Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 09.081 April 23, 2000 1) Introduction (George Robinson) 2) Chareidi Fiction (Abraham J. Heschel) 3) a nayer numer "lebns-Fragn" (Y. Luden) 4) Lev Berinski (Hanna Luden) 5) The Lost Town (Andrew Sunshine) 6) Song about the tallith (Bernard Katz) 7) Dos talisl (Itsik Goldenberg) 8) Rebbetzins (Shuly Rubin Schwartz) 9) Unbekante verter (Bill Batkay) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Apr 2000 02:52:08 -0400 (EDT) From: George Robinson Subject: Introduction Khaveyrim -- I am returning to this list after an absence of about two years. In brief, I am a journalist writing on Jewish issues (among many other things!) particularly film and music. In the latter capacity I am music critic for Jewish Week (NYC), the Jewish Journal of Greater LA, the Detroit Jewish News and several other publications both print and "virtual." My new book, Essential Judaism, was published in hardcover last month by Pocket Books. (I regret to say that a large part of the material on Yiddish in the book's final chapter was cut by my editor for space considerations. For this list I feel obliged to note that.) My Yiddish is rudimentary but I am hoping, now that the book is out of the way, to spend some time working on it (and on my Hebrew, too). Many thanks, George Robinson 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2000 19:45:52 -0400 (EDT) From: Abraham J Heschel Subject: "Chareidi Fiction" Pursuant to recent discussions on the Mendele regarding "Chareidi Yiddish" I received several inquiries regarding Chareidi fictions. Below is a partial list that I have compiled of some of the novels published by Chareidi authors in the last few years. I have no connection financial or otherwise with the authors, publishers, or booksellers. The first seven are published by "Mekor Chaim" publishing a Chasidic publishing house in Brooklyn, NY. 1. "Mein Hoffening" by Yehudis Cohen 2. "Tzvishen Mir un Dir" - Pasiringin un Leben 3. "Farloiren un Gevonen" by Chavah Rosenberg 4. "Farvos iz er Farshvundin" by Chaim Eliav 5. "Nein un Neintzug" by Chavah Rosenberg 6. "Geshtelt oif di Feess" by Chanah Goldshtein 7. "Farchapt in Netz" by Chaim Eliav The following book is published by "Ohr Yisroel" Publishing in Monroe, NY. 8. "A Kind in Gericht" by Yaakov Menachem Hirschson The following was published by "Hameir L'Yisroel" Publishing in Brooklyn, NY 9. In Fremde Hent by C.Y. Schnitzer The above is only a partial list of the works of fiction appearing in Yiddish. Some of these have been published only in Yiddish, some have simultaneously been published in Hebrew and English. In addition here are many new biographies and autobiographies constantly being published. The books are available in most Judaica stores in Brooklyn, for those that live out of town and wish to contact me directly I will be glad to obtain for them the telephone numbers of booksellers that do shipping. To the best of my knowledge the only new original fictional work is being published in this community. Abraham J. Heschel 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 06:00:28 -0400 (EDT) From: Subject: a nayer numer "lebns-Fragn" Der nayer numer "lebs-Fragn" far merts-april 2000, vos iz norvos dershinen in Tel-Aviv, iz gevidmet der iker dem yor-tog fun khurbn, vidershtand un gvure, dem oyfshtand fun 19tn april 1943 in varshever geton - mit a raykh inhalt oyf ot der teme. in dem numer fun dem magazin vet ir oykh gefinen a sakh artiklen un notitsn oyf farshidene andere aktuele temes - politishe, gezelshaftleke, fun isroeldikn lebn, fun der yidish-velt, a sakh kultur-nayes, nay dershinene yidishe bikher un azoy vayter. der numer efnt zikh mit an artikl vegn dem bazukh fun dem poypst in Isroel. Der adres tsu bashteln un abonirn: Lebns-Fragn 48 Kalisher St. Tel-Aviv 65165, Israel. Y. Luden 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 04:32:05 -0400 (EDT) From: "Luden, Hanna" Subject: Lev Berinski Can anyone provide information about the poet Lev Berinski? Hanna Luden 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2000 22:52:12 -0400 (EDT) From: "Andrew Sunshine" Subject: The Lost Town Charles Haim Istrail is seeking a translator and a publisher for his Yiddish-language novel, _The Lost Town_. It is a novel about Jewish life in Russia and its author believes it will be of interest to the American Jewish people. If you are interested in translating this work or in assisting Mr. Istrail in any other way, please contact him at the following address or phone number: 1110 Cromwell Hills Drive Cromwell, CT 06416 Phone 860-635-9004 Thanks. Andrew Sunshine 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Apr 2000 15:04:50 -0400 (EDT) From: Bernard Katz Subject: Song about the tallith In 09.076 Naomi (Feldman) Fatouros asks for the lyrics to a song about taking one's tallis to the grave. I can recall only one line of the chorus to this song (which I used to sing as a member of a choir) as follows. I hope it helps someone else to recognize the song and provide all the lyrics! Alles, alles nor dem talis - dus nemt er mit. Obviously this refers to the act of wraping the washed body in a talis as part of the ceremony of preparing a corpse for burial. Bernard Katz Guelph Ontario 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Apr 2000 18:47:31 -0400 (EDT) From: Robert Goldenberg Subject: Dos talisl Naomi Fattouros asks [Vol. 09.076(9)] for the words to a song about the talis. "Dos talisl" was written by S. Smulewitz (Small) and was published in 1921 in New York. The music is by Perlmutter and Wohl. Here is the yiddish text (first of 2 verses, and chorus), quite daytshmerish as was common at that time. The sheet music gives an English version as well: Dos talisl iz a tayere zakh, Dos gehert tsu dem yidn; Yeder yid hot in im hofnung a sakh, Yeder yid iz mit im tsufridn. Akh! Tayerer talis, hertslikhe treyst, Fil tfiles herstu zikh ayn, Fun ale bitere hertser du veyst, Filst gants gut dem yidns payn. Bist imer mit dem yidele Fun zayn bris on hot er dikh, Oykh ven men grobt mit dem ridele, Vikelstu im ayn mit zikh. Bagleytern in gloybikayt, Du bist dokh mayn eybikayt. CHOR: Dos talisl iz nor dos eyntsike kleyd Far dem yidn in zayn freyd un layd Fun zayn geburtstog biz in keyver Geyt es mit im mit. Vert iberal geyogt, Zayn lebn iz geplogt, Ales vos er farmogt Nemt men tsu fun yid, Ales, ales, nor dem talis, Dos nemt men nit, neyn, neyn, neyn. (It is interesting to see DOS talis (neuter). One usually sees DI talis (feminine) in English-yiddish dictionaries, and DER talit (male) in Hebrew-yiddish dictionaries. I recently sent in a question about this to Mendele, but haven't seen it released yet. Hopefully it will appear soon. I am eager to see comments from the Mendelistn about this curiosity.) Itsik Goldenberg 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 10:08:56 -0400 (EDT) From: shschwartz@JTSA.EDU Subject: Rebbetzins For a study of rebbetzins in American Jewish life, I'm trying to learn more about the usage of the term "rebbetzin" in the United States. Since it is not a German Jewish term, nineteenth century Reform Jews seem not to have used it to refer to their their rabbis' wives. I'd be eager for any information- scholarly or anecdotal-or suggestions about where to find out when the term became commonly used. I'm also trying to determine what the various connotations of the title were in various decades and from whence these associations derive. thanks. Shuly Rubin Schwartz New York 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Apr 2000 19:10:51 -0400 (EDT) From: Wmb244@aol.com Subject: Unbekante verter Tayere mendeleyner, zayt etleche voche in mein yiddish klas leye ikh a mayse-tsuzamenbuch fun David Bergelson in velchn hob ikh gefinen di unbekante verter "korintses" [kaf-komets aleph-reysh-yud-nun-tsadek-ayin-samekh] un "zukhiger" [zayin-vov-khaf-yud-gimel-ayin-reysh]. Ofenbar di ershte zaynen zakhe vos lign in a tabak-pushkele; der tsveyter iz an adyektiv vos veyzt on oyf a typ tog. Ikh hob di dozike verter nit gekent in keyn verterbuch finen. Ken yeder mir zog, vos meynen di tvey verter oyf english? A sheynem dank, Bill Batkay ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 09.080 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu Mendele on the Web: http://mendele.commons.yale.edu http://metalab.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html