Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 11 June 9, 1992 1) The Yiddish-Vokh (Dovid Braun) 2) Shlimmazel (Bob Werman) 3) Shlimmazel (Hersh Volf Basser) 4) Beben (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 08 Jun 92 21:08:02 -0400 From: David Braun Subject: The Yiddish-Vokh Are you young(ish), seek a Yiddish-speaking environment and need a vacation? Or are you priorities in slightly different order: do you need a vacation and want to spend it in a Yiddish-speaking environment? Then the following is for you (copied from a circular of Yugntruf - Youth for Yiddish). Tell family members, friends, and your students (if you aren't one yourself). = = = = = = = = = = The Yiddish-Vokh [annual retreat of Yugntruf] this year will be held from Wednesday, September 2, through Tuesday, September 8. We had a wonderful turn-out last summer, with participants coming from as far away as Toronto, Chicago, Louisiana and North Carolina. Again, we will be at Camp Emanuel in Copake, New York, on the scenoc border of the Berkshire Mountains. As every year, there will be a variety of activities, all conducted in Yiddish: lectures, volleyball, swimming, boating, hiking, Dvar Torah, Game Show Night and campfire sing-alongs. This summer will feature a week-long Yiddish calligraphy workshop. The food at camp is kosher, and there is a synagogue on the premises. A few hours of babysitting each day will be available, at no extra cost, so parents can participate in the recreational activities while their young children are being cared for. *The cost for the entire week is $180 per person, including gratuities. [Ridiculous price, no? (This comment wasn't in the original letter -- DB)] The full amount must be paid before June 15, in order to ensure your reservation.* We are presently organizing the schedule for the Yidish-Vokh. If there is a subject that you can speak on in Yiddish (for example, lecture on modern Yiddish poetry) or an activity that you can lead (for example, dvar Torah or stargazing), please let us know on the application form, and send it together with your check (payable to Yugntruf), to Yugntruf, 200 West 72 St. Suite 40, New York, NY 10023-2805 [SAMPLE APPLICATION FORM] English and Yiddish Name ____________________ Address ___________________ Telephone (evening) ________________ Telephone (daytime) _______________ Knowledge of Yiddish: __ beginner __ intermediate __ fluent __ can speak but can't read or write the Yiddish alphabet If you can lead an activity or speak on a certain topic, please specify: _______________________________________________________________________________ Families: Please list the names of all family members who are coming, as well as children's ages: __________________________________________________________ = = = = = = = = = = END OF CIRCULAR Mendele participants who have already signed on: yours truly, Daniel-Moyshe (David) Sherman and family (wife and four kids), Meylekh Viswanath and family (wife and two kids). Dovid Braun 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Jun 92 17:24 +0300 From: RWERMAN%HUJIVMS.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 2.10 As someone who is pre The Joys of Yiddish but coeval with H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N, I can assure David Sherman that the soup spilling separation of shlemeel from shlemazal antedates The Joys. By the way, you Canadians ought to know that this topic was part of the subject of your [soon to be Cambridge, Mass's] Ruth Wisse's doctoral thesis. Hinda Feldman offers Wahrig's derivation of shlemeel from the Hebrew shin-lamed-vav mem-vav-eyin-yod-lamed, she-lo mo'eel - very clever indeed, even if fanciful, I think. __Bob Werman rwerman@vms.huji.ac.il Jerusalem 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1992 10:04:05 -0400 From: fishbane@epas.utoronto.CA Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 2.10 sounds to me like shelo mo'il as a derivation was concocted by some shlemeel. while "I have not seen" is no proof-- (and i have seen quite a bit of talmudic and medieval Hebrew) such a phrase as shelo moil is suited for situations, acts, attempts at correction-- but not people- es klapt nisht. Hershele Bolshiviker 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1992 From: nmiller@trincc Subject: Beben un bebitsn Dovid Braun is very likely right that 'bebitsn' is an Americanism; at any rate it isn't in Stutchkoff. However, it shouldn't be a total loss, I have a little story. A friend of mine was on pretty close terms with Isaac Bashevis. Once Bashevis told him that he'd been to some sort of reception and that he'd met one of the most leonine of literary lions of that time (out of res- pect for his memory no names). "You met A.D.?" cried my friend (he was in publishing). "Yeh," said I.B. "So what did he say, what did he talk about?" (For this you have to remember I.B.'s voice) "Bebede bebe, vot does a shikker say?" Noyekh ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.11 If your message is intended for MENDELE, please write to: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu If you want to discuss personal business or have a shmues with the shames, please write to: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.