Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.152 December 2, 1993 1) Yiddish New Testament (Ellen Prince) 2) A kholem (Ellen Prince) 3) Yiddish words for "verse" (Reuven Rachlin) 4) Sholem Aleichem (Jeremy Stern) 5) Introduction (Howard Sage) 6) Introduction (Howard Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Dec 1 14:12:28 1993 From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: Yiddish New Testament to jeremy stern: i have a yiddish new testament (der brit hadasa) translated by a henry einspruch and published by the lewis and harriet lederer foundation, 6204 park hts ave., baltimore, md 21215, 1977, 5th ed., distributed by the messianic jewish center here. yes, the goal would be to make it as 'heymish' as possible, given its intended use as a proselytizing tool. Ellen Prince 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Dec 1 14:12:28 1993 From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: a kholem last night i dreamt that i was watching tv and there was some panel discussion (don't know on what) and one of the panelists was our own vicki fromkin. and, to my delight, she was wearing a mendele t-shirt! it looked very much like a t-shirt i have advertising the yiddish-english theatrical production a few years ago, dos goldene land. gee, maybe we should get t-shirts? :) ellen prince [Makhteyse. Take a plan! nm] 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Dec 1 15:00:47 1993 From: "Robert D. Rachlin" Subject: Yiddish words for "verse" In connection with his interesting posting about the Yiddish New Testament, Jeremy Stern asks whether there is a Yiddish word for "verse" ther than "posuk" (pl. "p'sukim"). "Ferz" (pl. "ferzn") has, I believe, the same meaning, but is obviously cognate to the German "Vers(e pl.)." "Posuk" seems to me appropriate only in reference to scriptural verses. I can't imagine using "posuk" for, say, a verse of Shakespeare ... "Merchant of Venice" *maybe*, but the goyishe dramas, neyn. Reuven 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Dec 2 09:01:54 1993 From: Jeremy Stern Subject: Scholem Aleichem (or, if you will, Sholem Aleykhem) Writes Dvosye Bilik: > On the subject of "mentsh un froy" let us recall that in Sholem > Aleykhem's Taybele, the main character says referring to herself "a > froy iz oykh a mentsh" This is a very early work by S.A.-- 1884. I am not familiar with that quotation, but it would seem to have no bearing on the subject. There does not have to be any intended pun or word-play. In English, there is the cliche, "Kids are people, too." The purpose is just to affirm the woman's -- or child's -- humanity, not to change the meaning of the word, "people". Jeremy Stern 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Dec 1 22:35:08 1993 From: HQS5713@ACFcluster.NYU.EDU Subject: Introduction I studied yiddish for many years in a Sholem Aleichem Folk Schule but lost contact with it, unfortunately. Subscribing to Mendele is my way of retaining contact with at least the culture. Howard Sage 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Dec 2 10:10:03 1993 From: "Irving F. Miller 6-5711" Subject: Introduction I am currently Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Director of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Why is an engineer interested in Yiddish? Because it was my first language. My parents spoke Yiddish at home, and I attended Arbeiter Ring schools from age 6 through 13. At that time, my Yiddish was reasonably fluent, but I have not used it for 45 years. I joined the network because I want to resurrect my knowledge of Yiddish. As I read material on the network, I will contribute as best as I can, when my memory returns. Of course, at my age memory tends to get worse with time. I intend to buck that trend. We will see if I succeed. Irv Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.152 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. Send submissions/responses to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files