Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 08.034 July 27, 1998 1) yekum-purk(o)n-zup (Rick Turkel) 2) y'kum purkon (Yosef Gilboa) 3) dos hiskhayves fun kneset un der inyen ladino (dovid braun) 4) nyunya (Izaly Zemtsovsky) 5) koshere fodem (Khane-Faygl Turtletaub) 6) a lidele (Miriam Isaacs) 7) zyavet (Lucas Bruyn) 8) a finstern sof (Yankel Kurtzman) 9) a lidl (Clara Rapp) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 11:56:29 -0400 (EDT) From: rturkel@cas.org (Rick Turkel, Ext. 2214, Room 3104A bs"d) Subject: yekum-purk(o)n-zup In Mendele 08.031, Lucas Bruyn wrote about yekum-purk(o)n. The only problems with his interpretation are that (1) the prayer "yekum-purkn" is in Aramaic, not Hebrew, and (2) "yekum" in this context is an imperative singular verb, not a noun. In fact, "yekum-purkn" is "yequm purqan" in Aramaic, and means "Let the redemption/salvation come...." As regards the meaning in Yiddish, I'm not sure, but I suspect that whatever the meaning, it derives from the fact that these paragraphs are an expression of good wishes for a long list of those who labor in all possible ways for the welfare of the community. Perhaps "mishmash" isn't such a bad translation after all. Later in the same issue of Mendele, Lucas Bruyn wrote: "Even if someone knows the answer to a particular question, he might have to check dictionaries or biographies or spent much time finding back a place in literature where he last saw a word or expression." In general I concur, although a dictionary is only as good as the person using it - see above. A large part of finding answers is knowing where to look; in this case, a decent translation in a sidur would have been more reliable. Rick Turkel 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 05:30:21 -0400 (EDT) From: AJ Gilboa Subject: y'kum purkon The two y'kum purkon prayers were composed in the Babylonian exile in the 3rd Century CE and are in the Judaeo-Aramaic language used by our forefathers. Several other important prayers (e.g., kaddish) are also in this language. The word y'kum in Aramaic corresponds to yakum in Hebrew (i.e., third person singular, "future" tense, root qof vav mem). Coincidentally, the Hebrew NOUN "y'kum" (derived from the same root) refers to "all that exists = the universe". The word "purkon" indeed refers to salvation, etc. In the prayers in question, y'kum purkon means literally "may salvation arise" or more freely and correctly "may salvation be granted". The importance of these prayers is attested by the use of Aramaic to assure that all would understand and by their central position in the Shabbat service right after the reading of the Tora and Haftara, while the Tora scroll is out, at a time when even the latest of latecomers would be in attendance. (Note the similarity to the positioning of shofar blowing or recitation of Yizkor in modern times.) Now for the soup. Two speculations by a crass amateur: 1. The strange sound of the words in a strange language brings to mind a mishmash. 2. The text of the prayer is a long list of blessings "hina v'hisda v'rahame v'haye-arikhe umzone-r'vihe v'si'ata-dishmaya uvaryut-gufa unhora-ma'alya zar'a haya v'kayama ...." suggestive of a long list of ingredients. Yosef Gilboa 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 09:45:09 -0400 (EDT) From: David S Braun Subject: dos hiskhayves fun kneset un der inyen ladino ken undz eyne(r) fun di khosheve khaveyrim/khavertes vos hobn di pinktlekhe informatsye ibergebn akurat vos di kneset hot zikh miskhayev geven legabe yidish un ladino? un oykh akurat vi azoy zi iz biz aher nokhgekumen ir hiskhayves legabe ladino? mit dank, dovid braun Cambridge, MA 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 09:44:48 -0400 (EDT) From: zemtsov@socrates.berkeley.edu (Izaly Zemtsovsky) Subject: nyunya Just a word from Russian prospective. In Russian "nyunya" means a person who used to belly-ache. This is a sniveller and sometimes a cry-baby, and nothing else. There is also a verb "nyunit'" (and "nyunit'sia," "raznyunit'sia") -- it's clear that they have nothing in common with "nose" or/and "nyukh" (as 'scent'). Best, Izaly Zemtsovsky 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 09:45:21 -0400 (EDT) From: stanley turtletaub Subject: koshere fodem Tsi veyst eyner fun di mendelistn fun vanen kumt der oysdruk "koshere fodem"? Vos iz koshere fodem? Un vos hot dos tsu ton mit kadokhes, vi inem oysdruk "kadokhes mit koshere fodem"? Kadokhes aleyn iz mistome veynik ober vos git tsi di koshere fodem? A dank in foroys, Khane-Faygl Turtletaub 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1998 14:07:59 -0400 (EDT) From: miriam isaacs Subject: a lidele Please help with this song - sung by my mother, who was from Hungarian borderlands. Shrayb mir on a brivele, Shtel es af der post Ti zhe dikh dermanen vi di host mir gelost Hostu mikh gelost afn yam shvimen Hostu nokh a kler amol tsu mir tsi kimen Ven di zolst visn vizoy es tit mir layt Volsti gekimen fin say vi vayt. This is a fragment of a song that my mother used to sing and I would like to find out more about it, if anyone else knows it, or where it came from, the rest of it. There is a theme of letters in Yiddish culture, apparently because families were torn apart before the days of cell phones. Miriam Isaacs 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1998 12:24:31 -0400 (EDT) From: Marion Troia Subject: zyavet Mendy Fliegler asks for the meaning of 'zyavet' [08.031]. My Polish dictionary gives: 'zjawa' - fantom, apparition and'zjawic sie' (plus some diacritic marks) - appear. So it would appear that his understanding of the word was correct. Again, in general, a Polish-English dictionary is a handy item! Lucas Bruyn. 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 14:24:56 -0400 (EDT) From: "Gilda and Bob Kurtzman" Subject: a finstern sawf Mel Poretz's father was certainly a feisty and fascinating person. In the spirit of"gib ehm a finstern sawf" my contribution is a phrase that has appeared recently in Mendele -- Ehr zoll hoben a missa mshine. He should suffer a strange (or ugly) death. Mel Poretz raises a real question and issue when he asks,"Did he merely want me to tell them off, but good? Where did upbraiding end and violence begin?" Verbal hostility is part of Jewish culture. In too many countries it was the only hostility Jews would allow themselves to express. Among Jews when discussion and differences of opinion verged on violence vox populi would admonish -- nisht mit di hent! -- Hands off! Verbal hostility is a great outlet One of the literary gems of Yiddish are the clever, sharp and often very earthy curses Things have gotten out of hand, not just among Jews but everywhere. Verbal violence has been upstaged by physical violence On the Lower East Side of New York we witnessed what could have become a civil war among Jews.In a free and generally open society Eastern European Jews take their ideologies seriously. The Bund permeated by a secular non, if not anti-religious reading of Jewish literary sources (Bible,Talmud and Midrash) seeks to dissamenate a humanist non-religious view of Judaism.to the unenlightened believing religious Jews Unfortunately for all sides the debate becomes vituperative and never a free exchange of ideas. The secularists which according to the Orthodox include Reform and Conservative religious Jews are both an abomination and a dire threat to Torah true Judaism.. To the secularists the Orthodox are an anacronism and a source for religious coercion.Then there began a relatively brief but unfortunate confrontation.. Mel Poretz describes his father "... riding shotgun over the Yom Kippur outdoor feasts on the Lower East Side, acting as doorman/sergeant-at-arms for the various balls sponsored by the Bund..."(My father told me about Yom Kippur Balls scheduled in dance halls near synagogues about to begin the Kol Nidre service.To many Jews this was an unnecessary and divisive provocation) In the '30s and '40s when I attended cheder, talmud Torah and Hebrew high school Yom Kippur balls were a thing of the past..There was a lively debate among all Jewish groups committed to Jewish survival ( Not like today the issue was What is A Jew?and not Who is A Jew?) And education was the answer and the solution The Arbeiterring, Farband and Sholem Aleichem Shules presented the Jewish public opportunities for an elementary and high school Yiddish and Jewish education The teachers like their counterparts in the Hebrew schools were dedicated educators. And there were Jewish education maximalists who were Orthodox. They believed that ten hours a week of after noon Hebrew schools following five hours of public school education was not enough time to pass on the religious intellectual sources of Judaism and in general like American Roman Catholics were for parochial school education in an Orthodox milieu.Then began a mass movement for yeshivos ketanos (Jewish day schools) to prepare future students for mesivtos (high school level yeshivos) and the classical yeshiva. The late '30s, '40s and '50s was an exciting period in American Jewish life. There was a healthy competition between different approaches to Jewish living. A Jewish elementary education was available for every Jewish child at a nominal cost. (In recent decades the cost of Jewish education in day schools and yeshivot ketanot is forbidding to families with modest incomes) What's in a name? In the '30s and '40s to the average American Jew the Bund was the German American Bund. an American organization openly identified with the Nazis with its main headquarters in the Yorkville section of New York City.In response to the German American Bund activities and anti-Semitic rallies an informal alliance of Jewish War Veterans and stam Jews violated the Bund's democratic right to public assembly and broke up many Bund rallies. I would not be surprized if despite his age Mel Poretz's father broke up a few Bund rallies. and "hat zey gegeben a finstern sawf" For this "kimt ihm a harzigen yasher koach" (He deserves hearty conratulations! More power to him!) Whenever I get the feeling that S'iz shver tzu zein a Yid it is tough to be a Jew with so many definitions and approaches to being Jewish I am reminded of the line from a popular folk song "Vass mir zenen zenen mir, ober Yiden zenen mir" -- What we are ,we are, but, never the less, we are Jews! Yankel Kurtzman 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1998 16:38:42 -0400 (EDT) From: rapplw@juno.com Subject: Tzvey Frages A day without mendele,even here in California, is a day without sunshine. A gezint in alle eyereh beyner, Mendelyaner! Ich zich verter fun a lidl vos ich hob gelernt mit zibitzig yor tzurik in an Ordn shuleh. Dos lidl heybt sich ohn: "Hob ich mir a tatn, hoht er a por ferd Un affileh shabbes, akert er die erd. S'geht arohp a regn, vehren felder grin A vysinkeh shtibelleh hob ich mir in Krim." My second question is re the expression "lachen mit yashtsherkes", "laughing with lizards". I know that it translates as "grin and bear it" ... but where does it come from"? Clara Rapp ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 08.034 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