Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 177 April 19, 1993 1) Welcome (Debra Halperin Biasca) 2) Gotenyu ti nash (Bob Rothstein) 3) Slippers (Pe'rets Mett) 4) Jacinta un Talila (Pierre Lewis) 5) (Stephen Dowling) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun Apr 18 17:16:52 1993 From: Debra Halperin Biasca Subject: Re: Welcome to Steven Dowling [Stephen Dowling writes:] Ikh bin oykh a talmid fun Pesakh Fiszman, un du host mir gekoift a sakh Yidishe bikher, zumer 1992! Welcome to MENDELE. Debra Halperin Biasca 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun Apr 18 23:26:21 1993 From: ROBERT A ROTHSTEIN Subject: Gotenyu ti nash Two or three people have correctly identified the _ti nash_ used by Manger as Russian or Polish (or Ukrainain or other Slavic), but didn't quite get the sense of the whole phrase _Gotenyu ti nash_. It's a vocative phrase, something like "Thou/You God of ours." This kind of mixture of Slavic and Yiddish and/or Hebrew is found in a sizeable body of hassidic songs, presumably reflecting the inclination of at least some hassidim to find mystical meaning in objects of everyday life that surrounded them, including the non- Jewish languages that they heard around them. Bob Rothstein 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Apr 19 05:18:46 1993 From: P.Mett@open.ac.uk (Percy Mett) Subject: slippers [David (Daniel Moishe) Sherman asks:] >While we're on the subject, what do people use for >slippers? We use shteklatshn or shketshikh. shtekshikh oder pantoffel pe'rets mett 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Apr 19 10:17:56 1993 From lew@bnr.ca Subject: Jacinta un Talila The welcome message on subscription suggests I quickly introduce myself. So here goes... ikh lern zikh tsur tsayt yidish. ikh red shoyn daytsh, vos helft zeyer fil (mayn mame-loshn iz frantseyzikh). shver zaynen far mir di oysyes un di hebraishe verter. ober far vos lern ikh zikh yidish? - shprakhn zaynen zeyer interesant, shpetsiel far mir der varglaykh tsvikhn yidish un daytsh (vi a rayze in der fargangenheyt). - ikh hob mir tsvey CDs gekoyft, vos vundershoyn zaynen un vos ikh vil beser farshteyn ("Jacinta, Autres chansons yiddish" [Ocora] un "Talila et l'ensemble Kol Aviv" [Arion] -- hot ir di gehert?). - ikh hof yidn (un ire tife sheroshim) beser tsu farshteyn. Well, enough (and enough mistakes -- transliteration is easier to read than to write, esp. with german writing habits!) for a first post. Now I will listen! I hope this mailing list will be yet another source of info on this fascinating language and the folks who speak it. Nor a goy, Pierre (my friend Rivka calls me Pierrele) Is there an FAQ for this list. Questions I have include: Is there a standard codepage for Yiddish (maybe iso8859 addresses this?)? I have found some TeX fonts which look very nice (still have to learn TeX), but no X11 font. Are there some? Is transliteration the standard mode in this group? BTW, I did hack one X11 font (based on lucidatypewriter 14). Also I suppose I'll find the answers to some/all of these questions on the backfiles, so maybe you should tell me where to get them from. A groysn dank, Pierre Lewis 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Apr 19 13:23:34 1993 From: stephen dowling <71072.2134@CompuServe.COM> Subject: YIDDISH CONCERTS IN NEWYORK A Concert in honor of... The volunteers & staff of the Cultural & Education Department & The Jewish Book Center on its 2nd Anniversary! Featuring... Irina Fogelson and Elena Ostrovsky an unusual program of Yiddish * Russian * Italian English and Gypsy Art and Folksong Admission *$4.00 admission $3.00 Workmen's Circle Members * $2.00 of the admission price can be used as a credit for purchases of $20.00 or more on the day of the concert. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Paul Zim & Joanne Borts in Concert! A Yiddish Cabaret! Thursday, June 10th, 6:15 pm Admission: Workmen's Circle Members $7.00 General Admission $9.00 The Jewish Book Center is located at 45 East 33rd Street between Park & Madison Avenues. For more information or to purchase tickets in advance, please call 212/889-6800, ext. 285. Stephen Dowling ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.177