Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.012 June 11, 1996 1) Introduction (Al Grand) 2) Khog'pakt tsvay tsatskelekh (Eliyahu Juni) 3) Shver (Bob Werman) 4) Yiddish and Franz Kafka (Pawel Brunon Dorman) 5) Jizchak Lowy the Yiddish actor (Pawel Brunon Dorman) 6) Another Yiddish word crosses over (Walter Golman) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 8 Jun 1996 13:24:00 -0400 From: savoyid@aol.com Subject: Introduction Koydem kol vil ikh bagrisn dem khoshevn oylem vos gefint zikh do af der "internet". As a new subscriber I wish to introduce myself. For the past dozen years I've been translating the operas of Gilbert & Sullivan into Yiddish. I must hasten to add that in doing these translations I adhere faithfully to Gilbert's rhyme schemes and to his meters and rhythms while, at the same time, aspiring to maintain unblemished Yiddish. I always aim for a perfect match of verbal to musical cadence so that the lyric conforms to the accentuation and the rhythm of each musical phrase. The shows have been performed throughout the U.S. and Canada. I would love to hear from anyone who shares my passion for both Yiddish and Gilbert & Sullivan. Mit frayndlekhe grusn, Al Grand 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 02:01:10 -0400 From: e.juni@utoronto.ca Subject: Khog'pakt tsvay tsatskelekh. . . Just returned from the Manhattan showing of "The Dybbuk", preceded by Shol Goskind's 1938 short "A Day in Warsaw" (a shaynem dank to Joel Maxman for sending a notice in to Mendele). Two things I noticed which were relevant to recent Mendele discussions: a) In "A Day in Warsaw," the verb "pakn" was used to mean 'catch' when no culprit was involved; specifically, a tinsmith who has found some work for the day "hot g'pakt a bisl arbet." This contradicts the impression of some Mendelyaner, including myself, who said a while back that "pakn" only involves catching a culprit of some sort, e.g. pakn a ganef. Also, "gepakt" here clearly has the meaning of 'caught,' and not its other usage, 'espied,' but "loy ro'isi eynoy raye." b) In "The Dybbuk," while praising a bukher to the high heavens, a shadkhn refers to him as a "tsatske." I don't remember the maskone of the tsatskele discussion, but my impression is that it can be used for anyone young, male or female, and has a connotation of precociousness, and this would seem to support it. Lastly, I want to wish a belated mazel tov and and a hartsige "keyn yirbu" to Mendele on our recent birthday. Eliyahu Juni 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Jun 96 18:06 +0200 From: rwerman@vms.huji.ac.il Subject: Shver Does the shver of father-in-law have anything to do with the shver of heavy, difficult? Bob Werman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Jun 96 09:28:51 CET From: dorman@plearn.edu.pl Subject: Yiddish and Franz Kafka Herewith an addition to "About Yiddish and Franz Kafka" [6.008]: Below is addition (and a little reminding) with translation of the German quote to English. The poem called "Sand and Stars" by Simon Samuel Frug (1860-1916) "Samd un schtern". It is a bitter interpretation of biblical promise: we will be as sand and the stars. Franz Kafka adds: "Nun, getreten wie der Sand sind wir schon, wann wird das mit den Sternen wahr werden?". In English: "then, we are yet trodden down as sand, but when will we be like the stars?" please feel free to send me your notices and also questions. Pawel Brunon Dorman Poland 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Jun 96 09:29:57 CET From: dorman@plearn.edu.pl Subject: Jizchak Lowy the Yiddish actor Jizchak Lowy was born in Warsaw on 10 September 1887. He left Warsaw in 1904 for Paris. In 1907 he joined a travelling theater troupe and in 1911 came to Prague. It was there that he came to know Franz Kafka. In 1920 Lowy returned to Warsaw, toured the Polish provinces and in 1924 he founded a Hebrew theatre in Warsaw. Later he was writing to newspapers. Especially to Polish-Jewish paper "Undzer Ekspres". When World War II began Lowy lived in the Warsaw Ghetto. In 1942 Jizchak Lowy was arrested by the Nazis and sent to Treblinka, where he was killed. You may come into contact with another spellings of the same person: Jizchak Lowy (with two dots over "o" in Lowy) Yitskhok Levi Djak Levi In the writing of Franz Kafka there is the first spelling of the name. You can also see a photograph of Jizchak Lowy in: Klaus Wagenbach, Franz Kafka, 1883-1924: Manuscripte, Erstdrucke, Documente, Photographien, Berlin, 1966 (page 58). Pawel Brunon Dorman Poland 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 06:25:50 -0400 (EDT) From: velvele@wam.umd.edu Subject: Another Yiddish word crosses over One more Yiddish word seems to have moved into dual citizenship: In a political think piece about the loss of Congressional seniority by the Kansas delegation, Guy Gugliotta tells us (Washington Post, 4 Jun 96) that states that have majority leaders or committee chairs in their delegations do well in moving their legislation along. But "States with back-benchers carrying the mail can expect bupkes." We've become accustomed to seeing this Yiddish word, along with many others, in show business, but in political writing? Walter Golman Silver Spring, Maryland ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.012