Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 229 April 28, 1992 1) A shayle (Zev Kesselman) 2) A tshuve (Vicki Fromkin) 3) Nokh a shayle (Mikhl Herzog) 4) Matso bray (Ruv-Mendl Turkel) 5) Intoduction (Shloyme Axelrod) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Apr 92 11:04 JST From: Zev Kesselman Subject: another query I know the subject was "yok", but it reminded me... Does anyone *know* how "bok" ("buck"?) got to mean somebody who doesn't know anything? I have a number of guesses, but nothing really firm. At the risk of sounding like a bok, I reserve them in favor of a more expert answer. Zev@Hadassah 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Apr 92 06:31 PDT From: Vicki Fromkin Subject: Re: Mendele Vol 1.228 TO: Mikhl Herzog in answer to your question -- my father was from Vitebsk -- grew up with Chagall. In fact, one of the great stories of my (his) life was that when they were both in the gymnasium they had paintings selected to be sent to Moscow for an exhibit and my father took first place and Chagall second. Vicki Fromkin 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Apr 92 11:40 EDT From: ZOGUR%CUVMB.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.228 Cal Pryluck: Only now BECOMING an Emeritus Professor? A veritible spring chicken. Camp Naivelt? Where? More important: Pryluck. Noyekh Prylucki (Prilucki) is one of the most prominent names in early 20th century Yiddish linguistic/dialectological research. Lawyer, member of the Polish Seym. Any connection? Mikhl Herzog. 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Apr 92 11:21:47 EDT From: rmt51@cas.org (Rick Turkel) Subject: Matza bray and (op)gefrishte matza My grandmother used to make what she referred to as "toasted" matza" as follows: 1) hold an entire "board" under cold water until the surface begins to soften; 2) hold the softened matza over a high gas flame until it dries out and begins to curl, being careful not to burn either the matza or the fingers; 3) spread with butter or cream cheese and salt to taste for the best breakfast this side of gan-eden. She also made matsa bray of the peppered rather than the sweet variety. My improvement is to saute diced onions in the pan before adding the rest of the ingredients. I also add grated onions to the batter for matzo-meal latkes (khremzlakh), being of the mind that anything that can serve as a vehicle for onions can't be all bad (both matza bray and khremzlakh are too bland for my taste without the onions). Rick (Ruvn-Mendl) Turkel 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 27 Apr 1992 13:34 EST From: Seymour Axelrod Subject: Introduction and query Born in 1927 in New York City to immigrant parents (from Smargon, a small city in *Vilne gubernye* in Lithuania). My first language was English, but my parents spoke Yiddish around the house (Russian or Polish when they didn't want the kids to understand) and sent me to a far-left-wing and ferociously irreligious Yiddish school three afternoons a week in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn to learn to read and write Yiddish, and to be indoctrinated into socialist/communist thought. The indoctrination didn't survive my adolescence, but I have remained fond of the language *fun kindvays on*, and about 15 years ago led a group of colleagues at the State University of New York at Buffalo systematically through Uriel Weinreich's *College Yiddish*. I have since worked my way through Mordkhe Schaechter's *Yidish Tsvey*, though *kam mit tsores*. Because of the anti-clericalism and anti-hebraicism of my early Yiddish training, I have a hell of a time with the Hebrew-Aramaic words and expressions in most writing. And now, an inquiry. In those salad days, I learned a Yiddish version of the socialist/communist anthem "Internationale". I can recall only a fragment now (see below), and would be delighted if someone out there can come up with the entire song. The people who taught it to me are now, of course, *af yener velt.* ...Di velt fun gvaldhaytn un laydn Tseshtern veln mir, un dan Fun frayhayt glaykhhayt a gan-eydn Bashafn vet der arbetsman... [At this point, everyone was expected to stand with right clenched fist raised, and sing the chorus.] --Shloyme Axelrod (Seymour Axelrod) ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.229 Submissions: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu Business: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.