Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 7.024 June 25, 1997 1) Introduction (Allen Dronet) 2) National Yiddish Book Center new building (Zvi Oster) 3) Weinreich's phrase book (Rick Turkel) 4) National Yiddish Book Center (Itsik Goldenberg) 5) A kampanye far forverts-abonentn (Sholem Berger) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 24 Jun 1997 19:54:38 -0800 From: Allen Dronet Subject: Introduction (Learning Yiddish) My name is Allen Dronet. I have just recently learned of the existence of the Mendele list. This is my first time on a list of any kind, and I apologize for my awkwardness in addressing you. I work in Los Angeles as a legal intrepeter and translator. Mostly, of course, my bread and butter language is Spanish, here in the courts etc. I work in Spanish, French, Portuguese and sometimes Italian. I studied German many years ago in college, and then I spent a couple of years in Germany as a soldier in the US Army. I picked up quite a bit of German during those couple of years and became almost fluent. But then when I came back here to the States, I lost touch with anyone with whom I could have practiced speaking, and therefore I lost whatever fluency I had started to acquire in Germany. I started to get interested in Yiddish when I started to read some of the classical Yiddish writers of the end of last century and the 20th century in translation. I became almost obsessed with Isaac Bashevis Singer a couple of years ago and I have tried to read in translation everything he has written. His influence on my intellectual and spiritual growth has been something I had never expected to experience again in my life. I am 61 years old and I had sort of thought I had settled into a satisfactory state of the soul. Then I read Isaac Bashivis Singer and I went through a complete reawakening to the moral and spiritual demention of things. Now I want to learn to read Yiddish so that I can read some of these writers in the original. I know that this is a quixotic dream, but stranger things have happened. If I could learn to read a couple of novels of at least one of them in the original Yiddish, I would be more than satisfied, or even just a couple of stories I would rejoice. When I started this a couple of months ago, I had no idea how difficult the process would be. I thought that with my knowledge of German I would have a real foot in the door, as it were. But such is not the case as anyone who has attempted this knows. I have a College Yiddish Grammar and a Yiddish-English dictionary. I have got to about the 12th lesson of 30 in the Grammar, and I am tearing the dictionary apart as I study every day for about 6 hours on the subject, but I often feel I am getting nowhere. Right now the main problem is being able to recognize "whole" Yiddish words without grunting through the phonetic particles for every new word I come across. I am hoping that by writing to the Mendele list I will be able to get some help in my study. Right now I am at that point in the language where I need to hear it spoken and to be able to recognize "whole" words. If anyone reading this note knows of a Yiddish course on tape which contains a set of FLASH CARDS with English or Spanish etc. words on one side and the corresponding Yiddish word on the other I would very much appreciate knowing about it. Also I have thought that if there are no courses which contain FLASH CARDS, maybe someone would know of software which could turn my keyboard into a Yiddish Keyboard, then I could make my own flash cards. I am sorry to ramble on. I started this introduction with the intention of writing a couple of lines and here I have been typing for a quarter of an hour. I hope to hear from someone, even if it does not have anything to do with Yiddish courses. Allen Dronet 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 9:41:53 EST5EDT From: Zvi Oster Subject: National Yiddish Book Center new building I wonder whether I missed reading a posting on Mendele, related to the opening of the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst Massachussetts. If I did please accept my apology. On June 15, 1997, a festive opening of the new building for the National Yiddish Book Center took place on the grounds of Hampshire College in Massachussetts. The impressive ceremony included a live Klezmer concert and tours of the building, with lively and emotional participation by hundreds. It seems strange that this event was not mentioned in Yiddish forums such as the Forwerts, nor did it gain publicity in national newspapers. It was however mentioned in local papers in Massachussetts. There is no doubt that the "samlung" efforts of the NYBC headed by Aaron Lansky, can take pride in the salvage of hundreds of thousands of volumes of Yiddish books. The Center is establishing its own collection and is distributing duplicate titles to libraries across the country. The last YIVO bulletin included mention of a special "preview" tour of The NYBC by YIVO staff, and described collaborative activities between the two institutions. However, at the ceremony, no mention was made of YIVO, or of any other Yiddish related facilities/resources. There is no doubt that the National Yiddish Book Center has added a new dimension to the preservation of Yiddish culture, not covered by YIVO or by others. The preservation and dissemination of Yiddish books is benefitted by the NYBC. It is however beyond my understanding, why was the Center placed in rural, western Massachussetts, instead of in a more central location, with better accessibilty for people interested in Yiddish. Hopefully, this disadvantage will be compensated by efficient book loaning by mail and by electronic media. In any case : "Kol Hakavod" for the NYBC ! Zvi Oster 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 12:05:57 -0400 From: rturkel@cas.org (Rick Turkel) Subject: Weinreich's phrase book I have to take issue with the note from Al Grand in Mendele Vol 7.023 regarding an article in the magazine _Civilization_ about the above book. I haven't read the article (nor do I intend to, based on Al's review), but I find reference to Ashkenaz as "a country that never was" quite offensive and not "delightfully humorous" at all. While there never was a _country_ (in the ordinary use of that word) where Yiddish was the official language, there were certainly places in Europe "wherein all street signs, billboards, directional markers and public notices [were] all in Yiddish _oysyes_." There was even Yiddish writing on Ukrainian paper money from the period 1917-1920!! I remember a situation exactly like that he described on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (New York) while I was growing up during the 1950's, and there are certainly places in Israel today (e.g., parts of Bnei Braq and Jerusalem, etc.) where all but the street signs are in Yiddish. The author of this piece should be excoriated rather than praised for this article, and placed in the same kheyrem as the rest of those who think Yiddish is dead. Rick Turkel 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 21:11:05 -0400 From: Robert Goldenberg Subject: National Yiddish Book Center I have waited a week for a reply in Mendele to Sholem Berger's shocking diatribe against Aaron Lansky and The National Yiddish Book Center. That none has as yet appeared is, I presume, not a sign of disinterest, but rather of disbelief that the writer could display such ignorance and ill-will. His allegations are really beneath contempt but they must be challenged. It is evident that chaver Berger has not attended a Summer Workshop at the NYBC. I had the good fortune to do so 5 years ago, and I can say that the experience literally changed my life, and I regard myself now as a Yiddishist. Had someone told me before that time that I would be speaking Yiddish today, that I would be reading and enjoying the great and lesser masters of Yiddish poetry and prose, subscribing to and reading Der Forverts from cover to cover, seeking out programs and activities offering Yiddish (not just Jewish. YIDDISH!) culture: music, language instruction, theatre, film, history, folkways, I would have laughed at them. It was my experience at the NYBC that opened these doors for me. The size of the membership, over 15 000 I last heard, indicates the appeal of what is happening there. Go there for a week, khaver Berger. Go as a participant, not as an onlooker. Immerse yourself, as in a mikve. THEN write about it in Mendele. Until you have done so, you have no business throwing stones. Oyb ikh volt geven mer flisik in idish, volt ikh geshribn mer fun dos vos ikh fil in mayn harts. Khaver Bergers khutspedike briv iz a baleydikung tsu di toyznter mitglider funm Bikher Tsentrale. A kharpe un a shande! Itsik Goldenberg Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada. 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Jun 1997 15:40:24 +0000 From: bergez01@mchip00.med.nyu.edu Subject: A kampanye far forverts-abonentn/A special offer for Forverts readers _A kampanye far forverts-abonentn_ Mir hobn shoyn bakumen a tsol adresn fun balonem tsu vern abonentn fun forverts. Mir viln ober klor makhn, az mir hobn in zinen leyener in di fareynikte shtatn. Zayt undz moykhl di umklorkayt fun der frierdiker meldung. Di yidish-lige [Translation] A special offer for Forvers readers We've already received a number of address from those interested in becoming paid Forverts subscribers. Unfortunately, we neglected to mention that we have in mind readers in the United States. Please excuse the previous message's lack of clarity. League for Yiddish ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 7.024