מענדעלע

I can't understand anyone's equanimity when confronted with the accusation that Yiddish is irrelevant, especially coming from a person with so much influence in the Yiddish circle of workers. I have spent years digging and coming up with what I believe are hard-won trophies. My area is specialized and limited, but still a contribution to the world of Yiddish. To hear that "it is irrelevant" makes me outraged. To hear that the legacy in the language of millions so recently the victims of outrageous opinions about Yiddish is "irrelevant" makes me very angry. If others are not angered, that is their business.

One mendelyaner thought it was somebody else making such angy comments. It was not anybody else. Just one person, me. On the other hand, I was beside myself with anger. So who knows?

Louis Fridhandler

I have restrained myself for a long time from joining this thread, but I'm glad that Morrie Feller has spoken up about the relentless bashing of Ruth Wisse that goes on here. I disagree completely with Ruth Wisse's politics (conservative) and religion (orthodox), but she is a serious scholar of Yiddish literature who loves the Yiddish language, culture, and literature, and who has promoted that love and scholarship in her students. I believe her views on the demise of the language and Yiddishkeit in general are motivated by a profound grief at witnessing their decline in her lifetime. To blame Ruth Wisse for harming these things that she has devoted her life to studying and teaching is completely out of line. It takes courage to see that your culture, which you loved, has died out and to face that grief with wide open eyes. I knew before that it took courage to face the grief, and now I realize it also takes courage to bring down on yourself the wrath of people who would rather blame you for destroying the thing than face the reality that it's gone. All that remains are a few scholars, some nostalgic old cranks like myself, and the haredim, who will disagree completely with everything I say.

If you don't agree with me that it's dead, I hope at least you'll take to heart Morrie's admonition about being vicious.

David Robboy

If I'm not mistaken, Litvakes don't eat or cook with tomatoes, while Galitzyaners do.

Also, the "gefilte fish boundary line" mentioned by Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan extends to kugel as well. Litvakes prefer "fefer kugel" - seasoned with salt and pepper (and maybe sauteed onions or gribenes - yum!) but no sugar or raisins; Galitzyaners (and Hungarians) make sweet kugel known in my family as "keegel" to distinguish it from what we know as kugel. :-)

Finally, I've never heard of a Galitzyaner who made retakh mit shmaltz sliced red (or better, diced black) radishes and diced onions mixed with chicken (or duck) fat and seasoned with salt and pepper. My late wife used to make it for her father as forshpays for shabbos lunch - instant heartburn!

est gezunter heyt.

Rick Turkel

A song "Litvak and Galitz" was recorded by Harriet Kane with Marty Levitt orchestra on one of theirs "King of Klezmers" tapes. The song is a funny "potato - potahto" paraphrase (or other way around - I don't know which one was written earlier) and contains among the others a dozen of lines like:

I say muter - he says miter, I say puter - he says piter, etc.

The tape insert does not mention the authors of this (and other) songs, but according to Freedman Archive database (http://al.cs.engr.uky.edu/raphael-cgi-bin/yidsong.cgi) the author is Hymie Jacobson.

Iosif Vaisman

Can anyone tell me if they have heard the phrase "pasik gonif" literal translation "belt thief" The Yiddish speaker who used this phrase said it was the same as calling someone a city slicker, with implications of slyness, someone who would sell some poor slob from the shetyl the Brooklyn Bridge. The Yiddish speaker who used the phrase learned Yiddish in Warsaw, Poland prior to World War II. I am interested in any information on the phrase, derivation etc.

David Goldman

Can anyone please direct me to information about the life and circle of singer Aaron Lebedeff? ANd if you know where I can find the words to any of his songs (aside from Rumania, Rumania), I'd appreciate learning about it. Thank you.

Paul Ilie

Khosheve faraynt,

nisht lang hob ikh avekgeleygt af der nets avtografn fun 30 yidishe shrayber un lerers (Ben-Yisroel; Bikl; Botvinik; Dobin; Golbshteyn; Gontar; Eliezer Grinberg; Hayzler; Helmond; Kholodenko; Tsvi Koyen; Lipman Levin; Leyvik, H.; Liptsin; Lifshits; Lyubomirski; Mogilner; Niborski; Dov Noy; Leyb Olitski; Polyanker; Ravitsh; Rivkin; Rolnik; Boris Sandler; Shimen Sandler; Shteynberg; Tortshinski; Unger; Vergelis):

http://members.tripod.com/~Bredstein/avtograf/avtgr_y.htm

Oyb a bazukher vet hobn shverikaytn bam leyenen di umbakante hantshrift, kon er a kuk varfn afn transliterirtn tekst vos gefint zikh oybn (di bibliografishe protim zaynen unter di bilder). In a sakh faln hob ikh oykh tsugegebn di fotografies. Ikh bet ale khosheve bazukher: ven ir vet zikh ergets-vu trefn mit fotografies oder informatsie vos es felt mir, to shikt mir dos (oder khotsh dem azoy gerufenem URL) iber glaykh af mayn adres: anbredstein@glasnet.ru

A gut shabes!

Andrey Bredsteyn

For the benefit of the younger subscribers to Mendele, some of whom may not even have been born when John Glenn went into orbit 36 years ago, I should like to repeat a story that was making the rounds in 1962. Glenn had just landed after being the first person to circumnavigate the earth. Mrs. Bloom had her radio on as all the stations were announcing his safe landing after three successful trips around the globe in a spacecraft. Later that morning she meets Mrs. Goldberg.

Mrs. Bloom (excitedly): "Hostu gehert az John Glenn iz arumgeforn di velt dray mol!!"

Mrs. Goldberg (unimpressed): "Nu, az me hot gelt - fort men."

Al Grand

Anekdot, dertseylt fun reb Yosl dem shames:

Nokh dem, vos Kazakevich hot bakumen di tsveyte Stalin-premye (vos s'hot aponem aroysgerufn a gevisn furor in di literarishe krayzn), a bavuste shraybern, zitsndik bam tishl in restoran fun TsDL (tsentraler hoyz fun literatn), hot bamerkt azoy:

- A trakht ton nor! Hot geshribn durkhshnitlekhe yidishe virshes, un nat aykh, t'iz er iber af a guter rusisher proze!

Af vos M. Svetlov, velkher iz oysgekumen tsu zitsn lebn ir, hot teykef gerotn:

- Lyube mayne! Efsher volt ir ibergegan af di yidishe virshes?

Mikhail Arkad'yevich Svetlov (Sheynkman, 1901-1964), poet, avtor fun fil komyugishe shlyagers, vos er hot farbrakht a sakh tsayt inem restorandl fun TsDL un iz gevorn a umfarbaytlekher atribut fun sovetishn literarishn folklor.

Shaya Mitelman