Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.111 September 28, 1993 1) Vegn zikh un vegn yidishn teater (Michael Steinlauf) 2) Vegn zikh (Jeremy Stern) 3) Chaim Weizmann and Mottele (Tom Leverett) 4) Pinchas (Dvorah Biasca) ______________________________________________________ The shames would greatly appreciate your cooperation in these small matters: If your message is intended for MENDELE, please write to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu If you want to discuss personal business, please write to: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu Please provide a Subject: line. Please sign your articles. A dank. 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Sep 28 10:34:34 1993 From: M_Steinlauf@ACAD.FANDM.EDU Subject: Vegn zikh un vegn yidishn teater Norvos arayn in sayber-rom, siz dokh a groys fargenign ontsuheybn es tsu faryidishn. Khbin a historiker, vos farnemt zikh mit der moderner yidisher kultur in Poyln (biz 1939) un di grenetsn tsvishn poylisher un yidisher kultur. Tsvishn andere, forsh ikh di geshikhte fun yidishn teater in Poyln. Siz efsher a modner zakh, nor me darf visn, az yetst vert Poyln a tsenter far der forshung fun yidishn teater. Iz norvos aroys a groyser kolektiver forshungsarbet (dafke oyf poylish), un in oktober vet zayn a konferents in Varshe mit redner fun Poyln, Amerike, Doytshland un Yisroel. Faran oyf der velt take a Nayer Seyder, a nit? Question: Do most Mendele readers understand the above, or should one only/also write in English? Michael Steinlauf 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Sep 28 12:11:27 1993 From: Jeremy Stern Subject: Vegn zikh I just subscribed to MENDELE yesterday, so let me present myself and describe my interest in Yiddish. Originally from Scarsdale, NY, I am now a freshman at Princeton University pursuing an AB (what Princeton calls a BA). I began studying Yiddish at YIVO during January of my sophomore year of high school. It was a weekly night class that met around 15 times per semester. I continued until the spring of my senior year, progressing through the levels. I was taught by Jeff Shandler and Peysek Fiszman, respectively. This past summer, I attended the Oxford Programme in Yiddish, where I studied early-modern Yiddish literature under Dov-Ber Kerler and the writers and poets of the Soviet period under Gennadi Estraikh. I can read Yiddish perfectly, understand it nearly completely, and speak it just about as well. I am interested in participating in discussions about all-things Yiddish, from literature to language to the culture in general. Presently, I'm looking for untranslated Yiddish poetry for translation and publication in an English-language literary journal. I would appreciate suggestions and advice about the legal aspects of printing translated works. Finally, although I guess I will figure this question out, what transcription are we using--YIVO? Should I spell Sholem Aleichem thus, or Sholem Aleykhem. Should I indicate stress with capital letters? Please respond. Jeremy Stern 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Sep 28 17:14:01 1993 From: Tom Leverett Subject: Chaim Weizmann & Mottele To Moshe Waldoks, a late thanks for pointing out that my grandmother- in-law was a neighbor of Chaim Weizmann in Mottele (in what is now Belorus). My grandmother-in-law (Zeyta) had this to say about Mottele & Chaim Weizmann (she mixed Eng. & Yiddish freely): Mottele was very small; in ganz Mottele is ein store haut farkeft salt near our house there haut givaynt Chaim Weizmann; his father's business was something like my father's: choppin the holtz & taking it all over he went out when he was 14 or 15, & I was maybe 2: er iz aveck in England, and ich a couple of years later aveck in America When they started unterwaffen (Nickolaien), then they went zuchen, and they went to Chaim Weizmann's house; his mother wouldn't tell them nothing, she flecht azay machen that she did not know, then wenen zay gehen in the andere heiser Zeyta's whole story is excellent, I wanted to contribute it. Tom Leverett 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Sep 28 18:18:01 1993 From: BIASCA DEBRA HALPERIN Subject: Re: "Pinchas" Can anyone tell me what "Pinchas" means in Yiddish? (Perhaps the nayer mitglider vos heys Pinchas. . .) A friend recently showed me a booklet she had obtained through inter-library loan which was a "memory book" for a town in the Ukraine called (I believe) "Kovel" or something like that. It had photos and information about the people who had lived there, members of the Kahile (maybe)and biographical information, although I didn't have time to read it then. It was rather lengthy and all in Yiddish. My friend said this was called a "Pinchas" and that word was in the title. A dank. Dvorah Biasca ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.111