Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 15.024
August 31, 2005
1) Copyright owners sought (Michal Bilewicz)
2) Yiddish in L.A. (Hershl Hartman)
3) klal-shprakh (Zackary Sholem Berger)
4) klal-shprakh (Martin Jacobs)
5) A question about Africa (John V. Burke)
6) Ai Diggidai Polka (Yale Strom)
7) The state of Yiddish (Noyekh Miller)
1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: August 28, 2005
Subject: Copyright owners sought
We are trying to identify the copyright owners of the following artists:
Yankiel Adler
Henryk Berlewi
Itskhok Brauner
Moyshe Broderzon
Max Erik
Uri Tsvi Grinberg
Ber Horovits
El Lissitsky
Yosef Hekht
Perets Markish
Josef Opatoshu
Ozer Varshavski
Melech Ravitsh
Lipe Reznik
Isakhar Rybak
Maks Shterling
Ester Shumiatsher
I. Y. Singer
Yosef Tshaikov
Zev Weintraub
The Forum for Dialogue Among Nations will be soon publishing a bilingual
(Polish-Yiddish) anthology of avant-garde expressionist Yiddish literature
by authors connected mainly with the Khaliastre group.
Our goal is to reclaim their works from oblivion and make this impressive
heritage of Polish Jewish culture known to a broader public, and especially
to the youngest generation of Polish readers.
Should you know any copyrights owners or families of the above mentioned
artists, please, let us know so that we can duly contact them and get their
permission to publish the texts of the authors in question. We will be glad
to send them free copies of our anthology.
Contact:
Karolina Szymaniak, chief editor (karolszi@wp.pl)
Michal Bilewicz, project assistant (izi_harik@o2.pl)
Forum for Dialogue Among Nations
00-095 Warszawa
ul. Senatorska 36/18
tel./fax: (+48) 22 827 22 07
email: forum@dialog.org.pl
http://www.dialog.org.pl
Michal Bilewicz
2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: August 29, 2005
Subject: Yiddish in L.A. Marches On!
For an excellent article about the pilot project to teach Yiddish and
Yiddish culture in three L.A. Jewish day schools, go to:
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=14526
Hershl Hartman
3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: August 30, 2005
Subject: Re: klal-shprakh
Allan Nadler's comments are correct, but I would wonder, given the current
shortage of qualified teachers of Yiddish in general, where the magic land
of qualified teachers of Yiddish dialects is to be found. I hope we would
not take the route of (many) afternoon Hebrew schools, which hire Israelis
whether or not they know anything about teaching Hebrew (sorry: Israeli).
Borough Park chasidim, while possessed of other talents, are not generally
qualified to teach Yiddish in the classrooms.
As for the criticisms one often hears of klal-shprakh: if I were born a
litvak I would speak that way, but I wasn't. I would rather speak a
standard Yiddish then speak no Yiddish at all. And, of course, my children,
together with most speakers of Yiddish born after 1960 or so, will speak a
dialect not yet taught in any school: American Yiddish.
With klalish blessings,
Zackary Sholem Berger
4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: August 31, 2005
Subject: Re: klal-shprakh
I like the idea of Allan Nadler that students of Yiddish learn dialect as
well as Klal-Yidish, but teachers and materials for this seem to be scarce.
The materials I've seen give only a smattering of vocabulary. I would
suggest that experts in the various dialects compile lists of all words
which have different readings in the dialects from those in Klal-Yidish,
with transcriptions showing the dialectical reading. The lists would show,
for example, when, in the southern dialects, komets-alef (and, in Hebraic
words, komets) is pronounced "o" and when "u"; when vov (and, in Hebraic
words, shurek ) is pronounced "i" and when "u"; when, in the northern
dialect, vov yud (and, in Hebraic words, khoylem) is read as "oy" and when
"ey"; when vov yud is read, in Central Yiddish, as "oy" and when "ou";
which vowels in dialect are short and which long; as well as other dialect
differences. Such lists would be useful for students wanting to learn
dialect. I know that I myself would find them very helpful.
Martin Jacobs
5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: August 30, 2005
Subject: Re: A question about Africa
Surely "pigmeyen fun sakhare" is "pygmies from the Sahara"? I know,
there are no pygmies in the Sahara...
[Posts also received from Zulema Seligsohn, Dina Levias, Lucas Bruyn,
Margie Newman, Felicitas Payk and Nathan Kravetz.]
6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: August 31, 2005
Subject: Ai Diggidai Polka
Does anyone have the Yiddish text to the song Ai Diggidai Polka. It was made
famous by the Barry Sisters. It has three verses.
a sheynem dank,
Yale Strom
7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: August 29, 2005
Subject: The state of Yiddish
There's an interesting interview with fellow-Mendelist Joseph Sherman in
the current issue of Forverts. Like many other observers he is
optimistic about the future of Yiddish, pointing to the increasing number of
college-level courses in Yiddish and Yiddish literature in many countries,
as well as the leyenkrayzn. And he writes:
loyt mayn meynung, iz zeyer vikhtik tsu makhn di yidishe kiteratur
tsutritlekh farn grestn oylem in iberzetsungen oyf english un andere
shprakhn.
His rationale is that, by exposing many students to translations, a
certain number will be motivated to learn to read Yiddish or to strengthen
their existing knowledge.
Maybe so. I'm skeptical and here's why.
There was a review of Alexander Shpiglblat's latest novel, _Krimeva_ (an
extraordinary and gripping story about Transylvanian Jews) in a recent
issue of Forverts. Tracking it down wasn't easy (Forverts doesn't tell its
readers where or how to obtain the books it reviews) and when I succeeded I
learned that all of 30 copies had been shipped to CYCO in New York. Thirty
copies.
If that doesn't give you chills, try this: despite the much-heralded growth
of interest in Yiddish, subscriptions to Forverts continue to decline.
There is more than one gateway to the world of Yiddish. It's possible that
young people who are first attracted by klezmorim or other entertainers
will over time become more involved. It's possible that teaching young
people to speak a little Yiddish will bear fruit. My personal conviction
is that, as a _gateway_ to the world of Yiddish, ability and readiness to
read Yiddish trumps the rest. Hence my concern.
Consider: Aaron Lansky and his many helpers enjoy a deserved reputation for
having "saved" a huge number of Yiddish books from destruction. Well and
good, but they were "saved" only because their new owners had no interest
in reading them.
And who were the original readers? Affluent college graduates maybe? They
were almost all working-class Jews with little or no formal education
beyond kheyder--if that. It was they who made possible a Yiddish
literature in the first place and in so doing did what can not be said of
any other working class in the world. Let us indeed praise famous men and
women. So it's good that many of those once-prized books are there again
to be read. The question is: where are the readers?
If Shpiglblat had published in the 30's he would have sold many hundreds of
copies. Thirty copies.
It's possible of course that I'm dead wrong, that a sizable number of
youngsters are moving fromn Bashevis in English to say Bergelson in
Yiddish. Alevay. If there's evidence out there, I thirst to see it.
Noyekh Miller
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