Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.179 November 30, 1995 1) A Wartime Song from Israel (Ethan Minovitz) 2) Sol Liptzin (Joseph Sherman) 3) Morris Rosenfeld's "Yiddish" (Hershl Hartman) 4) A vertl (David Herskovic) 5) Help needed with transcription (Daniel Bugel) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Nov 1995 04:30:28 EST From: clvm21a@prodigy.com Subject: A Wartime Song from Israel Indeed, the Six-Day War song "Nasser Mechakeh L'Rabin" has its origins -- the music, if not the lyrics! -- in a bawdy Yiddish tune. By way of introduction, a version of "Nasser Mechakeh L'Rabin" (sung by the Doodaim) appears on the Hed-Arzi compilation album "Jerusalem of Gold: Songs of the Six Days [sic] War." According to the liner notes, a "folk tune was used by Haim Heffer for his song 'Nasser Waits for Rabin,' which helped keep spirit high during the battles." But an earlier tune -- with the same music and even the ai-ai-ais ending each line -- can be found in an innocuous-looking French 78, released on the Saturne label (just after World War II, from the looks of it) and with two sides of Yiddish "folklore arranged and interpreted" by "S. Berland et son orchesare" (orchestre is French for orchestra; I'm not sure what orchesare refers to specifically). Both sides feature an unidentified male vocalist and chorus; possibly the lead singer is S. Berland himself. The A-side is a slow version of "Yidl Mitn Fidl" (as it's spelled on the disc). The B-side, and the inspiration for the Six-Day War song: "Der Rebe Mit Di Schikse." Three guesses as to what it's about! The vocals are in a heavy "Poylish" accent -- so thick that a Yiddish- speaking colleague, whose parents are from Poland, has trouble distinguishing the words (my folks are of Litvish background, so forget it). Some lines I can recognize, though. The Rebe is "mit a shikse tsvishn boimer/un [ohn?] a shames, nur a shoimer." He is discovered: "Macht der shammes a grois gevalt...ai-ai-ai!" Later, the Chassidim pronounce: "Der Rebe's hois iz gevoren trayfer" (the rabbi's house has become traif). However, the Rebe has the last word. "Enfert der Rebe mit a shmeykhl ponim" (the rabbi, with a smile on his face, answers) that "ma shikse hob och alle males" (I believe this means that "my shikse has all virtues). He concludes, apparently, that one shouldn't ask too many "shales." As I co-host a Jewish radio program in Vancouver, British Columbia, I have been sorely tempted to play this on air! However, my "yetzer hara" has so far been dissuaded by -- among others -- my parents and my Yiddish-speaking colleague (who also co-hosts the show). They're not sure of the exact lyrics, but the title is enough to convince them that the words aren't exactly kosher. So far, I have avoided temptation...but Purim may provide me with an excuse to play "Der Rebe Mit Der Schikse"! BTW, my dad tells me that many years ago, somebody did play some blue and bawdy Yiddish songs on a radio program in his native Saskatchewan. Nobody complained, as even some of the older folks, who might have found them objectionable, didn't want to "maser" (fink) on a fellow Jew. The disk came from the collection of my late aunt and uncle (her husband) in Saskatoon, Sask. Wonder how they got it? Ethan Minovitz Vancouver, B.C. 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 29 Nov 1995 07:31:09 GMT + 2:00 From: 071jos@muse.arts.wits.ac.za Subject: Sol Liptzin Although I did not have the privilege to know Professor Liptzin personally, I know his published work well. Of especial importance to us in South Africa is the fact that, in consequence of several vsisits here, he became intimately familar with the small but important body of South African literature in Yiddish. He was a close personal friend of all our most importnat writers in poetry, prose and cultural history. Liptzin devoted an imprtant chapter to South African Yiddish writing in his book *The Maturing of Yiddish Literature*, which accorded to South Afrrican Yiddish its rightful place in the history and development of Yiddish creativity. Liptzin's precis of the range and quality of South Africa Yiddish literature is of necessity both descriptive and somewhat cursory, but to date it remains the single most important published international recognition of the considerable achievement of Yiddish artists in our country. Liptzin's chapter and its critical comments opens areas for fuller investigation, and calls attention to those significant features of South African Yiddish writing that distinguish it and make it a unique contribution. All of us working in the field of Yiddish studies here mourn his loss and honour his memory. Joseph Sherman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 29 Nov 1995 13:15:06 -0500 From: hershl@aol.com Subject: Morris Rosenfeld's "Yiddish" In addition to the text source given by various respondents (Vol. 5.165), an excellent English translation by Max Rosenfeld (no relation) appeared in "Morris Rosenfeld: Selections From His Poetry and Prose," Yiddisher Kultur Farband, NY, 1964. The first verses are rendered: "You ask if Yiddish is a tongue grammatical and polished? One thing only I affirm-- The Jewish tongue is Yiddish. I do not study words to seek some origin or other. I only know I love my speech, the language of my mother." Hershl Hartman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 29 Nov 95 16:15:41 EST From: 100114.750@compuserve.com Subject: A vertl Allow me to share a vertl I recently heard. es iz nisht do aza klakhe zakh vi a krime layter in es iz nisht do aza krime zakh vi a glakh vort. There is nothing as straight as a crooked (slanting) ladder and there is nothing as crooked as a straight word. David Herskovic 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 01:28:13 +0000 From: ind1116@nic.inbe.net Subject: Transcription Sorry for intruding into your mailing list, and for doing it in English. I do understand much of Yiddish, but I do neither speak nor write it. I happen to be working on a translation of a biography of Isaac Bashevis Singer from Hebrew into Dutch. I am talking about the biography written by his son Israel Zamir. There are some things which I have to render in the Latin alphabet, which refer to certain persons or places probably known to part of my future readers, which would make me look stupid if I just transcribed them. I hope some of you will be able to come up with answers to some of my questions without going through to much trouble. For example, Is someone familiar with a Jewish restaurant somewhere in Manhattan called Steinberg? Or perhaps Sztajnberg? It's the spelling of the name I need to know... Or his brother, also a Yiddish-language writer... In the Hebrew text his name is Yehoshua Yisrael Singer, but I need the name he used in the States. Does anybody know whether he wrote his name as Joshua, or in a transcription of the Yiddish pronunciation unknown to me, or elsewise? And what about his family name? The book is full of such things, _real_ things from Jewish New York, Poland an Israel. I am more familiar with the latter two, perhaps you could help me with the first. I do not know whether an English translation of the book exists. If it does, the name would be something like "Journey to my Father". If anyone has it or could give me the bibliographical details, most of my problems might be solved at once. Thanks a lot in advance. Daniel Bugel ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.179