Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.110 November 28, 1996 1) Sholem Aleykhem un mameloshn (Bernard Katz) 2) _Der Groyser Verterbukh_ (Leybl Botvinik) 3) The survival of Yiddish (Mechel Asheri) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 Nov 1996 18:18:21 -0500 (EST) From: bkatz@uoguelph.ca Subject: Sholem Aleykhem un mameloshn In Mendele 6.107, Louis Fridhandler noted Sholem Aleykhem's request and indeed his own use of Hebrew in correspondence, as exemplifying a time when he was not yet a Yiddishist. It is worth noting in this regard, that Sholem Aleykhem, even much later in his too short life, did not use Yiddish among family members. Having heard Belle Kaufman (now 85 and likely the last person on earth who can remember him and his voice) speak about her zeyde at the Jewish Book Fair in Toronto about two weeks ago, I was very surprised to learn that he did not speak Yiddish in the house, nor did his children, and that she had to learn Yiddish after coming to the United States with her parents (by which time her zeyde had already passed away). The language spoken in the home was always Russian, she said. Perhaps other Mendelayers, more knowledgable of these matters would comment? Bernard Katz 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Nov 1996 15:29:41 +0200 (IST) From: leybl@telecomm.tadiran.co.il Subject: _Der Groyser Verterbukh_ [ikh hob di vokh nit keyn tsayt dos ibertsuzetsn oyf yidish, un kumendike vokh vel ikh kimat nit hobn keyn tsutrit tsum internets, iz gib ikh aykh dos iber nor inem englishn original. mirtseshem, vel ikh iberakhtog dos iberzetsn oyf mame-loshn . leybl botvinik] The Great Yiddish Dictionary ------------------------------ Lovers of Yiddish will remember with nostalgia the days when the late Yudl Mark "raised heaven and earth" to implement his ambitious project of producing the Great Yiddish Dictionary, which was designed to contain some 12 volumes of Yiddish words, current in all countries and provinces where Yiddish was a living, spoken language of the masses of the Jews, as well as a literary language of poets and writers. Yudl Mark and his hundreds of volunteers and associates, collected thousands of Yiddish expressions, current in hundreds of Jewish communities and managed to publish the first four volumes of the Dictionary, containing all vowels starting with the letter Aleph. The aim of Yudl Mark and his numerous friends, was to create a Treasury of Yiddish, modeled on the famous Oxford Dictionary and other similar encyclopedia and scientific dictionaries of highly developed langauges. Unfortunately, he died in 1975, leaving the continuation of the task to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The late President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mr. Avraham Harman, was a great admirer of Yiddish culture in all its manifestations. Soon after the death of Yudl Mark he assembled a group of scholars headed by Prof. Wolf Moscowitz, Mr Shoil Ferdman and Dr. Joseph Gouri of Jerusalem, who cooperated with Prof. Michael Herzog of the Columbia University in New York, allocated space and facilities, so that they could continuethe project. They worked for some 8 years, composing the entries for letters Beth-Gimmel-Dalet-Heh-Vav-Zayin-Chet and Tet -- which will make up the next 3 volumes of the to the Dictionary. All this material is almost ready for print, and the responsibility for putting the final touches and for writing the introduction will eagerly be undertaken by scholars at the Hebrew University. It has been estimated, that it will take a year for each volume to appear in print -- provided, that the necessary funding will be available. It will be remembered, that in addition to the contribution that Yudl Mark obtained, he was greatly aided by several bequests which lovers of Yiddish had made for this unique project. After Abe Harman's retirement and subsequent death, the project was dormant for several years. Recently, however, a group of "lovers of Yiddish" in Jerusalem has undertaken to go on with the job. A Committee is already in formation, which will include well known scholars of Yiddish in Israel and elsewhere. When Dr. Barnett Zumoff recently visited Israel with a group of members of the "Arbeter Ring", he met with Mr. Sinai Leichter who described to him the state of the project and the steps to be taken for its continuation and hopefully, its completion. Dr. Zumoff showed great enthusiasm and keen interest. The Committee is hopeful, that "lovers of Yidish" will respond with equal interest and practiced support, not only for the publication of the available 3 volumes, but also for the eventual completion of the Great Yiddish Dictionary. For more info: S. Leichter, Shderot Herzl 88/A(-aleph), Jerusalem 96347, Israel Sinai Leichter Jerusalem 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 28 Nov 1996 17:38:42 +0200 From: donnom@netvision.net.il Subject: The survival of Yiddish I would like to thank Dovid Braun for his kind comments [6.106], but must take exception to his statement that "...we may abandon the notion that ...before the Holocaust Jewish communities were, if not hermetically sealed off from the world of the non-Jews so close to it as made little difference". He cites the fact that "some of the Khsidim (I) mentioned speak to each other in Hungarian (while living in 1966 in New York or Israel -- not Satmer (sic), Ihel, Siget (sic) or Klouznborg (sic) indicates just how invalid the "hermetically sealed" metaphor is". Dovid Braun could not have chosen more unhappy examples than these. The fact that these Jews speak Hungarian is a unique case in the ultra-Orthodox world. Dell Hymes has pointed out (based on the work of others) that the Western Yiddish that accompanied the first Jewish immigrants to Eastern Europe was subject to "a specific form of language synthesis in Slavic surroundings..In Hungary the situation was more complex, and after German lost its role as a model it was not reshaped on Hungarian models (as happened in Slavic surroundings), but replaced by Hungarian". In other words, Hungarian occupied the place that Yiddish did in other Eastern European countries and the fact that it was spoken by the Jews in Transylvania, Sub-Carpathia and Slovakia is no indication at all that their communities were less isolated from the non-Jews in every sense but the linguistic one than those of Poland, the Ukraine etc. It is not to be wondered at that Hungarian has continued to occupy that place in New York and Israel(and a good many other places). I cannot imagine a more hermetically sealed set of communites (including the linguistic sense, since while English or Hebrew is the local vernacular, it is only the Jews who speak Hungarian) than those of Szatmar, Sziget, Kloiznberg etc. in New York and Israel. Bnei Brak, for example, is a place in which one can live, as I did, for six years and never exchange three words with a goy. A famous story tells of a man in Bnei Brak who, when asked if he spoke Hungarian, answered apologetically, "No; I'm an oleh khadash (new immigrant)". As far as that goes, the cultural isolation of the shtetl yidn outside the Hungarian-speaking area never extended to language since contact with the umos ho-oilom was unavoidable. Certainly Mezbizh (Miedziborz), the home of the Baal-Shem-Tov was a completely self contained community, yet we find in the book "Khal Khasidim v'Shivkhei Baal Shem Tov" a story concerning the Baal Shem Tov's daughter Hodel, who was unable to have children. She cried to her father that he should bless her and the Baal Shem Tov told her, "zorg nit, mayn tokhter, du vest geholfn vern durkh eyner fun mayne talmidim". In effect, on Simchas Toyre, one of his talmidim was dancing so joyously that his slipper flew off his foot and through the window. "Hot er gegebn a geshray tzum besh"t's tokhter, oyf goyish: Hodel, padavay minie batinki, to budish miet dotinku' (Hodel, gib mir di pantofl, vestu hobn a kind). Hodel looked outside for the slipper and, not being able to find it, took the slippers off her own feet and gave them to him. The talmid said: "Dayot dvie batinki, miet dva detinka (host gebrakht tzvey pantofl, vestu hobn tzvey kinder)" Here we see clearly that the language of the goyim was by no means unknown or even unused by the Jews, but their isolation from the goyim in every other sense was near absolute. It should not be thought that the occasional use of the non-Jewish vernacular had any effect on the daily use of Yiddish, always with the exception of Hungarian. As a matter of fact, the late Szatmarer Rebbe is reported to have said when asked if he spoke Hungarian (which he certainly must have), "Neyn: ikh hob nokh nisht gelernt Idish". The fact is that to this day in such places as Szatmar (Satu-Mare) and Kloiznberg (Kluj), the language of the gentiles is largely Rumanian. Jews speak it as well, but among themselves speak Hungarian. The same applies to Arad, Nagyvarad, etc. If it is of any interest, Szatmar and Sziget are in effect joined today since with the death without heirs of the late Szatmarer Rebbe, his nephew., the Szigeter replaced him. In addition, the Kloiznberger Rebbe has for many years been known as the Tzantzer Rebbe and what were formerly caled Kloiznberger Khsidim are now called (and call thenselves) Tzantzer Khisidim. It is worth noting that that the Tzantzer is a cousin (I believe a first cousin) of the Bobover Rebbe, who does not speak Hungarian any more than the Tzantzer speaks Polish. Mechel Asheri ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.110