Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 07.179 April 5, 1998 1) Hershele Ostropolier (Gilles Rozier) 2) Hershele Ostropolyer (Andrey Bredstein) 3) Hershele Ostropolyer and "katar" (Chana Mlotek) 4) Hershele Ostropoler (Shaya Mitelman) 5) Russian genetive (Henry Zalkin) 6) Alsatian Yiddish redux (Dan Leeson) 7) Mahler, Suhl--a yasher koyekh to Ron Robboy (Hershl Hartman) 8) Hare hunt in hagodes (Hershl Hartman) 9) "Lobzik" the dog -- stories by "Chaver Paver" (Harold L. Orbach) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 15:19:26 +0100 From: Bibliotheque Medem Subject: Hershele Ostropolier Some bibliography in Yiddish in response to David Ebner's request (07.171) about Hershele Ostropolier=A0: 1. hershele Ostropolier, der velt barihmter vitslyung, beshriben zayne anekdoten, stsenes un shtukes in 3 teyl, Hebrew Publishing Company, new York, 1927, 126 pp. 2. Holdes A. (iberdertseyler), Mayses, vitsn un shpitlekh fun Hershl ostropolier, Yidish bukh, warsaw, 1960, 212 pp. Gilles Rozier 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998 13:17:53 +0300 From: "Andrey Bredstein" Subject: Hershele Ostropolyer Khaver Dovid Ebner hot dermont in Mendele 07:171 dem nomen fun Hershele Ostropolyer. Ot iz a kleyne bibliografie tsunoyfgeshtelt loyt di katalogn fun der Ruslendisher melukhisher bibliotek (dem oysleyg hob ikh gebrakht in heskem mit di hayntike klolim - der original iz shtark daytshmerish): 1. Dos freylekhe Hershele Ostropolyer oder der volveler teater shtik, farfast fun hotsoir Ostrovski, M. Sh. - Varsha: B. Shukhman, 1890, 1892, 1893, 1895, 1897, 1899. 2. r. Hershele Ostropoler zeyer sheyne vitsn. - Varsha: Knaster, 1910, 1914. 3. dos zelbe. - Vilna: Knaster, 1895. 4. r. Hershele Ostropoler. Bashribn ale zayne zise khokhmes un ale zayne vertlekh. - Varsha, 1884. 5. dos zelbe. - Vilna, 1897, 1908, 1912, 1913. 6. Gants naye anekdotn, stsenes un shtukes fun dem barimtn vitsling vos me hot gefunen in dem Ostropolyer pinkes. - Vilna: br. Bletnitski, 1895. 7. dos zelbe. - Odes: Bletnitski, 1895. 8. Holdes, A. Der yidisher folks-lets Hershele Ostropolyer / "Shtern", num. 4, 1938. 9. Holdes, A. Mayses, vitsn un shpitslekh funem Hershl Ostropolier. - Kiev, 1895. 10. dos zelbe. - Varsha: Yidish bukh, 1895. Un avade - tsvey sheyne (un troyerike, vi zayn shteyger iz!) eseyen fun Itsik Manger: 1. Hershele Ostropolyer; 2. Der Hershele Ostropolyer anekdot, beyde in eyn bukh: Shriftn in proze. - Tel-Oviv, 1980. Nokh epes: dem forikn zumer bin ikh geven in Mezhbezh (Medzhibozh). Dort, afn altn beysoylem nisht vayt funem Balshemtovs keyver, vayzn di hige yidn nokh adayem dos ort vu me hot Hershele tsu kvure gebrakht. Keyn matseyve iz farshteyt zikh nishto, ober (a modne gefil hot mikh dortn arumgekhapt!) es vilt zikh gloybn az yo. Lomir iberlozn dem vikuekh vegn dem far di gelernte (zey zoln zikh shparn af fremde leshoynes: hershele tsi gershele), far undz ober vet blaybn Hershele mit zayne khokhmes... Andrey Bredstein Moskve 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 17:34:28 EST From: EMlotek Subject: Hershele Ostropolyer and "katar" About a "kalt in der noz" - there is a song "Shuldik in dem iz nor mayn noz" about a "katar" that Molly Picon sang. We have the music at YIVO. The text also appears in the Libreto, Warsaw, l9l9. About Hershele Ostropolyer and his position as the jester of Reb Borekhl, offhand I recall Simon Dubnow writes about it in his History of Hasidism, published by YIVO. Chana Mlotek 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 23:14:14 -0500 From: Serge Mitelman Subject: Hershele Ostropoler. Some other writers have written about the adventures of Hershele from Ostropol (besides those already mentioned elsewhere), among them - I.Trunk, M.Hershenzon, I.Babel, and M.L.Lifshits. Isaak Emmanuilovich Babel (1894, Odessa - January 27, 1940, Lubyanka prison, Moscow): "Shabos-Nakhamu (Iz tsikla _Gershele_)" - subtitle _From the cycle Gershele_, first published in the newspaper "Vechernyaya Zvezda" (evening star), Petrograd, March 16, 1918. Moyshe Lifshits (1894, Belotserkev, Vasilkev uyezd, Kiev er guberniye - 1940, Erets-Isroel): his comedy "Hershele Ostropoler" was staged in Vilna in the early 1930s. Moyshe (Yakovlevich) Gershenzon (1903, Chernigov, Volyner guberniye - 1943, afn front, Mikhaylovskiy, Krasnodar gegnt): his first play "Hershele Ostropoler" was staged at the Moscow GOSET (State Jewish Theater) by Binyomin Zuskin in the 1930s, and then elsewhere around the country, making the author one of the most popular playwrights . The legend has it that Ershele (there is no Hey in the Podoler Yiddish) Ostropoler (2nd half of the 18 century, near Balta, Podoler guberniye, - ?, Medzhibozh (Mezhibezh), Podoler guberniye) was a shoykhet in the Volhynian town of Ostropol , but was force d to leave it because of his causticity. He became a batkhn and travelled throughout Podolia until he was invited to the court of the famous tzaddik - reb Burekh of Medzhibozh. However, he was thrown down the stairs for his stinging tongue, and died soon thereafter. The oral _Ershele_ folklore is still alive in the area ( I've heard several stories, told by folks who could not read Yiddish, and in fact I learnt some as a child from my father in the late 1970s). Shaya Mitelman. 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 17:52:13 +0200 From: Henry Zalkin Subject: Russian genetive According to some theories, it is somehow linked with the fact that there are many pairs of names that may have the suffix -ov just as the suffix -yi. Leo Tolstoy's grandfather used the genetive "Tolstova". Henry Zalkin 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 09:45:35 EST From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@admin.fhda.edu" Subject: Alsatian Yiddish redux Fischl, the editor of "der bay," Northern California's Yiddish bulletin makes reference to a 3-week course in Yiddish to be held in Strassbourg. While most of the material is traditional Eastern Yiddish, there will be a conference led by Astrid Starck on "The links between Eastern and Western Yiddish." Mrs. Starck published a book on Western Yiddish that was the subject of some discussion on this list about a year ago. I was mostly responsible for bringing up the subject because I was attemtping to learn something about Judeo Alsatian and suggested that I was both curious and confused about the subject of Western Yiddish and its character as contrasted with the better known Eastern Yiddish. In addition to the conference, Mrs. Starck will give a workshop on Judeo-Alsatian. The much more comprehensive program is being managed by the Theatre en l'Air, 46, rue Baldner, 67100 Strassbourg. The email is ISADUV@aol.com and the FAX 33-388-623-869. I thank Fischl for having brought this exciting opportunity to my attention. Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 23:21:40 EST From: Hershl Subject: Mahler, Suhl--a yasher koyekh to Ron Robboy Many thanks to Ron Robboy for his recent contributions to Mendele (07.173) regarding Diana Wilner's queries on Raphael Mahler and Yuri (M.A.) Suhl. As a student of the former and a colleague of the latter, I am grateful for his scholarship. Again. Mahler taught in NY at _di kursn far lerer un hekherer yidisher bildung_ ("Courses for Teachers and Higher Jewish Education"), the college-level institution of the shule movement sponsored by the left-wing Jewish Peoples Fraternal Order (JPFO) of the International Workers Order (IWO). While some classes of the kursn were given on Thursday and Friday evenings, Mahler taught on Saturdays, along with such distinguished scholars as Menashe Unger, whose classes on Tan'akh used Yehoyish's 2-volume Yiddish translation (the yellowed pages of my copies still retain pencilled notes from his classes), and Itche Goldberg, whose lectures on Yiddish literature inspired hundreds of students with life-long appreciation of the richness of our culture. At its height, the "kursn" had over 100 students. (Incidentally, Mahler's rich Polish-Yiddish accent took some getting used to among his American-born students who'd been taught the Litvish-influenced "standard" shule Yiddish. He constantly referred to this or that "tkife" in modern Jewish history, with the _tes_ hardly audible: it was only after several weeks that we understood he was referring to a period, or _tkufe_.) Yuri Suhl was a colleague when I joined the staff of the Morgn Frayhayt after graduating from the _kursn_ with a degree in Yiddish journalism (a distinction I shared with my late wife, May Stein). While our (May's and my) mentor was Nathaniel Buchwald (author of the monumental work, _teyater_) who taught on Thursday evenings, Yuri related that his journalistic career developed under the tutelage of Moyshe (Moissaye) Olgin, the legendary first editor of the Frayhayt. Hershl Hartman 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 23:21:35 EST From: Hershl Subject: Hare hunt in hagodes Rick Turkel is right, of course (mendele 07.176) in his correction of my sketchy (and obviously faulty) recollection of the mnemonic yud-kof-nun-hey- zayin. I was sure there was another meaning for the "hey" but couldn't come up with it during my usual (post midnight) perusal of important messages. Still, couldn't I get even a small cigar? Not to smoke, of course: just to admire. Hershl Hartman 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 12:46:23 -0600 (CST) From: Harold L Orbach Subject: "Lobzik" the dog -- stories by "Chaver Paver" A friend sometime ago sent me the following request for help. Can anyone provide any information on Yiddish stories about a dog named "Lobzik" by someone who possibly used the pen-name "Chaver Paver" (both names are transliterated from memory of the sound of the names): When I was a kid, I either read (or was read to) a story in Yiddish about a dog called "Lobzik" who used to be sent by his owners to the candy store to pick up (in his mouth) and bring back home the Daily Freiheit. One day the story owner was busy and "Lobzik" was too impatient to wait, so he picked up a paper and brought it home. It turned out to be the Daily News. Well, did he ever get hell from his owners... and I don't remember any more. I think it may have been written by a writer of stories for childen in Yiddish and who might even have been writing for the Freiheit; his pen name would have been something like "Chaver Paver." Harold L. Orbach Manhattan, Kansas ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 07.179 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu Mendele on the Web: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html