מענדעלע

Binem Heller In Varshever geto iz itst khoydesh nisn

In Varshever geto iz itst khoydesh nisn Oyf koyses fun broyt un matses fun klayen Dertseylt men oyf snay di amolike nisim Vi s'yidishe folk iz aroys fun mitsrayim. Vi alt iz di mayse, vi alt iz der nign, Nor itst, bay farhangene fentster, der seyder Geyt on un tsemisht vert der emes un lign, As shver iz zey beydn farandertsusheydn. Kol dikhfin - bay fentster farshtelte un tirn; Kol dikhfin - un s'shrayen fun hunger di kinder; Kol dikhfin - bay leydike peysekh makhshirim; Kol dikhfin - un s'khlipen di zeynim di blinde.

In Varshever geto iz itst khoydesh nisn, Mayn mame tut on oyf ir ponim dem shmeykhl, Di lipn, vos zaynen fun hunger farbisn Fun yontev zey vern itst milder un veykher. Di oygn bay ir heybn vider on shaynen, Azoy vi amol, in fargangene yorn, Un s'shoymen in zey oyf di rozhinke vaynen Fun yene fargangene vayte sedorim. Nor plutsim vakst on in zey groyliker khidish. Mit shtoynung tseshtrekt zi di hent ire frume Anshtot ontsuheybn dem seyder mit kidish Di zin heybn on shfoykh hamoskho tsu brumen.

In Varshever geto iz itst khoydesh nisn, Un ful shteyt der kos eliyohu hanovis. Nor ver hot dem seyder do ibergerisn? Gekumen iz trinken der malakh hamoves. Vi shtendik - di daytshishe shprakh fun mundirn. Vi shtendik - di shprakh fun bafeler genite. Vi shtendik - zey zaynen gekumen do firn A teyl fun dem yidishn folk tsu der shkhite. Nor - neyn - s'vet di geto nit hern mer s'zidlen Fun natsis, vos firn op yidn gehetste. Mit blut vet men vider bashmirn di shtidlen Mit blut fun di fraye-mit blut fun di letste.

In Varshever geto iz itst khoydesh nisn. Fun shokhn tsu shokhn vert ibergegebn; Dos daytshishe blut zol not oyfhern gisn, Kol zman svet a yid in dem geto nokh lebn. Far zey - zol in oygn nit zayn kayn hakhnoe. Far zey - zol in oygn nit zayn mer kayn trern. Nor sine un shoym fun der vilder hakhnoe Fun shteyn zey antkegn, fun kenen zikh vern; Ot her, vi es hilkhn in khatsos op di shosn; Ot her, vi der toyt geyt oyf blutike shpurn; Ot her - di geshikhte vert itster farloshn Mit heldishn umkum in leyl-hashimurim.

Forverts Hour on WEVD 1050 - a weekly Yiddish radio program, produced by Boris Sandler, is now available to the listeners worldwide on the Internet at

metalab.unc.edu/yiddish/Forverts

The Yom HaShoah program, originally broadcasted on April 30, can be heard anytime from any computer with the Real Player, a free program that works with most browsers and operating systems.

Forverts and Shtetl plan to start regular Internet broadcasting of the Forverts Hour. Your comments and suggestions that would help to shape this new service are most welcome.

Iosif Vaisman

Sarah Traister Moskowitz, a talented poet in her own right, seeks Abraham Sutskever's poem _Mayn Mame_ in translation.

It lives in a slim volume _Burnt Pearls - Ghetto Poems_ by Abraham Sutskever, ably translated by Seymour Mayne, and with an enlightening and worthy introduction (as always) by Ruth Wisse; Mosaic Press/Valley Editions, 1981, Oakville, Ontario ISBN o-88962-141-1

Count me as one who shares Sarah's intense love and respect for the poem, and for Sutskever's giant status in the world of Yiddish poetry.

Mirl Schonhaut Hirshan Boynton Beach, Florida

Tayere Medelyaners

Mayne mumeh iz gekimmen tzu bazukhen undzer mishpokhe far yontiff. She is taking a Yiddish night course back home in Toronto, un zi hot mitgebrakht a bukh fun Yiddishe mayssehs, an English ibber-taytshung fun farshaydene Yiddishe shriftes.

Mayn frage iz: in di maysseh, "Bontshe Shvayg", farvus farsheymen zikh di molokhim, un vorim lakht der Katoyger??

To summarize the story, Bontshe has died and gone to judgement. The angel for the defense gives an emotional speech describing how Bontshe has always accepted the greatest hardships in silence. The "katoyger", overwhelmed, simply says "Bontshe was silent...I will also be silent". The judge offers Bontshe any reward he desires, and Bontshe asks for a fresh roll with butter each morning.

Her'ndik azo verter, di molokhim "hobn arop-gelozt di kep farsheymt; der Katoyger hot zikh gelakht."

And that's all Peretz tells us. Here, now, are two different interpretations.

Mayn mameh zogt, az di molokhim farsheymen zikh, vayl zey hobben zikh zelbst-op-genaart...Bontshe iz b'emmis keyn "novi" nisht, keyn "lomed-vovnik" nisht, nor a tam, a naarishe mensh vus hot zayn gantzen leybn geshviggen nisht vayl er iz eyn guter, heylikker mensh, nor vayl er iz a naar. And the prosecutor is laughing because the angels have made fools of themselves.

Mayn mumeh taynet pinkt farkehrt. She says the angels are ashamed because they never fully understood the bleakness of Bontshe's world until they heard his request. They were ashamed of themselves for letting this good man suffer for as long as he did.

My aunt's line of reasoning is supported by the peculiar translation by Hilde Abel. This is how she renders the last two lines of the story:

"...slowly, the judge and the angels bend their heads in shame at this undending meekness they have created on earth. Then the silence is shattered. The prosecutor laughs aloud, a bitter laugh".

Notice how much the translator has added to the original Yiddish (quoted above). It's pretty clear that she doesn't want us to accept the obvious humorous ending, as though we're supposed to see some deeper tragedy in the story. By the way, when the story was discussed in my aunt's evening course, the instructor gave the second, darker interpretation, and no one put forward the simpler "funny" interpretation.

Vus trakht ihr alle?

Martin Green

Tayere fraynt,

Gordon Cooper, fun Seattle, WA, fregt zikh nokh vegn "a copy of anything by Freud in Yiddish". Profesor Maks Vaynraikh hot ibergezetst Froyds "Araynfir in psikhoanaliz" un der vilner Yivo hot es gedrukt far der milkhome.

Der argentiner Yivo hot gedrukt in yor 1971 mayn bukh "Froyd un der psikhoanaliz" (200 zaytn). Mistome ken men es bakumen in Yivo.

Zayt ale gezunt un hot a freylekhn Peysakh. Ayer argentiner fraynt, Moyshe Kijak

Martin Green raises a question regarding the phrase: "vus men tor gor in zeyere deled amot (?) nisht shteyn..."

The words are: 'daled amot' from the Hebrew, signifying four amot, where the 'amah' is a measure of distance, normally thought to be a stride.

'Daled ahmess' as it was pronounced in Yiddish, pertains to the immediate ambit of an individual, what we might call 'personal space.' It is, for example, expected that an observant Jew would never walk more than 'daled ahmess' with his head uncovered.

The phrase suggests sufficient revulsion so as to never approach the referenced individual within his personal space (i.e. simply don't get close to him).

B'Shalom Yankev Berger

Hello!

In a Yiddish dictionary, I've seen an underarch diacritic (there seen under the lamed, but also used on other dental-type letters) that goes underneath a letter, that palatalizes the underlying sound. What do you call it?

Thank You!

Robert Lloyd Wheelock

In Mendele Vol. 09.077 khaver Itzik Shteyn wishes to show that the expression "khoyzek makhn" comes from the Hebrew, as opposed to the claim of Mikhl Herzog. I have to apologize shamefully that I cannot reply in Yiddish.

Strong evidence for his claim is brought by him:

In zayn ivrit verterbukh "hamilon hekhodosh" band 1, zayt 380 brengt avrohom eben shoshan tzener verter, vus stamen fun vorzl khazok, un darunter: khozek yad=koyekh, khozek lev= zayn farakshnt un MAASEY KHOZEK=HITUL(OPSHPETN) unLEJTSANUT(OPLAKHN). az der khozek fun ivrit iz gevorn khoyzek oyf yiddish badarf nit kayn bavayzn, azoy vi shote=shoyte, shokhet=shoykhet un mohel=moyhel. khosheve mendelianer, efsher iz is take FORT?

Indeed the dictionary of Even Shoshan is the most accepted one in Israel. This dictionary has come out in many forms, from the shortest with simple explanations of the words, and only the most common are given, to the most extended where usually also the usage and sources of expressions are mentioned.

First I could not find the expression maasey khozek in my five volume dictionary edition of 5721 (1961). When I looked then in my later seven big volume edition there I found what was stated by Itzik Shteyn, but at end it says "belashon amamit, sha'ul mehayidish", i.e. in popular way of speaking (slang?), *borrowed from Yiddish*.

Thus it seems that Mikhl Herzog was correct and the expression did not come from Hebrew into Yiddish but the other way around.

We are now still faced with the problem how did it get into Yiddish?

A gutn Pesakh.

Michael Shimshoni

Itzik shteyn hot geshribn (09.077),

In ejne fun di fririge"mendeles"hob ikh getaytsht "khoyzek" in zin fun oplakhn vi a vort vos kumt fun ivrit, fun shoyresh (vorzl) khazok=zayn shtark, un ikh hob zikh farrufn ojf harkavi, zayt 225.

Iz koydem-kol: af z' 225 shraybt Harkavi befeyresh, az "khoyzek hot keyn shaykhes NIT in badaytung mit dem hebreishn shoyresh khazok". Oyb tsitirn Harkavin, volt men im gemegt tsitirn rikhtik, akurat.

In mayn uflage fun Even-shoshan ze ikh nisht keyn vort "maasey khozek". Ven s'zol afile yo zayn - far vos iz f' Shteyn azoy zikher, az s'iz ufgekumen in ivrit un nisht in yidish? Even-shoshan hit zikh dafke ontsugebn di YIDISHE etimologye fun loshn-koydesh-verter, vos zenen ufgekumen in gvul fun yidish un ersht shpeter tsurik arayn in ivrit - faran a hipshe tsol azelkhe. Dortn vu er ken zikh nisht aroysdreyen, nitst er kholile nisht dos vort "yidish", nor shraybt al-pi rov "bilshon hadibur" - zen, lemoshl, dos vort "baln". Biklal voltn undzere etimologn amatorn gemegt zayn a bisl mer opgehit - dos vos a loshn-koydesh-komponentik vort iz do say in yidish, say in ivrit in NISHT keyn raye, az yidish hot es genumen fun loshn-koydesh.

Hershl Glasser