Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.293 March 31, 1996 1) Tkhine _Rav peninim_ (Leonard Prager) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 30 Mar 96 22:06:17 IST From: rhle302@uvm.haifa.ac.il Subject: Tkhine _Rav peninim_ In _Mendele_ volume 5.176 (26.11.95), Bernie Greenberg asked about a _seyfer tkhines_ entitled _Rav Peninim_ ('Many Pearls'), published by the Hebrew Publishing Co. in New York in 1916. He remarked that the spelling appeared "daytshmerish" (i.e., _fargieb_ with an ayin for _fargib_, _gethun_ with a hey for _geton_). He quoted a passage from the book and wanted to know what sort of Yiddish this was and what sort of book _Rav Peninim_ was. As far as I can tell from going through _Mendele_ back numbers, no one has yet posted a reply to this query (perhaps someone has replied to Bernie Greenberg directly.) The query, which at least in part is easily answered, interested me for a number of reasons. I own the following book: Tekhine / Rav Peninim / a sh"s tekhine / af a gants yo(h)r / mit a sakh muser umesholim / un mayne loshn idish un / loshn hakoydesh, Tel-Aviv: Sinai, n.d. This volume is peculiarly printed and bound. Sections are missing. Sections which are perhaps missing on purpose cover pages 26-80 and 125-140. This particular copy of a cheaply printed and obviously widely distributed book has a red stamp with the words "Savoy Hotel / Tel-Aviv" and beneath it in ink "Room - 10." The Savoy Hotel, which no longer stands, is the hotel which was attacked by terrorists from the sea a number of years ago. Patronized largely by "datiim" ('observant Jews'), it apparently resembled American hotels with their Gideon Bibles in every room by providing a _tkhine_ in every room. At least I am not hypothesizng widely as regards Room 10! The occupant of Room-10, very likely a woman, recited _tkhines_. The language is good Eastern Yiddish. There are instances of old-fashioned orthography in the Hebrew Publishing Co. edition of 1916 and a few such older spellings in my undated ca. 1918 Tel-Aviv version. The two editions are related, but exactly how needs checking. The prayers in the texts are apparently much the same. Though authored largely by rather unsophisticated persons they are often elaborately wrought, heavily influenced by liturgical _loshn-koydesh_. Many may go back centuries; others are "contemporary" -- i.e. a century old. Here is the Sinai edition version of the passage partially cited by Bernie Greenberg (I give the Standard Yiddish romanizations in arrows (< >) -- my square brackets have come out strangely in past notices. The passage I cite is is the first section of a seven-part prayer with identical opening lines, a Hebrew line followed by its Yiddish equivalent. p. 343: Tkhine nokh kapores shlogen Di tkhine zogt men yonkiper in der frih eyder men davent nokh kapore shlogen : kaper li ovi baal horachamim: Far gib mir mayn foter vos du bist abal horakhamim af di ale khatoim vaavoynes ufeshoim vos ikh hob gezindigt far dir un hob dikh der tserent der mit vos ikh hob derhert in dem kol fun dem yeytser hore tsu nokh geyn nokh dem gelustung fun mayn hartsen say du zakh vos ikh hob gethun mit mayn guten vilen far borgener heyt un antplektr heyt say vakhendig un say in shlof say mit reyd un say mit a makhshove mit heren oder mit zehen mit gang oder mit zitsen zolstu oykh far geben vos ikh hob narishkeyt gethun fun der tsayt on vos ikh bin af der velt gekumen: Translation: Prayer after the pre-Yom Kippur atonement ceremony (=shlogn kapores) One recites this prayer on the morning of the Day of Atonement before the Morning Prayers and after having performed the atonement ceremony known as "shlogn kapores": Forgive me, My Father, the Merciful One: : Forgive me Father, for you are merciful as regards all offenses, sins and wrongdoings which I have committed before you. I have angered you in that I heard the call of temptation beckoning me to follow the desire of my heart in acts I willingly performed, both concealed and revealed, awake and asleep, by speech or thought, by hearing or seeing, by walking or sitting. You should also forgive all my foolishness from the time I arrived in the world. Let us look at the title. Jewish religious books (seforim) often bear metaphoric titles. Metaphoric "pearls" are not uncommon: Ibn-Gabirol is said to be the author of _Mivchar hapeninim_ ('Anthology of Pearls'). Our text is called _Tkhine rav-peninim_ (not hyphenated in the original), "a 'multi- pearled' prayer book for women mainly." But it is also _a shas tekhine_ 'a prayer book with Talmudic commentary'. _Shas_, the anagram for _shisho sedorim_ 'six orders of the Mishna' is apparently used attributively here since the _Tkhine rav-peninim_ is printed like a _seyfer_ with a double column of commentary at the bottom of each page. The _Shas_ association is also strengthened from the fact that these commentaries are taken largely from Talmudic _aggada_ ('tales and parables'). _Rav-peninim_ covers the entire liturgical year and also includes the special prayers recited at the graves of deceased relatives (=_mayne loshn_). As regards the term _mayne loshn_, it has always puzzled me that in Yiddish (but not in Hebrew) one of its several transferred senses is 'invective'. Both in Hebrew and Yiddish the term has the meaning 'longwinded talk', but the imputation of shrewishness seems present only in Yiddish. Explanations? Leonard Prager ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.293