מענדעלע

To keep the record straight: Harold L. Orbach (6.249, 2) states _It was in Harlem (116th Street) that Sholem Aleichem lived and died_. This does not agree with his son-in-law's record in Dos Sholem-Sleykhem Bukh, p. 368. He did live in Harlem in 1915. It was at 110 Lennox Ave. Then he moved to 168 Kelly St. in the Bronx in the autumn. He died there on May 13, 1916.

Louis Fridhandler

wow, you learned the most amazing things in mendele! a sheynem dank to rob robboy for that account! one small thing that blew me away was learning that the andrews sisters weren't jewish! as a child, i confused them totally with the barry sisters (which i suspect would have delighted the barry sisters) and, when i finally sorted them out, i assumed they were jewish -- till 3 minutes ago. not only did they record the english version of _bay mir bistu sheyn_ but also an english version of _yosele yosele_ and some other translations of yiddish songs which i can't remember at the moment. go know.

one minor thing about the apollo tho -- i wouldn't be too sure that a 1930s audience was overwhelmingly black. i went there frequently when i was in junior high and high school (1950s) and, even by that late date, the audiences were at least 10% white so i suspect the 'diversity' was a lot higher in the 1930s. but still it's extraordinary that that's where the yiddish version of _bay mir bistu sheyn_ was discovered. (_bay mir bistu sheyn_ and ella fitzgerald discovered on the same stage! what a theatre!)

re _the jazz singer_, i heard something once that may be apocryphal -bet harold and rob would know for sure -- i heard that _the jazz singer_ was originally supposed to be a yiddish film but that, at the last minute, the producer (green?) thought, 'hm, maybe the goyim would like a talking picture too' and did it in english. any truth in that?

ah, my kind of 'yidishkeyt'! ;)

ellen prince

In response to Leybl Botvinik's inquiry about a book containing a compilation of proverbs which are alphabetized by the key word of each proverb, I own just what he seeks. The book is called _yidishe shprikhverter_ and was compiled by _ignatz bernshtayn_ (Yiddish Proverbs compiled and edited by Ignacy Bernstien).

In the _hey_ section of the book for the entry _harts_ there are eight proverbs listed. Proverb (1) reads _ az af dem hartsn is biter, helft nit in moyl kayn tsuker_ . Proverb (2) reminds us that _az dos harts is ful, geyen di oygn iber_. Un azoy vayter.

The book has 228 pages and was published by The Congress for Jewish Culture in 1983. I purchased it at The National Yiddish Book Center in 1993 for $15.75 + $2.25 postage & handling. The catalog # was 5680. It may still be available.

Al Grand

In response to Leybl Botvinik's request (6.253), I think the classic "Yiddish Proverbs" compiled and edited by Ignacy Bernstein is what he is looking for. I happen to have both a lithographed copy of the second edition (1908) with the old orthography which uses Hebrew vowels with the words, as well as the beautiful 1983 Congress for Jewish Culture edition in which the type was re-set using modern orthography.

Let me give one example which I think shows that this version meets Leybl's requirement:

The key word is "oyvn", and the proverb states: "Ver es ligt oyfn oyvn, krigt nit keyn beygl." And in parentheses an explanation follows: (Dos heyst ah foyler hot nit vos tsu esn.)

Morrie Feller Phoenix

I cite here an exerpt of an article which appears in the current issue (March- April 1997) of Harvard Magazine.

In 1923, Harry H. Kabotchnik [of Philadelphia] petitioned the court for permission to shorten his name to Cabot, against the opposition of "an army of outraged bluebloods"....The petition was allowed. The affair stirred up considerable attention and thoughtful comment, the most enduring of which was the following parody of the well-known toast:

And this is good old Boston The home of the bean and the cod Where the Lowells have no one to talk to Since the Cabots speak Yiddish, by God

Gaston L. Schmir

Berel Leiser grossly misrepresented the essence of the dispute between beys Pythagoras and beys Hillel in his otherwise informative posting about homentashn [6.253].

While it is true that beys Hillel advocated U in a circle, Reb Berel failed to mention that beys Pythagoras insisted on K in a triangle (which seems to be quite a natural choice for them).

References:

De doctrina Pythagorae definitionibus. Venice : Albinus Romanus, 1392 Sefer Rav Hillel. Berdichev : Zalmen Zundechkis & wife, 1896

Iosif Vaisman

I submit this in the hope that some of you haven't yet seen it and that it will provide (some brief and necessary) levity to our discussions. The Yiddish Forward has been running a fascinating series of articles on "Yeshivish" English; the following example of "Yeshivish" English (a translation of a famous speech) is taken from page 13 of the February 21, 1997 issue of the Yiddish Forward. Enjoy.



Be'erech a yoivel and a half ago, the meyasdim shtelled avek on this mokom a naija malchus with the kavona that no one should have bailus over their chaver, and on the yesoid that everyone has the zelba zchusim.

We're holding by a geferliche machloikes being machria of this medina, or an andere medina made in the same oifen and with the same machshovos, can have a kiyum. We are all miztaref on the daled amos where a cholois of that machloikes happened in order to be mechabed the soldiers who dinged zich with each other. We are here to be koiveia chotsh a chelek of that karka as a kever for the bekovodike solidiers who were moiser nefesh and were niftar to give a chiys to our nation. Yshrus is mechaeyv us to do this [...]

Lemaise, hagam the velt won't be hoires or machshiv what we speak out here, it'z zicher not shayach for them to forget what they tued here. We are mechuyav to be meshabed ourselves to the melocha in which these soldiers made a maschola -- that vibalt they were moiser nefesh for this eisek, we must be mamash torud in it -- that we are makebl on ourselves to be moisif on their peula so that their maisim should not be a brocha levatolla -- that Hashem should give the gantze oilom a naiye bren for cheirus -- that a nation that shtams of the oilom, by the oilom, for the oilom, will blaib fest ahd oilom.

Lance W. Garmer

There will be no issues of Mendele between March 17 and April 2.

The reason for this early alert is that we're in the midst of khoydesh oder (Adar I) and Purim is on the way. Some Mendelists have already begun the traditional horseplay. Gut azoy. The shames asks all those who plan to join in to do so no later than March 14.

Noyekh Miller