Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 15.033 November 18, 2005 1) Chaim Zhitlovsky in translation (Hershl Hartman) 2) kaprosh and other dances (Dina Levias) 3) shteln un hakn bankes (Feygl Infeld Glaser) 4) a sakh zmires un a sakh lokshn oykh (Eve Jochnowitz) 5) Textbooks (Gershon Freidlin) 6) megayer zayn (Felicitas Payk) 7) Julian Tuwim (Sarah Zarrow) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 3, 2005 Subject: Re: Chaim Zhitlovsky in translation How exciting that Tao Yee Lau is writing a thesis on Dr. Zhitlovski! As a 13-year old student in the Secular Yiddish schools of the International Workers Order, in 1943, I was chosen as an honor guard at Zhitlovski's coffin which lay in state in New York's Manhattan Center while many thousands filed past. I hope Tao's final work will become available via Mendele. There is useful material by and about Dr. Zhitlovski in: Kogel, Renee and Katz, Zev, eds. Judaism in a Secular Age, Intl. Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism, 1995., pp. 90-95 (excerpts from his essays "Death and Rebirth of Gods and Religion," "The National Poetic Rebirth of the Jewish People"). Rosenfeld, Max, in Jewish Currents Reader, Jewish Currents, Inc. 1996, "Zhitlovsky: Philosopher of Jewish Secularism (essay)." Dawidowicz, Lucy S., ed. The Golden Tradition, Beacon Press, 1967, pp. 411-422, "The Jewish Factor in My Socialism" (essay by Zhitlovsky). Leftwich, Joseph, comp. and trans., The Way We Think, A. S. Barnes & Co., 1969. pp. 76-98, Zhitlovski essays: "Job-A Poem of Jewish Free Thought," "What Is Secular Jewish Culture?" While I cannot undertake to translate all or most of the Yiddish essays cited in Tao Yee Lau's post, I might be able to fit in one or two -- at most -- if supplied with clear photocopies or pdfs of the text(s). Hershl Hartman hershl@sholem.org 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 3, 2005 Subject: Re: kaprosh and other dances The only thing I can offer in connection with the game/dance "kaprosh" is a guess about the origin of the word : it probably comes from the Romanian "caprus(h)", a diminutive of "capra", i. e. goat. (Is there a game/dance you know of which might be called "tsigele" ?) Dina Levias Geneva 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 3, 2005 Subject: Re: shteln un hakn bankes Ven me shtelt bankes, nutst men a gresere tsol. Me varemt on di bankes un zeyer gikh shtelt me zey of der pleytse fun krankn oyf a por minut (5-10?). Di bankes vos nemen zikh on, tsien arayn A roze ongetsoygene mase. Me darf kenen di bankes geshikt un gikh aropnemen. Es ken zayn az es ken epes yo oder nit helfn dem laykhtn khoyle. Erger makht es zikher nit. Mir hot mayn mume efsher gants oft geshtelt bankes. Ven me hakt bankes, tut dos a royfe - a dokter oder feltsher. Er shtelt nor eyn banke, un ven di banke tsit zikh on, shnaydt er eyn dos fleysh in der mase fun der ongetsoygener banke, un er/zi tsit op a bisl blut. Ven mayn bobe hot gekrogn a moyekh dershiterung (stroke), un hot farloyrn di bavegung un dos loshn, hot a feltsher ir gehakt a banke. Ikh hob es gezen mit mayne oygn az mayn bobe, a froy noent tsu di akhtsik, hot tsurik bakumen di fule bavegung fun kerper un tsurikgekrogn ir loshn. Khotsh ikh gleyb in algemeyn nit in babske refuyes, gloyb ikh az epes muz in dem shtekn. Mit beste grusn, Feygl Infeld Glaser 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 3, 2005 Subject: a sakh zmires un a sakh lokshn oykh ikh shrayb aykh farbetn a kuk ton "in mo[y]l araan" a tsvey-shprakhik vebzaytl oder "blogele" vegn esn un verter: kulinarishe etnografye kulinarishe leksikografye un zmires oykh. zol aykh zayn tsum gezunt. I am working on a site devoted to food and words in English and Yiddish. I look forward very much to your (gently) constructive comments. Eve Quarrendon Jochnowitz http://inmolaraan.blogspot.com 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 7, 2005 Subject: Textbooks Might anyone know of a textbook for university students studying Yiddish whose interest is in acquiring reading knowledge for both scholarship and literature. Gershon Freidlin 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 13, 2005 Subject: megayer zayn I once read in a German book about conversions to Judaism that communities who were willing to accept a wish to convert, or more precisely this willingness, was referred to as "megijer sein". Is this a Western Yiddish expression? And is it still used in Yiddish today? I also heard that convert to Judaism in Yiddish means "zikh megayer zayn". Is this correct? One often hears this "zikh ... zayn" structure in religious contexts. Why is that so? How did this structure develop? I'd be grateful for any answers. Felicitas Payk Hannover, Germany 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: November 18, 2005 Subject: Julian Tuwim Do any Mendelayners know if Julian Tuwim translated his own work into Yiddish? I have a copy of his poem "Lokomotywa" in the original Polish, with a Hebrew translation that appears to be his (no one else is credited), and Yiddish as well, with a secondary translator. I know he was ideologically opposed to using Yiddish, but he probably knew the language. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Sarah Zarrow 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: , 2005 9)---------------------------------------------------- Date: , 2005 ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 15.033 Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. 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