Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 201 March 31, 1992 1) Yude-Leyb's queries (Dovid Braun) 2) Wexler (Meylekh Viswanath) 3) Introduction (Henry Mullish) 4) A Jewish Thought list (Moishe-Nussen Eytan) 5) Verter (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Mar 92 11:17:35 EST From: David Braun Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.200 Yude-Leyb Proger's request: >1901, Binem Heler (1908-?), all Yiddish poets and the Y. >actress, Dine Blumenfeld (1903- 19??). I would also like >to know when the Forverts stopped appearing in Yiddish and >what was the last issue of Idisher kemfer? got zol shoymer-umatsl zayn!! der yidisher forverts geyt nokh, danken got, aroys; binem heler lebt, biz hundert un tsvantsik, in yisroel; sholem shtern iz ersht geshtorbn nit lang tsurik in kanade (kh'hob nisht ken date); der yidisher kemfer geyt aroys tsvey mol a khoydesh, unter der redaktsye fun mortkhe shtrigler. shtrigler iz dokh oykh der redaktor fun yidishn forverts. mistame zayt ir geven af a langer vakatsye fun yidish-leyenen. --dovid braun 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1992 15:36 EDT From: VISWANATH@DRACO.BITNET Subject: wexler noyekh, Ikh gedenk nisht, hosti inz gebeten, mir zoln dir shikn inzer materyal? Oder zol ikh es shikn direkt tsu mendele@yalevm? [direkt volt geveyn a bisinkele gringer. shames] I wonder if anybody else on the network knows/has opinions about Wexler's thesis. Also, I have heard that on the basis of syntax, modern Hebrew seems to be turning Indo-european (e.g. the relative lack of usage of smikhut forms, as opposed to 'x shel y', as in the book of the boy, in English). Meylekh 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Mar 1992 16:27 EST From: MULLISH@NYUACF.BITNET Subject: Introduction This is my first contribution to this newly discovered Yiddish list and in response to Noyech's request just received I shall say a brief word about myself. I am a teacher of computer programming and software here at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU where I have worked since leaving my native England in 1956. I was born into a Polish-Russian family where Yiddish was the common tongue although I must say that I have lost most of my fluency, to my regret. However, I speak fairly fluent Hebrew being married to a Yemenite who insists on speaking only Hebrew. By the way, I would like to offer the following anectode which is absolutely true. My mother of blessed memory used to use a particular expression when she became angry with me -- which was quite often. It was: gey kebetten materi. As a child I had no idea what it meant. Since my mother died in 1956 I have not heard the expression at all and in fact it vanished from my consciousness. You can imagine my shock, a few years ago, when I made my wife angry (true to my form) and she came at me with: gey kebetten materi! It transpires that the phrase is so common today in Israel that even the Yemenites use it constantly when the occasion demands. What is my current connection with Yiddish? I am an avid member for the last 4 years of the Workmen's Circle Yiddish Choir under the direction of Zalman Mlotek. I have to rush off now because I have a rehearsal to attend. We are perf orming at the annual Third Seder on April 12 and if you want to "kvell" more than you have ever kvelled before, I would suggest you come to this incredible event. It is the big day of the year for me. Zei gezint, Henry Mullish 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Mar 92 18:12:51 +0100 From: me%SUZUKA.U-STRASBG.FR(Michel@YALEVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Eytan LILoL) Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.200 [Dan Breslauer says:] My field, primarily, is "Jewish Thought." Thus whatever I read--in English, Hebrew, French, primarily--gets filtered into that. Is there somewhere a list about exactly that subject? I like Yiddish, I like Hebrew, but my real interest is 'Jewish Thought' too. Any information wellcome. Zayt mir gezint ==m-n eytan@dpt-info.u-strasbg.fr 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 30 Mar 92 From: nmiller@trincc Subject: Verter Sholem Aleichem was perhaps more sensitive than his fellow Yiddishists to the relations between Yiddish and other languages. One story ("Vos iz Khanuke?") was actually rewritten so that the satiric thrust of the first version, which dealt with Russification, should not be lost on American Jews who were undergoing the same process with English. The last chapters of "Motl Pesi dem Khazen's" are another example. But there were other occasions, when no such satiric intent is evident, yet we find new words where perfectly good old 'Jewish' words exist. Take the story "Fun Pesakh biz Pesakh". At least twice he refers to the protagonist Rubinstein's fear that he's going to be hung. But instead of the time-honored 'tlie' for scaffold, he uses the Franco-Russian 'eshafot'. This strikes me as odd since Rubinstein, a small-town watchmaker, is not exactly eyner fun di veltlikhe. Or, on the other hand, is he? Maybe a chess-playing watchmaker is indeed a maskil or loy aleynu a meshumed? Would anyone care to do a piece on this? Noyekh ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.201 Submissions: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu Business: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.