Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.220 February 6, 1997 1) Byron's Mazepa (Goldie Morgentaler) 2) Yosl, Yosl! (Morrie Feller) 3) Shul memories (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 4) Bibliography (Hugh Denman) 5) Bibliography (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 5 Feb 1997 19:20:41 -0500 From: 105341.3550@compuserve.com Subject: Byron's Mazepa Since nobody answered Louis Fridhandler's question [6.215] about Byron's poem Mazeppa and Byron's sources for this poem, I thought I would jump into the breach. Byron's poem was published in 1819, and is founded on a passage from Voltaire's Charles XII, King of Sweden. In this version, Mazeppa is one of the king's officers who tells a tale of his early life, when he was strapped naked to a horse which carried him into the Ukraine. Mazeppa, at the point of death, is rescued by Cossacks. I cannot judge the historical accuracy of this story, but it does seem to have a connection to the infamous hetman. Incidentally, my understanding is that in Yiddish, the term "mazepa" refers to someone who is ugly, ergo "mazepevke" is an ugly little shtetl. Goldie Morgentaler 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1997 04:04:51 -1000 From: feller@indirect.com Subject: Yosl, Yosl! In response to Judith Nysenholc's request (6.219), here are the words for the version we sing in our Yiddish chorus at Temple Chai in Phoenix: Chorus: Oy, oy, oy, Yosl, Yosl, Yosl, Yosl, Mayn khayes geyt mir azh oys nokh dir. Oy, oy, oy, Yosl, Yosl, Yosl, Yosl, Dayn malke sitzt nokh alts un vart oyf dir. Oy, oy, oy, Yosl, Yosl, Yosl, Yosl, Ikh kholem yeder nakht nor fun dir, Un git der yetzer hore Nokh a mol a tore, Yosl ikh krapir nokh dir. Verse: Mayn khayes geyt mir oys, Ikh fil ikh halt nit oys, Mayn harts tut mir vey gor on a shir, Es iz mir heys un kalt, Un ikh ver groy un alt, Un veyst ihr mentshn vos es kveyt mir, Die libe brent a shrek, Ikh fil ikh shtarb avek, Nokh mayn Yoslin, mayn darling, mayn dear, A bokher a sheyner, Mir zayn far zayne beyner, Yosl, ikh krapir nokh dir. English: Oh, Joseph! Joseph! won't you make your mind up; It's time I knew just how I stand with you. My heart's no clock that I can stop and wind up Each time we make up after being through. So listen Joseph! Joseph! time is fleeting, And here and there my hair is turning gray. My mother has a fear, wedding bells I'll never hear; Joseph, Joseph, won't you name the day!? My mother has a fear, wedding bells I'll never hear; Joseph, Joseph won't you name the day!? Morrie Feller 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1997 12:35:04 -0500 (EST) From: gevaryahu@aol.com Subject: Shul memories Pinyeh Weichsel [6.219] asks for "yiddish apikorsishe mistranslations of certain siddur phrases". The only example that comes to mind at the moment is: bli rayshis bli tachlis : es fangt zikh nit on un es lost zikh nit oys. I remember the following: "ha'mamlich melachim ve'lo ha'melucha": gezaltst und gezaltst und nisht gefefert. This plays on the misspelling of the root mem lamed kaf (=king) with mem lamed het (=salt) and likwise the exchange of lamed vav (=him) with lamed aleph (=no). Another play, although with less apikorsus is in Hoshana Rabbah "Kol mevaser mevaser ve'omer" leading to "mayim shelanu". Proclamation (mevaser) becomes water. The twigs of the hoshanos are traditionally used in the matza baking fire; and mayim shelanu (undser vaser) in reality water that stayed overnight are used too. Gilad J. Gevaryahu 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Feb 1997 00:57:28 +0100 (MET) From: h_denman@maier.vol.at Subject: Bibliography I hope mendelyaner will forgive me for raising a procedural point, but among our circle there must be a fair number of people who, like myself, are responsible for ordering books for institutional libraries. Hardly a week passes without someone posting a message extolling the merits of a new book in our field. This is most welcome, but somewhat frustrating if it is done without mentioning the standard bibliographical data that are indispensible for ordering the book in question. Could I suggest that we make it normal practice when announcing new books to quote as many of the following items of information as possible: Author and/ or Editor, "Title", Place of Publication: Publisher, Date of publication, Number of pages, ISBN, Price. Hugh Denman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1997 From: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu Subject: Bibliography I was getting ready to write to Mendele on a closely related matter, and so when Hugh Denman's sensible request arrived I decided to use his Subject: line as well. The new edition of the Reader's Catalog has just appeared, the first full edition in a long time. (For those who are unfamiliar with it, the RC is a huge annotated listing of some 40,000 books on every subject imaginable. It is a valuable tool for middlebrows like most of us and I suspect that it even gets peeked at behind the gor hoyekhe fenster.) The section on Yiddish (English translation of course) in the 1989 edition was I thought very good, ranging as it did from the Tzena U'Reyna to Weinreich _History of the Yiddish Language_ (Vols.1-2) and including in addition to the oves writers such as Moyshe-Leyb Halpern, Bergelson, Rabon. Since 1989 there has been if anything an increase in the volume of translations from the Yiddish into English as well as some important scholarly works. Some of these are indeed listed. And it's always pleasant to recognize the names of Mendelists among the contributors: Janet Hadda, Kathryn Hellerstein, David Goldberg, Golda Werman, Hillel Halkin. But the overall impression is one of retreat and imbalance, especially where regarding fiction and poetry. Asch, Bergelson and Grade are gone, Mendele and Peretz have one listing each, and all by himself with a separate heading is the old kishef-makher Bashevis. Why? Undoubtedly many causes. One of which is--and here I get to the point at last--that _some_ of those 1989 titles are out of print. And if they are we have only ourselves to blame. How can _Jews_ allow books to go out of print? Even mediocre ones? Especially books from the Yiddish? A mystery. But I have a simple if belated solution: Yidn, 's brent a velt, koyft bikher! Afile nisht geleyent, koyft! Vos veln di ureyniklekh ayere zogn vegn aykh: 'khveys? 'khhob gehat a zeyde-bobe, hobn zey zikh gefoylt tsutsugreytn far undz a yerishe. Azoy vilt ir den? Bet ikh aykh, koyft, koyft mit beyde hent! On a cooler note--and back to Hugh Denman's post. The Yiddish-reading world needs a well-maintained version of the Reader's Catalog, one that not only offers an annotated listing of worthwhile books but enables them (like the Reader's Catalog) to buy them. Who can do that for us? Turns out that the group is already in existence and has for a long time been doing just that: the Arbeter Ring. It runs an efficient, no-nonsense (and without self-glorifying hype) book operation. The folks there need simply to spiff up the catalog with some intelligent copy and bob's your uncle (vi azoy zogt men dos af yidish?). Vos zogt ir, tayere fraynt? Noyekh Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.220