Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.277 January 16, 1995 1) The latest from Buenos Aires (Zachary Baker) 2) Kenen un konen (Peter Kluehs) 3) Einstein (Peter Kluehs) 4) Einstein (Harold L. Orbach ) 5) Yerushalayim (Kayle Goodman) 6) A correction (Zellig Bach) 7) A shayle far noyekh (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan) 8) Jews and Poles in Krakow (Sean Martin) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 13 Jan 95 13:02:47 PST From: bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu Subject: The latest from Buenos Aires On Friday morning the President of the Argentine YIVO, Moishe Korin, visited YIVO in New York, and gave us a bit of an update on the situation in Buenos Aires, since my visit there in late November. In a week or two, groundbreaking is expected to take place for the reconstruction of the AMIA building at Pasteur 633. The Foreign Minister of Israel, Shimon Peres, has been invited to attend. The building will be recessed from the street and will be somewhat taller than the one that was bombed; it will also have cosiderably greater security than it did before July 18th. Construction is due to last about a year-and-a-half. YIVO-BA is to be allotted from one-and-a-half to two floors in the new AMIA building, which will house all of the agencies that were in the old building -- and not just the cultural agencies, as previously reported. Meanwhile, the surviving archives have been moved to the Kultur-kongres building (YIVO-BA and the Kultur- kongres merged in mind-1993), while the books remain stored in a synagogue basement near the AMIA. Prof. Korin also left a brochure containing a proposal for the conservation of the artworks that were damaged by the explosion. I have spoken with several people in the Jewish museum field, and there is some interest in a small traveling exhibit, which would display selected paintings by Maurice Minkowski (the best-known painter represented in the YIVO-BA's collections) along with photographs and text panels depicting the bombing and its aftermath. Zachary Baker 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 13 Jan 1995 19:00:00 +0200 From: pete@pko.rhein-main.de Subject: Kenen un konen in mayn kleyn Duden-verterbukh, dos vort 'kenen' badayt in daytsh kennen (english=to know) oder koennen (english=to be able). es iz ober oykh faran in dem bukh dos vort 'konen' mitn daytshn taytsh koennen. efsher kent ir mir derklern, tsi me nutst 'kenen' oykh inem sin fun konen (to be able)? in di yidishe mendele posten leyen ikh tsen mol *ikh ken* un nor eyn mol *ikh kon* ven emetser vil zogn: I can or I am able to!?! men zet oykh oftmol 'ikh hob gekent' inem badayt 'I was able to'. volt es nisht geven beser *ikh hob gekont*? mistome s'iz a frage fun dialektn? peter kluehs 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 13 Jan 1995 19:00:00 +0200 From: pete@pko.rhein-main.de Subject: Einstein tsu dem vits fun leon lipson darf ikh tsugebn epes vos ikh hob es gefunen inem FIDO-net. dortn shraybt men an _origin_ vi di letste shure fun a briv. lemoshl: wenn Einstein albert, kruemmt sich der Raum <=> az Einstein iz narish, es krimt zikh der roym. (dos daytshe vort albern badayt: makhen oder zogn narishkaytn) efsher gefint ir azelkhe adages oder glaykhvertlekh in mame-loshn, vos men volt gekont zey tsugebn vi a PS unter di mendele-briv? peter kluehs 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 13 Jan 95 17:51 CST From: hlorbach@ksuvm Subject: Einstein-Relativity/Explaining the Exotic In Mendele 4,272, Leon Lipson recounted a version of the Yiddish joke about the college-educated son, Einstein and relativity, with the end-lines: > "Ah-ha? Und fun azelkhen narrishkaiten klaibt Einstein parnosseh?" I recall the parallel verison that ends with a different punch-line: "Ah-ha? Und fun das makst a yid a lebn?" Harold L. Orbach 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 13 Jan 1995 10:51:53 -0800 From: ac939@lafn.org Subject: Yerushalayim Tayere Fraynt--Ikh hob amol gehat di verter fun dem lid "Yerushalayim, Shtot Fun Gold" un ikh hob shoyn ibergekert beynk un tish ober ikh ken zey nisht gefunen. Efsher ken emetser mir aroyshelfn mit di verter. Kayle Goodman 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 13 Jan 1995 07:55:07 -0500 From: zellig@aol.com Subject: A correction I hasten to publish, with apologies, the following correction: In my posting "The Honorific Reb" (4.269,6) the statement "...khashmenoim, after Bar Kokhba and his five sons who led the revolt against the Roman authorities..." should read: "khashmenoim, the Maccabees father and five sons who led the revolt against the Greeks..." I greatly regret the error. I have learned from all my teachers, and (I hope) from all my mistakes. Zellig Bach 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 14 Jan 1995 12:18:37 -0500 From: shirshan@aol.com Subject: A shayle far noyekh Discovering Mendele last month was a homecoming for me; the past flows into the present, filling me with memories of merry-making at the Purim seudah, of the awesome Peysakh seder, of the pilpl of Arbeter Ringniks who were ever talkative, ever debating. Mendele is the Yiddishe shule where Adele Opatashu, Yankov Levine, N.B. Minkoff, Bez and Yefroiken, all stretched our minds, touched our hearts and enriched our souls. We gave them our Saturdays and Sundays to fill with the magic of mame loshn and idealism and social justice. All for Mame Yiddish that we had sucked in along with our mother's milk. A hartzikn dank aykh ale Mendelniks who are the mortar and bricks of this network, this new sturdy shule. Some thoughts about the network to share with you: As a timorous newcomer, I am apprehensive about posting my thoughts (or questions) about usage or transliteration, as I think that perhaps they have been discussed, dissected, or disputed and put to bed in the past. And who wants to be redundant or a nudnik? (Do I speak for other new kids on the block?) Also, I wonder is there a way to call up the introductions (or short bios) of the Mendelyaner? (A shayle for Noyekh?) So many names posted are familiar, yet all remain phantoms. For a start, I marvel at the beautiful prose and sensitivity of Louis Fridhandler, at the knowledgeability of Zellig Bach, at the deep, immediate responses of Mikhl Herzog, David Braun, Mendy Fliegler, Harvey Spiro, Moshe Waldoks, and all of you (wish I could name you all), whose love of Yiddish, of words, make Mendele the wondrous home that it is. It would enhance the words and concepts exchanged to know the name, rank and serial number of the contributor. Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan [Omer hashames, zogt der shames: makhtese, take a nishkoshediker plan! Gut volt geveyn ven a frayviliker zol farkatchen di arbl un tsunoyfshteln a ver-iz-der-doziker (bl"z who's who).] 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 14 Jan 1995 14:36:19 -0500 (EST) From: semartin@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: Jews and Poles in Krakow I'm beginning a research project on relations between Jews and Poles in Krakow during the interwar period. Since there seems to have been more assimilation in Krakow than in other Polish cities, I thought Krakow might be a good place to look for such interaction. Does anyone know of anyone with firsthand knowledge of Krakow during this period (1918-1939) or of memoirs that might be relevant? According to one article I've read (by Czeslaw Brzoza in the most recent issue of Polin, a journal devoted to the study of Polish Jews), the Jewish press in Krakow was predominantly in the Polish language. What does this mean for the status of Yiddish in Krakow? How important was Krakow to Yiddish literature? Perhaps largely because of its ties to Austria, Krakow doesn't seem to have been as important for Yiddish writers as other Polish cities like Warsaw and Lodz, but surely there must be references to Krakow in Yiddish literature. Does anybody know of any? Sean Martin ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.277 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. 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