Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.233 December 13, 1994 1) Mein Kind, musst beten (Rick Gildemeister) 2) Greek, Hebrew, and -- Targemloshn (Zellig Bach) 3) Borkhes (Michael Shimshoni) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 12 Dec 94 14:17:18 EST From: eeglc%cunyvm.bitnet@yalevm.cis.yale.edu Subject: Mein Kind, musst beten Arre Komar recently mentioned an interesting song which has found its way into Yiddish/Jewish musical repertoire. I'd like to cite a source for this, but it's gone. Years ago, I read that it was written by a German gentile about World War I, and the pain of seeing one's husband and father of one's child go off to war. My understanding is that, again, it was written by a non-Jew, and the reason given was that the author didn't know that Jews don't pray on their knees. But it was aimed at a Jewish audience, in a mix of German and Yiddish. "Knie mit mir nieder, denn er kommt nie mehr wieder, Doch gross ist unser Adoshem" Martha Schlamme sang a beautiful rendition that I heard almost 25 years ago, but vividly remembered. Leo Fuld did a nice rendition, too, on a cassette I have. More on Fraynd Fuld a bisl shpeter. Rick Gildemeister 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Dec 1994 03:41:17 -0500 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: Greek, Hebrew, and -- Targemloshn This is a brief communication about three expressions, each invoking the name of a language. For expository reasons I'll start with the last part first, and then tie all three together. After the return from the Babylonian exile, Hebrew had ceased to be the common spoken language of the Jewish people. Instead, Aramaic became the language of the home and street, and the religious leaders resorted to it to make the Bible more accessible to the people. The translation of the holy Hebrew text into the Aramaic vernacular was called _Targum_, literally translation. "Targem," as it is pronounced in Yiddish, means only one thing: the translation of the Bible into Aramaic. No definite article is used or necessary. Several years after entering kheyder a boy soon learns what Targem means. In time the Targum translation entered the canon of religious readings of the Jewish people, and enjoyed a sanctity of its own. The Talmud then enjoined the reading of the weekly Toyre passage ("parshe") twice in Hebrew and once in Targum. Much of the Talmud was written in Aramaic, and many prayers were composed in this language. To this day the traditional _kadish_, and the _kol nidre_ prayer with which the Yom Kiper services start, are recited in their original Aramaic. 1. Whe you are told, or read, something overly complex and obtuse, and you decide, without any further deliberation and without giving it a second thought, that it is not worth your while to even try to understand it or to pursue it, you flatly dismiss it by saying "That's _Greek_ to me." 2. Many years ago when I was in Paris I met a former Hebrew teacher of mine, a beloved mentor in my adolescence, who instilled in me a deep love and respect for languages. He was then studying in the Linguistics Department of the Sorbonne, specializing in Semitic languages. One evening, a young lady student in his class sat next to him, and when she casually took a glance at his notes, she exclaimed in French "That's _Hebrew_ to me.," meaning that she could not make out a thing of his scribbles. I regret not knowing French to quote her exclamatory phrase verbatim, but it has about the same meaning as the English "That's Greek to me." Well, the interesting part is that in this instance she was correct, because he was taking his notes in Hebrew... 3. In Yiddish, when what you are told, or read something, that is unintelligible and just plain gibberish, and you wish to express your immediate disregard and total dismissal, you say "Bay (ba) mir iz es _targemloshn_." "Loshn," of course, means language, tongue, as in "mame- loshn." Targemloshn is thus a clear reference to Aramaic. However, you don't say "Bay (ba) mir iz es Aramish" [Aramaic], because this would be a neutral statement, not unlike mentioning any other language that you don't know or understand. But when you say "Bay (ba) mir iz es targemloshn," it has a particular tart bite to it. Don't ask me why. Zellig Bach 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 13 Dec 94 12:56:03 +0200 From: mash@weizmann.weizmann.ac.il Subject: Borkhes Arre Komar writes: >This evening I had dinner with an elderly Jewish couple from the >Rhineland. They reported that the word khala was unknown to them until >they come to this country. The word for the twist bread in the >grandparant's home was borkhes. However there was an important caveat: >borkhes was explicitly and exclusively milkhig. Is that a local >idiosyncratic usage or is that the proper common understood >qualification? I would like to state that in my very Orthodox family we had "borkhes" also on Friday Eve when the meal was always fleshig. My maternal grandmother who was born in what was then the German city of Breslau, was fond of a sweetish version of shabbes bread, but it was never milkhig. Perhaps Arre Komer could find out from his Rhineland friends what they called the khala eaten with meat. Just curious. Michael Shimshoni ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.233 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. 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