Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.209 January 29, 1994 1) Greek Jewish culture (Kalmen Weiser) 2) Rokhl Korn (Mark Flumerfelt) 3) Introduction (Jay Brodbar) 4) Introduction (Richard Menkis) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Jan 24 01:38:32 1994 From: "Keith Weiser (TD 1994)" Subject: Greek Jewish culture I am sending out this request in the hope that someone might be able to offer some assistance, but realizing that this is perhaps not the proper forum for it. While my father's family is Ashkenasi, that of my mother is Romaniot (Greek, non-Sephardic) from the town of Janinna. I am hoping to contact sociologists, linguists, anthropologists, etc. who would be willing to interview Romaniot Jews in order to learn about their language and culture. Little is known about them (there are not many books about Romaniot Jews) and most of these Jews in America are eldery, their children (like my mother) having "intermarried." I fear this culture will be lost without ever being properly documented. I informed the Holocaust video archives at Yale about some Greek-Jewish survivors and they are very eager to interview them (Israeli scholar Yehuda Bauer has apparently requested interviews with Greek Jews especially), but Yale is not interested in interviewing Greek Jews who did not directly experience the Holocaust. Many of these people can be found in Brooklyn, especially in the Sephardic Home for the Aged on Cropsy Avenue. There is also a Janinna congregation on Broome St. (Kehille Kadosha Janinna) in New York. Janinna was not the only Romaniot Jewish center, but I believe the largest one. According to tradition, the Romaniot have lived in Greece since the destruction of the Second Temple. They speek Greek, unlike the Sephardim of Salonika, but many were educated in the French Alliance Israelite Universelle schools. Many speak Ladino, as well, do to their contact with the Sephardim. I hope someone will respond to this message, for I am not qualified to undertake such a project, although I would be more than happy to supply as much information as possible about subjects. Kalmen Weiser 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon Jan 24 23:27:50 1994 From: Mark Flumerfelt Subject: Rokhl Korn I have some information for Rebecca Lillian. Rebecca may want to look at Miriam Waddington's book "Apartment Seven." It has some material on Rachel Korn. Waddington has also translated some of Korn's poetry. Rebecca also asked for biographical information on Korn. I'm not sure if Levitan mentions t his, but I believe that Chaim Grade fell in love with Rokhl Korn's daughter but Korn would not allow the relationship to develop (she did not want her daughter marrying a poet). If this information is inaccurate would someone please corre ct me. If Rebecca has any other questions, she get in touch with me (my Yidd- ish teacher knew Korn). Mark Flumerfelt 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue Jan 25 08:59:52 1994 From: brodbar@epas.utoronto.ca (Jay Brodbar) Subject: Introduction I am a federation planner in Toronto, responsible for the areas of Jewish culture, which includes supervizing the director of our Committee for Yiddish. I am particularly interested in the role of Jewish culture, including, of course, Yiddish language and literature, in enriching and sustaining our contemporary Jewish life. Jay Brodbar 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Jan 28 16:01:00 1994 From: Richard Menkis Subject: (Long overdue)introduction I have been violating the etiquette of electronic mail by lurking before leaping, but I shall lurk no longer. My name is Richard Menkis, and I teach in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. My area of research is Canadian Jewish history, presently with an emphasis on describing/analyzing the religious self-definitions of Canadian Jews. Although I have received no formal training in Yiddish, over the past two years I have been going through introductory college Yiddish texts,have had fun reading early twentieth century brifenshteller. I am also fortunate that there is a very lively Yiddish reading group in Vancouver, and when I have the opportunity--not frequently enough--it is a delight. In Vancouver, you ask (and it's been asked before)? Imagine, in this Yiddish reading group are two distinguished authors and translators, Miriam Waddington and Seymour Levitan, whose translations appear in the Howe and Wisse Sholem Aleichem volume. I introduce them as well, because I have passed on to them what happens in Mendele, and I shall pass on to you their comments, if they should so desire. And, in fact, such is now the case. When I informed Seymour Levitan that Korn's poetry was being quoted on Mendele, he was of course thrilled that more and more people are enjoying her work. While I was not able to tell him whether this poem was one of the poems he had translated, whether it was or wastn't, he wanted me to remind you, Mark, that these poems do not appear in English out of nowhere, and that mentioning the translator would be appropriate. Rifke Lillian had asked about further information regarding Korn. Her papers are at the Jewish Public Library in Montreal, and in their catalogue of MSS they have some biographical information. They will also have more information in the clippings files in the Canadiana room in the Jewish Public Library, some of which will be synthesized in Ch L Fuchs, One hundred years of Yiddish and Hebrew Literature in Canada (in Yiddish). I enjoy the comments, debates, etc of Mendele, enormously, especially when dealing with questions of history and literature.(Which is why, I suppose, I am enjoying the present text being read in the Yiddish reading group here, IJ Singer's wonderful autobiography). Richard Menkis ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.209 To subscribe, send SUB MENDELE FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to: LISTSERV@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. 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