Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.390 April 18, 1995 1) Leyvick's 1957 speech/essay (Sara Horowitz) 2) Tundele (Mathis Chazanov) 3) Haggada songs (Marcia Gruss Levinsohn) 4) Hern a yidishn vort (Alan Shuchat) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 14:35:33 -0400 (EDT) From: srh@strauss.udel.edu Subject: Leyvick's 1957 speech/essay I have in my files an English translation of a speech (and perhaps an essay) which Howe/Greenberg refer to in their volume on Yiddish poetry. Beyond identifying it as a talk delvered at a writers conference in Jerusalem and quoting a paragraph, Howe does not give any more particulars about the essay. The copy in my files is a photocopy, similarly without citation or source, but the photocopy is clearly from a publication (rather than a typescript). I would love some help in tracking down this piece, both in Yiddish and in English. The essay begins by stating that the author is now 70 years old, and looks back on a day when he was 7 during which four traumatic and formative things happened to him: He is hit by a brutish Pole in front of a church, he learns in heder about the akedah, he sees a madman, and he wounds his tongue on a frozen pipe. Does this ring any bells for anyone? Sara Horowitz 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 13:50:51 -0700 (PDT) From: chazanov@news.latimes.com Subject: Tundele a nice russian immigrant friend uses this version to tickle our kids. she thinks it's folklore: (first you rub the palm and say) soroka-vorona magpie-crow kashu varila she cooked kasha detechok kormila. and fed her children. (then you bend down one finger at a time, starting with the pinkie, saying with each) etomu dala she gave to this one etomu dala she gave to this one etomu dala she gave to this one etomu dala she gave to this one (now grab the thumb and give the hand a shake) a etomu nye dala she didn't give to this one on lyentai he's lazy on vles nye khodil he didn't go to the forest drova nye rubil he didn't chop wood i kashu nye varil and he didn't cook kasha (tickle the inside of the wrist) zdyes kolodetz here's a well (tickle the inside of the elbow) zdyes krinitsa here's a drinking bowl (tickle the armpit) zdyes kholodnaya voditsa! and here's some cold water! (all parties collapse in laughter) a koshern pesah alemen Mathis Chazanov 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 17:49:49 -0400 (EDT) From: mashinke@wam.umd.edu Subject: Haggada songs A gezuntn un zisn Peysekh tsu ale. mit alemen bin ikh zeyer tsufridn as Zellig Bach un undzer shames, Noyekh zaynen gezunt gevoren. mir hobn gebenkt nokh aykh. Mikhl Herzog fregt vegn Yidishe lider fun di Hagode. Mayn Tate, a likhtikn gan-eydn zol er hobn, flegt zingen zey bay undzer Seyder un ikh hob eyn dokhter vos zingt nor dem ershtn ferz fun "chad gadyo" un di andere viln endikn undzer Seyder. ikh meyn az s'iz sheyn ober zey zogn, "genug iz genug," mit a shmeykhl. di kinder hobn es gelernt in der Chaim Weitzmann Yiddish/Hebrew shule do in Silver Spring yorn tsurik. es gefint zikh af der Arbeter-Ring disk, Gut Yom-Tev Kinder mit Eliyohu Hanovi un dayeynu. _kh'hob far aykh a maysele_ khad gad--yo, khad gad-yo kh'hob far aykh a maysele, a maysele gor sheyn. der tate hot a tsigele gekoyft far tsvey gildeyn. a tsigele, a vaysinke, a sheyninke vi gold, un tsvey gildeyn mezumene hot er far ir batsolt khad gadyo! iz dokh in hoyf a kats geven, a mazik, vi bavust; hot ketslen zikh fartsukn gor dos tsigele farglust. derzen hot es hintele, fardrist es im gants shtark, er varft zikh af der beyzer kats un bayst ir ayn in kark. khad gadyo! Kumt shtekele in kas arayn untrakht gor nit keyn sakh, un shbalt dos kepl hintelen -- du, hunt, s'iz nit dayn zakh! tseflakert hot zikh fayerl far kas tsunter royt: du shtekele, du flekele, ikh makh dir bald a toyt. khad gadyo! gut yomtev, gut yor, Marcia Gruss Levinsohn 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Apr 1995 15:58:39 -0400 (EDT) From: ashuchat@wellesley.edu Subject: Hern a yidishn vort Moshe Waldok's post about Aramaic used the phrase "ken men hern dortn a yidishn vort," which reminds me of a joke my father told me. A politician, was addressing a crowd on the Lower East Side. He spoke in English, and every so often a heckler would shout out "red yidish!" This went on for a while, and the speaker finally got hot under the collar and yelled "sharrop!" The heckler replied, "Oi, 'siz gut zu hern a yidishn vort." Alan Shuchat ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.390 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. 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