Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 221 April 22, 1992 1) Gefrishte matse? (Berl Hoberman) 2) Kosher l'Pesach (Martin Davis) 3) Various (Dovid Braun) 4) Kosher l'Pesach wine (Mikhl Herzog) 5) Tsar Nikolay (Eli Katz) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1992 11:50 EST From: Robert D Hoberman Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.220 Nu, Reb Noyakh, vos iz gefrishte matse? Ikh hob fun dos keyn-mol nit gehert, ober efsher hob ikh es gegesn. Berl Hoberman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Apr 92 12:50:22 -0400 From: davism@turing.cs.nyu.edu Subject: 'kosher l'pesach' > There was once a time (Mikhl knows this but maybe he's > forgotten) when 'kosher l'pesach' labels were scarce > indeed. I'm reminded of the following joke that my father told me: Once in a small shtetl there were two food stores, one owned by a Jew and one by a gentile. The two men were on friendly terms, and both establishments had Jewish and gentile customers, who selected themselves based mainly on proximity. However, the gentile owner noticed that at Pesach time, his Jewish customers vanished. Asking his Jewish friend for an explanation, he was informed that during Passover, Jews would only buy food that had been labeled 'kosher l'pesach'. Not at all daunted, the gentile owner placed in his shop window an elegant display of merchandise, all labeled 'kosher l'pesach'. In the center of the display: ... a large ham also labeled. Martin Davis 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Apr 92 14:04:51 -0400 From: David Braun Subject: more of the same _bis_ is the unit being bitten into, swallowed, digested, etc., or the nominalization of the action. _bays_ is the nominalization (noun-form) of the action (from the verbal stem; _baysn_ is the infinitive): ikh vil a bis shokolad but: der hunt hot mir gegebn a bays/bis Phillips' contribution, which he found folded in a hagode, is half unintelligible!! Was it written like that on the sheet of paper you found, i.e., in that transcription?! Or is that your transliteration of the text written in Hebrew characters? Or is that your transcription of how you'd pronounce it? (If it's the latter, I'd sure like to hear you pronounce it!) Do you understand what all of that means? Please explain. One of the many Yiddish names for God is _der eybershter_ pronounced with [ey] or [ay], depending on where you're in-laws are from. Literal translation: 'the One above'. Noyekh, I take it that _gefrishte matse_ is _matse-bray_, right? Where did you grow up? A gutn moyed! Dovid Braun 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Apr 92 14:11 EDT From: ZOGUR%CUVMB.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.220 The "kosher wine scandal" during Prohibition is, surely, prime example of the "cultural determination of crime". (See, also, poiuring oil into herring barrels, poisoning pushcart horses, etc. Noyekh, you're right on there. Mikhl. 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 21 Apr 92 11:34:29 PDT From: katz@Sonoma.EDU Subject: Tsar Nikolay Another (unfortunately fragmentary) macaronic version of Tsar Nikolay, this one obviously American: Tsar Nikolay, Oh what a guy! In mitn derinen hot er khasene gehat Mit a kurve, a bestet [bastard] Mit sifilis infestet, Day day-day day-day day-day day-day day... Afn koner shteyt zi, Mitn tokhes dreyt zi... The tune, correctly identified by Robert Rothstein was also used in a deservedly forgotten movie, "At the Balalaika," with Nelson Eddy, as a white guard Cossack, singing the refrain, "Vodka, oh vodka, I love you so true/ how could I ever get along without you?" Eli Katz ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.221 Submissions: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu Business: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.