Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.037 July 5, 1995 1) Tales of Yiddish elves (Roberta Saltzman) 2) Yiddish study opportunities in Connecticut (Daniella HarPaz) 3) National Public Mendele, the Saga Continues (Zelig Zumhagen) 4) Yiddish perpetuation (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan) 5) Translation (Jason Payne) 6) Lakhn mit yashtsherkes/fardreyen die yotzres (Mottel Lakin) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri Jun 30 18:56:28 GMT 1995 From: rsaltzma@yalevm.cis.yale.edu Subject: Tales of Yiddish elves In Mendele 5.036 Howard Lenhoff asks for tales of Yiddish elves, or shretelekh. There's an I.B. Singer story called "A mayse vegn shretelekh un grilen" that was published in the Forverts on Oct. 12, 1967, pages 2 and 5. It was translated into English as "Tsirtsur & Peziza" in "Stories for children." Roberta Saltzman New York, NY 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 15:54:50 -0500 (EST) From: harpaz@binah.cc.brandeis.edu Subject: Yiddish study opportunities in Connecticut I am inquiring for a friend who will be a student at Wesleyan in Conn. Does anyone know of opportunities for studying Yiddish around there? Please respond to me personally. A sheynem dank. Daniella HarPaz 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 30 Jun 1995 18:04:07 -0400 From: branstone@aol.com Subject: National Public Mendele, the Saga Continues Back in February and March, I conducted a series of interviews with Mendelniks in Boston and San Francisco for a planned public radio feature story (I would once again like to thank all who participated). For those of you who have been wondering what happened, I regret to report that, so far, my attempts to pitch the piece to NPR have not been wildly successful. As a result, I put the project on the back burner for a while, but now plan to wrap it up while I am in New York for the Uriel Weinreich summer program. If any of you Mendelyaner out there in the greater Gotham area (I am willing to wade into deepest Jersey if necessary) would be willing to do a taped interview with me about why you love mame-loshn and Mendele, please send me a personal e-mail or call me at (201) 217-9577. It's a lot of fun, and I would appreciate your participation. A sheynem dank, Brian (Zelig) Zumhagen Hoboken, New Jersey 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 1 Jul 1995 09:10:06 -0400 From: shirshan@aol.com Subject: Yiddish perpetuation What can we do for tomorrow? Harvey Spiro, my first friend on Mendele and my Viener Gaon, advised me "to get in the fray as it is short for freylekh". Mendele _is_ more rewarding when you're in the fray, but so is everything dealing with Yiddish. Instead of wading in the mire of Glatshteyn's depressive "viglid far zkeynim vos tsekayen ayngeveykte khale," how about making a shibboleth from Leyvik's Eybik: "Ikh heyb zikh oyf vider un shpan avek vayter"? Washington with its Yiddish clubs and activists should be fertile ground for parents (or a parent, it only takes one!) to create a little shule for youngsters to get together on week-ends or after school once, twice a week 'far a por lidelekh, di oysyelekh, zatzn, poemelekh oif mameloshn.' Maybe while the parents are at a leyenkreiz, etc. It could begin in someone's home or wherever Yiddish meetings are held now. Fishl must have a teacher or two in his giant bag of Yiddishists. Thirty-two years ago, pregnant, I felt all the emotions Harvey describes. I too wanted to be ready to transmit the beloved goldene keyt to my children. The Arbeter Ring had filled me with many of its riches; I had loved going to shule as a child. I called their New York office and Yosl Mlotek, at that time the Assistant Educational Director, was eager and motivating in helping me to create and organize a new shule. It was hard work, but we found a few more lovers of Yiddish (we're dear friends to this day). We started "in Brooklyn in a shtibl on vent un on a dakh", overcame "di noyt" and grew to be the largest shule in New York City. With all the love of Yiddish, the innate ability and intelligence we feel sparking from Vienna, maybe a little publicity in a local paper would unearth a new group that would get in the fray and give us a tomorrow. Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan North Conway, New Hampshire 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 1 Jul 1995 09:35:12 -0400 (EDT) From: jmpayne@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: Translation I have been intrigued by the discussion on translation and the creation of a special program which will do the work for us. It seems to me that this idea is premised on a misunderstanding of what translation is, as if to translate is to merely exchange a Yiddish word for its English counterpart. I would argue that the act of translation encompasses much more than this; there are a whole slew of linguistic, cultural, and literary problems which are implicit in the translatory act. It is not likely that any single program would be able to compensate for the many nuances a text presents. Indeed, we as translators probably also miss many of these same nuances, but I daresay we catch more than a simple program would. I find translation a terribly difficult thing, but also one of the most rewarding. To render Rabinovitsh or Perets or Singer in an English version which conveys the social/cultural/literary sense intended is quite an achievement indeed. It takes time, patience, and hard work. It's disappointing that so many would prefer to rely on a computer to do the work instead. Jason Payne 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 3 Jul 1995 15:24:49 -0400 (EDT) From: mlakin@acpub.duke.edu Subject: Lakhn mit yashtsherkes/fardreyen die yotzres A folks interpretation. In response to Norman Savitt's query [5.035] I can well l recall my folks's use of the first expression to convey the idea that the "gelekhter" was actually painful, that is that it was not a "fun" experience and that one would actually not ultimately enjoy the situation; one does not enjoy the experience of bitterness. The second, which I don't believe was unique to them, but I haven't heard of others using, involves mixing somebody up so that he/she doesn't know one yetzer (impulse) from another. As I recall it was frequently used in arguments when one got fed up with the assertions or the demands of the other. Finally, a point made in reference to the denigration of Yiddish. Self contempt is hardly new for Jews and it found one form of expression in loathing for the language spoken by one's fellow Jews, particularly in the surge for Americanization in this country, or in rejection of the OstJuden in turn of the century Vienna. What will be ---Vos vet zayn vayter? Got veys! One hopes and one lives with one's own identity issues. (Anyway, I understand that the situation with Ladino is far worse!) Martin (Mottel) Lakin ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.037 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. 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