מענדעלע

Sholem Aleichem's playful letter to Bialik about Bialik leaving his slippers (shtekshikh) behind after a visit with Sholem Aleichme in Switzerland is a warm, treasure. Those who can read Yiddish (Hebrew characters) can find it in the original Yiddish in the readily available _Dos Sholem-Aleykhem Bukh_. It is on page 219.

On the preceding page is another very playful invention of dialog by Sholem Aleichem. He wrote the dialog (like comic strip dialog, almost) on a postcard which pictures four men climbing a mountain. They are labelled Ben-Ami (at the top), Sholem-Aleykhem, Mendele Moykher Sforim and Bialik (at the bottom). The postcard is pictured on page 217. In correspondence with fellow writers he wrote in Yiddish in which he apparently felt most free to indulge his childhood reputation as mischievous scamp. Try it. You'll like. Take a mekhaye.

Louis Fridhandler

Dovid Braun hot gefregt [6.207] vegn dem lid "Halevay". Ot zaynen di verter loyt mayn kaset, vos iz shoyn zeyer an alte un hot a khisorn dertsu: an opris inem dritn kuplet.

halevay, halevay, halevay, halevay, (2x) halevay volt ikh geven a floymenboym, (2x) un ven ikh volt geven a floymenboym, vos zshe volt geven? volt ikh dir gegebn yeder floym! halevay, halevay, halevay*

halevay volt ikh geven gefilte fish, (2x) un ven ikh volt geven gefilte fish, vos zshe volt geven? volt geven af yedn yidns tish! halevay, halevay, halevay*

halevay volt ikh [* do felt es af mayn kaset etlekhe verter*] vos zshe volt geven? volt ikh gegebn yedn broyt a shtik! halevay, halevay, halevay*

halevay volt ikh geven a sheyner kholem, (2x) un ven ikh volt geven a sheyner kholem, vos zshe volt geven? di gantse velt volt nor gelebt in sholem! halevay, halevay, halevay*

halevay volt ikh geven vos dir gefelt, (2x) un ven ikh volt geven vos dir gefelt, vos zshe volt geven? voltn mir a khupe glaykh geshtelt! halevay, halevay, halevay*

halevay volt ikh geven a shoyfer gikh, (2x) un ven ikh volt geven a shoyfer gikh, vos zshe volt geven? geblozn volt ikh az kumen zol moshiekh! halevay, halevay, halevay*

Amol hob ikh gehert dos lid durkh der radio "Kol yisroel" un khotsh ikh gedenk nit genoy, nor dos vort, vos felt dort oys, gramt zikh, farshtendlekh, mit "shtik" un endikt zikh af "-nik". Ober vos far a vort iz dos? Ikh bin aleyn a baln dos tsu visn.

Andrey Bredshtein Moskve, Rusland

In response to Dovid Braun's query: The Mazeltones recorded "Alevay" in the 1980s. The stanzas include: alevay ikh volt geven a floymenboym..., alevay I wish I were a keg of beer / an apple tree / what you desire / a bumble bee. Unfortunately, I don't know on which tape of theirs it is recorded.

Nina Warnke

Andrey Bredshtein asked about Khumesh Beys Yehude [6.209]. It is one of _mikraot gedolot_ or "rabbinical Bibles". This edition includes four commentaries to Shulhan Arukh written by R. Yehuda ben Yosef Landa of Vlodava, one of the last talmudists from the famous Landa family. His Bet Yehuda was first published in 1830:

Bet Yehudah: al arbaah helke Shulhan arukh, ve-gam hidushe gapat al kamah masekhtot (Lemberg: Aharon ben Hayim David, 1830).

Humash Bet Yehuda with the commentaries in Yiddish was first(?) published in 1920:

Humash Bet Yehuda: im shenayim ve-hamishim maalot perushim (Piotrkow: M. Cederbaum, 1920)

and later reprinted several times in Piotrkow, Jerusalem, and New York.

Iosif Vaisman

I am posting this inquiry for Roberta Schwartz, a researcher in Yiddish who does not have e-mail. She would like to know if anyone can shed light on the term "bet lemden," which appears in the writings of Gluckel of Hameln, 17th century. David Kaufman, publisher of Gluckel's writings, says it means Anzahl, or downpayment.

Does anyone have an alternate explanation for this term? Responses can be posted to me privately or to this list.

A sheynem dank.

Joy Kingsolver