Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.134 October 8, 1995 1) Request info on nabbing or getting (Neil Jacobs) 2) Dialects, standards and haredim (Miriam Isaacs) 3) Shilumim (Morrie Feller) 4) Shilumim (Daniel Soyer) 5) Yiddish left (Eric Schoenbaum) 6) Preserving the third ayin in Mendele (Sholem Yafe) 7) ICOR (Henry Srebrnik) 8) Mi-ma-amakim (Mikhl Herzog) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 13:28:00 -0400 (EDT) From: njacobs@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu Subject: Request info on nabbing or getting I am asking help on the following. What is the colloquial Yiddish for "get" in the sense of "get 'em" --i.e., to grab, nab, apprehend, do away with, etc. I am looking for the way people say it, not merely the literal translation. Thanks. Neil Jacobs 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 14:13:59 -0400 (EDT) From: miriamis@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Subject: Dialects, standards and haredim Re: Arre Komar's frage in Mendele Vol 5.130 Your repeatedly unanswered question about the meaning of standard Yiddish with regard to current demographic realities, the question is indeed an excellent one. What is a standard when, as in this instance, native speakers, and especially khasidim, don't use it. It is appropriate to ask whether standard Yiddish reflects a historical need more than a present one. The small but dedicated cadre of Yiddishists certainly adhere to the standard with vigor. But, as you point out, the khasidim pay no attention. They still put out Yiddish language newpapers, using their own way of writing. They speak a variety of dialects, some of which reach back to historical European dialects and some of which are fusions yet again. The silence to your question, is, I think, possibly the silence of denial? Since Yiddishism was founded in the rejection of orthodoxy, that only the very orthodox have vibrant Yiddish speaking communities may be an unpleasant reality - but reality nonetheless. For instructing Yiddish (in Yiddish as a Second language, YSL) - the standard is as good as any, and is incorporated in the available secular language texts. However, learners then have trouble understanding Yiddish films, which are largely in the "lowbrow" dialect and who knows if they could converse with the khasidim that speak the other dialects? When I was a child in Montreal I was taught Parisian French and therefore could not communicate with my French Canadian neighbours. I later realized how offensive that must have been to them. Dialect issues are complex and emotionally charged. I have personnally had to struggle with them. As a speaker- yes, and a proud speaker, of a dialect, i face the queston when I teach Yiddish. I have taken a compromise position, explaining that I will try to accommodate the standard, which I use more for simplicity than ideology, I hear myself speaking what sounds to me like the Yiddish equivalent of an American trying to put on a British accent. It sticks in my throat. Besides which, if you ever listen to Lebedeff or Dzigan and Shumakher, much of the joy of Yiddish is in the dialects. I would recommend reconsideration of attitudes towards dialects. The time for purism - is past. I find that there are many who know Yiddish and who might speak it, but do not because of fear of making mistakes. In elevating the status of Yiddish, we must not inhibit those who might hold back with Yiddish. The cirle of the Yiddish elite is ever fewer and fewer and prescriptivism will not help efforts to keep Yiddish alive. In YSL- Yiddish as a Second Language, we should try to catch up with current ESL methodologies and think in communicative terms. This is especially true for developing Yiddish oral language. For writing, the standard does already accommodate significant dialect differences. I hope that sheds some light. Miriam Isaacs 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 11:42:05 -0700 (MST) From: feller@indirect.com Subject: Shilumim In response to Steve Jacobson (Mendele 5.132), the word "shilumim" does mean "reparations". This definition is in the Meggido Modern Dictionary, in the Hebrew-English volume. It is related to the words "shiluey" and "shilum" which mean payment or bribe. Morrie Feller Phoenix 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 07 Oct 95 19:30:44 EDT From: 74212.2700@compuserve.com Subject: Shilumim Reuben Alcalay, _The Complete Hebrew-English Dictionary_, has an entry under shilum (shin-lamed-vav-mem), defined as "reward, requital, payment; bribery." Under the subentry "shilumim," the following definition is given: "reparations (especially from Germany), reward, remuneration, retribution, restitution." An additional subentry, "shilumim mi-germanya," is defined as "German reparations." Daniel Soyer 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 18:57:44 -0500 From: eschoenb@laedu.lalc.k12.ca.us Subject: Yiddish Left My name is Eric Schoenbaum. I live in LA, teach high school history and I'm a grad student in history. I'm working on a project about the Yiddish left and want to contact some kindred souls. I grew up in that milieu in NY. My mother's teacher was Itchie Goldberg. I'd also like to get bibliographic info. Please write back at above address. thanks Eric Schoenbaum 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 7 Oct 1995 03:17:07 -0400 From: lakejaffe@aol.com Subject: Preserving the third ayin in Mendele Mir zaynen di khalyastre "Mendelyaner" --- A name to be worn with pride and honor! But--- gute khaveyrim, lomir zikh bentshn, Un zikh rufn---gants poshet---"Mendele-Mentshn"! Sholem Yafe 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 07 Oct 1995 16:45:25 -0300 (ADT) From: hsrebrnik@upei.ca Subject: ICOR I am currently researching the American Jewish organization known as the ICOR, which flourished in Canada amnd the United States between the mid-1920s and 1950. It was a Communist-led movement, comprised largely of first-generationJews and it supported the ill-fated Soviet project to establish a so-called Jewish republic in Birobidzhan, in the far east of the USSR. Would anyone know where I might obtain their literature or other documents? I have already read a number of issues of their bilingual (English-Yiddish) magazine Nayleben, published in the 1930s and 1940s. Henry Srebrnik 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 7 Oct 95 18:59 EDT From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: Mi-ma-amakim I'm somewhat behind in my reading and have only now gotten to the _Forward_ of Sept 29. Better I shoulda skipped it. Page 14. "With Kerouac and Yazierska on the Boardwalk" by Lisa Lipkin: _"Er mentch drakht un gut lakht"_. If ever there were a case of _shraybn Noyekh mit zibn grayzn_ this is it. _Im ba-arazim nafla shalhevet_ what hope is there for the rest of us? Is no one minding the store? Whence will our salvation come? Philologus, where are _you_ when we really need you? Mikhl Herzog ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.134