Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 7.063 September 21, 1997 1) Poem for a Gravestone (Marjorie (Mirl) Schonhaut Hirshan) 2) strong language (Marion Herbst) 3) About the International (Marjorie (Mirl) Schonhaut Hirshan) 4) De Internatsional (Maynard Wishner) 5) Yiddish epitaph for a gravestone (Leonard Prager) 6) Future of Yiddish (Stanley Matoren) 7) L'Internationale (Itsik Goldenberg) 8) International (Wolf Krakowski, Paula Parsky) 9) Robert and Molly Freedman Archive (Chana and Yosl Mlotek) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 20:41:49 -0400 (EDT) From: SHirshan@aol.com Subject: Poem for a Gravestone I was moved by Barry Megdal's sensitive request for a poem for his mother's stone. The first thing that came to mind was Byalek's "Nokh Mayn Toyt" (the gender might be changed); the final stanza reads: "Iz der veytik groys, oy, zeyer groys! S'iz geven a mentsh - un nito im mer, Un zayn lebenslid iz opgehakt in mitn. In vey, er hot dokh nokh eyn lid gehat - Un farloyrn iz dos lid oyf eybik Farloyrn oyf eybik." A poem more powerful comes to mind, an elegy written by Sutzkever on the death of his mother in the Vilna Ghetto in 1942 . The book, a very slim volume, is_Burnt Pearls:Ghetto Poems._ translated by Seymour Mayne, Mosaic Press, Valley Editions, 1981, P.O. Box 1032, Oakville Ontario L6J 5E9 Who can help and present the Yiddish version of the following lines of the last stanza? "If you remain I will still be alive as the pit of the plum contains in itself the tree, the nest and the bird and all else besides." Marjorie (Mirl) Schonhaut Hirshan 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 20:50:23 -0400 (EDT) From: Miriamke@aol.com Subject: strong language For strong language, see Blessings, Curses, Hopes, and Fears (Psycho-Ostentive Expressions in Yiddish) by James A. Matisoff published by the Institute of the Study of Human Issues, 3401 Science Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104. Marion Herbst Los Angeles 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 20:53:01 -0400 (EDT) From: SHirshan@aol.com Subject: About the International Far di yunge Mendelistn, a point of information. All secularists of that day, both the Socialists and the Communists, sang the same words to "The International." But - you could always tell the linke (IWOniks) from the rekhte (Arbeter Ringniks). When reaching the last stanza, "Dos vet zayn shoyn der letster..." the Socialists raised their right arm straight up into the air while making a fist; the Communists held their arm out and up only from the elbow, also making a fist.. I could add my voice to Mikhl's, but we won't quit our day jobs. Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 19 Sep 1997 22:02:14 -0500 From: active@jon.cjfny.org Subject: De Internatsional I am chagrined at myself for allowing an intervening phone call to cause me to omit the second verse to the Kinder Internatsional/ (Don't tell anyone.) The children's version goes like this in its entirety: Mir zainen kinder aleh glaiche. Mir zainen aleh ains far ains. Nittoh kein oremeh kein reiche. Mir boyen unzer velt alein. Mir veln yedes kind derkonen Vos gait mit unz un arbet gut. Mit zainen gantze millionen. Mit shtarkeh hent un haiseh blut. Zolen leben di kinder Zolen vaksen biz grois. Tzum shafen. Tzum boyen. Mit lieder gait farois. ( Repeat) We sure made a shenereh un besereh velt...didn't we. Maynard Wishner 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 10:49:37 +0200 From: Leonard Prager Subject: Yiddish epitaph for a gravestone Some comments on _Mendele_ vol 7.061, items 3 and 4: The request [_Mendele_ vol. 7.060, item 10] was for a Yiddish poetic epitaph for a woman; the Yehoyesh selection relates to a male. The quoted lines are sentimental and bathetic. Yehoyesh wrote at a time when daytshmerisms and "ornamental" diction were more acceptable than they later became. Yehoyesh's greatest achievment was his translation of the bible. Not all of his lyrics are memorable. It is fairly lame to plaint that one wept at the loss of a loved one and ghoulish to add that one's eyes turned bloodshot. A burial epitaph presumably memorializes and is centered on the deceased. Our four lines concentrate on the physiological discomfiture of the narcissistic mourner and mention nothing but the body odor of the dead -- was Yehoyesh a smell fetishist? It is inelegant to move from the plural 'tears' in line 3 to grammatically singular (though perhaps semantically collective) 'tear' in line 4. If one wants a Yiddish epitaph, it should surely be good Yiddish in correct orthography (unless one has a special reason for a "diplomatic" orthography). The romanization of the recommended verse is correctible: 1. not _tsusheydn_ but _tsesheydn_ 2. _duft_ and _geduft_ are pure daytshmerizms; not _hut_ but _hot_ 3. and 4. not _farlufn_ but _farlofn_ It is surely no easy task to select a tombstone inscription for a total stranger. Wouldn't one need to know a good deal about the deceased? Or at the very least be counseled as to the emotional tenor of the desired selection? There is no language in the world richer than Yiddish in the poetry of filial loss and longing -- Khayim Grade and Avrom-Nokhen Shtentsl are two masters of this genre. Selections that are moving and right are possible, but call for great care, much sensitivity. How meaningful can a specifically Yiddish inscription be if the primary force of its use is not total form and content, but its linguistic envelope alone? We must either not choose or do so responsibly. The Perets suggestion is, of course, better, but how apposite is it? Would one really want to write on one's mother's grave: "Makh [not mach] tsu, mayn kind, di eygelekh [not eygelech]/ A brokhe af dayn kepele"? Parents in Yiddish call their children _tatele_ and _mamele_ but children do not -- normally -- reverse this practice. Leonard Prager Haifa 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 17:42:52 +0000 From: Stanley Matoren Subject: Future of Yiddish Abraham Brumberg's letter brings back memories of City College circa 1947-49 when I was a freshmen. I hope he doesn't mind my adding a few details to his modest description of his activities. It was obvious that he loved what he was doing. I remember his puppet shows and as chairman of the Yiddish Club at the Hillel Foundation he brought an array of writers and artists, the like of which I was never to see again. (Leyvik, Glants-Leyeles, Sh. Niger, Maurice Schwartz, Ruth Rubin, among others!). Brumberg WAS the Yiddish Club at that time. As far as I know, no other New York college, public or private, had such an organization at that time. Stanley Matoren 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 12:18:25 -0400 From: "Robert Goldenberg" Subject: L'Internationale Mint copies of the original sheet music for L'Internationale, in Yiddish, are available at nominal cost from the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. They have 2 versions, one published in 1927 by Metro Music, with Yiddish lyrics by Eugene Pottier, arranged for voice and piano (Cat. No. M0405), the other published in 1917 by Jos. P. Katz, arranged for chorus & piano by Henry Lefkowitch (Cat. No. M0249). Itsik Goldenberg 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 14:06:31 -0500 From: "Wolf Krakowski, Paula Parsky" Subject: International Sheet music of The International for mixed voices, published in 1917 by Joseph Katz, arranged by Henry Lefkowitch reads as follows: [antshukdikt dem daytshmerishn oysleg!] Shteht oif ir ale, ale shklafen Fun hunger umetum tzushpreit Der kampf, er ruft uns tzu di vafen In shlacht uns fihren is er greit Di welt fun gvald thaten un leiden Tzushteren velen mir un dan Fun freiheit a gan eiden beshafen Vet der arbeits man Dos vet zain shoin der letzter Un entshiedener shtrait Mit dem Internazional Shteht oif ihr arbeits leit Wolf Krakowski, Paula Parsky 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 12:36:30 -0400 (EDT) From: EMlotek@aol.com Subject: Robert and Molly Freedman Archive We want to congratulate our dear friends Robert and Molly Freedman upon today's celebration of transferring their monumental sound archive to the University of Pennsylvania. We are proud that we were among the first to acknowledge their unique contribution to the collection of Yiddish recordings, which by now includes over 25,000 song items. They collected the records throughout the world, devised their own computer program, and data base, making the materials instantly accessible. It is a tremendous achievement and all scholars and students are forever in their debt. They have always given information unstintingly and every honor accorded to them is well deserved.. May they continue to inspire all of us involved in the preservation and popularization of the Yiddish and Jewish song repertory. Kol hakovod ! - Molly and Bob! With love Chana and Yosl Mlotek ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 7.063