Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.238 February 23, 1997 1) _In Polish Woods_ (Eliyahu Juni) 2) Al kheyt (Mechl Asheri) 3) Vilne/Vilnius (Sylvia Schildt) 4) Yiddish-English Version of "Reyzele" (Lisa Tomlinson) 5) Ende oysiyes (David Herskovic) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1997 15:07:46 -0500 From: e.juni@utoronto.ca Subject: _In Polish Woods_ A friend has asked me to pass on a question about a Yiddish movie titled _In Polish Woods_. It was apparently based on a novel about the Kotzker, which protrays him in a very unfavourable light. When it was released in Varshe in 1928, khsidim supposedly rioted in the streets. There is also some source which claims that someone from the Aguda "censored" it, and/or got the film-maker to remove a scene which was especially offensive to traditional sensibilities (I don't know whether before or after its initial release). Does anyone know anything more about the film? Is it extant? If so, where is it to be found? Thanks. Eliyahu Juni 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 23 Feb 1997 00:38:09 +0200 From: donnom@netvision.net.il Subject: Al kheyt B'tshive Khane-Faygl Turtletaub, m'koyach ire mayning az al kheyt klapt men, kapores shlogt men, farshtayt zikh: Kapores ken m'mit klapn nor shlogn un vayter gezogt, a depesh ken m'nit shlogn nor klapn. Ober al kheyt ken men i shlogn i klapn un ikh alayn dermon zikh nit dos letztn mol vos ikh hob klapn gehert. Vayter, zayt moykhl, a kop ken men i shlogn i klapn i hakn on vant ober dos bin ikh nit -- al kol ponim nit tzelib azelkhe pitzimoninke inyonim. Mechl Asheri 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Feb 1997 13:22:13 +0100 From: creativa@charm.net Subject: Vilne/Vilnius _es iz amol geven a 'vilne'_ - dos iz a zamlung fun vilner mayses - der mkhaber iz avraham karpinovitch - a yisroyldiker, ober a vilner geborener fun a mishpokhe vos hot ongefirt a yidishn teater in vilne. haynt iz do a shtot vos heyst Vilnius -- un dos iz nit nor a frage fun realpolitik -- Vilnius un Vilne zaynen in gantzn andersh. Vilne iz geven -- yerushalayim d'lite, heymshtot fun dem vilner gaon, fun abba kovnern, hirsh glikn, shmerke katcherginskin, fun YIVO, fun a breytn raykhn yidishn lebn un kultur, fun vunderbare kluge mentshn -- a kehile umgebrakht fun di natzis un zeyere beyze antisemitishe litvinishe un peylishe mithelfer. Vilnius iz der heyptshtot fun itztiker medine -- punkt. paragraf. vos vil ikh mit dem zogn vos iz shayekh "yidish" -- az dos iz nit nor a frage fun oysleyg -- oder stam azey variantn - es redt zikh fun 2 gantz umenlikhe bashefenishn. _There Once Was a Vilne_ -- this is a collection of Vilne stories -- the author is Avraham Karpinovitch - an Israeli, but a Vilne native from a family that ran a yiddish theater in Vilne. Today there is a city named Vilnius -- and this is not only a question of realpolitik --Vilnius and Vilne are very different. Vilne was -- Jerusalem of Lithuania, hometown of the Vilner Gaon, of Abba Kovner, Hirsh Glik, Shmerke Katcerginski, of YIVO, of a broad, rich Yiddish life and culture, of wonderfully smart people - a community exterminated by the Nazis and their vicious antisemitic Lithuanian and Polish collaborators. Vilnius is the capital of modern Lithuania. Period. Paragraph. What do I want to say with this as relevant to Yiddish? That it is not only a question of spelling -- or simply variants -- it speaks to two completely different "creatures". Sylvia Schildt Baltimore, Maryland 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 22 Feb 1997 19:34:26 -0800 From: ltomlins@direct.ca Subject: Yiddish-English Version of "Reyzele" Does there exist an Yiddish-English performing version of Gebirtig's "Reyzele"? We would very much like to find or create one for use by our Vancouver based band "Macedonian Mazl-Tov". I know that many people may consider such versions to be shameless bastardizations of the Yiddish. However, we have found that when we perform a theatrical piece like "Reyzele" in front of a general audience, the words are lost on the listeners (even if we include a translation in the program notes or preface the performance with a synopsis). On the other hand, an Yiddish-English version keeps the audience interested and involved, while retaining a flavour of the original language. How do Mendele subscribers feel about mixed language versions? Lisa Tomlinson 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 23 Feb 97 08:59:26 EST From: 100114.750@compuserve.com Subject: Ende oysiyes I was last week in a second hand bookshop and came across a collection of works by Bergelson in Yiddish. On opening the book my eyes were dazzled and I immediately noticed that the reason for this was that all the end letters had been replaced by normal ones. Was there ever a movement to remove the end letters from the Yiddish orthography? And if so, why? A khitspe to dare mess with the beloved ende tsadik! David Herskovic ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.238