Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.348 March 2, 1995 1) The writer Lazar Treister (Aaron Hershkowitz) 2) A Hebrew-Yiddish Puzzle (Miriam Isaacs) 3) A Hebrew-Yiddish Puzzle (Zvi Lipkin) 4) Skotsl kumt nokh amol (Ruben Frankenstein) 5) Skotsl kumt (Refoyl Finkel) 6) Vilna ghetto library rules (Zachary Baker) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 00:36:59 -0500 (EST) From: ahershko@aecom.yu.edu Subject: The writer Lazar Treister A friend of the family has asked me to find out about the Yiddish writer Lazar Treister. Does any of the Mendele khevere know about him? I would appreciate hearing any particulars. A dank voraus. Aaron Hershkowitz 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 10:56:08 -0500 (EST) From: miriamis@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Subject: A Hebrew-Yiddish Puzzle In reply to Zvi Lipkin's puzzle on Hebrew Yiddish [Vol. 4.333]. I believe one of the words must be khokhem, which means, in modern Hebrew, a wise man and in Yiddish into modern Hebrew, a wise guy, khukhim, with the stress on the first vowel. Sholom Aleichem might be the others. Miriam Isaacs 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 02 Mar 95 09:27:35 IST From: rhle302@uvm.haifa.ac.il Subject: A Hebrew-Yiddish Puzzle [This first appeared in Vol. 4.333. The answer follows.] ***** A woman who speaks both Hebrew and Yiddish answers the telephone. The call is for her husband who is resting and also speaks both languages. To alert him and be sure that he understands, she calls him simultaneously in both languages. Her message is understandable and appropriate in both languages, but the words and their meanings are completely different. What did she say? She said, "Kum aher!" (_kum aher!_ 'Come here!' = Yiddish; _kum maher!_ (Literally: 'Arise quickly!'; i.e. 'Come here!' = Hebrew (where the two words run together in normal speech). Zvi Lipkin 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 15:02:10 +0100 (MEZ) From: frankens@mibm.ruf.uni-freiburg.de Subject: Skotsl kumt nokh amol Harkavi meynt az es iz do an alte hash`ore az _skotsl_ iz fargreyzung fun "Gots vilen" un az froyen vern azoy bagrist vayl zey zogn in di brokhes "She`osani kirtsono" (instead of the male "shelo osani isho" but Sigmund Wolf gives all the variants which show the etymology. Ir vilt visen fun vanen es nemt zakh dos vort "skotsl kumt"? Vel ikh aykh dartseylen a mayse, vet ir visn. Amol hobn di vayber gemakht a bunt, vos alsding af der velt hobn di mener: ale mitsves muzn mkayem zayn di mener, aliyes krign di mener, alsding mener. Un di vayber iz gornit, me kukt gor nit af zey. Hobn zey zakh tsuzamengekliben, un zey hobn gevelt zakh klogen farn Rebeynesheleylom. Iz vi tut men? Hobn zey gepaskent zey zoln zakh shtelen eyne af der anderer, azey heykh bis di eybershte zol dargreykhen in himel arayn. Hot men gemakht a grub in der erd, un me hot genumen a heykerdike idene, un me hot ir arayngelegt mit dem heyker in grub. Un di andere vayber hot men arufgeleygt eyne af der anderer. Tsu`eybersht iz arufgegangen eyne a idene, vos hot geheysen Skotsl (a nomen aza!), vayle zi hot gekent gut reyden un iz geven a kluge idene, hot men gevelt, zi zol geyn reydn mit Got. Kolzman di vayber zanen gekrokhen eyne af der anderer, iz gegangen gut. Un vi Skotsl hot zakh arufgekhapt afn shpits, hot di heykerte zakh darlangt a drey, un vifel es iz geven vayber eyne af der anderer, zanen zey ale aropgefalen. Iz dokh gevoren a rash, men hot genumen zukhen eyne di tsveyte. Ober Skotsl iz farfalen gevoren, un me hot zi nit gekent gefinen. Iz keyner nit geven, ver es zol kenen reydn mit Got, zanen di vayber gebliben azey vi zey zanen geven, un alts iz gebliben ba di mener. Ober di vayber hoben nokh di hofenung nit farloren, un yeder mol, ven es kumt arayn a idene in shtub, freyt men zakh, vayl me meynt, az dos iz efsher Skotsl. Dariber zogt men: "Skotsl kumt". Dos kent ir gefinen bay Immanuel Olsvanger`s "Rozinkes mit Mandlen" Nr. 364. Nr. 365 iz di darklerung funm glaykhvertl "Nisht geshteygen, nisht gefleygen". Zayt mir ale gezunt! Ruben Frankenstein 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 11:03:29 -0500 From: raphael@cs.engr.uky.edu Subject: Skotsl kumt nokh a bavayz: in itsik mangers 'mgilas ester' zet akhashveres, in kholem, zayn vayb vashti (toyt shoyn eyn yor), un zi bagrist im mit, "skotsl kumt, mayn man!". Refoyl Finkel 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 2 Mar 95 07:30:22 PST From: bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu Subject: Vilna ghetto library rules As a follow-up to last week's posting on the arrival of YIVO's archives from Vilna, there is a fairly detailed article in the March 3rd issue of the English "Forward," in which some of the more striking initial finds are listed. The article is not bylined, but I believe that it was written by Masha Leon. For us, the most amazing document is a list of rules and regulations, in Yiddish, for use of the Vilna ghetto library. The list is dated July 1942 and signed by the library director, Herman Kruk (whose Vilna ghetto diary was published by YIVO in Yiddish in the early 1960s; an English translation is due to appear in the not-too-distant future). Zachary Baker ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.348 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. 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