Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 08.055 September 8, 1998 1) Introduction (David A. Blythe) 2) yidish als fremde shprakh (sylvia schildt) 3) Yiddish as a Foreign Language (Miriam Isaacs) 4) Holoveshke (Itzik Shteyn) 5) lakhn mit yashtsherkes (Rick Turkel) 6) Any standard of spoken Yiddish? (Ilya Vinarsky) 7) story by Sholem Ash (Larry Rosenwald) 8) book by Jake Rosenberg (Norman Simms) 9) Yiddishland (Jeffrey Shandler) [Yiddishland - Moderator's note] 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1998 21:01:51 -0400 (EDT) From: Twowaydave@aol.com Subject: Introduction I grew up a member of the only Gentile family in a Jewish apartment block. When I was ten, I could speak Yiddish as well as any kid in the building. In later years I enjoyed Yiddish theater and continue to enjoy Klezmer music. But I never learned to read Yiddish, my current project. I spent a career as a labor organizer and now in retirement I'm the cook in a Lutheran Benedictine Monastery. David A. Blythe 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 17:00:08 -0400 (EDT) From: Pcreativa@charm.net (Sylvia Schildt) Subject: yidish als fremde shprakh Zayt mir meykhl etlekhe kurtzinke bamerkungen vegn "yidish als fremde shprakh" l'khol hapokhes in der yidisher medine. Miriam Isaacs hot gantz rikhtik opgeshatzt vi gevise mentshn batrakhtn yidish -- vi an alte froy in a tzerisn hoyzkleydl. me hot zi lib, nor me shemt zikh unter a bisl mit ir. in der zelber tzayt, aktuel, iz faran a gantzer netz fun yidish klubn ibern gantzn land yisroyl - afile tzvishn yenige vos hobn friyer gehakt a tchaynik mit "rak ivrit." es zaynen eykh faran heyse yidishistn - yunge - vi leybl botvinik un andere -- vos redn un arbetn far yidish -- vi daniel golay un mendy kahan, u.a.v. tzvishn di naye oylim, rusn, iz yidish zeyer tayer. eynige redn, un di vos kenen nit azey gut redn, zingen yidishe folkslider un kunstlider. Bask un Katalan un Breton zaynen nit on lender, zey hobn etlekhe lender un zaynen shtark farbundn mit zeyere teritoryes. Rom iz an ander mayse, eykh a veltshprakh, nor on di greyse shrayber un kultur oytzres. Un afile eyb es volt yo gehat aza lireratur un kultur vi yidish, iz dos nit undzer eysik. Undzer eysik iz yidish. Yidish mit 215,000 redner in Yisroyl (frum un fray) un bald 3 milyon redner un libhober iber der gorer velt. Me darf visn az yidish iz di mutershprakh fun ashkenazishn yidntum - di lernshprakh fun di yeshives - undzer loshn kedoyshim fun khurbn, fun pogromen un bilbulim - di greyse yidishe shrayber hobn geboyt dem gaystikn yisod fun yishuv - oysgedrikt dem tzionistishn kholem af yidish. es iz a shande ven me bahandlt yidish vi a fremde shprakh - es iz di yerushe shprakh fun doyres, doyres yidish lebn. un af vos far a shprakh meynt ir hot men gezamlt di pushkes gelt, say far di yeshives in yerushalayim, say far di ershte kolonies fun di moderne tzionistn -- af terkish?? un di rusish-yidishe shrayber, hobn biz sakones nefoshes in di shlekhtste yorn, in yidish oysgedrikt zeyer benkshaft nokh eretz yisroyl, nokh an eygn land. undzer forvertz in amerike hot geshtitzt arbeter instantzn in yisroyl af yidish. aklal, yidish hot zikh nit mit vos tzu shemen un me darf zikh nit shemen mit yidish in yisroyl. me darf zi bahandlen mit koved. nit vi tzvishn di betler af der khasene, nor baym ershtn koved tish. derfar iz take a skandal, a hartz-raysndike shande, az yidish vert bahandlt vi a fremde shprakh. un farvos nit - aderabe -- zoln andere yidn (sefardim) eykh nit farzukhn dem tam fun mame loshn? glaykh vi nit-yidn vos zeyer libshaft tzu yidish iz a khidush un a mekhaye. aderabe. ikh bin maskim mitn reb hershkovic az beyde tzdodim, frum un fray, kenen lernen eyner funem andern. mir darfn boyen a gesher tzvishn undz. in yisroyl un khutz l'aretz.l'moshl -- ikh hob nit lang tzurik gehert vi a gor-frumer "rebbe" do in boltimor, vos hot ongefirt a yidish zumer-klas, hot gezungen a lidl vos zayn tate ( a neytzl-geblibener fun letztn khurbn) flegt im zingen - a mir-umbakant, muser lid, fun velkhe er zogt es zaynen do a sakh azelkhe -- vilt zikh zey hern un lernen -- un araynleygn tzvishn andere yidishe lider. un hot nit der tanzer rebbe in zayn tzavoye geheysn me zol lernen a modernem laytishn yidish nit nor di meydlekh, nor di bokherim glaykh? Un tzum sof, vil ikh oysdrukn a dank mirlen in ir farteydikn undzer balibtn shames, Noyekh. Dos vos er hot geshafn, iz a greyse zakh - er hot mamesh geboyt nokh a land af der internetz -- vu me ken redn a yidish vort, redn khokhme un narishkeyt, un tzuzamenbreyngen dem eylem fun ahavey yidish fun ale ekn velt. eykh mir a kleynikeyt! ikh bagris hartzik ale mendelistn tzum nayem yor. sylvia schildt baltimore, maryland 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1998 11:47:06 -0400 (EDT) From: miriam isaacs Subject: Yiddish as a Foreign Language Teaching a language that belongs to one's heritage, that has a background that is tied to the students's own is not the same as teaching a "foreign" tongue under the model of "foreign' language and the reasons one studies a language that has no connection to the student's personal background. For this reason there are now courses like Spanish for Spanish speakers. The reasons for studying a language, how one approaches it or why one doesn't is much more complex than the simple rubric of native and foreign. Enter Yiddish. Anyone who has taught Yiddish in the context of a formal institution, as opposed to a community center for instance, has to address the implications of that. Israeli students of Yiddish have a different attitudinal baggage than their peer in the US. I have taught the latter and not the former, but I have paid close attention to the growth of instruction of Yiddish in both the religious and secular spheres. I can assure Ellen Prince, there is no similarity to the approach to Basque or Bulgarian, if these are taught at all in Israel. So, for the Mendelyaner who wants to engage in formal study of her/his heritage language of Yiddish, there arise a host of questions. What do you do about your "accent" in Yiddish. Was your background Galitsye or Vilna? Do you already speak Yiddish to your satisfaction but never learned to read and write? Are you afraid to converse because you might make mistakes but know too much to sign up for a beginners course. If you are a college student, are you afraid that relatives may make fun of you for studying a passe language? These are all questions that arise that wouldn't arise if you were to study a truly foreign language. One question that definitely comes up in Israel is whether to treat Yiddish as a living language or a classical (read dead) language. Those who want to study Yiddish, and yes, if you don't know a language, it still needs to be studied, grammar and all, one way or another, encourage that it be offered in ways that are meaningful to you so that besides the gender, case, vocabulary and pronunciation that must be learned, the connection to Jewish heritage not be omitted. It rarely is really. Miriam Isaacs 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1998 13:16:08 -0400 (EDT) From: shteyn@juno.com (Isak Shteyn) Subject: Holoveshke Ikh bin legamri nisht maskim mit di fil taytshen fun vort "holoveshke" gebrakht in "Mendele" volume 08.046. S'iz befeyrish a slavish vort un hot dem eygenem taytsh: a brenendik shtik holz, vos tliet noch. Interesant, Harkavi brengt ojf sayt 181 dos vort "holovnye" un fartaytsht es mit "holoveshke", ober holoveshke aleyn hot er fargesn tsu fartaytshn. tlien=brenen on a flam. Zayt gesund un fargest nisht: mit a holoveshke kon men zikh oykh opbrien. Itzik Shteyn 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 4 Aug 1998 19:04:55 EDT From: rturkel@cas.org (Rick Turkel) Subject: lakhn mit yashtsherkes In response to Yankel Kurtzman [08.038]: The Polish word "jaszczurka" means "lizard." Be me well and strong. Rick Turkel 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 20:46:28 -0400 (EDT) From: Ilya Vinarsky Subject: Any standard of spoken Yiddish? A few weeks ago, I started listening to the two tapes with Yiddish in the Language/30 series, looking through Uriel Weinreich's textbook, and of course reading Mendele. However, the tapes and the textbook seem to describe a language with different phonetics than the one I heard spoken by Central and Eastern Ukrainian Jews, and oftentimes they also diverge. This dialect uses 'i' where German has 'u' and English 'oo' - thus 'git' ('a gite nacht'), 'blid' etc. - both the tapes and Weinreich give 'gut'. Also the tapes have 'nisht' instead of 'nit' ('drei mir nit der kop'), while Weinreich gives 'nit'. Is there no standard for this kind of stuff? Ilya Vinarsky 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 12:33:53 -0400 (EDT) From: Larry Rosenwald Subject: Looking for a story by Sholem Ash Hi - does any reader of this list know where I could find a story - a sketch, really - by Sholem Ash called "Der Amerikaner"? I know it only from an audiocassette, where it's performed (wonderfully!) by Chaim Ostrowsky, but I'd like to know the date of its composition, and see it as a text in a book - I'd appreciate any help - thanks so much, Larry Rosenwald p.s. I want to refer to this sketch in a talk on portrayals of language traitors; the talk is scheduled for September 18th, so if there's a way of getting the text before then I'd be most grateful 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 01:08:55 -0400 (EDT) From: Norman Simms Subject: book by Jake Rosenberg Does anyone out there know about a book in Yiddish that mny great uncle, Jake Rosenberg wrote about 1910 on the history of the ILGWU. He was shot by Pinkerton men during the Triangle strike. There was a PT-boat named after him during WWII. His picture was carried in Labour Day Parades. So much for family history. Since I have moved down to the bottom of the world, I have no way of tracking down his book. Norman Simms 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1998 10:52:01 -0400 (EDT) From: JAShandler@aol.com Subject: Yiddishland I am interested in uses of the term "Yiddishland," and I would like to ask subscribers to Mendele for any citations of the term that they can provide -- whether written or oral, in Yiddish or in English, or analogous terms in other languages. I am particularly interested in the earliest examples anyone knows or recalls, but welcome all examples. I would also like to know if any subscribers use the term themselves and, if so, how they would define it. Those who prefer to can contact me directly via email (jashandler@aol.com). Many thanks, Jeffrey Shandler New York [Moderator's note: For a recent discussion on modern use of "Yiddishland" in English, Swedish, and French see Mendele 7.192, 7.194, 8.001, 8.002. As to the history, in 1937 Chaim Zhitlovsky referred to Yiddishland as a commonly used term ("'Yiddish-land' we call it today"): The purpose of the Czernowitz Conference was the creation of an international "spiritual-national home", in which all classes and groups of of the dispersed Jewish people could live; a spiritual-national territory -- "Yiddish-land" we call it today -- whose atmosphere consists of the fresh air of our folk language and where with every breath and every word one helps maintain the national existence of one's people. (Zhitlovsky, Ale verk, bd.4, "Mayne "Ani ma'amins," un andere ophandlungen", Nyu-York: Ikuf, 1953, p.403. Translated by E.Goldsmith in "Architects of Yiddishism at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century", 1977) - Iosif Vaisman] ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 08.055 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