Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.198 November 27, 1994 1) Introduction (Yankl Salant) 2) Introduction (Michael Honey) 3) Introduction (Eve Jochnowitz) 4) Introduction (Paul Pascal) 5) Yiddish Atlas, Volume I (Mikhl Herzog) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 25 Nov 1994 20:35:13 -0500 From: yankl191@aol.com Subject: Introduction I did not grow up in a house with a strong Jewish cultural identity. We were Reform Jews, and only one of my grandparents, Philip Salant was born in Europe: Lomzhe, Poland. Yiddish held a certain fascination for me as a nisht-far-di-kinder-shprakh. "gotenyu," "gvalt," "mitskin derinen," and "meshuge ke' me' vern" are about all I remember from those days. Minimal Hebrew school and a Bar Mitsve did, at least, prepare me with alef-beys literacy for my later involvement in the Yiddish svive. Having studied French, Italian and German as an undergraduate at Rutgers, I entered the Columbia Yiddish Studies Program in 1985. Since that time I have worked consistently in the field of Yiddish. While in the Columbia program, I worked for Mikhl Herzog on the Great Yiddish Dictionary, punching definitions from existing dictionaries into a database file. (My letter was vov.) I'm pleased to hear that the project may proceed. I have taught Yiddish to children in various shules around New York, and for the past few years, have been teaching in the children's program at KlezKamp. In the summer of 1991, I was elementary Yiddish instructor in Columbia and YIVO's Uriel Weinreich Program in Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture (Yiddish Summer Program), and after co-directing the program in 1993, have become the Director of Yiddish Language Programs at YIVO, including the Yiddish Summer Program and YIVO's evening Yiddish classes. I will be posting a detailed announcement soon about the Yiddish Summer Program, but for now, here are the dates: June 26-August 4, 1995 on the Columbia University campus. If you want a brochure when they come out early in January, call YIVO at (212) 246-6080 and leave your address. You will be put on the mailing list. It's been a mekhaye reading contributions of people I've known for years. zayt mir ale gezunt un shtark. a freylekhe khanike alemen. yankl salant 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 26 Nov 94 12:11:37 EST From: 100421.142@compuserve.com Subject: Introduction A dank far mein einschreibn ins forum, Ich bin a plimenik vom mendele. Ich wojn in England. Du bin ich taetig mit Yidische Genealogie, Ich hob notitzen von a Vortrag woos ich hob gegeben zi die Chavrose der Yidische Genealogie in Grois Britanien. Wer will a sah Vortrag lesen? Darunter is a Mischpooche Tafel (family tree) fin die Mischpooche fin Shalom Yakov Abramovitchn. Es siz mir nischt sicher az die Tafel kan durch e-mail gehn weil sie is geschrieben in Quark Xpress, nischt in Mamelooschen. I am only kidding in writing in Yiddish with English characters, who can know the correct spelling in this way. I have also translated the last chapters of "Schloimele" into English. I think it is the best and sharpest stuff he has written, anyone interested? A git Woch, Michael Honey 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 26 Nov 1994 18:51:35 -0500 (EST) From: jochnowe@is.nyu.edu Subject: Introduction Raboisai, My name is Eve Jochnowitz. I am doing graduate work in Jewish Food History at New York University's department of Performance Studies. I am delighted finally to be getting Mendele. Eve Jochnowitz 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 27 Nov 94 09:52:50 EST From: 75332.2735@compuserve.com Subject: Introduction My name is Paul (Pinchos) Pascal and I live in Toronto, but was born and raised in Winnipeg. My education included seven years of Yiddish day school, at the I. L. Peretz Folk School, a school which began its life prior to World War I as the "Jewish Radical School", but was relatively tame by the time I arrived there in the early fifties. The truly radical Yiddish school in Winnipeg at that time was the Sholem Aleichem School, which, we were told, took its orders from Moscow! In addition to the grade school education, I took a few Yiddish courses at university. My parents each spoke Yiddish as their first language, but did not maintain it as the language of our home, except when we were visiting grandparents. My mother, a Litvakeh born in Slutsk, had a decidedly different accent than my father, a Rumeynisher, Canadian-born, and this mishmash has created interesting problems for me since. For example, this past summer I spent several weeks doing genealogical research in Romania, Belarus, and Israel. Jews I met in Romania had the benefit of my Rumeynish Yiddish, those in Belarus my Litvish Yiddish; but when visiting relatives from both sides of my family in Israel, I had to switch back and forth so frequently and quickly, that I often realized afterward that I had probably left my relatives wondering if I really was related to them. Back on this continent, a relative which I discovered in Long Island, is, as it turns out, heavily involved in a semi-professional group that performs Gilbert and Sullivan in Yiddish. The results are hilarious, with the original G+S humor overlaid with a layer of Yiddish humor. Since they do gigs all over the place, Toronto last year had the pleasure of their performance--to sell-out audiences. Toronto, it seems, still has some Yiddish ta'am. In fact, Toronto is fairly active Yiddishly, relatively speaking. There is a strong organization which sponsors regular Yiddish events and Yiddish classes, known as Friends of Yiddish, and Canadian Jewish Congress (the overarching Jewish organization in Canada) has a bureau devoted specifically to Yiddish. This past year, the annual Jewish Film Festival was joined later in the year with a specifically _Yiddish_ film festival, in which films of quality were the mainstay. Paul Pascal 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 27 Nov 94 10:46 EST From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: Yiddish Atlas, Volume I I'd like to remind those who may have missed the notice on Mendele some months ago, that because of YIVO's temporary move and attendant storage problems, a number of copies of Volume I of the Yiddish Atlas are still available to YIVO members at the highly reduced price of $40.00. Checks for 1995 YIVO membership (now regular $75.00; seniors and students $50.00) plus $40.00 for the volume, payable to YIVO, can be sent to me at Box 234, Garrison, NY 10524. Please forewarn me with an E-mail message (zogur@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu). Volume II will appear in the Spring of 1995. Mikhl Herzog ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.198 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. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu