Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.272 January 11, 1995 1) Explaining technical terms (Dovid Braun) 2) Wooden synagogues (Mikhl Herzog) 3) Two Stories about the Vilner Go'en (Zellig Bach) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 09 Jan 1995 18:35:55 EST From: dovid@mit.edu Subject: Explaining technical terms This is in reply to Arnie Kuzmack's recent posting and an earlier one by Zellig Bach to the effect that technical terms be explained by their posters. (The request was made -- surprise, surprise --- with reference to discussion of language, but surely it is generalizable to all other fields of interest which can get technical.) Ideally, we linguists should be more than happy to explain things so that non-linguists can better understand a technical(-looking) discussion. For who likes to be misunderstood? (And furthermore, who likes to be parodied or scapegoated?) So to educate the world as to what we do or what we're talking about is in our best interest. *Ideally.* But obviously, professional and life-related time constraints often don't allow us to be explicit about some of the matters of intellectual/ professional interest to us. So we proceed to carry on our discussion of whatever technical matter is at hand since, by discussing it, we obviously have some more immediate need (i.e., something more urgent than general education of the public [and, of course, not everybody feels a responsibilty towards the general ed. of the public -- a totally different matter). The recent discussion of epenthesis vs. syncope sounds like _terkish_ to the non-linguist, but these are terms from Linguistics 101 (which most people haven't taken, granted). At a moment of greater leisure, we might have a moment to explain these things. _Ober oyb nisht, iz nisht_. If there were actual professional-style discussion of Yiddish literature, let's say, or more frequent and technical discussion of Yiddish music, the lay people of those fields could *hope* that the literature people/ musicologists would provide us with an explanation here and there of a technical term, but could not expect it. Imagine what a burden it would be on the musicologist or music enthusiast to have to explain "Phrygian mode". If s/he is so kind as to do it, _zoln gebentsht zayn zayne/ire hent_. If not, we should consult a dictionary or an intro. music book or ask the party who posted the item (either privately or publicly -- through Mendele) to enlighten us. Di untershte shure: good feelings((hopefully) abound towards everyone in ALL interest spheres. The musicologist (to be read literally but also allegorically as 'language specialist') nevertheless needs to go about his/her work, and hopefully all will be happy knowing that s/he is doing it. For at least this author, it is very satisfying to know that there is a Zellig Bach and an Arnie Kuzmack out there (among many others) who, although not language specialists, might derive benefit from a language-related discussion that I or another language person might initiate. If at times we seem self-serving by talking shop, then we ARE being self-serving, i.e. **we're doing our work**. (And I mean self-serving in the narrow sense only of answering our specific question; the ultimate purpose of academic work, I think most would agree, is not to be self-serving at all but to get results for the common good.) Hopefully all will _fargin_ us to do our work, and at the same time _fargib_ us when we fail to make the results of our work accessible for the common good. Bli-neyder, my last meta-Mendele posting. (700 people around the world give a big sigh of relief.) Dovid Braun 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 9 Jan 95 21:44 EST From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: Wooden synagogues For Bernard S. Greenberg Several years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Thomas Hubka, Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I've followed some of his work since. If you are not familiar with it, your passion for Polish wooden synagogue architecture suggests that you'd enjoy getting to know him. The subject has been central to his research for a number of years. Mikhl Herzog 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 10 Jan 1995 22:52:06 -0500 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: Two Stories about the Vilner Go'en Further to my posting "The Honorific Reb" (4.269,6): The word go'en (Hebrew and Yiddish) means excellency, eminence, pride, from the Psalmic phrase "gaon Jaacob"-- the pride of Jacob. It was the official title of the heads of the Babylonian academies, closed for over thousand years. Since then only one scholar has been accorded this title: Elijah of Vilna, the famous town of uninterrupted religious study in Lithuania. Only he is known as _der_ go'en, der vilner go'en (1720--1799). In the ultraorthodox Anglo-Jewish press one sees frequently-- in reports, news stories, and even in public advertisements (about gatherings, banquets, etc.)--an abundance of serial honorifics such as ha'rav ha'go'en (Rabbi, Go'en), occasionally even a "triple decker" ha'rav, ha'go'en, ho'admur (Rabbi, go'en, mentor, teacher). The frequency of these titles makes one suspect that many of them are exaggerated and undeserving. It would seem logical, and even natural, that in the realm of a singularly exceptional and phenomenal super-intellectual brilliance the likelihood is great that there would be one to a genaration. In Einstein's lifetime, for instance, there were other great, extraordinary physicists -- Enrico Fermi and Niels Bohr come to mind -- but there was only one Einstein whose theory has revolutionized in one stroke the entire field. Similarly with the honorific go'en in Jewish religious life. There is only one go'en to a genaration, or to several generations. The appearance of a go'en does not preclude, of course, other great Tamudists to function in the same period. The flaunting embarrassment of such honorifics in the Jewish religious world leads to an inflation-devaluation and, ultimately, to a loss of the sense of scale. Many years ago I heard two stories about _the vilner go'en_ that seem to me related in a special way. One day when the go'en and his talmidim (students) were absorbed in learning, there was a sudden heavy storm, with prolonged thunder and lightning. This called for the pronunciation of special benedicions: For thunder -- "Blessed art thou... with whose power and might the universe is complete;" and for lightning -- "Blessed art thou... who produced the works of creation." All yeshi've students made both brokhes, _but_ the go'en. The explanation was given that he was so immersed in learning and thought, that he did not hear the thunder, nor did he see the lightning. And then there is the other story: After an erev-shabes (Friday night) service, he walked home by himself, again, as was his wont, with his head bent, weighted down, as it were, with meditations and holy thoughts. Two young boys were standing on the sidewalk. As the go'en walked by, one youngster whispered to the other: "Dos iz der vilner go'en" (this is the go'en from Vilne). The go'en stopped and, turning to them, said to the boy who made the remark: "Vil nor vestu oykh zayn a vilner go'en." This is a play on words: "Vil nor" -- literally, if you will want, if you will apply yourself; and "vilner"-- hailing from the town of Vilne. I find the combined two stories charming. The first one illustrates the belief that the immensity and depth of his thinking was so powerful and all-absorbing that they overrode the natural stimuli impinging upon his senses of hearing and sight. The second one illustrates his plain humanity: that he could hear even the whispering voice of a young boy. Zellig Bach ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.272 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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