מענדעלע

In response to Noyekh Miller (8.105):

Victor Schachter, 1906-1992 hot fun Moldavie kein Paris emigrirt in yor 1937. Er is geven in Romenie un in Frankraykh a mitglid fun Comunistisher Partay,er is gevoren in Paris a druker in der tzaytung l'Humanite un hot ayntayl genumen in der Resistance.

Er is gevorn trotzkyst in 1968 un hot geshafn un dirigirt a drukeray mit der hilf fun Organisation Communiste Intertionaliste, OCI. Zazyne naye fraynd hobn him gerifn Nicolas. Er hot gemakht shlimazeldike gesheftn un hot gemust farkoyfn di drukeray in 1972.

"Nicolas" is geven 75 yor alt ven er hot geshafn "Les Impressions Populaires", a naye drukeray hoykh geshtitzt dokh zayne fraynd. Nor ven me vayst nisht vos is offset, komputeray un elektronik is shver tzu zein an yiddisher, trotskysher druker. Er hot gekhulemt tzu shraybn a bukh vegn "der yiddisher folk" ober zeine iber gegibene arbet far zein flikht hot him nisht gelozt genuk tzayt.

Er is geven fun di mentshn vos gebn zeyer lebn far a tzil.

Sources: Liberation 4 Janvier 1999. Centre d'etudes et de recherches trotzkystes. Monsieur Lambert, President de l'OCI.

Jean Maslo Paris

The latest issue of The Mendele Review (Vol. 03.001) is dedicated to Itche-Meyer Shpilrayn (1891 -19??). Avraham Greenbaum in his article, among other things, states: "Veynik vos geshribn. Dos do ibergeshribn bikhl iz zayn eyntsiker publikatsye in bukh form." In reality, er hot take geshribn zeyer a sakh.

Yitskhok-Meyer (Isaak Naftulyevich) Shpilreyn (1891-1937) was quite a prominent Soviet psychologist. Although he published several articles and the bikhl on Yiddish matters (and even taught a course of Yiddish at the 2nd Moscow State University in 1922-23), his major contributions were in the area of industrial psychology. Thus, he founded the first "psychotechnical" laboratory in the country (1923), and later (1927) - the Soviet Society for Psychotechnics and Applied Psychophysiology. Amongst his works (published in the book-form) were: Psychotechnics and the Choice of Profession, Moscow, 1924; The Language of a Red Army Soldier, Moscow, 1928; Applied Psychology. The Psychology of Labor and Psychotechnics, Moscow, 1930; To The Issue of Theory of Psychotechnics, Moscow, 1931.

Interestingly, in his article "On Changes of Names and Surnames" (1929), Shpilreyn noted that changes of surnames from Russian to Jewish in the 1920s were more common, than the changes from Jewish to Russian; which he considered to be a sign of fading of anti-Semitism in the USSR.

The fact that he moved "batsaytns" from the Yiddish studies to the more secure field of industrial psychology (and pedology) did not help him much: he was arrested in 1935 and executed in 1937.

The name of his sister - Sabina Spielrein (Sabina Nikolayevna Shpilreyn Sheftel, 1885-1942) is better known in the West. Her diaries and vast correspondence with C.G.Jung and S.Freud were found in the late 1970s in Piaget's archives in Geneva (she was Piaget's analyst and Jung's analysand) and led to an urgent necessity to revise the existing biographies of Jung (cf. "Tagebuch einer heimlicher Symmetrie: Sabina Spielrein zwischen Jung und Freud, 1979; A Secret Symmetry. Sabina Spielrein Between Jung and Freud, by Aldo Carotenuto, London: Routledge, 1980; New York: Pantheon Books, 1982). She perished with the rest of the Jews of Rostov in 1942. The rest of the family: Isaak Shpilreyn, biologist Emil Shpilrayn and mathematician Yan Shpilreyn, - all prominent figures in their respective fields, - were executed in 1937-38. Yitskhok-Meyer's nephew - Evald Shpilrayn - is a notable thermophysicist in Moscow.

Shaya Mitelman.

J. Engelhardt asks (8.106) where to find Sholem Aleykhem's reference to "farvarfn gendz". It is in one of the _monologn_ and is called "gendz". Here are two brief excerpts.

farvarfn di gendz, badarf men nor zen, di gendz zoln hobn hodivle, dos esn tsu der tsayt un dos trinkn tsu der tsayt. un vayter gornisht. vorum gendz iz nisht kayn katshkes un nisht kayn oyfes. katshkes hobn moyre far pokn, un oyfes--far a tkhoyr (?), un gendz badarfn nor esn. un esn--esn gendz alsding: gendz esn hober, gendz esn prose, gendz esn kashe, gendz esn, ikh bet iber ayer koved, nokh ergers... a gandz kloybt nisht iber. a gandz shlingt alsding, a gandz iz tomid hungerik, vi bay an oreman kinder, lehavdil...

itser geyt a sedre: farvarfn gendz... az ir vilt, di gendz zoln aykh gerotn, zolt ir farvarfn di gendz in'm a l t n khoydesh. got zol aykh hitn, ir zolt zikh tsurirn tsu gendz in onhoyb khoydesh, teykef nokhn moyled --s'iz an umglik!

Neither of these help answer the question but SA is irresistible.

But there is one phrase early in the monologue that _may_ provide a clue: "farvarfn di gendz oyfn vinter in shtayg arayn". Since posting my question I've been wondering whether "farvarfn" (which bears, incidentally, interesting though surely superficial similarities to the French \e'carter) may here have something to do with immobilizing the geese by cooping them up in order to maximize fat. Just as a "farvorfn" shtetl means a secluded, inaccessible place, _perhaps_ farvorfene gendz are geese that have been taken out of circulation and impounded. A pure guess. I don't know whether this was the practice in eastern Europe or the intention. Possibly it was, given the great importance of gendzerne shmaltz for peysekh. Anyway, a retenish.

Noyekh Miller

First of all my thanks to the very many replies I had with information about the lid I asked about.

It is by Morris Rosenfeld (1862 - 1923) and it has more lines than there were in my message. The most interesting bit of information I was sent was that Rosenfeld lost a son at a very young age. I wonder if this poem was composed after the tragedy since it talks about the child pining after his father and similarly there is the pain of the father,

ikh kish di bloye eygelekh zey efen'n zikh - o kind! zey zeyen mikh, zey zeyen mikh un shlisn zikh geshvind

I must admit that on hearing the name of the author I checked out my two volume anthology of yidish poetry by M. Basin purchased from the yidish book centre (a real treasure!) and there was the poem.

So in pentinance at unnecessarily troubling the oylem I publish here one of my favourite poems from the above anthology.

It is by Avrom M. Sharkansky (1862-1905) and is titled 'vos iz a yid'. Believe me folks of all the current debates over what is a Jew I have yet to hear a definition that comes anywhere close to Mr Sharkansky's.

vos iz a yid

a betler, a srore a vorem, a riz an alte hoyshane a shtekhender shpiz a blim un a dorn a brand a shtik ayz ot dos iz gevorn yiroel der grayz

a shtarker, a shvakher a trus un a held baym omed a makher a gor nisht in feld a nadvn, a shnorer do frish un do mid do honig, do morer azoy iz der yid

a shtendiger khoyle un shtarbt nit oyf toyt miskhorim gants voyle un hot nit oyf broyt a greylikher kener un vert keynmol groys er makht sharfe plener un firt zey nit oys

er glust palestine un zitst in der heym er hoft tsu der shkhine un gloybt in bal shem ersht tishe b'ov klogt er un glaykh iz 'nakhmi' a pok tsores trogt er un tantst zikh nokh tsu...

David Herskovic

Dear Mendele Makhers

Are there any people out there currently working, or interested in Yiddish in the 15-17th centuries, early Purim shpiels, and the spread of Yiddish through the new world diasporas--Americas, Africa, Asia? I would like to be in touch.

Norman Simms Hamilton, New Zealand

In mendele [8.018] Refoyl Finkl mentioned a few synonyms for 'slow' in yidish. I wrote to him at the time suggesting another word, 'shtat', to which he replied that he had never heard of it.

This surprised me as shtat is nowadays the standard word for slow in frime communities while pavolye is almost never heard. It is used on its own or also tsishtat, shtatlekh and tsishtatlekh.

Vaynraykh doesn't mention it, is it a daytsherism?

David Herskovic

The following is a list of Jewish objects and customs that only have a generic name in yidish and not in loshen koydesh. Others may have others to add to the list but I leave it to the mevinim to find a connection, if any, for these practices and items.

kitl White apron that is worn by men on yom kiper and at the sayder on paysekh. It is supposed to resemble either shrouds or the image of angels.

krishme-laynen The practice of taking children to read the shema besides a new born boy on the evening before the bris. The children are then rewarded with pekelekh.

kvitl The piece of paper given to a rebe that has written on it the name of the supplicant and his or her mother's name together with his or her particular wishes and needs. It is usually accompanied with a pidyen (redemption money).

mitsve tants The dance with the kale after the wedding meal

nitl The practice of not learning toyre on Christmas.

neygl vaser Water prepared besides the bed by observant Jews to be used to wash the hands in the morning upon awakening. Although there are impurities assciated with nails, the impurity that neygl vaser is supposed to rid one of is to do with the fingers, so whence the name?

oyfruf The calling to the toyre of a khosen on the week before his marriage

shnodern The pledging of donations after being called up to the seyfer toyre. The word is a corruption of the word 'shenodar' meaninng that he pledged.

vakh nakht The night before the bris when there is a tradition for the father to host a meal and then to recite certain sections of the zohar late into the night, hence the word 'vakh'.

yarmulke skullcap

yortsayt I believe the Hebrew 'yom hashana' to be a translation of yortsayt as an anniversary of death in the halokhe is known simply as the day that the father or mother died.

The following is a list of minhogim (customs) that are derived from ominous associations with their yidish names.

To eat carrots on rosh hashone with a prayer that our merits are increased. meyren is similar to mern.

There are those who do not eat carrots on paysekh as a leavened dough has increased so meyren are a bad omen.

A minheg to eat on erev yoym kiper a fish known in yidish as koreslekh to atone for sins commited which carry the penalty of kores (torn away from kin?). According to my fishmonger the English name for this fish is St Petion(?) while his black customers know it as Talapia.

David Herskovic

This morning, January 14th, National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" ran a story about this years Folksbiene production.

If you have Real Audio, you can hear it (around the world) by going to this address:

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/archives/1999/9901.me.html

and selecting January 14th. You can hear the program in its entirety or choose to hear on the Folksbiene portion of the program. Enjoy.

Bob Ponsett Queens, NY

First the good news: Mendele has been featured in Forverts (Y. London, Di eyropeer khapn oykh a shmues af "Mendele", 1/15/99, z' 10). The bad news is that the Forverts' author apparently does not like Mendele. Which is OK. The sacred human right to dislike Mendele is guaranteed by the constitutions of most civilized countries. You may ask: How do I know that Y. London does not like Mendele? It's simple: the only thing he tells his readers about us (except the subscribers statistics) is that

di dozike yedies nemen nisht arayn keyn statistik mekoyekh der tematik fun di "shmuesn" vos vern gefirt tsvishn di abonentn. men ken zogn, az es dominirn nokh alts etimologishe frages un klots-kashes, oftmol fun aza min vi: "mayn mames shkheyne hot gezogt af a nar 'maleumnik'. fun vanen shtamt ot dos vort un tsi hot es a shaykhes tsu mamelige, vos ikh fleg esn bay mayn feter munis frayndine, a profesorshe fun khinezish?"

It would have been a funny jest, had it been posted to Mendele. However, for many Forverts readers who are not Mendele subscribers, our list is presented as a "klots-kashes" place. Which is not true. Statistically and otherwise.

Mendele will not sit idly in the face of such an offence. We will mobilize our members with the appropriate geographical names and evaluate a statistically significant sample of questions from the Forverts' own "Bintel briv". Then we will report who is more klots-kashedike.

Iosif Vaisman