Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 7.026 June 26, 1997 1) Learning Yiddish alone (Miriam Isaacs) 2) learning (more) yiddish & loving it (Sylvia Schildt) 3) Summer/zumer yiddish seminar in kiev (Leybl Botwinik) 4) Yiddish Conference in Kiev (Leybl Botwinik) 5) Mendele outreach program (Iosif Vaisman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 10:26:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Miriam Isaacs Subject: Learning Yiddish alone To respond to the person studying Yiddish, I would like make a few suggestions and observations. I am impressed with the energy put into the process, working with College and dictionary will get one there eventually, at least as far as reading comprehension is concerned, though never to speaking. Because you will come out sounding like a textbook and will make all kinds of funny mistakes. Yiddish is so similar to German that it is beguiling, because so much of its essence is entirely its own. 1. First, I would say, learning a language from books is a lonely process. So find people, wherever they are, who know Yiddish and listen to them and talk with them eventually. There are courses at universities and community centers that will help you. Languages are meant to be spoken and Yiddish is not a dead language, despite rumours.. 2. Sheva Zucker's Introduction to Yiddish Language and Culture comes with tapes. 3. You can get Yiddish films from a variety of sources. Listen to the intonations, discourse patterns. 4. There is a Yiddish 30? cassette out commercially that is good for learning the days of the week etc. as well as pronunciation. Also get some tapes of Dzigan, the Yiddish comedian. He is funny and speaks with a wonderful regional accent that you need to listen to - balancing out the Standard, which often lacks some of the fun and musicality of Yiddish. 5. To improve reading speed, the best bet is to work with simple, very predictable texts that have lots of repetition in them. That will help you train your eye to scan more rapidly. Good luck Zol dir zayn mit mazl. Miriam Isaacs 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 12:36:19 +0100 From: creativa@charm.net (sylvia schildt) Subject: learning (more) yiddish & loving it Dear Mendelyaner ... I will deviate from my policy of writing in Yiddish for the sake of the lurking Mendelyaners with questions similar to those of Khaver Allen Dronet. And instead of answering him personally, I will speak to the body general of those who admit they need to know more Yiddish, but are going about it the wrong way. We who love and teach Yiddish are painfully aware that the bum rap Yiddish has received for so long permeates even the world of those who purport to love Yiddish - the analogy of being ready to kiss off a beloved moribund grandmother springs to mind. But this bube is alive and jogging and kicking and worthy of respect, even within the meshpokhe. Let Mr. Dronet be aware, living as he does in Los Angeles, that he has many opportunities there to learn the language in a more formal and structured way. Contact UCLA and other universities, write YIVO, check the Workmen's Circle, Yiddish clubs, etc. Many good classes are offered which give an opportunity to interract. If he has no time or opportunity, I'd suggest Sheva Zucker's "Yiddish: An Introduction to the Language, Culture and Literature." which also offers companion tapes he can play in the car and she has prepared answer keys as well. For continuing students, I find the new Yale offering to be excellent -- "Yidish af Yidish" by David Goldberg, founded on solid pedagogic principles by the late, great Yudl Mark. For everyone else, with Yiddish being offered in over 50 universities worldwide, not to mention adult ed classes in many, many more venues ... and a plethora of new materials coming out to meet the demand, there's no excuse not to acquire mame loshn "vi es darf tzu zayn." I don't believe that young Sholem Berger's excoriation of NYBC came from khutzpah, perhaps an excess of love for mame loshn and the wounds we lovers of Yiddish feel about the "About Yiddish" approach as a substitute for "Yidish Af Yidish" -- there is no substitute for the real thing. For us NYBC and Pakntreger can be a mixed blessing. On the negative side (like listening to Klez) it can make some less enlightened friends of Yiddish feel they are doing something Yiddish, without having to pay their dues and actually learn the language. Every fall, as my classes troop in, I encounter shock from some, when they discover that I expect them to learn (gasp!) alef-beyz. If they take Russian, they come in predisposed to tackle Cyrillic. And the issue of grammar is a whole other mayse. The Public Radio readings of Yiddish stories gave lots of folks the impression they were "doing Yiddish" -- which of course they weren't. And these folks haven't a clue from this material, as with any translation from Yiddish, as to what they missed. On the positive side, the center has rescued a wealth of Yiddish material for all of us to enjoy. It is moving into Yidish af Yidish in some areas. Many Yiddish programs and Yiddish readers are enriched by the materials they can make available. More importantly, in its popularity and name recognition, it can provide a beginning for those with Yiddish curiosity, to move in, a toe in the water as it were, and go further. But further they must go. I hope that Pakntreger will soon also run articles in Yiddish along with the English, perhaps some mini lessons with a little alef-beys. Let's look at the Yiddish Renaissance. It's not the product of a committee of scholars that sat down and planned it. It is a historic response within Ashkenazic World Jewry to reconnect with what it almost lost. It is a mosaic, not a monolith. And there is a place for Klezmer music, and NYBC and English Forwards -- just as long as there are Yiddish speakers and students and Yugntrufs and League for Yiddish and Arbeter Ring and Yiddish Clubs and Vinkls. Twenty years ago, I could barely find anyone to speak and sing Yiddish with anymore -- except old folks. Now -- gotenyu, an embarrassment of riches! I could even do Yiddish this summer in Paris. Or a Yugntruf sof-vokh. Ten years ago, the average American Jewish wedding band played a few Freylakhs, a dash of Tumbalalaika. Belz and Yidishe Mame, something from Fiddler -- something Israeli -- and fartik! Now the average klez band -- more of them, and mostly young people - play Saposhkelekh and Shirele Perele and doinas and Lomir Zikh Iberbetn, and ... well you get the idea. So there is a place for you in Yiddishland, Khaver Dronet. And others like you quietly lurking on Mendele. Don't just lurk -- learn. If you really learn Yiddish, you'll know why German and Yiddish are not one and the same, even if they share some common linguistic roots. What they don't share of course is Hebrew and Aramaic and Slavic, simple Jewish linguistic creativity that made whole new words out of disparate elements. Yiddish is a fusion language, a shmeltzshprakh. But nowadays when we speak of fusion, it's in the atomic sense - generating undreamed of new energy from simple elements - not a soup or a stew, but a creativer explosion. You have been making the effort, struggling on your own. But you are, happily, surrounded by sources eager to fill your life with the real Yiddish-keyt. Reach out for it. Let's get away from this polarization - scholars excoriating the uninitiate who are at least making an attempt (let's encourage, not discourage). Those who treat Yiddish with less than the respect it deserves (substitute knowledge for hearsay and half-truths). Those in Yiddish organizations, stop playing games of turf definition (think Klal.) Lernt yidish, leyent yidish, redt yidish, zingt yidish, kholemt yidish, zet un hert di velt mit yidishe oyern un eygn. Sylvia Schildt Baltimore, Maryland 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 19:01:16 +0300 (IDT) From: "Leybl Botwinik (1388)" Subject: Summer/zumer yiddish seminar in kiev [English follows the Yiddish] Dem zumer vet der shmuel-aba klurman seminar far yidish limudim in mizrekh eyrope forkumen in kiev, ukrayne, tsvishn dem 28stn yuli un dem 21stn oygust, 1997. Der seminar, vos iz etablirt gevorn fun zisl klurman, un iz oyfn nomen fun ir farshtorbenem man shmuel-aba (z"l), vet dem yor genisn fun a spetsyeler subvents fun $25,000 fun dem sokhnut, tsu shtitsn dem vikhtikn proyekt. der veltrat far yidisher kultur vos organizirt di yerlekhe seminarn hot bashtimt tsu vidmen der hoypt teme fun der seminar: 100 yor tsiyonizm. vegn nokh informatsye, zikh vendn tsum byuro funem veltrat. (protim nokh der englisher iberzetsung) This summer, the Shmuel-Aba Klurman Seminar for Yiddish Studies in Eastern Europe will take place in Kiev, Ukraine, between the 28th of July and the 21st of August, 1997. The Seminar which has been established by Zisl Klurman, and is in memory of her deceased husband Shmuel-Aba (z"l), will benifit this year from a special subsidy of $25,000 from the Jewish Agency, in support of this important project. This year's theme, as decided upon by the organizing World Council for Yiddish Culture, will be: "100 years of Zionism". For more information, please contact the offices of: World Council for Yiddish Culture, Leivik House, 30 Dov Hoz St., POB 11676. Tel Aviv, Israel. FAX: 972-3-523-0520 leybl botvinik, netanya 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 19:03:17 +0300 (IDT) From: "Leybl Botwinik (1388)" Subject: Yiddish Conference in Kiev [English follows the Yiddish] der "2ter yerlekher konferents far yidisher dertsiyung, kultur un komunikatsye in mizrekh eyrope", vet forkumen fun dem 22stn biz dem 25stn oygust, 1997, in Kiev, Ukrayne. es vern dervart arum 100 delegatn, forshteyers fun arum 40 kehiles, vi oykh forshteyers funem sokhnut, un andere yidishe organizatsyes. der veltrat far yidisher kultur vos helft organizirn der konferents hot bashtimt tsu vidmen der hoypt teme fun der konferents: 100 yor tsiyonizm. vegn nokh informatsye, zikh vendn tsum byuro funem veltrat. (protim nokh der englisher iberzetsung) The "2nd conference for Yiddish Creativity, Education and Communication" will take place from the 22nd to the 25th of August, 1997, in Kiev, Ukraine. About 100 delegates, representing about 40 communities, are expected to attend, as well as representatives of the Jewish Agency and other Jewish organizations. This year's theme, as decided upon by the organizing World Council for Yiddish Culture, will be: "100 years of Zionism". World Council for Yiddish Culture, Leivik House, 30 Dov Hoz St., POB 11676. Tel Aviv, Israel. FAX: 972-3-523-0520 Leybl Botvinik, Netanya 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 26 Jun 1997 21:25:37 -0400 From: Iosif Vaisman Subject: Mendele outreach program As everybody knows, today only two relatively large groups of Yiddish-speakers remain in the world: those who have a computer and Internet access and those who don't. The best part of the first category participates in Mendele, the best part of the second category wants to participate, but cannot. Now and then Mendele and Shtetl receive letters from Internet-disadvantaged lovers of Yiddish (or even more often from their children or grandchildren). They would love to listen and contribute to our discussions. I beleive that there should be ways to involve them in our virtual community. May be we can find volunteers to serve as human interfaces between Mendele and those who want to participate. They can print all (or selected) issues and mail them or read some postings on the phone and transmit the feedback to Mendele in the same way. The benefit will be mutual for all the parties involved, including Mendele at large. Two current opportunities: Chaim Kusnetz, Yiddishist and Talmudic scholar. Lives in Brooklyn. Published his first book in Yiddish in 1927. Author of two philosophical books: _A mentsh trakht_ and _Mentsh un mides_. Frequently contributed to several major Yiddish newspapers under the pen name A. Duboyer. Would like to correspond in Yiddish. Lily Dubin, former actress and singer. Lives in Florida. Would like to participate in Mendele. I am sure, many Mendelists know candidates for the continuation of this list. I hope to hear from somebody who wants to talk to Chaim Kusnetz and Lily Dubin. I hope we can come up with the ideas for broader program of involvement for those who can enrich their and our lives, and who should not be prevented from this because they don't have computers. Iosif Vaisman ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 7.026