der proshek iz geven a geveyntlekher fefer, vos iz banutst iber zayn shtarkn reyekh kegn farsheydene miese shrotsim. Azoy tsi andersh, geyt es di rede vegn "sheremitsi". Gants meglekh, az dos iz punkt aza vort vi "stikratn", "kosnetutsiya" un nokh a sakh andere (ba Sholem-Aleykhemen, farshteyt zikh). Es kumt fun di slavishe shprakhn. In rusish, tsum bayshpil, "tshemeritsa" (Veratrum gen.) heyst a min filyorike kraytekhtser mit a groysn dikn vortsl. Dos gantse geviks iz giftik, un derfar nutst men oys dem ekstrakt (tinktur) fun tshemeritse iberhoypt in folksmeditsin als a mitl kegn insektn, oder af prost yidish, vi es shteyt in "Motl dem khazns", "mayz, tarakanes un andere mieskaytn. Shtsheres oykh". Af daytsh ruft men dos geviks "Nieswurz". A svore, dos rusishe vort "tshemeritsa" hot tsu tun mit "tsheremitsa/tsheremsha", vos iz enlekh tsu a knobl. Der indo-eyropeisher shoyresh iz "krem-/krom-": anglosaksonish - hramsan, english - ramson, althoykhdaytsh - ramusia, daytsh - Rams (farglaykht mit P. Ya. Tshernikh, Historish-etimologisher verterbukh fun moderner rusisher shprakh, Moskve, 1994, b. 2, z. 382). Andrey Bredstein 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 17:28:18 +0000 From: bergez01@mchip00.med.nyu.edu Subject: Der Bavebter Yid 1:1 S'iz nor vos aroys der ershter numer fun nayem yidishn vebzhurnal, "Der Bavebter Yid." Der toykhn nemt arayn lider un proze, vi oykh a por verter fun der redaktsye. Kumt undz tsu gast--ir vet zikher hanoe hobn! Der adres iz: http://al.cs.engr.uky.edu/~raphael/bavebter/ (Arayngang iz fray, un kibed vet servirt vern...) Mir zukhn shoyn materialn afn tsveytn numer vos zol aroys bizn sof zumer. Shikt manuskriptn elektronish dem vayterdikn adres: , oder mit der shleppost: Z. Berger 435 East 30th St., #1410 New York, NY 10016-8304 Mir viln ayere eytses, mevinesn, taynes, un stam bamerkungen. Un oyb ir hot aleyn a vebblat--iz farbindt zikh mit undz, ir vet nisht kharote hobn! It's ready--the first issue of the new Yiddish-language Web journal, "Der Bavebter Yid, full of all sorts of good things. Come by and visit! Our URL is http://al.cs.engr.uky.edu/~raphael/bavebter/ We're looking for material for the second issue, which should be out by the end of the summer. Send manuscripts by e- or snailmail to the addresses above. =20 We want your advice, expert criticism, complaints, and general comments. And if you have a Web page--link us in: you won't regret it! Sholem Berger New York 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 14:12:43 -0400 (EDT) From: Shulamith Berger Subject: Ha-orets / porets In my family, the ha-orets / porets rhyme was not attached to the blessing for bread but rather to the recital of SHema before going to sleep. My mother would say the verse (Gen. 48:16) which ends with the words "ve-yitgu la-rov be-kerev ha-orets" and then say "shlof vi a porets."=20 Shulamith Berger 5)---------------------------------------------------- From: Zellig@aol.com Subject: The _Forward_ corrects itself The English _Forward_ was criticized several times in these pages for carrying a designed heading over its personal ads section that read "Me= et a Meydl, Meet a Mensch." It was not merely a question of the German spelling "Mensch" instead of the Yiddish spelling "mentsh," but the very new concept of _mentsh_ as Jewish mothers forged it, in the course of generations, was los= t, imbued as it became with Jewish and social meanings beyond its limited literal sense. A Jewish mother's admonition to her son "zay a mentsh" conveyed t= he message "far got un far laytn" [God-fearing and a respector of societal values], and encapsulated all her hopes and dreams for her son. She felt that such attitudes on his part would ultimately result in people's esteem and respect for him. It was also hoped that this, in turn, would eventually reflect up= on her own character as a Jewish mother. Apparently under the pressure of the criticism in _Mendele_, the _Forward_ has now redesigned that respective heading (May 23, 1997, p. 13) to read "Meet a Meydl, Meet a _Mentsh_." It is hoped that the woman who introduced herself in her ad as an "observant, kind neshome" will find her bashertn, a mentsh mit ale mayles [with all virtues], as her heart desires. It is further hoped that the _Forward_ will now stop "betailing" (coined after beheading) such words as "kinderlekh," leaving out the /kh/, the lange-khof, and we will soon be able to say about its next correction -= - a gezunt in ayere kepelekh...=20 Zellig Bach, Lakehurst, NJ =20 ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 7.011