Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.276 January 15, 1995 1) Osherovitsh Remembered/Lithuanian Jewry (Meyer David) 2) Fartaytsh, fartaytsh! (Zellig Bach) 3) National Public Mendele (Brian Zumhagen) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 21:29:20 -0500 From: yv@world.std.com Subject: Yiddish Voice: Osherovitsh Remembered/Lithuanian Jewry The Yiddish Voice radio program (Brookline, MA) will present on Wednesday, January 18, 1995, 7:30 p.m. on WUNR 1600 AM "Hirsh Osherovitsh: In Memoriam". Dovid Braun will conduct the program, which includes reading from Osherovitsh's poetry as well as interviews with Paul and Gerta Bagriansky and Hasia Segal, friends of Osherovitsh, a great Yiddish poet, who died last fall. Dovid Braun is a PhD student in Linguistics at MIT. He is the former editor of the international Yiddish-language journal Yugntruf. He has lectured in and taught Yiddish at such institutions as Gratz College, University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University. Paul and Gerta Bagriansky, who live in the Boston area, are survivors of the Kovno ghetto. Paul Bagriansky was a partisan fighter whose memoirs have been published in Israel through the periodical Publications of the Museum of the Combatants and Partisans. They were lifelong friends of Osherovitsh. Hasia Segal, who has written, produced, and hosted numerous Yiddish radio features for the Yiddish Voice as well as other Yiddish radio shows, has known Osherovitsh since her childhood in Ponevezh, Lithuania. Osherovitsh was born and raised in Lithuania. He spent much of his career there, both before and after the Second World War, prior to his settling in Israel, where he spent the last several decades of his career. This program naturally marks the beginning of a series of three programs honoring Lithuanian Jewry. The series continues the following week, on Wednesday, January 25, 1995, with oral history in Conversations with Lithuanian Jews from Various Towns and Cities. The final part of the series will be presented on Wednesday, February 1, 1995, and is entitled Vilna, Yerusholayim D'Lite: A Tribute. The narrators are Dovid Braun and Hasia Segal. Hasia Segal produced this program. (This program was previously broadcast on December 28, 1994.) The text of the program was written exclusively for the Yiddish Voice by renowned Israeli journalist Chaya Lazar to memorialize her native city Vilna (Vilnius, Lithuania), which became known among many Jews as Yerushalayim D'Lite (The Jerusalem of Lithuania) due to the vibrant Jewish life that flourished there until its destruction by the Nazis 50 years ago. Chaya Lazar is a well-known Hebrew-language journalist, who writes frequently for Israeli newspapers. She survived the Vilna Ghetto, and fought as a partisan against the Nazis. She has translated and written numerous articles for the periodical Publications of the Museum of the Combatants and Partisans, published in Tel Aviv, and she has translated several books from Yiddish and English into Hebrew. Music for the program includes the voice of Cantor Simon Kandler of Temple Emeth in Chestnut Hill with the accompaniment of Norma Levine on piano. Kandler, a native of Latvia, has served the Boston Jewish community for over 60 years. The Yiddish Voice (in Yiddish: dos yidishe kol) began broadcasting here last July, and features music, poetry, comedy, interviews, news, commentary, and announcements of current events, all of it in the Yiddish language. For further information, call (617) 738-1870. The Yiddish Voice has a presence in the Internet as well: you can send and email to our account (requesting information, giving comments, arranging for advertising, appearances, etc.) at YV@WORLD.STD.COM, and you can connect via the so-called "Gopher" service to the following location: gopher://ftp.std.com:70/11/nonprofits/yiddish_voice For further information, mail, call, or email to: Mark David 47 Stetson Street Brookline, MA 02146 (617) 738-1870 yv@world.std.com Meyer David 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 22:40:35 -0500 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: Fartaytsh, fartaytsh! In the recent discussion whether to split or not to split our list, several linguists expressed their sense that there is an "anti-linguist sentiment" on Mendele. The same poster (in the meaning I recently described -- one who posts a message to the list) further stated: "... half a dozen limguists _talk to each other_ about a linguistic issue" (Italics added). I believe this is, in a nutshell, the cause for the sense of the so-called enmity that the specialists experience. In a recent message a linguist referred to the language phenomena "epenthesis" vs. "syncope." Another specialist responded, and made reference to the same terms. Neither, however, explained what they meant so that a lay Mendelyaner could catch the drift of the exchange. This is, indeed, talking to _each other_, to the exclusion of the majority of the list members who are not specialists. It might have been extremely easy to explain: _Epenthesis_: the _insertion_ of one or more sounds in the middle of a word." And its antonym _syncope_: the _ommision_ of one or more sounds in the middle of a word. Simple enough! In my "Dialogue with Ellen Prince" (4.255,4) I wrote: "It should be helpful if specialists, when using technical terms, or even semi-technical terms, would explain them, if I may say in chewable prose, for lay members on the list (and I count myself among them)." And I closed my message with: "I firmly believe that the suggestion to explain technical terms should, in the long run, be reciprocally beneficial." I still believe so. Several members of our khavruse responded enthusiastically to my suggestion. Bob Berk (4.257,1) wrote: "I hasten to endorse the suggestion that specialists help the general readership by explaining some of the technical terminology." And, in the same vein, Arnie Kuzmack (4.270,2) stated: "It would be easier to follow the linguists if they would keep in mind that others [non-specialists] are lurking and explain [for their benefit] the esoteric terms." It is an old excellent Jewish language tradition to translate, interpret, and explain things to the uninitiated in the vernacular of the masses. Take, for example, the Targem translation of the holy books into Aramaic. Since the five Bible books in Hebrew were not accessible to women, they were interpreted (not translated literally) into what came to be called _taytsh-khumesh_. Our own Dvosye Bilik published several years ago a very interesting article *Tsene rene: A Yiddish Literary Success* (_Jewish Book Annual_, Vol. 8, No. 2, 1992, p. 96 -- 111). "Tsene-rene" is the compressed pronunciation of the Hebrew words "Tse'ena Ure'ena" (let's go out and see), fashioned after the phrase "Go Forth O Maidens of Zion and Gaze" in the Song of Songs. *Tsene-rene* integrated the biblical and aggadic materials, with commentaries from Rashi and others, and it underwent a total of 210 (!) editions in various shapes and revisions. Its amazingly phenomenal success was due to the principle of *fartaytshn* -- explaining the harbe ivre [the difficult texts], for the special purpose of teaching the uninitiated, in their own daily spoken language. Naturally, I do not intend to kid anyone that some day a book on linguistics will become as popular as the aforementioned classic, but by explaining technical terms and language phenomena in plain Yiddish or English our specialists may gain some adherents to their specialty and the grateful attitude of many lay Mendele members. So I say to my friends the specialists: Fartaytsh, fartaytsh! Zellig Bach 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 13 Jan 1995 03:14:10 -0500 From: branstone@aol.com Subject: National Public Mendele For those of you who are wondering what ever happened to the radio piece I am doing about Mendele - I am still working on it. Thank you to all of you who have responded to me or participated in interviews. I have a favor to ask of all of you: my computer is kaput and in the shop, so I am going without many of my documents, including my e-mail address book and many of the e-mail messages from all of you about how I can reach you when I am in Boston between Feb. 4th and 10th. Anyone who is still interested in talking to me, please zap me again with phone numbers, so that I can get in touch with you. Also, if you're reading this, could the people from the Yiddish radio show please tell me how I can get a hold of you, so that I can visit the show. Thank you very very very much! Brian Zumhagen ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.276 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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