Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.234 January 25, 1996 1) Haredi Yiddish (Michael Shimshoni) 2) Jewish balalaikas (Eynekh Sapoznik) 3) Badkhonim (Sarah Benor) 4) Yiddish in English (Berel Leiser) 5) Yidish zol blaybn gezunt un shtark (Peter Kluehs) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Jan 96 15:46:26 +0200 From: mash@weizmann.weizmann.ac.il Subject: Yiddish use by the haredim In 5.217 Steve Jacobson asked about the use of Yiddish among the haredim in America and Israel, especially in comparison with their use of English or Hebrew respectively. I can only give some anecdotal evidence. My wife works as a social worker in our district hospital. One of the haredi women who came to her for advice was in her twenties, born in Jerusalem and living in the haredi part of Ashdod. They spoke in fluent Hebrew, and then my wife explained something more technical about a genetic issue. The woman asked her if she could repeat it perhaps in Yiddish as that would enable her to understand it better. I give this, *one* case "study" for what it is worth, but I still remember the surprise with which my wife told it to me, as she had not expected this of that sabra lady. Michael Shimshoni 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 04:11:09 -0500 From: sapoznik@aol.com Subject: Jewish balalaikas The great klezmer clarinetist Dave Tarras (1897-1987) played, among other instruments, the balalaika (there is a beautiful photo of him playing his one accompanying the notes to my CD anthology "Dave Tarras: Father of Yiddish-American Klezmer Music" (Yazoo). Also the prolific Yiddish bandleader I.J. Hochman (1883-?) in addition to his klezmer/theater orchestra also recorded discs under the heading "Hochman's St. Petersburg Balalaika Orchestra" (Emerson, 1924) and "I.J. Hochman and his Russian Balalaika Orchestra" (Pathe 1924/25). Eynekh Sapoznik 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 17:01:48 -0500 (EST) From: seb28@columbia.edu Subject: Badkhonim: a reply and a question In response to Ariela Krasney's request for ideas about badkhonim in Yiddish literature [Mendele Vol 5.229]: Itsik Fefer's 1937 poem "a khasene in birobidzhan" includes descriptions of a "marshalek," which seems to be a badkhn figure. But later in the poem, Fefer says that there was no badkhn at the wedding. Here are the lines in question: un undzer lets, der marshalek, shteyt oykh shoyn oybnon, er kayet a tsukerkele shoyn mitn letstn tson. tsezingt zikh undzer marshalek: "oy kale, kale, veyn, un esn zolstu, kalenyu, gefilte fish mit khreyn! un hobn zolstu kinderlekh, antikelekh a sakh, zolstu zayn a gute mame zey. s'iz oykh a groyse zakh! ... -- iz tut a shpil, klezmorimlekh, der kale a vivat, keyn shadkhn nit, keyn badkhn nit, un khasene gehat! Harkavy's definitions of "marshalek" (spelled "marshelik") and "badkhn" are both: "joculator, jester (at weddings)," and his Hebrew definition of "marshelik" is "badkhn." Weinreich's definition of "marshelik" is only "jester," while his definition of "badkhn" is specific to weddings. What did Fefer intend as the meanings for these two words? Sarah Benor New York 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Jan 96 14:13:10 EST From: leiser@pacevm.dac.pace.edu Subject: Yiddish in English Yetz kumt "The Wall Street Journal" un shraybt yiddish, un takeh ofn ershter bl at. In today's Journal, Joan E. Rigdon, writing about the World Wide Web, obse rves that the Web, "groaning under 7.5 million daily users, is increasingly flooded with cyber-dreck." Of course, Ms. Rigdon is correct, and it's always good to see mame-loshn in such a distinguished journal. But wouldn't it be nice if somehow, some day, we wo uld encounter some of its lovely words, rather than those such as "dreck," "chutzpah," and the like, in the writings of journalists and popular writers. No d oubt we must thank vaudeville for the commonness,to put it as politely as poss ible, or the vulgarity, to be more direct about it, of most English yiddishisms . Vaudeville is dead, but its spirit lives on in vulgar Yiddish. Can anyone c ome up with a way to introduce the beautiful spirit of Yiddish to a wider public? Can anyone come up with a list of words he or she wishes were introduced into common parlance? I can think of a few, but would prefer to hear from others. Berel Leiser 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 25 Jan 1996 21:38:00 +0200 From: pete@pko.rhein-main.de Subject: yidish zol blaybn gezunt un shtark tayere khaveyrim, vi a simen az afile do in daytshland iz nokh faran an emeser libhober fun mame-loshn, vil ikh haynt araynlegn in di mendele-post a por shures fun moyshe nadir, oysgeklibn fun di dertseylung "der kunst-kritiker". kh'hof az ir vet derfun noyse-kheyn zayn. in keyn literatur in der velt shemt men zikh nisht azoy mit der kleynshtetldikeyt vi bay undz. a kleynshtetldik folk, a zaftiks, mit a shprakh, vos iz nokh nisht ayngekvetsht gevorn in harte furems, vi an enger shukh oyf a layst. a shprakh a fraye, nisht fun universitetn gepalmest, a nokh nisht in feste gezetsn ayngemarinirte, a nakete, a barvese, a bakveme, topl-zaytike, nisht opgeribene shprakh -- shemen mir zikh mit ir poshetkeyt, putsn mir zi mit fremdlendishe kveytlekh, treyslen mir fun zikh shtendik dem shtoyb fun dem kleynem shtetl. shteln mir shtendik aroys undzer groysshtetldikeyt -- vi di greste meyle, di hekhste dergreykhung. ober dos iz dokh a lign: in a shtetl vakst men arayn, shlept men es vuhin m'geyt, vi a bloy "gedenk-bikhl", in velkhn land arayn m'vert farvoglt. ober -- a groyse shtot iz dokh entveder a sakh kleyne shtetlekh, oder bloyz a vort. grusn fun a kleynshtetldikn dorf in di taunus-berg peter kluehs wehrheim, germany ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.234