מענדעלע

Di yidye vegn yosls toyt hot tsu mir dergreykht mit etlekhe teg tsurik, in oksford, england, vu ikh hob an onteyl genumen in a konferentsvergn yidish un yidishe kultur. ikh bin geven azoy dershitert az kh'hob afile nit gevust mit vemen ikh ken zikh teyln mit mayn tsar. Azoy fil, azoy fil mentshn zaynen avek in meshakh fun di letste etlekhe yor, mentshn fun mayn svive, fun vaytn un noentn amol, mentshn vos zaynen geven farbundn mit mayn gantsn lebn. yosl iz geven far mir un vet shtendik farblaybn in mayn zikorn a shtik fun mayn kindhayt, bifrat fun medem sanatorye, dernokh in amerike, in di yidishe shuln, in yivo, in arbeter ring, un vi a shokhn bashaynperlekh nit mer vi efsher tsen minut fun undzer dire in di bronks.

vi oft fleg ikh arayngeyn un opzitsn a bisl tsayt mit im un mit khanen! vi oft flegn mayne eltern reydn vegn im--er iz zey geven oysegeveynelkh noent vi oft flegt er un ikh reydn say vegn undzere gemeynzame fargangenhayt, say vegn tog teglekhe problemen, literatur, folslider` vegn fraynd, bakante... tsum badoyern nokh dem vi ikh hob zikh ibergetsoygn keyn vashington flegn mir zikh shoyn nit trefn azoy oft vi amol. nor mir iz yo sl geblibn shtendik lib, tayer. s'ara hartsiker mentsch iz er geven!

Avrom Brumberg

I wish to add to Lucas Bruyn's engaging contribution by offering the quote from Einhorn's Volkovysk Yizkor Book which I am translating into English:

Vol I Page 93, where the various melamdim in town are recalled:

Shimon Adah's ("Shimon der Melamed") -- "Mitn Beyndl." Er iz geven bavust als a mumkheh optzushprekhn an ayin-horeh mit aza min beyndl vos er hot gehat.

Before we dismiss all of these carryings-on, let us recall that Pasteur's Germ Theory of Disease is contemporaneous with the 1870's. Before science was able to directly link certain types of maladies to the wee beasties about us, all manner of appeals to occult forces seemed perfectly reasonable.

Regards Yankev Berger

Several people have written in about the volume on Glikl which is part of the Argentine-published YIVO library. This seems to be a modernization of Glikl. Where could one obtain at least a sampling of the text in her original Yiddish? How much modernization was done for the YIVO volume (orthography? some changes in meaning? etc.)

Susan Ganc

The Guardian newspaper in Britain is today carrying the first of two extracts from Norman Finkelstein's controversial book "The Holocaust industry".

Finkelstein quotes Elie Wiesel, who reminisces that he read Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason" in Yiddish, soon after he was liberated from Buchenwald. Finkelstein claims this is a "preposterous statement", as, according to him, Kant's work was never translated into Yiddish.

Is Finkelstein right? I know that Plato, Nietsche, and many other philosophers were translated into Yiddish, but was Kant?

David Mazower

Norman Finkelstein's assertion that reading "The Critique of Pure Reason" in Yiddish is a "preposterous statement" may serve as a good example of his "scholarship". I did not read Finkelstein's books (the pages I saw made me nauseous), but somehow I beleive that this is not the only example. This particular Finkelstein innuendo is directed not only against Wiesel, but also against Yiddish culture (reading Kant in Yiddish is not just a mistake or a lie, it's a "preposterous statement"; apparently, the very idea sounds absurd to Finkelstein).

Of course Kant was translated into Yiddish. In 1945, Wiesel could have read, for example, "Kant's etik" (Varshe: Farlag Etik, 1929. 66 p. Oysgekliben durkh N. Sheynberg). Although this edition contains extensive excerpts from "The Critique of _Practical_ Reason", the book's existence takes complete care of the "preposterousness". And Finkelstein's effort to discredit a memoirist, because after fifty years he did not remember which one of Kant's Critiques he had read, illustrates the quality of the polemic.

There are many other books in Yiddish that treat at length Kantian philosophy (including "The Critique of Pure Reason"), contain quotes and extracts from Kant's works, and could have been available to Wiesel in 1945. An incomplete list includes:

Karl Kautsky, Etik un di materialistishe oyfasung fun der geshikhte (Nyu York: Di Heym, 1919. The entire Chapter 3 discusses Kant's views).

Friedrich Engels, Ludvig Feyerbakh un der sof fun der klasisher Daytshisher filosofie (Moskve: Der Emes, 1940. There was also another translation: Ludvig Feyerbakh un der oysloz fun der klasisher Daytshlandisher filosofie, Nyu York: Ikuf, 1943)

K. Gutboym, Artur Shopenhoyer: zayn lebn un filosofie (Varshe: A. Gitlin, 1922).

Herbert Spencer, Di ershte prinzipn: a sistem fun sintetisher filosofie (Vilna: YIVO, 1937)

Max Schatz, Fun roym tsu tsayt: gedanken tsu a kulturfilozofye (Rige: Arbeterheym, 1922)

Jacob Bobinsky, Shleymes un Kants derkentenish-teorye (and other essays published in the early 1940s in "Yidishe shriften")

The bottom line is simple: Finkelstein's rant on Wiesel's alleged lie about reading Kant in Yiddish isn't worth much. However, his "discovery" was put to good use by various Holocaust deniers, including notorious Bradley Smith, who repeated it in his "debate on the Holocaust" ads in college newspapers. Now Finkelstein must be thrilled that in addition to Hunter College and New York University, where he teaches, students at Emporia State, Boise State, and University of Maine at Orono were also exposed to his eye-opening revelations. While Smith is more of a clinical case (unfortunately not recognized as such by some student newspaper editors), Finkelstein's affiliations add undue legitimacy to really preposterous claims of his own.

Iosif Vaisman

Ikh hob nor vos bamerkt az Israel Radio International hot a "live radio stream" fun zeyere internatsionale auditsiyes vos nemt arayn yidish, rusish un ladino. Men ken gefinen di farbindung af www.israelradio.org.

Ikh bin zeyer tsufridn az men ken hern di yidish-auditsiyes yedn tog ober eyb men veynt in di farendike shtatn oder dorem amerike, zenen di tsaytn zeyer umbakvem. Lemoshl eyb men veynt in New York di yidishe auditsiyes kumen for 12 un eyns a zeyger bay tog. Siz a shod vos di programen zenen nit rekordirt men zol zey kenen hern ven me vil mit der "real player program". Azey tuen zey mit di englisher nayes.

Veyst emetser tsu vemen men volt gekent shraybn a blitsbriv. Efsher eyb di balebatim bay Kol Israel voltn gekrogn a khvalye blitsbriv fun mendelyaner voltn zey es geton far der yidishe auditsiye eykhet.

Adam Whiteman New York

In Mendele 10.025 (July 2, 2000) I posted a question concerning the etymology and the spelling of yidd. "dalfen" 'pauper, beggar'. I have had quite a bit of correspondence since then and I would like to put the thing to rest now. After all, I am a syntactician and not an etymologist. I only wanted to help my colleagues of the new etymological dictionary of Dutch to improve just one entry. Furthermore I have come to the conclusion that there may be a solution in terms of the name "Dalfo:n" which also involves the Hebrew root DLP 'to leak, to drip, to cry, etc.'.

(Thanks to Shlomo Berger, Lucas Bruyn, Gilad Gevaryahu, Neil Jacobs, Jan Jonk, Jean Lowenstamm and Meyer Wolf for their contributions.)

THE PROBLEM AGAIN: "Dalfen", which is spelled <dlpwn>, is usually derived from "Dalfo:n" (spelled <dlpwn>), the name of one of the sons of Haman in the book of Esther. However, the relationship between "dalfen" and "Dalfo:n" is very unclear and the plural is "dalfonim", as if the word derives from a Hebrew etymon "dalfa:n" (from the root DLP 'to leak, etc.'?). Cf. in this context "evyen" (< hebr. "'evyo:n"), which has the plural "evyoynim". Yet, it cannot be excluded that "dalfen" with its CaCCen structure derives from "Dalfo:n" and has been adapted to words like "lamden" with their plurals in "-onim".

In the mean time I know that the spelling <dlpwn>, which relates "dalfen" to "Dalfo:n", is quite old and certainly predates the modern etymology, which goes back to Tendlau (19th century): Meyer Wolf could refer me to a West Yiddish text from 1627, a dispute between a rich man and a poor man, where "dalfen" is spelled <dlpwn>.

Yet this does not solve the problem, for it is certainly possible to say "poor Dalfen [= Dalfo:n]" -- because of Dalfo:n's unhappy fate -- but Dalfo:n does not seem to be a symbol or an example of poverty. So if "dalfen" derives from "Dalfo:n" we are still in need of an explanation.

Furthermore note that my hunch to derive "dalfen" from a Hebrew word "dalfa:n" probably has to be given up since there is no Hebrew evidence to support it (yet). In the Modern Hebrew period we do find "dalfo:n" 'pauper' and "dalfa:n" (!) 'beggar' but these clearly are loans from Yiddish. On the other hand Jean Lowenstamm informs me that he "heard ["dalfen"] used in reference to someone who is chronically incapable of retaining wealth, like someone who would try to retain water in his hands with outspread fingers. Litterally a "dripper", a "leaker"." [message of July 3, 2000] Yet, this may be a case of semantic specialization, because the usual meaning of "dalfen" seems to be 'pauper, beggar'.

INTERMEZZO: Note that the name "Dalfo:n" should be Indo-Iranian but looks surprisingly Semitic, unlike the names of his nine (Persian) brothers. So it cannot be excluded that <dlpwn> originally stood for something like "Dalpawan / Dalfawan" or "Dalpuan / Dalfuan".

Now, whether "Dalfo:n" is original or derivative, Baumgartner et al.'s dictionary of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic interprets it as a Semitic name, suggesting an interpretation like 'sleepless' (akkadian "Dulluppu") or connections with arabic "dalu:f" 'quick eagle' or "dalifa" 'to have a small nose'.

However, in my view one could also formally analyze the 'Persian' name "Dalfo:n" as a Mishnaic Hebrew diminutive "dalf-o:n" 'drop-let' related to mishn.hebr. "delef" 'drippings' (acc. to Tsanin's Hebrew-Yiddish dictionary also 'regn-tropn'). But note that this word does not seem to be attested, so that my Hebrew 'folk etymology' of this Persian name is purely formal in nature.

A SUGGESTION: This folk-etymological speculation of mine has some relevance in view of the following suggestion by Meyer Wolf [message of July 7, 2000]:

"What is the source and history of the word TROPF 'Lump; armes Wesen'? I'm wondering if dalfen < DLP might have started out as a secret language substitute for Tropf."

By way of an explication: the German word "Tropf, which i.a. means 'simpleton, dumbo; poor being', resembles germ. "Tropfen" 'drop(let)', which is related to the German verbs "tropfen", "triefen" and "traeufeln", which describe various aspects of 'to drip / drop'. [Related words are older germ. "Tropf / Dachtropf" '(roof's) gutter' and modern germ. "Tropf" '(medical) drip'.]

SOME EXTRA FACTS: Both germ. "Tropfen" 'drop(let)' and germ. "Tropf" 'simpleton, dumbo; poor being' derive from middle high german "tropfe". Or to put it differently, mhg. "tropfe" was ambiguous between 'drop(let)' (its basic meaning) and 'simpleton, etc.'. These two meanings were formally distinguished in Early New High German: "Tropfen" vs. "Tropf". Something similar happened in Yiddish: "tropn" 'drop(let)' vs. "trop" 'fool'.

Furthermore, the big Grimm dictionary of German notes that the mhg. and early nhg. diminutive "tropfel" '(lit.) droplet' could also be applied to persons and -- more importantly -- that "Tropf" with the reading 'poor being, pathetic person' preferably combines with "arm" 'poor' (i.e. "armer Tropf" 'poor TROPF') and was often said of people living in poverty.

Therefore, Meyer Wolf's suggestion seems to me to be on the right track.

A PROPOSAL: I would like to suggest that yidd. "dalfen" arose through a pun.

Consider the following:

Any speaker of Early Yiddish or Middle High German knew that "tropfe / tropfel" applied to a person literally meant 'drop(let)'. Some of them furthermore knew that "Dalfo:n" could be formally analyzed as if it were a Hebrew word "dalf-o:n" 'drop-let'. Or to put it differently: some knew that there was a formal similarity between "armer tropfe / armes tropfel" ('poor TROPFE(L)') on the one hand and "armer Dalfen" ('poor Dalfo:n') on the other hand.

So such speakers could substitute "Dalfen" for "tropfe(l)" when applied to persons, or to put it differently: the name "Dalfen" could take over the meaning of "tropfe(l)" as applied to persons, thereby creating a new common noun "dalfen", which necessarily had to be written as <dlpwn>.

Through semantic specialization this new word "dalfen" 'poor being, pathetic person, (droplet)' could acquire new meanings: 'pauper, beggar'. And once the connection with "Dalfen" (= Dalfo:n) was broken "dalfen" 'pauper, beggar' could acquire a new plural in "-onim" on account of its similarity with words of the CaCC-en class.

I am not particularly fond of etymologies of this level of complexity but the above seems to be reasonable. However if it is wrong, I am willing to take all the blame for it.

Hans den Besten

I am a middle aged Jewish doctor married to a former Jesuit. I am providing health care services to an Aboriginal community on a small island off the coast of British Columbia. Needless to say there is no yiddishkeit within about 500 miles other than the bagels and challah that I make out of desperation. I want to learn the language of my cultural heritage. I can read Hebrew haltingly but it is phonetic only, I don't know what I am reading. I would love some suggestions about what would be available wither by distance education or home study. I am obviously not able to travel to study.

Thank you for your time.

Laurel Shugarman Alert Bay, B.C.

I'm finishing up my doctorate in English at Johns Hopkins and will be leaving in a couple of weeks for the haimishe town of Omaha where I'll be teaching Restoration and 18th c. Lit. at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. My interest in Yiddish is only a few years old, and I don't feel nearly fluent. I've worked my way through _College Yiddish_ and have gamely tried translations, from the Forverts to Sutzkeyver and have occasional conversations with my mother. But I'm just getting started. I have already learned much from Mendele and hope to learn more, as well as attend one of the summer sessions at YIVO or Amherst in the not-too-distant future.

A shaynem dank for your good offices!

Steve Newman