Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.053 August 25, 1996 1) Barikadn (Chana and Yosl Mlotek) 2) Barikadn (Henia Reinhartz) 3) Spinoza and Yiddish (Chana and Yosl Mlotek) 4) Spinoza and Yiddish (Dvosye Bilik) 5) Shnek (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 6) Medem Library in Paris (Barbara Mann) 7) The first Bat Mitzvah (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 8) Der Yidisher Mikado (Roger Harris) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 22:17:11 -0400 From: chaniyos@aol.com Subject: Barikadn Shirshan asks (6.052) about the song "Barikadn". The song was written by Shmerke Kaczerginsky in l926. The second line should be corrected to "Oyf di gasn geyen arum arbeter-otryadn" - unless your group "folklorized" the song. The words are printed in our book "Perl fun der yidisher poezye" Tel Aviv, l974, p. 537. The music appears in Emil Saculet's Yidishe folkslider fun rumenye. We could not locate the second song - it may not have been printed. We would also like to have it. Chana and Yosl Mlotek 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 15:04:13 -0700 From: her.nor@sympatico.ca Subject: Tates, mames, kinderlekh, boyen barikadn With respect to Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan's inquiry about Tates, mames, kinderlekh, etc. This is a song by Shmerke Katsherginski, written in Vilno, 1926. The full text and music can be found in Shmerke Katsherginski Ondenk-bukh, Buenos Aires 1959, pp. 229-30. Henia Reinhartz 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Aug 1996 22:25:08 -0400 From: chaniyos@aol.com Subject: Spinoza in Yiddish literature Re another Spinoza item in Yiddish (6.052), there is a play entitled Borukh Shpinoza by B. Gorin of l902. Chana and Yosl Mlotek 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 19 Aug 96 05:07 EDT From: dorothy_bilik@umail.umd.edu Subject: Spinoza in Yiddish literature Another reply to Allan Nadler. I can't recall the source but somewhere in Bashevis he writes that he stopped reading Spinoza when the philosopher stated that animals had no souls. Sorry that I can't be more specific. Dovid Noyekh Miller, efsher gedenkstu vu me gefint aza bamerkung? Dvosye Bilik 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 11:58:09 -0400 From: gevaryahu@aol.com Subject: More on shnek Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan suggests (Mendele Vol 6.052) that: " the word shnek to denote a young person, pejoratively". She gives the example: "Aza shnek, un zi maynt az zi farshteyt shoyn a krenk." Her explanation is: "Could it stem from the shneknfrizur recently described on Mendele, to describe someone so young, too young to know anything, still wearing braids.....?" I heard the same pejorative use, but thought that its etimology was a diversion from using the profanity "schmock" or "shmek". [Similar to the use "O' shoot" for "O' sh-t".] Gilad J. Gevaryahu 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 17:14:00 -0700 (PDT) From: bmann@garnet.berkeley.edu Subject: Medem Library in Paris I'm looking for information about the Medem library in Paris, particularly its Yiddish holdings. Has anyone visited? done research there? I responded to a posting from the Medem on Mendele a few months ago, but my mail came back "return to sender." I'd appreciate any details you can share, A sheynm dank, Barbara Mann 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 11:26:59 -0400 From: gevaryahu@aol.com Subject: The first Bat Mitzvah The story of the first Bat Mitzvah in Levov (1902) must have been published in the Jewish press in the USA since it was quite controversal at the time. I speculate that the Yiddish Forward would have published the story, as the conection between the East and the USA was strong at the beginning of the century, and the Forward was the largest Jewish paper. Does anyone have an idea how to find out if, when, and how it was published in the USA. I am trying to avoid the long way of sitting in front of a microfilm and reading every issue of the 1902 Forward. Even if I wanted to read every issue, the microfilm is not available in Philadelphia. Any help would be appreciated. Please reply privatly. Gilad J. Gevaryahu 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 23 Aug 1996 18:06:24 +0100 (BST) From: rwsh@dircon.co.uk Subject: Der Yidisher Mikado Joan Martyr writes... Last night (Sunday 18th August) the Gilbert & Sullivan Yiddish Light Opera Company of Long Island gave its farewell performance of 'Der Yiddishe Mikado' to a packed, sell-out audience at the Steiner Theatre in London under the auspices of the Spiro Institute. The audience who are already asking when they can buy tickets for next year's tour were thrilled by the brilliant staging, the bright energetic rendering of the text in Yiddish and English, the beautiful costumes and the faultless ensemble work. The entire cast, radiating energy and sheer joy, were sustained by the pianist. The conductor brought the whole cast together using, appropriately, a Japanese fan. The romantic duets, sung in Yiddish, had a gentle poignancy and the broad comedy interludes gave ample opportunity for humour to which the audience responded with spontaneous, delighted laughter. As this was the farewell performance the cast came into the audience and we were able to express our thanks and pleasure to individual members of the cast. On a firm handshake I was assured that the Yidishe Pirates of Penzance will be invading these shores next year. They will need a larger venue. The stage set included banners bearing the Hebrew aleph-beis written in the Japanese style. The Chief Executioner's "little list", at least six feet long and a foot wide, was boldly lettered in the same way. Roger Harris ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.053