Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 56 Julu 30, 1991 1) Introduction (Bob Goldberg) 2) Gafrur (Mikhl Herzog) 3) Gafrur (Bob Werman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Jul 91 18:13:27 PDT From: xidak!poseidon!bob@uunet.UU.NET Subject: My biography Robert (Bob) Goldberg = nissen refoeyl ben yitskhak leyb. Born in Long Branch, NJ in 1953. Grew up in Silver Spring, MD. Ph.D. from Rutgers, 1982 (Computer Science). Work at XIDAK, Inc. Have lived on the San Franscisco peninsula for the past 9 years. Wife: Char- lotte. 4 month-old son, Max. My parents were born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. My grandparents emigrated from Austria-Hungary and South- ern Russia prior to WW I. I'm self-taught in Yiddish. I sing in a Yiddish chorus at the Albert Schultz JCC in Palo Alto. I enjoy word- origins and meanings. Not very knowledgeable in Yiddish lit., but have an interest in it. ... Bob 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 29 Jul 91 23:50 EDT From: ZOGUR@CUVMB.BITNET Subject: Gafrur To: David Sherman Dave, I think you're quite right about the difference between Crown Heights and Williamsburg. As for "gafrur", it means 'match' (for lighting a fire, that is); "ose gafrurim" is thus 'one who makes matches' i.e., a 'matchmaker'. Someone translating into Hebrew from a Yiddish-English word list in College Yiddish, read Y."shadkhn-E.matchmaker" & rendered it H."ose gafrurim". OK? The same person read Y."der shvitsshap-E.sweatshop" and, believe it or not, H."khanut mamtakim" (= candy-store; i.e., 'sweet- shop'). Add that to your collection. Mikhl. 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 30 Jul 91 11:21 +0300 From: RWERMAN@HUJIVMS.BITNET Subject: RE: Vol 1.55 Jack Goldberg writes: >Jack (Jacob, Yakov, Yankl, etc.) Goldberg : born San >Francisco CA 1926. ************* I would have thought that birth records in geborne San Fransisco would have been better than that, especially after the earthquake and fire. There should no longer be any necessity to give approximate [ca.] birth dates. From: David Sherman asks: >> 3. There is no other word for "shadkhn" in Yiddish >> but, I swear that I've seen, with my own eyes, a >> native Hebrew speaker's translation of Yiddish >> "shadkn" into Ivrit as "ose gafrurim". How's your >> Hebrew? Do you follow the route the translator took? >Sorry, Mikhl, you've lost me on this one. Can you >clarify? What's a gafrur? ************* A gafrur is a match [the kind you light a fire with] as in the Hanna Senesch poem, "Ashrai ha-Gafrur." [Happy is the Match] Ose gafrur = match-maker. __Bob Werman rwerman@hujivms Jerusalem ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.56