Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 07.078 October 17, 1997 1) Food in Songs (Maynard Wishner) 2) "Indianer" (Joachim Neugroschel) 3) finger in fist superstition (Ellen Prince) 4) Yiddish music (audrain loic) 5) Salt to ward off the evil one (Stephen Berr) 6) Food in songs (Heynekh Sapoznik) 7) Food in Yiddish song (Chana and Yosl Mlotek) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 17:29:42 -0500 From: mwishner@jon.cjfny.org Subject: Food in Songs More verses to Bob Rothstein's "Oy Di Rebetzen" [07.077]: Sha shtil. Mach nisht kein gevald. Der Rebbe geit shoyn tantzen bald. Sha shtil. Mach nisht kein gerider. Der Rebbe geit shoyn tantzen vider. Un az der Rebbe tantzt, Tantzen mit di vent. Lomir alle Petchken mit di hent Un oy di Rebetzen Oy is dos a Rebbetzen Vi zie geit Az zie shteit Aza yor oif mir. Chazidemlach, talmidemlach etc. Maynard Wishner 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 17:37:30 -0400 (EDT) From: ACHIM1 Subject: "Indianer" In regard to Louis Fridhandler's discussion of the German word "Indianer" [TMR 01.022] he overlooks the fact that in standard southern German and Austrian the noun "Indianer" also means "turkey"--I've been using it all my life, and any German dictionary will confirm this meaning. Whether that meaning ever carried across to the Yiddish word "indyaner" is an issue for further research. This meaning is not found in the "Indyaner" entry in the Groyser Verterbukh, but anything is possible. I have, however found the Yiddish word in contexts in which it clearly meant "East Indian"--i.e. someone from India--and also "South American Indian," whereas the German word "Indianer" can only refer to an Amerindian: a person from India is called an "Inder(in)" and a South American Indian tends to be called "Indio." Given the multiple meanings of the German word "Indian," one would first have to prove that the "turkey" meaning passed into some sort of usage in Yiddish; one might then conclude that Sholem Aleychem deliberately puns by using "indianer" to mean both "Indian" and "turkey." Joachim Neugroschel 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 17:42:38 EDT From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: finger in fist superstition Mikhoyel Basherives' account of the non-Jewish German woman doing the 'finger in the fist' is wonderful -- and an excellent illustration of why doing 'Jewish studies' without a concomitant study of the relevant other cultures/languages is a very bad idea... David Sherman's recollection of the stepping-over superstition matches my own -- it was alive and well in my house. I think we've been thru these before but other superstitions I recall from childhood are the following. Don't know how many are exclusively Jewish... If you spill salt, you have to sprinkle some over your shoulder. If you sew something that someone is wearing, the person has to hold a thread in his/her teeth. (This was 'explained' to me as distinguishing the someone from a corpse, on whom the shroud is sewn.) If you drop a piece of silverware, someone is coming. Each type of silverware (spoon, fork...) signaled a type of person but I forget the details. If you mention a living person and a dead person in the same clause (sentence? paragraph?), you have to add, for the living person, 'Im/Ir tsu lange yorn.' (Or, in Yinglish, 'S/He should live and be well.') Any clause carrying the future tense, in any languague, must be accompanied by 'alevay' or 'God willing', unless it denotes an undesirable state or event, in which case it must be accompanied by 'got bahitn' or 'God forbid'. Any discussion of someone's misfortune must be accompanied by 'Nisht do gedakht' or 'Nisht bay dir/undz/... gedakht'. Yinglish version: 'You shouldn't know from it.' If someone sneezes while a dead person is being talked about, the sneezer has to pull his/her earlobe. A first sneeze would be greeted with 'Tsum gezunt!' A second with 'Lang lebn!' And a third with 'Nis deroyf!' or something like that. You don't open an umbrella in the house. Only an orphan can walk in stocking feet. (Presumably because of shiva rituals where mourners don't wear shoes -- tho barefoot is ok.) Only an orphan can wear black (esp for children). A thread on one's clothing mean you're going to get a letter. A palm itching means you're going to get money. Ears burning means someone is talking about you. The first time a girl menstruates, her face should be slapped. If a woman is menstruating, flowers will wilt on her. (And, for my Sephardic mother-in-law and sister-in-law, she won't be able to make mayonnaise.) If you drop a prayerbook (anything with religious Hebrew writings), you have to kiss it. If a dairy-only piece of silverware touches a meat-only thing, you have to stick it into the ground and remove it. If you sing before breakfast, you'll cry before supper. If two people begin to talk at the same time, they have to cross pinkies and make a wish. If a pregnant woman crosses trolley tracks, she'll have a difficult birth. (This was my cousin's mother-in-law's belief -- MY family laughed at it. It wasn't up to the scientific standards of all the above beliefs that THEY held! ;) ) If a pregnant woman drops a comb, she shouldn't pick it up. (Same provenance as the last one.) And, of course, the huge ever-present one that I still seem to hold, long after I've given up all other supernatural beliefs: The fear of the evil eye (called a 'canary' in my native Yinglish) and the hope of an antidote in the saying of 'kinehore' or one of its variants, accompanied by ritually spitting three times (poo poo poo!) in extreme cases. Wearing something red (for me it was a little ribbon pinned to my slip) was an additional preventive measure (blue for my Sephardic mother-in-law, as for Arabs in Israel and perhaps elsewhere). And I'm sure I've forgotten a few hundred others... ;) Ellen Prince 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 18:32:32 -0400 (EDT) From: audrain loic Subject: Yiddish music Hello, I'm a french newbie on the Net, so I'll probably make many mistakes... Please forgive my poor english ;-) I'm looking for informations about Yiddish music, and particularly those songs: "Belz" ("Meine Schtetele Belz"): I believe it's a theatre song from Alexander Olshanetsky's play "The song of the ghetto". The text is signed Jacob Jacobs (1892-1972). It talks about a town in Poland (Belz). Do you know something about Jacobs, Olshanetsky, this town in Poland or the play ? "Tum Balalaika" ("Tum-Balalayke") : It talks about wedding, stone, heart and love, but I don't understand why... I red that in Kaunas Ghetto, the police became the target of the song (I still don't understand why nor how...). On the other hand, I believe the Barry sisters sang this. I've never heard about them, but a friend of mine told me that the Barry Sisters were the beginning of a fashion : two sisters singing. But I've no others examples of "singing sisters" in Yiddish music. I'm afraid my friend was wrong. "Dona Dona" : Words by Aaron Zeitlin (1889-1974), music by Sholom Secunda (1894-1974) : This song was written for Zeitlin's play "Esterke" and was named "Dana, Dana, Dana". But some says that "Dona, Dona" was written in the Warsaw Ghetto to express Jews' longing for freedom. Joan Baez also sang it. It seems that this song has a very long and mysterious history. Does anybody (well-known) sang it after Joan Baez ? "Paper is white" ("Papir iz dokh vays") : It's a very old song (1912 I believe). It's extract from a Elyokum Zunser (1836-1913) play : "Mekhiras Yoysef". This play seems to be very popular, but unfortunately, I've never heard about it. Is there something specail in this play ? Or in the song ? "My green cousin" ("Di grine Kuzine") and "My Little Boy" ("Mayn Yingele") : those songs are about immigrant life in America, isn't it ? "The Philosopher" ("der Filosof") : It's a very very old song (later 19th century). I think it's a parody of fanatic hassid rabbis in Eastern Europe. But what kind of stories did they preach ? Thanks, Loic Audrain 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 15 Oct 97 21:44:04 -0400 From: Stephen Berr Subject: Salt to ward off the evil one My mother (b"h) was very superstitious. For everything there was a remedy or prescribed act. A favorite memory is when my sister had her first child (Mom's first ainikel). To praise this darling baby girl would produce a shower of salt to ward off the evil one who might be lurking and listening for signs of extreme satisfaction or perhaps a little too much pride. Whenever Mom was around, salt would fly. One night baby Randi had a great deal of trouble going to sleep. She fussed and cried and nothing would console her. My sister felt the mattress wondering if it was wet, and if the baby needed changing. Instead, she found a large lump, and removed a bag of salt from beneath the mattress. No doubt Mom placed it there to protect the baby from unseemly compliments when she wasn't around. Pooh Pooh! (Which has nothing to do with Winnie) Stephen Berr 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 12:43:35 -0400 (EDT) From: Sapoznik@aol.com Subject: Food in songs Mendelyaner, Taking a moment out of working on my klezmer book to pass along my favorite Yiddish food song, "Chicken" written in 1922 by Yiddish theater composer Rubin Doctor (1882-194?) with a new second verse by myself. It appears on the Kapelye CD entitled, not surprisingly, "Chicken". A gitn apetit! Ikh veys fin a giter zakh Vus iz git far ale glakh A chicken, oy, oy a chicken. Geyt ir af a simkhe, a bris Est nor nit kayn fleysh, kayn fish est chicken, est nor a chicken. Keyn mol vet ir zikh baklugn Dreyn vet aykh nit der mugn Un baym hartsn vet aykh keyn mul drikn. Libe mentshn, folk mayn fraynt Vilt ir zayn gezint un fayn Est chicken, est nor a chicken. REFREN Chicken, oy est a chicken S'iz a maykhl vus vet aykh derkvikn A pulke, a fis a shtikl beylik S'iz geshmak dos yeder kheylik Chicken, oy est a chicken. A chicken's lebn iz nit gring Vest yetst lernen yedersding Fin chickens, oy nebekh, chicken Tsi der shoykhet in di fri Vert es bald a fricasee Fin chickens, a top mit chickens Trakht itst fin di kinder zeyer Yusemlakh, di pitsl eyer Di mame ligt shen ergets mit a meyer. Libe mentshn her zikh tsu, Loz zey lebn, est tofu Nit chickens, oy est nit chickens. REFREN Chickens, oy est nit chickens Tsum oylem habo zolst di zey nit shikn. Hot rakhmones af der feygl, Loz es lebn, est a beygl. Nit chicken, oy est nit chicken. Heynekh Sapoznik 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 13:19:47 -0400 (EDT) From: EMlotek@aol.com Subject: Food in Yiddish song Leo Kanowitz gives an interesting variant of a children's song about a mother thrusting food in a child's mouth. We found a version (without the lokhele/hole) in Cahan #393: A mol iz gevezn a mayse: A tsigele a vayse, Epele ber, Gildene sher. Di sher iz gefloygn Un hot zikh geboygn, Iz es farfoygn in yatke, Hot es gekhapt a shtik markh Un hot bashmirt Moyshen dem parkh. Also in the Mitteilungen z. jud. Volkskunde, 3, there is a rhyme, which appears as follows: Mazerle kazerle eperle ber gildene ser (sher) di ser (sher) is gefloygn in hot zex cerboign. We haven't found the part with the lokhele/Rokhele rhyme yet.. Years ago, Barbara Kirshenblatt Gimblett was preparing a recipe book for Klezkamp and asked me to come up with Yiddish songs about food. We sent her the texts of many such songs. A list of about 200 songs was published in the Perl fun der yidisher poezye. At that time Mascha Benya Matz and Bob Freedman contributed many titles. The song "Di mame hot dray yingelekh" was written by Y. Goichberg. The more popular melody was written by Michl Gelbart. I believe the melody that Sarah Garby sings (that Ellen Prince) refers to is by N. Zaslavsky. Chana and Yosl Mlotek ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 07.078 Mendele on the Web: http://www2.trincoll.edu/~mendele http://sunsite.unc.edu/yiddish/mendele.html