Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.364 March 12, 1995 1) Vilna YIVO Archives (Gaston L. Schmir) 2) Another bilingual coincidence? (Alison Bert) 3) Bi-lingual coincidence (Morrie Feller) 4) Poet and poem query (Hershl Hartman) 5) Sholem-Aleykem's opinion of his style (Louis Fridhandler) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 10:21:47 -0500 (EST) From: glschm@minerva.cis.yale.edu Subject: Vilna YIVO Archives As an enthusiastic and long-time supporter of YIVO, I have been following with great interest the recent postings on this list re the almost miraculously rediscovered YIVO archives in Lithuania. I find it dismaying that the original materials are considered to be "on loan" to YIVO and will have to be eventually returned to Vilna (pardon me, to Vilnius). I may be unrealistically naive, but couldn't a legal challenge be made as to the ownership of this material? One might have expected that the collapse of the communist regimes would be accompanied by the re-establishment of some of the pre-World War II rules governing the ownership of private property. In 1947, the U.S. State Department recognized YIVO in New York as the legitimate heir to the Vilna YIVO collections found in Germany following the defeat of the Nazis (see News of the YIVO, March 1951). Now, it is likely that the Lithuanian authorities are not as well-disposed to the New York YIVO as was the U.S. Department of State, but it should be mentioned that additional YIVO materials were recovered later from Vienna despite the decidedly uncooperative attitude of the Austrian officials (News of the YIVO, July 1957). I find it difficult to believe that Lithuania could make a credible claim to ownership of the YIVO collections. I am no lawyer, however, and, as the old saying goes: "possession [is] the strongest tenure of the law". I suppose that YIVO does not wish to jeopardize the access to the materials gained after lengthy and delicate negotiations, and copies are much better than nothing, but I sure would like to see these literary "She'erit Hapletah" reunited with their brethren. Gaston L. Schmir 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 11:36:52 -0500 (EST) From: abert@mailbox.syr.edu Subject: Another bilingual coincidence? The word "arriba" in Spanish means "above." Doesn't the word "ariber" in Yiddish have similar meanings? Alison Bert 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 10:38:11 -0700 (MST) From: feller@pcef.pc.maricopa.edu Subject: Bi-lingual coincidence Varda Novick's gentle correction (4.358) of my Spanish phrase was not unexpected, but its form was. I had already been told by a member of my Yiddish leyenkrayz that the Spanish word "aqui" means "here", not "where (donde)". So the correct translation of "aqui esta una mesa" is: "Here is a table." Varda's comments show that it is not unusual to have more than one way of asking the same question. I hope that the bi-lingual coincidence has been "saved". Morrie Feller Phoenix 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 13:35:04 -0500 From: hershl@aol.com Subject: Poet and poem query Dovid Moishe Goldstein's 99-year-old dad (er zol zikh eltern in eysher un in koved!) can find other verses of the song he remembers in Ruth Rubin's "A Treasury of Jewish Folksong," where its title is given as "Chatskele, Chatskele" (khatskele, of course). Mendelyanishe musikologn will probably confirm or revise Ruth's conclusion that this is an anonymous folk tune. Hershl Hartman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 10 Mar 95 17:55:07 EST From: 74064.1661@compuserve.com Subject: Sholem-Aleykem's opinion of his style At the early age of 27 Sholem-Aleykhem had already been a popular writer of "zhargon" for about three years. His style was still developing but he had some definite opinions about where his strength lay. Ravnitski was a critic whose opinion was highly valued among Jewish writers. I find it riveting to catch a glimpse of the developing style of such an icon of the Yiddish world. Ravnitski, invited Sholom Aleichem in early 1886 to write something for Der Veker to stir love for Zion in Jewish hearts. "Po zakazu" is Russian. Sholem-Aleykhem wrote: Ikh volt aykh nisht gezhalevet For you I would not be stingy in keyn drames, satirishe epizodn, furnishing dramas, satirical humoristishe romantshiklekh, vignettes, humorous novellas, shtekhndike nodlen, baysndike piercing needles, stinging gnats, fliglekh, u.z.v., u.z.v. [un zo etc. etc. But then you offer me vayter]. Vos zhe, az ir git mir publication conforming to _your_ a zhurnal nokh _ayer_ gust un taste, and you ask me to _write_. heyst mir _shraybn_ - - - arbetn Working "made according to order" "po zakazu" toyg af kapores - - - is good for the garbage. I can't ikh kon nit heysn yenem gloybn advise another to believe in what dort vu ikh gloyb aleyn zeyer I myself have scant faith. I vintsik - - - ikh vil azoy az want your idea to be embraced no ayer idee zol ongenumen vern nit less than you, but what can I do vintsiker fun aykh, vos zol ikh if I know my people, the children ober tun az ikh kon mayn folk of Israel, so very well that I yisroel azoy shtark az ikh kon can not believe that, deep in nisht gloybn er zol dos nemen their hearts, they will fully tsum hartsn. accept it. Sholem-Aleykhem then ended the long letter with the following. It contains Russian words, sposobne and seriozne. Ikh bin iberal nit sposobne tsu I have, by and large, no talent for keyn seriozne roman. Zeyt ir, any serious novel. You see, to shpetn, oyslakhn, khoyzek makhn, mock, ridicule, laugh away, crawl araynkrikhn yenem in di gergeres under people's skins, yet deliver un fundestvegn tsushteln dem pleasure to the reader, and make lezer fargenign az er zol mikh him also like me as I heap scorn, far mayn khoyzek makhn oykh lib for that, you see, I'm a bit of a hobn - zeyt ir ot deroyf bin ikh devil, a past master, all you a mazik, a khvat, vifl ir vilt! could want. Can I be blamed that Vos bin ikh shuldik az in yeder in everything, in every person I zakh un in yedn mentshn derzey promptly see the _worst_ side? ikh bald di _ergste_ zayt? Louis Fridhandler ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.364 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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