Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.025 June 15, 1995 1) The disparaging of Yiddish by Jews (Harvey Spiro) 2) Vegn "Denver Sanatorium" (Moises Kijak) 3) Women and Yiddish Conference (Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Jun 14 12:46:10 1995 From: hjs@nrc.gov Subject: The disparaging of Yiddish by Jews Articles in a local UJA (United Jewish Appeal) newsletter sent to my home recently make me sad about how much Jews routinely and casually contribute to the disparaging way Yiddish is perceived. Profiles of two Washington area UJA activists included photos and some personal comments about each of them, including: favorite food and "favorite Yiddish expression." Given their ages and the general state of Yiddish literacy in our community, it's likely that neither of them is a native Yiddish speaker, or even understands more than a smattering of Yiddish. In fact, it's a fair bet that, as community activists, they probably are much more familiar with Hebrew than Yiddish. Why then cite their "favorite Yiddish expression," rather than their favorite Hebrew (or English) expression? My cynical view is that it makes them sound more "heymish," connected to Jewish tradition, warmer than the impersonal Jewish Internal Revenue solicitors that UJA fundraisers are accused of being. So what did they choose? One chose the word "pushka"; the other: "Svayir suit sain i yid" (sic), fortunately translated as "It's hard to be a Jew." In my opinion,the choice of "pushke" was a cheap transparent segue to UJA's main role. I guess the business of business is business.... But my real outrage came from the mangled, shamelessly misspelled phrase, shver tsu zayn a yid. Clearly neither the gentlemen cited, nor the editors of the newsletter, gave any thought to the fact that Yiddish might have spelling rules. I'm not asking for YIVO standard here; I'm simply saying that their version is virtually unrecognizable as Yiddish except in context. I can just imagine the conversation between editor and honoree, (if it occurred at all): "Oh, go ahead, spell it any way you like. You know that there are no rules about Yiddish." Furthermore, I believe that both the decision to include "favorite Yiddish expressions, and the selections chosen, were simply cutesy, convenient vehicles to make a "soft pitch." From Salo Baron's "lachrymose approach Jewish history," it's an easy move to the "nostalgia through ignorance" approach to Yiddish. Although I have strong (admittedly irrational) feelings about Yiddish, I do not expect all my fellow Jews to treat Yiddish as either a "holy tongue" or as a fragile heirloom to be handled only with the greatest care and delicacy. I do however ask that others, _especially_ fellow Jews, treat Yiddish with the same respect afforded to any other language. Note that my intention here is not to criticize the UJA in any way except editorially; Mendele is not the place for such discussions. Harvey Spiro Vienna, Virginia 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Jun 1995 05:53:37 -0300 From: administ@kijak.recom.edu.ar Subject: Vegn "Denver Sanatorium" Tayere fraint, Mit a tsayt tsurik, hob ikh dermont Leyviks "Di balade fun Denver-sanatorim". Der fraynt Andrew Cassel hot zikh nokhgefregt vegn ot der shafung. Di balade iz gedrukt in Leyviks "Ale verk", band I, Posy Shoulson Press, New York,1940, zayt 499. Diane Rabson git tzu fil protim vegn Spivaks heyl antshtalt un vegn zayn tetikayt letoyves idish. Oyb ikh hob nisht kain toes, hot Yehoash, nokhn farendikn dem verterbukh, ongehoybn zain monumentale Tanakh iberzetzung nokh zayendik in Sanatorium. Leyvik hot mit fil yor shpeter, in 1948, ongeshribn a sonet "Oyfn keyver fun Nosn Niuman", nokhn bazukhn dem beys oylem in Denver. (Gedrukt in :"A blat oyf an eplboym",Kyum-farlag, Buenos Aires 1955, zait 247.) Ot zenen etlekhe shures fun dem sonet: "Dayn toyt hob ikh bakant gemakht durkh a balade, un mentchn hobn dikh durkh dem bakumen lib, un dokh farmayd ikh nisht tzu betn itzt fargib, far iberlozn dikh ek velt in Kolorade." Zait ale gezunt. Moises Kijak 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Jun 1995 12:55:19 -0400 From: reyzl@aol.com Subject: Women and Yiddish Conference The National Council of Jewish Women New York Section is planning the following conference in New York City: Di Froyen: Women and Yiddish: Tribute to the Past, Directions for the Future First North American conference devoted to celebrating and discussing women's contributions to the Yiddish culture of Eastern Europe and the immigrant communities of North America, and the women's current role in passing on the Yiddish cultural legacy. Conference date: October 28 and 29, 1995. Saturday evening, October 28, 8 to 10 p.m. Opening speakers, and cultural event Sunday, October 29, 9 a.m.-to 6 p.m. Panels, Workshops, Readings/Performance: "Women in Yiddish Literature" "Feminism & Yiddish Scholarship" "Storytelling: A Bilingual Presentation" "Starting a Reading Circle" "Feminist Issues in Translation" "Yiddish Women Writers Today" and more... Presenters include: Judith Baskin, Evelyn Torton Beck, Amy Beth, Shulamis Berger, Dorothy Billik, Shulamis Dion, Shifra Epstein, Frieda Forman, Beyla Schaechter Gottesman, Katherine Hellerstein, Claire Kinberg, Irena Klepfisz, Judith Mazow, Anita Norich, Norma Fain Pratt, Ellen Rifkin, Nahama Sandrow, Eve Sicular, Naomi Seidman, Paula Teitelbaum, Chava Weissler, Ruth Whitman, Sheva Zucker, and more (program in process of completion). For more information and registration material, write to: NCJW NY Section/ Jewish Women's Resource, 9 E. 69th St., NY, NY 10021; or FAX to 212-535-5909. Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.025 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) 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. To unsubscribe kholile: unsub mendele Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu ****Getting back issues**** 1. Anonymous ftp archives are available. ftp ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files A table of contents is also available, along with weekly updates. 2. Mendele archives can also be reached as follows: via WWW: http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mewais.html via gopher: gopher://sunsite.unc.edu/11/../.pub/academic/languages/yiddish/mendele via ftp: ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/academic/languages/yiddish/mendele