Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.386 April 12, 1995 1) Toronto festival (Bruce Rosensweet) 2) Yiddish Panorama (Shayndel Tallan) 3) Galicja i jej dziedzictwo (Leonard Prager) 4) Mu asapru (Alan Shuchat) 5) Got fun Avrom (Jeremy Stern) 6) Dayenu (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan) 7) Correction of misquoted proverb (Morrie Feller) 8) Sholem-Aleykhem and Gogol (Louis Fridhandler) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 1995 15:55:36 -0500 From: brosen@io.org Subject: Toronto festival: Ashkenaz, a festival of new Yiddish culture Over the past two decades, Jewish artists have been returning to their European roots in search of information and inspiration. What began as a North American revival of traditional forms has blossomed into a uniquely contemporary expression, propelling Yiddish culture beyond revival into the modern world. From July 4 through 9, 1995 Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, Canada will see an unprecedented gathering of "Yiddish" performance and visual artists at the world's first public event of its kind, Ashkenaz: a festival of new Yiddish culture. Working in music, theatre, modern dance, storytelling, literature, film , visual arts, and crafts, these artists will come together for a weekend of performance, exploration and celebration of the unfolding world of Yiddish-based cultural expression. Some of the artists and performances scheduled include (subject to change): * 8 world-renowned klezmer bands including brave old world, the klezmatics, the flying bulgar klezmer band + 4, shirim * jazz artist john zorn's masada * hungarian masters of the string tradition muzsikas * a traveling jewish theatre's the last yiddish poet * singer, director and actor dora wasserman * richard teitelbaum's multi-media opera golem * michael wex/heiko lehmann theatre project god in paris * in the mother tongue: reclaiming women's voices in yiddish culture * dance exchange with liz lerman * art exhibition echoes of angels * late night cabaret of dreams * workshops and demonstrations in music, dance and crafts * poets, singers, authors, performance artists, public forums. * a myriad of hands-on activities for the whole family, including a participatory parade created by alumni of bread and puppet theatre ashkenaz is part of molson dry summer music at toronto's internationally-acclaimed lakeside performance space and cultural park, harbourfront centre. most of the performances, workshops and demonstrations will be presented free of charge. make ashkenaz a part of your summer plans. Produced in Association with Harbourfront Centre with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Ontario Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation and the Ontario Arts Council. Sponsored by Molson Breweries, Ontario Division. For more information on the festival, the public can phone the Harbourfront Centre information line: (416) 973-3000 For program (May/June) e-mail brosen@io.org. Bruce Rosensweet 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 07:28:56 -0400 (EDT) From: ctallan@epas.utoronto.ca Subject: Yiddish Panorama Those of you who are in easy distance of Toronto would really enjoy the exibition "Yiddish Panorama: 1000 Years of Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture" which is on exhibit at the Robarts Library of the University of Toronto from April 3rd to the 31st of May. Barry Walfish and his committee have filled fourteen cases with books, pictures, posters and other material all having to do with Yiddish and life in Yiddish, both in Europe and in North America. A very informative catalogue accompanies the exhibition. Shayndel Tallan 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 06 Apr 95 11:12:24 IST From: rhle302@uvm.haifa.ac.il Subject: Galicja i jej dziedzictwo I just wanted to let you know that my Galician piece has finally appeared in Polish in _Galicja i jej dziedzictwo_ Tom 2 SpoLeczen'stwo i Gospodarka, ed. ChLopecki, Helena Madurowicz-Urban'ska. Rzeszo'w: Wydawnictwo WyZszej Pedagogicznej, 1995 (L = l+/ and I've made a few other keyboard improvisations) Leonard Prager Haifa 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 10:42:49 -0400 (EDT) From: ashuchat@sallie.wellesley.edu Subject: Mu asapru (Ekhad mi yodea) Tzvantsik yor tsurik, hob ikh gekoyft a plastinke fun Theodore Bikel. Er hot dorten gezingt a lid, "Mu Asapru", vos iz "Ekhad mi Yodea" af mame-loshen. Tsuzamen mit di plastinke, di verter zenen geven geshriben in transliteratsiya un in english. Ikh hob di plastinka ober nit di verter. Es vet bolt zayn Pesakh, un ikh vil az mayne khaverim baym seder konen zingen dos lid. Efsher iz do a mendeleynik vos vayst di verter, oder vos vayst vi ikh ken zey gefinen. A guten Pesakh! (Apologies for my non-literary, kitchen Yiddish.) Alan Shuchat 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 20:32:29 -0400 (EDT) From: jstern@phoenix.princeton.edu Subject: Got fun Avrom Dovid Braun wrote that Got fun Avrom was a women's prayer in Eastern Europe and a Men's in West Europe. It seems that it was the custom of some for men, women, and children in Eastern Europe to say Got fun Avrom. The Berditchever recommended that everyone three times. Jeremy Stern 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 09:31:20 -0400 From: shirshan@aol.com Subject: Dayenu Tayere Fraynt, A zeesn Peysakh ale Mendelniks. Vifl teg hobn mir gevandert in midbar on Mendele? Volt kayn Noyekh nit gevezn, Iz kayn Mendele nit gevezn, Zenen mir ale umitik gevezn, Dayenu. In all your names, I would like to elevate Noyekh's status to CEO, as we now see he is most definitely more than a shamas extraordinaire. Ikh bin shoin vider mitn vandershtok in hant; ikh for tzu di kinder oif Peysakh, un benk shoin nokh di oysyelekh velche veln darfn vartn oif mir in computer a gantze vokh. Tzu gezunt, Noyekh and ale Mendelniks, Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan Boynton Beach, Florida [Viazoy zogt men 'aw shucks' af Idish? nm] 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 22:26:23 -0700 (MST) From: feller@pcef.pc.maricopa.edu Subject: Correction of misquoted proverb In my quoted proverb about a "poretz" (Mendel Vol. 4.381) a "lamed" was inadvertently omitted in the word "shlekhtn". The correct reference is to a "shlekhtn poretz". Sorry. Morrie Feller Phoenix 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 11 Apr 95 13:15:09 EDT From: 74064.1661@compuserve.com Subject: Sholem-Aleykhem and Gogol Borekh hashem, tsurikgekumen der shames. Shoyn a bisl oysgeheylt di krizhes iz der shames oyfgeshtanen un hot zikh genumen tsu der arbet, oyfhaltn dem lebedikn Yidish, aza sheyner arbet. Shames! Borkhabo! Nokh a vuntsh far a refue shleyme, un bald! Nu, tsurik tsu mayne spetsiele interesn. Sholem-Aleykhem! Zayn perzenlekhkayt un zayn shafn. Farvos nisht! Efsher veln di yunge un di nisht-azoy-yunge leyeners un lerners shepn a bisl fargenign, vi ikh shep fun der geshikhte vegn literatur un loshn. It was probably inevitable that given the nature of Sholem-Aleykhem's humorous disposition he should find a kindred spirit in Nikolai Gogol. That was evident in 1894 when he wrote a letter to the publisher of the Pittsburgh, Pa. Yiddish paper, Di Toyb. He asked if there was a Jewish theater in Pittsburgh and if it was possible for the theater to stage one of his plays, a comedy a la "Inspector General" by Gogol. Why Sholem-Aleykhem thought it was "a la Gogol" is not clear to me. Possibly it was because in both plays, people carrying on bureaucratic maneuvers do not know what they are doing, pretend they do, mislead and are easily misled into senseless action. Sholem-Aleykhem's play was *Yaknehoz,* printed in 1894 in Russia but confiscated by the censor due to denunciation by Kiev stock merchants who recognized themselves among the play's characters. [Forgeyer un Mittsaytler, by Nachman Meisel, New York: Ikuf Farlag, 1946, pp. 89-90.] Louis Fridhandler Irvine, CA ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.386 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. To subscribe: sub mendele first_name last_name d. 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