Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 10.052 April 6, 2001 1) _es geyt tsu peysekh_ by Y.-L. Perets (Noyekh Miller) 2) Social justice as a Jewish value (Libe Gritz) 3) Birobidzhan (Yale Strom) 4) Eliot parody (Ezra Mendelsohn) 5) oif kapores (Ruben Frankenstein) 6) oif kapores (Al (Avrum) Miller) 7) timtum (Beni Warshawsky) 8) dibbuks, golems, and other creatures (sarah zarrow) 9) gender-neutral names (Yankev Lewis) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2001 16:34:17 -0400 From: Norman Miller Subject: es geyt tsu peysekh es geyt tsu peysekh, un ikh bet mikh bay aykh ayn tsum seyder. nemt mikh oyf! keyn sakh vel ikh nisht kostn; kneydlekh es ikh nisht! zayt mir oykh nisht meKaved mit morer; mit dem bin ikh geboyrn! heyst mir oykh nisht tseyln keyn "makes"; ikh hob di mitsreym shoyn lang moykhl geven. un es iz glat a min "brokhe levatole"; fun geshribene oder gedrukte makes iz nokh keyner nisht krank gevorn. bafrayt mikh oykh fun "shfoykh khamoskho"!... ikh bin nokh tsu yung, farsamt mir nisht dos blut mit nekome... ikh hof af besere tsaytn un vil afile kayn getsn-diner nisht sheltn. ikh vil afile nisht zogn: "leshone habo b'yerushelayim!" vayl "fun zogn vert men nisht trogn"! dervayl vil ikh aykh nor vintshn, az ir zolt oyf's yor den gantsn "ma nishtano" un "avodim hoyinu" fargesn... un - az ir vet efenen di tir un rufn beemes, nisht vi haynt oyf lovn-haramis loshn, "kol dikhfin yeytsey veyekhol!", zol keyner nisht araynkumen; es zol keyner nisht darfn araynkumen! Yitskhok-Leyb Perets 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 22:39:16 -0500 (EST) From: "Mike Katz & Linda Gritz" Subject: Social justice as a Jewish value Tayere Mendelyaner, I'm looking for a poem with a theme of social justice as a Jewish value. Preferably Yiddish with an English translation. This is for our Boston celebration of the 100th anniversary of The Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring, a gala event that will be held on April 29th. Do you know of any such poem and where I can find it? A sheynem dank. Libe Gritz 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 11:06:13 -0500 (EST) From: Yitztyco@aol.com Subject: Birobidzhan Dear Mendele, I am working on a project about the "Jewish Autonomoous Region," in Russia better known as Birobidzhan. There was an organization established in the United States in the mid-twenties by pro-Soviet American Jews interesting in promoting the agricultural settlement of Jews in the Soviet Union. This organization was "Association for Jewish Colonization in the Soviet Union. Known as ICOR, many Jews from the US who went to live in Birobidzhan often ended up living and working on the ICOR commune. I am looking for anyone who was a member of ICOR, or is a child of a parent who belonged to ICOR in the 20's and 30's. And I am interested in speaking to anyone who went to Birobidzhan that came from outside of the Soviet Union. a shaynem dank, Yale Strom 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 12:24:34 -0500 (EST) From: Ezra Mendelsohn Subject: Eliot parody Hello: I am looking for the Yiddish text of the famous parody of Eliot's Prufrock (by Bellow?) Have you any idea where I might find it? Many thanks, Ezra Mendelsohn 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2001 12:57:43 -0500 (EST) From: frankens@uni-freiburg.de Subject: oif kapores The figurative meaning of "oif kapores" is that: once you used it, you cannot use it again, so it is worthless. Or as Ignatz Bernstein puts it: "An opgeshlogene kapore, toig oif kapores" worem an opgeshlogene kapore ken men shoin nit mer banutsn. Ruben Frankenstein, Freiburg 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2001 16:55:08 -0500 (EST) From: Artliese@aol.com Subject: oif kapores To chaver Levine: The usage of kapora, aside from the acte of "shlogen kapores" is that someone or something "toyg off kapores" meaning his/hers/its only usefulness was as a kapora chicken. In other words, worthless. There was a joke current where someone was invited to your house before Yom Kippur. When the invitee asked "how come", the reply was "I can use you to "shlog kapores" Hope this helps, mit harzige gruss, Al (Avrum) Miller 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2001 02:24:30 -0500 (EST) From: B&D Warshawsky Subject: timtum Micheh Bazant asked for a source and information regarding the term 'timtum'. I recommend that he look at the last chapter in the Tractate Bikkurim. The last chapter deals with the status of the androgynous under Jewish law and the last Mishne in the Tractate mentions tumtum. Beni Warshawsky 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 16:40:13 -0500 (EST) From: sazarrow@vassar.edu Subject: dibbuks, golems, and other creatures hi! i thought i might introduce myself. my name is sarah and i'm a first-year college student hoping to study american culture. i'm also teaching myself yiddish and am interested in singing/playing klezmer. i had a genral question--i am doing an independent study in yiddish literature in translation, and am focusing on elements of the fantastic (dybbuks, golems, people going crazy). i have rad a large amoung of i.b. singer and many other authors, but i am afriad i'm missing someone or something huge. the focus of my thesis is probably going to be these fantastic elements and how they relate to women's sexuality and/or madness. any suggestions are greatly appreciated sarah zarrow 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 20:28:29 -0500 (EST) From: Justin Lewis / Jane Enkin Subject: gender-neutral names? A friend asks, "Is there such thing in Hebrew as a 'gender-neutral' name?" I replied that I have met two women named Yonah, like the prophet Jonah, and one named Simcha. In both cases these are feminine nouns which have mostly been used as male names. I don't know, however, if their use as female names is only a recent phenomenon. In Yiddish, we have a woman friend named Frume-Berl; I've otherwise only encountered Berl as a man's name. Any other examples or information would be appreciated! Yankev Lewis ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 10.052 Address for the postings to Mendele: mendele@lists.yale.edu Address for the list commands: listproc@lists.yale.edu Mendele on the Web: http://www.mendele.net http://ibiblio.org/yiddish/mendele.html