Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 08.145
April 28, 1999
1) 'Hassidic' books (Perets Mett)
2) A very good Hasidic Yiddish book (Hershl Goodman)
3) Kotik's memoirs (David Assaf)
4) lezn oder leyenen (Gershon Winer)
5) leyenen (pe'rets mett)
6) Zikh vs. Zakh (Al Grand)
7) kalte shuls (Harold Black)
8) Der Shtumer Bettler (Ruth Rischall)
9) Beyglekh (Hershl Hartman)
1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 05:59:03 -0400 (EDT)
From: Percy Mett
Subject: 'Hassidic' books
I was interested to see Steven Jacobson's posting about Yisroel
Medelovitsh's "aleyn in vald" and will see if I can get it from Eichler's in
Brooklyn (I'm sure it won't be available where I live in Golders Green,
London, although a shop in Stamford Hill might stock it).
Since Steven mentioned the difficulty of obtaining books in Yiddish from the
Hassidic (sic) community I should mention that Eichler's has a good
selection (especially their Boro Park store) and they are equally available
in several bookstores in the Geula - Meyo Sh'orim area of Jerusalem. There
is a whole series of books of short stories by 'menakhem mendl' and I
remember being amused to see that 'Ninety Nine' which is currently being
serialized in the English-language edition of Hamodia was on the shelves in
Yiddish. I don't which is the original and which the translation, though.
a gutn shabes
Perets Mett
London, England
2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 12:52:52 -0400 (EDT)
From: harold goodman
Subject: A very good Hasidic Yiddish book
For those Mendelyaner interested in ordering the book "Aleyn in vald"
mentioned in Steve Jacobson's recent (vol.8.143 Mendele) there is an address
correction. The correct address is: Or Yisroel Publishing, c/o Alter
Wagschal, 8 Siget Court, Unit 102, Monroe, N.Y. 10950. As mentioned, it is
an 850 page novel about the life of Shlome Maimon.
The publisher also offers other contemporary novels and books from Haredi
and Hasidic authors. These books are not written for or by Yidishisten
but, rather, for and by those people who actually use Idish as a daily
language and, G-d willing, will be the ones who actively develop it into the
coming centuries.
Idish lebt nokh!
Hershl Goodman
3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 03:34:02 -0400 (EDT)
From: David Assaf
Subject: Kotik's memoirs
I was surprised to read Seth Wolitz's complaint regarding the forthcoming
English edition of the first volume of "Mayne Zichroynes", Yechezkel
Kotik's memoirs (Mendele, vol. 08.143). His complaint about the poor state
of Yiddish studies in the United States may be true, but don't blame it on
me if you are unfamiliar with the facts.
The facts are that the English edition is a direct translation from the
original Yiddish, made by Ms. Margaret Bierstein, a professional translator
of Yiddish into English. She translates her husband's (Yosl Bierstein)
stories into English and is presently working on an English translation of
Yehoshuah Perle's "Yiddn fun a Gantz Yor". The only translations from Hebrew
are my scholarly introduction and my annotated footnotes. I hope Prof.
Wolitz does not consider Hebrew to be such a language that it would be an
embarrasment to translate from it into English as well.
It is indeed a mark of scholarly poverty that more than eighty-eight years
after Kotik published his memoirs (1913) the English reader is still
deprived of this most interesting primary source. I think Professor Wolitz
should appreciate that Wayne State University Press took upon themselves
this project and seek to improve the state of research on their home turf
even if they must turn to Israeli scholarship...
David Assaf
Tel-Aviv
4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 26 Apr 1999 13:20:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: Nechama & Gershon Winer
Subject: lezn oder leyenen
Mordkhe Schaechter is to be complimented for his zeal but not for his
veracity in promoting his brand of Yiddish. His assertion ( Mendele, volume
08.143, April 22,) that "none of the pioneers of modern Yiddish used LEZN",
and that the same applies to "all Baley Loshn", is not supported by the
facts. A random check of texts revealed that there is no basis for his
claim. To list two examples: Sholem Aleichem, whom Schaechter mentions
among
his sources, does use "lezn" (See volume FOON KASRILEVKE, Forverts edition,
page 15). Also SH. Niger, a leading authority in Yidish letters and among
the foremost figures at Yivo-- has a historical study entitled " Dee Yidishe
literatur oon dee lezerin", and repeats the term in its various forms
throughout his writings.
Dee untershte shoore: both "leyenen" and "lezn" are strictly kosher
lam'hadrin min ham'hadrin.
Gershon Winer
5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 1999 05:59:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: Percy Mett
Subject: leyenen
shakhris davent men. chimesh lernt men. ikh leyn take di toyre (vayl ikh bin
a bal koyre) ober lehavdel leyn ikh oukh a tsytung oder a bukh.
dakht se mir az dos iz a 'moderne' ousnitsung in england un amerike vu men
shtekt arayn yidishe verter in der algemyner shprakh davke mit a badaytung
fun religyon. dehayne 'read a book' ober 'will you leyn this week?' un ikh
darf farshteyn az der vos fregt hot in zin davke leynen di sedre.
pe'rets mett
6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 08:03:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Savoyid@aol.com
Subject: Zikh vs. Zakh
I believe I may have once asked a question about the usage problem I have
with the Yiddish reflexive _zikh_ but I don't quite remember how it was
resolved and I beg the readers of this newsgroup to indulge me once again.
I grew up hearing the word used as _zakh_ and feel most comfortable with
that sound. But since I feel that _zikh_ is the more correct usage I
consciously force myself to use it. There are, however, certain expressions
that make me very uncomfortable with _zikh_. For example, when someone
tells me about an accident or about an unfortunate incident that occurred I
may instinctively reply with "_Zol zakh dos azoy nit trefn vi se treft
zakh_." I simply can't get myself to say "_Zol ZIKH nit azoy trefn vi se
treft ZIKH_." My question then, once again, is: Is _zakh_ a barbarism and
never correct?
Al Grand
7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 15:25:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: Harold Black
Subject: kalte shuls
Ida Selavan Schwarcz indicated that there awsa reference in many memorial
books about kalte shuls. She wanted to know whether kalte was a
psychological term or a physical one. I am acquainted with the shul
described in the memorial book of the Village of Goniondz (Goniacz). The
regular shull could not be heated so it was not used for davening during the
cold months. During the winterm the talmid torah which was heated, was used
for davening. Although I can't generalize from one example, I think what
happened was that the talmid torah was used for studying all year long and
so was hetaed. In the winter, rather than heat two buildings, the talmid
torah was used for both studying and praying.
Harold Black
8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 17:38:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rrischall@aol.com
Subject: Der Shtumer Bettler
Tayere Mendelyaner, Ikh hob a frage far aykh. ikh hob gekoift a bukh fun dem
yiddishn bukh tsenter. Es heyst Der Shtumer Bettler, a historisher roman fun
A. Tannenboym. Wenn dos bukh iz ongekumen hob ikh gezen az A. Tannenboym
iz
nit der ferfasser, nor der iberzetzer fun dem bukh. Tsu weys imetser wer hat
geshriben dddas bukh un was iz di origenelle shprakh ?
Dear Mendelyaners, I have a question for you. I recently bought a Yiddish
book from the Yiddish Book Center entitled Der Shtumer Bettler (the Mute
Beggar) by A. Tannenbaum. When the book arrived I saw that A. Tannenbaum
was
the translator and not the author of this novel. Does anybody know who
actually wrote it and what was the original language ?
Ruth Rischall
9)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 14:20:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Hershl@aol.com
Subject: Beyglekh
It may be of interest to Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (Vol. 08.141) that,
when pizza made its post-WWII appearance outside traditional NY Italian
neighborhoods, my teen-age wag buddies "explained" the unfamiliar delicacy
in this indelicate manner:
"There's this baker, see? All day long he makes Bialystoker pletslekh. All
day. s'vert im nimes. s'vert im nisht-gut. s'shlogt im iber di gal. s'vert
im ibldik. Zip! Pizza!!"
Incidentally, it was (in the Bronx, at least) always bialystoker pletslekh,
not beyglekh and certainly never bagels.
Hershl Hartman
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