Yiddish Mailing List, Issue #29 July 27, 1990 198 lines =============================== Yiddish Joke (Gil Yehuda) Russians speaking Yiddish (Seth Rosenthal) Another joke (Gil Yehuda) More about Russians (Seth Rosenthal) Yugntruf Yidish-vokh still has space (David Sherman) YIVO (David Sherman) [Nu, ver vil shikn a pur verter farn nekstn numer...? - DS] ------------------------ Digest-Message: 29/1 From: gyehu.wbst897ai@xerox.com (Gil Yehuda) Date: 12 Jul 90 23:06:21 GMT Subject: yiddish joke [Posted to soc.culture.jewish] of course a yiddish joke (forgive my poor yiddish) There was once this lady who was pregnant about to have another baby. So far all the children she had caused her great pain and difficulty during the childbirth. She feared having this baby as she wasn't sure she would endure the pain. So her husband went to the Rabbi,(in this town there was no Rebbe, only a Rabbi, but he hoped that would be good enough). The man tells the Rabbi "My wife has difficulty giving birth, but she is due next week. What should I do? Can you give me a blessing?" The Rabbi said "Don't worry my friend, I can't give you a blessing (for I'm not a Rebbe), but I'm sure I will find something which will help. Let me go into my study and look at the ancient books, they will have the answer. Come back in three days." The man returned and the Rabbi said "I have found in my books the solution to our problem. When you wife is just about to give birth I want you to say this prayer." The next week the man returned to the Rabbi and said "You are a miracle worker, I said the prayer as you instructed and my wife gave birth to a beautiful boy. What was the prayer?" The Rabbbi replied "It is very simple, I looked in my grandfather's old siddur, the one with the Evre-tietch (hebrew translation in yiddish) and I told you to say Yizkor. Because it says 'mishaas gezukte Yizkor gegaiyngen a kinder arouys'" (when you say Yizkor, you send the children out) Really, you don't have to correct my yiddish, and you don't have to send me money, I do this a PUBLIC service :-) Gil Yehuda ------------------------ Digest-Message: 29/2 Date: Sat, 21 Jul 90 22:34:41 EDT From: seth@attunix.att.com (Seth R Rosenthal) Subject: Russians speaking Yiddish [in answer to a question I posted to soc.culture.jewish about what languages the Russian immigrants speak] I met some families from Gomel in Byelorussia (near where my grandfather came from), and was surprised to find that the husbands and wives (from 25-45 years old) spoke Yiddish in all 4 families. They told me that this was more natural in the smaller towns and villages where Jews still live. In the big cities very few speak Yiddish as it is considered provincial and non-cosmopolitan (their words not mine). ------------------------ Digest-Message: 29/3 Date: Mon, 23 Jul 90 18:10:36 Subject: another joke From: "Gil_Yehuda.WBST897ai"@Xerox.COM So how do we say we are in the Dry vochin if it is raining so much? ------------------------ Digest-Message: 29/4 Date: Sat, 21 Jul 90 22:34:41 EDT From: seth@attunix.att.com (Seth R Rosenthal) Subject: More on Russians speaking Yiddish I assume your question about survival of Yiddish outside the Chassidic world means in day-to-day dealings (first language). As such, I don't think my example applies. Their day-to-day language is Russian, they used Yiddish when it was clear Russian wouldn't work for me. I speak enough to understand what they intended (although it is not a fluent language for me). Similar usage is apparent on the Gold Coast of Florida, where the last of the early 20th century immigrants still speak Yiddish together, but mainly use English. ------------------------ Digest-Message: 29/5 From: dave@lsuc.on.ca (David Sherman) Date: Fri Jul 27 01:49:54 EDT 1990 Subject: Yugntruf Yidish-vokh According to the Yugntruf people, there are still some spaces available for the Yidish-vokh in upstate New York, beginning August 31 and running till September 6. (Some people leave on or shortly after Labour Day, since they have to get back.) There are 45 spaces reserved, and all will likely be filled, but not everyone has registered yet. At $160 per person for a week including food, it's a bargain, especially since you can live the whole week in Yiddish. (See Digest-Messages 27/2 and 12/1, or email me for more details about the activities.) If you want to register, phone Yugntruf at 212-787-8875. ------------------------ Digest-Message: 29/6 From: dave@lsuc.on.ca (David Sherman) Date: Fri Jul 27 01:22:28 EDT 1990 Subject: YIVO Update on our treatment at the hands of YIVO, outlined in mail.yiddish #15: A few days after our registration at Klezkamp was unilaterally cancelled by Henry Sapoznik, I wrote a detailed 7-page letter to Sam Norich, the Executive Director of YIVO. The letter was a polite one, setting out in detail how we were mistreated by Sapoznik in changing the terms of our registration after he knew the conditions under which we registered, and how he failed to make any effort to accommodate us to correct the problem, despite numerous concessions on our part. I both mailed and FAXed the letter, to make sure he would get a copy. I received no reply whatsoever. Having received no response after four months, I wrote a letter, in Yiddish, to the one person on the YIVO board of directors whom I know, Chava Lapin of the Workmen's Circle in NYC. She looked into it and wrote back a very friendly letter, also in Yiddish. The contents were astonishing. According to her (i.e., based on what she was told), we could not get two rooms because the prices were based on occupancy of each room by two adults. (You may recall from issue #15 that, with three very young children including a newborn, we could see no way to manage the logistics of getting the kids to sleep at night and being able to attend the evening sessions if everyone was in one room. This was made clear to Sapoznik before we registered, and he agreed to our registration in two rooms.) During the extensive arguments I had with Henry Sapoznik between the time he informed us we would all be in one room and the time he cancelled our registration just before Klezkamp began, NOT ONCE did he say that the problem was we were not paying full rates. Had that been a condition or obtaining two rooms, we would have registered the kids at full rates from the start. Had it been raised during our week-long arguments, I would have agreed to pay full rates. The only story I heard from Sapoznik was that there was "no room" at the hotel, despite our registrations having been received in advance of others who were accommodated. I apologize for troubling the readers of mail.yiddish about this at length, but I believe YIVO should be held accountable for its actions. YIVO as an organization has acted with extreme arrogance and high-handedness. I am appalled that I have had not a single word of reply from Sam Norich to my letter. I am disgusted that YIVO would treat our children in such a callous manner and offer not a single word of apology. If any reader of mail.yiddish would like to see the letter I wrote (it sets out the facts described in issue #15 in much more detail, and explains our position more clearly), please let me know and I'll mail you a copy (send me a postal address). I will refuse to have anything to do with YIVO in the future. If any of you have contacts at YIVO, I would be happy to know that you have communicated these views to them, and let them know that the entire electronic readership of mail.yiddish has been informed that YIVO is an arrogant organization with no regard for fairness or for its commitments. To quote from the closing paragraph of my letter to Norich: "It is sad that YIVO does not appear concerned with honouring its commitments. It is particularly sad that YIVO is willing to create such badwill and alienate a family which is actively furthering YIVO's supposed goals by bringing up children fluent in Yiddish." David Sherman ------------------------ SOF FUN NUMER 29 ------------------------ David (Daniel Moishe) Sherman, Toronto Moderator, mail.yiddish uunet!attcan!lsuc!dave or {AT&T sites}!att!lsuc!dave dave@lsuc.on.ca attcan!lsuc!dave@uunet.uu.net