Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 225 April 24, 1992 1) Gefrishte matse un matse bray (Hershel Bershady) 2) Ex cathedra judgements (Bob Werman) 3) Workmen's Circle (Mark H. David) 4) A tikkun to'es (Meylekh Viswanath) 5) Introduction (Eli Katz) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 23 Apr 92 10:36:10 EST From: "Dr. Harold Bershady" Subject: Matzoh -- gefrishte and brie My family and their friends (all from Sokolifke, a village near Kiev) always referred to Matzah scrambled with eggs, salt and pepper as gefrishte matzoh. They knew nothing about "matzoh brie." When I went off to graduate school and came into contact with Jews whose origins were in other parts of Europe, "matzoh brie" was the word for something similar to gefrishte matzoh. But the differences were interesting. Matzoh brie was often sweet-- made with powdered sugar, sometimes with jelly. It was a slightly more complicated dish than ge- frishte matzoh, actually, a kind of delicacy. Gefrishte matzoh was more prost, certainly filling -- a meal by itself. My mother's recipe was: (for 2) 2 full squares of matzoh, 3 eggs, 1/4 cup milk, salt and pepper. Beat eggs and milk. Hold matzos under hot water until soft, break into smaller pieces, mix into egg batter. Scramble the mixture -- salt and pepper to taste. As a breakfast dish this will hold one for several hours. In any case, I think there may be region al and "class" differences in these variations in cuisine. Doesn't the term matzoh brie suggest something a bit more "elevated" and fancy -- a more urban, refined dish? Hershel Bershady 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 92 12:56 +0300 From: RWERMAN@HUJIVMS.HUJI.AC.IL Subject: Ex cathedra As a physical scientist who has an amateur's interest in the subject of Yiddish, I am sometimes at a loss at what to do with the large number of contradictory ex-cathedra statements that I read. Our tradition is more modest, and even Nobelists will use a question mark occasionally and say "In my opinion ..." or "I think..." [nothing wrong with that, is there?] or "It seems to me..." Perhaps it would help if the writers who are infallible would indicate their infallibility - perhaps with an "INFA" at the top of their postings. This would help outsiders and viewers like myself inordinately. Thanks and mo'adim l'simHa. __Bob Werman rwerman@hujivms.bitnet rwerman@vms.huji.ac.il 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 92 10:11:53 EDT From: gensym!mhd@harvard.harvard.edu Subject: Mendele Vol 1.223 Workmen's Circle 800 Number: 800-922-2558 Mark H. David (mhd@gensym.com) 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1992 16:37 EDT From: VISWANATH%DRACO.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.222 Ikh vil aykh dermonen, der redaktor fun afn shvel iz nisht Mordkhe Spektor, nor Mordkhe Shekhter. Dakht zikh, mir hobn shoyn frier geredt vegn zayn nomen. Nokh a grupe iz Yugntruf, vos hot dem zelbikn adres vi di yidish lige. se kumt aroys oykh a zhurnal, Yugntruf. eyner fun unzere khaverim, Dovid Broyn, iz a redaktor derfun. Meylekh Viswanath 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 23 Apr 92 17:40:38 PDT From: katz@Sonoma.EDU Subject: introductory Mayn vort frier: Heysn heys ikh Elye Kats oder, af goyish, Eli Katz. A hartsikn grus ale af dem Mendele reyster, vos ikh ken zey, un ale di vos ikh ken zey nokh nit, un a bazundern grus Mikhlen. I teach linguistics at Sonoma State University and do Yiddish when I can. If anyone is interested, I recently published a bi-lingual edi- tion of 16 Peretz stories (my own translations together with the originals, in modern orthography, on facing pages). It can be obtained from the Zhitlowsky Foundation for Jewish Culture, 1133 Broadway, Room 1019, New York, NY 10010. Eli Katz ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.225 Submissions: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu Business: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.