Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.147 October 21, 1994 1) Call for papers (David Neal Miller) 2) Perl Krupit's mayse in der bay (Louis Fridhandler) 3) Yiddish, kids and the meaning of "kvel" (David Sherman) 4) Afn, afen (Motl Aronson) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 15:47:53 -0400 (EDT) From: dnmiller@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: Call for Papers Call for Papers The Yiddish Program of The Ohio State University in association with the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research announces YIDDISH AND ASHKENAZIC STUDIES: THE NEXT WAVE A Conference for Graduate Students and Recent Recipients of the Ph.D. 2-3 April 1995 on the campus of The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio Objective: Our aim is to create an open collegial forum for the discussion of recent directions and trends in the various disciplines (literature, linguistics, history, folklore, etc.) which collectively comprise the emerging interdiscipline of Ashkenazic studies. Participation: Papers limited to a twenty-minute presentation will be given by graduate (M.A., M.L.S., Ph.D.) students or by scholars who were awarded their Ph.D. not earlier than 1990. No senior scholars will deliver papers. Participants from outside Ohio and its bordering states will be provided, funds permitting, with a stipend of $200 each toward conference expenses and will be encouraged to seek additional funds from their home institutions. Submission: Eligible individuals who would like to participate are invited to submit anonymous abstracts of a single double-spaced page, enclosing a card with name, title of abstract, institutional affiliation, and current stage of study or year of doctoral degree. Topics and approaches may deal with Yiddish or general Ashkenazic studies from the perspective of one or more disciplines among the human or social sciences and the arts, and may represent current or recent research interests. Preference will be given to abstracts that promise research within an advanced, rigorous, and explicit model of analysis. Program Committee: Abstracts will be evaluated by a committee consisting of the following Ohio State professors: Michael Berkowitz (history), Joseph Galron (library science), Neil G. Jacobs (linguistics), Dagmar C. G. Lorenz (literature and Holocaust studies), David Neal Miller (literature), and Amy Shuman (folklore). The program will also be reviewed by members of the Research Committee of the YIVO. Address: Send abstracts to either of the conference coordinators, David Neal Miller or Neil G. Jacobs, at the Department of Near Eastern, Judaic, and Hellenic Languages and Literatures, The Ohio State University, 256 Cunz Hall, 1841 Millikin Road, Columbus, OH 43210 (USA). Abstracts and correspondence are also welcome by e-mail to miller.3@osu.edu. Telephone: (614) 292-7140 or 292-4267. Fax: (614) 292-1262. Deadline: 15 January 1995 David Neal Miller 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 19 Oct 94 18:42:15 EDT From: 74064.1661@compuserve.com Subject: Perl Krupit's mayse in der bay Haynt hob ikh bakumen dem nayestn numer "der bay" un hob geleyent Perl Krupit's mayse vegn Aida Liberson Sercarz mit groys interes un fargenign. Those who don't yet subscribe to Fishl Kutner's der bay are missing out on a worthwhile item. It supplements Mendele (or vice versa) to good effect. Perl Krupit writes Yiddish so well and her Romanization follows the easily understood YIVO method. It's a pleasure to see Yiddish so clearly expressed in our everyday characters, though second best to Hebrew characters. Louis Fridhandler [Fishl Kutner, a lebn af im, edits Der Bay from 1128 Tanglewood Way, San Mateo, CA 94403 (phone 415-349-6946). His email address is: fishl@well.sf.ca.us. Send checks in any amount payable to Peninsula JCC and mail to Fishl. nm] 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 Oct 94 1:45:45 EDT From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.ca Subject: Yiddish, kids and the meaning of "kvel" > On Sunday November 6, 1994 at 1:30pm at the Katie Murphy Auditorium the > Workmen's Circle will be offering a sensational program for kids... Sounds wonderful. So when is the tour coming to Toronto? Our kids are looking forward to it. :-) > This is an opportunity to teach the kids in the most direct way the meaning > of the word _kvel_. Actually, the real meaning of _kvel_ was defined for me in July 1993, when we went to the National Yiddish Book Center's week-long Yiddish program. (An excellent course, by the way -- very different from Yugntruf's yidish-vokh, as it was primarily an educational lecture program and secondarily a vacation. But I digress.) At the introductory evening, with about 150 people in the auditorium (most of them middle-aged Americans who had once known Yiddish but no longer used it much), Mendy Cahan of the NYBC's Israel office went on stage to sing some Yiddish songs. (For those who don't know Mendy, he's in his late 20's and comes across great on stage, something like a Yiddish Elvis.) So the audience, many of whom hadn't heard any Yiddish songs recently, was all primed to kvel. Mendy began singing Tum-Balalaika, always a great song for such audiences. We had our daughter Shoshana with us; she was seven at the time and suitably adorable. (The other kids didn't come to that evening's session.) During the first verse she started singing along with the refrain, so we encouraged her to go down to Mendy on stage and join him for the refrain. She got on stage as he was singing the second verse ("Meydl, meydl, kh'vel bay dir fregn..."), so of course he sang it to her (and the audience lapped it up). What I _didn't_ know is that Shoshana knew all the words to the verses. So after the second refrain, she sang the third verse back to Mendy ("Narishe bokhr, vos darfstu fregn..."), in perfect Yiddish. The crowd, as they say, went wild. *That* defined the meaning of _kvel_ for me. Boy did I kvel. I still smile whenever I remember it. David Sherman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 20 Oct 1994 21:57:37 -0400 (EDT) From: marnor@minerva.cis.yale.edu Subject: Afn, afen Hey, I'm no expert nor do I even have a set of dictionaries by my side, but is there any chance that afen or afn could be an acorn? Just a guess. Motl Aronson ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.147 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. 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