Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.038 July 23, 1996 1) "Ober/bloys dem talis nemt er mit" (Bernard Katz) 2) Luftmentsh (Mikhl Herzog) 3) Soviet Yiddish writers memorial (Eric A. Gordon) 4) Opposition to Yiddish (Louis Fridhandler) 5) Yiddish computer program (Yehudah Braunstein) 6) Baltimore Klezmer Club (Frank Boches) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 21:26:32 -0400 (EDT) From: bkatz@uoguelph.ca Subject: Ikh zukh a lid I am interested in obtaining the title - and possibly the lyrics - to a song that contains the line: "ober/bloys dem talis nemt er mit". Yes, it is pretty thin to go on, but the line is quite distinctive. Dos lid redt fun a man vos ven er shtarbt, mus ales iberlozn - nor zayn talis - vos geyt mit eym in kever. And I trust our wonderful Mendelyaner hundert pertsent! A shaynem dank, Bernard Katz Guelph, Ontario 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jul 96 22:29 EDT From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: Luftmentsh Does anyone know of early literary uses of the word _luftmentsh_? Is it possibly a calque of a Slavic word? As far as i can tell, there is no model for it in German? Mikhl Herzog 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 23:42:34 -0400 From: ericarthur@aol.com Subject: Soviet Yiddish writers memorial On Sunday, August 11th at 2 pm, a memorial to dozens of Soviet Yiddish writers executed in 1952 will take place at the Workmen's Circle Center in Los Angeles. The martyrdom of these cultural leaders marked a low point in dictator Joseph Stalin's rigime. Liquidated on trumped-up charges such as "Zionism," "cosmopolitanism," and "anti-Soviet activity," the writers were among Stalin's last victims before his death in 1953. The Memorial to Soviet Yiddish Writers is sponsored by the Workmen's Circle, the Los Angeles Yiddish Culture Club and the Jewish Labor Committee. Much as world Jewry's attention has focused on the Holocaust and World War II, the sponsors believe that victims of Soviet totalitarianism should not be forgotten. Coming only seven years after the end of the war, the murder of leading Jewish poets and intellectuals in the Soviet Union was an attempt to destroy Jewish culture in a country with the second-largest Jewish population in the world. It was consistent with Stalin's Great Russian chauvinism and attacks on other ethnic groups in the U.S.S.R. The memorial will feature poetry by Peretz Markish, Leib Kvitko, Moishe Kulbak, David Hofshteyn, Aaron Kushnyerov and Shimon Halkin, recited in the original Yiddish and in English translation. The program also includes songs created from their lyrics, performed by Lomir Ale Zingen, the Workmen's Circle chorus, conducted by Malke Shaw. Pianist Helen Bussell will perform a selection of classical works. The meeting will take place at the Workmen's Circle Center at 1525 S. Robertson Blvd. in Los Angeles. The public is invited, and admission is free. Light refreshments will be served at the conclusion of the program. For further information, please call 310 552-2007. Eric A. Gordon Los Angeles 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 13:10:42 -0400 From: lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Opposition to Yiddish Sylvia Schildt's implicit proposition that those who actively oppose Yiddishism are partners of anti-Semites (6.035, 3) is quite reasonable. Those who oppose Yiddishism may not _intend_ to be partners, but are nonetheless. I cannot understand the proposition that the revival of Hebrew required suppression of Yiddish. It must be wrong according to evidence. Evidence: Jews have been bilingual, even polylingual for millenia. Sholem-Aleykhem said that Yiddish and Hebrew coexist within him at peace. _Zey raysn zikh nisht, eyns dos andere._ Further, Yiddish speakers from Eastern Europe were major participants in the revival of Hebrew. They did not have to suppress mame-loshn. By the mid-twenties Hebrew was spoken in homes, shops and streets in _Palestine_ by immigrants from Eastern Europe. A welcome miracle. Some Jews aver that the philosophy (attitude, policy) is this: that the language of galut does not deserve continuation. What illogical, nonsensical, self-destructive rubbish! In Yiddish wonderful creations were fashioned despite afflictions by anti-Semites. If any language should be shunned, perhaps it is the language in which Mein Kampf was written, in which the plan to murder all Jews was written and spoken, the language in which the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was written, in which newspapers inciting pogroms was written. That would carry a modicum of logic, but it would also be senseless. It is clearly destructive to try to shun German or Russian or (for that matter) Henry Ford's or Father Coughlin's or Pat Buchanan's English. Shunning Yiddish has led to weakened, often broken connection with Jewish cultural treasures which Jews (and everybody else) need. One result is that children in America (possibly Israel) are usually left with vast gaps in knowledge of Jewish history, vast, mysterious gaps that teachers generally don't attempt to fill. The Israeli official and unofficial attitude toward Yiddish (which many Jews share) deserves no respect because 1) it makes no sense, and 2) it has sabotaged connection with Jewish cultural treasures. It's time to repair that once and for all! Tsurik tsu der arbet! Louis Fridhandler 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 10:25:25 -0700 From: jerome.braunstein@gdesystems.com Subject: Yiddish computer program Do you know where I can get a computer program that teaches Yiddish? Yehudah Braunstein 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 23 Jul 96 15:12 EDT From: frank_m_boches@umail.umd.edu Subject: Baltimore Klezmer Club Menorah Lodge, B'nai B'rith, is pleased to announce the official launching of the Baltimore Klezmer Club, featuring the highly-acclaimed Machaya Klezmer Band, on Sunday evening, August 25, at 6:30 p.m. at Beth Tfiloh Congregation, 3300 Old Court Road, Pikesville. Tickets are $10 per person and include a deli supper. Group rates for 10 or more persons are available and there will be a door prize, dance prizes, and special singles' tables. For tickets and or information, contact Walter Kleinman at the B'nai B'rith office, 410-484-6200. This will be a sellout so don't delay in getting your tickets. Frank Boches ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.038