Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 2 no. 48 July 29, 1992 1) Galitsianer and margaretkas (Ellen Prince) 2) Country Yossi revisited (David Sherman) 3) Introduction (Max Stern) 4) Galitisianer and Lachoudisch (Mikhl Herzog) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Jul 92 20:57:49 -0400 From: "Ellen F. Prince" Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 2.47 >From: ARUTKOWS@vm.ucs.UAlberta.CA >Subject: Galitsianer > >A friend of mine who specializes in the history of >Ukrainian peasantry in Galicia believes that the various >nationalities of that region may have been stereotyped in >similar ways by their co-nationals elseware. Ukrainians >from Galicia, for example, are seen by other Ukrainians as >haughty, clever, good at driving a hard bargain, etc. Is >anyone aware of stereotypes of Galician Jews? Such >stereotypes might be reflected in Yiddish fok sayings. as a galitsianer, i can tell you that the stereotypes *i*'ve encountered are none of the ones you mention for ukies but rather: primitive, ignorant, dirty, and fanatic. and, the unkindest cut of all, full of daytshmerisms (shudder). ------------------------------------------------------------ >From: martind@drum.Berkeley.EDU >Subject: Margaretkas > >In reply to a query about the song my mother used to sing, >there is i record by Theodore Bikel in which he sings it >(with slightly different lyrics). many singers have recorded it but one that's readily available is by chava albershteyn. i'm usually not too crazy about her, but i like her rendition of this song. Ellen Prince 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Jul 92 14:44:29 EDT From: dave@cai.lsuc.on.CA Subject: Country Yossi revisited Yankel Kessler makes a good point, and I don't disagree with him. He gives the example of a movie that was enjoyable but still "crapola". I don't have any problem saying that, for example, Sidney Sheldon is not "good literature". But that doesn't stop me from liking his books. I suppose it depends why we are discussing Country Yossi, Rechnitzer Rejects, borscht belt Yiddish songs or any other instance of Yiddish music. I have not suggested Country Yossi is "good music" in the sense of "good literature". I do maintain that it's entertaining, catchy, and enjoyable to listen to, and I reacted strongly to the people who seemed to be horrified that it even exists. I might point out that the Yiddish used in Country Yossi's songs comes out as very natural because it is -- it's a reflection of a community where young people still speak Yiddish. Like it or not, the world of Boro Park, Williamsburg and Monsey is the *only* world today where Yiddish is still used by whole communities. As such, for all the cultural sneering that goes on, it should be recognized that the future of Yiddish as a communal language spoken by Jews lies only in that world. David Sherman 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 Jul 92 15:31:13 PDT From: Max Stern 310-524-6152 Subject: Introducing myself Sholom: My name is Max Stern, but don't let the name fool you: I don't speak mamaloshen. I know a few expressions, and I can dope out a package label in Yiddish, but I am definitely _NOT_ fluent. On the other hand, I am very interested in knowing more, and in the idea that this wonderful language should be kept alive if at all possible. That's why I joined this mail group. My Great-grandfather Samuel Joachim Stern was born in Cracow and migrated to the Goldene Medineh in the 1840's. I was born in 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio. In between, ah, what a world of difference. Although I remember my great-grandparents Sam and Nettie Toffler, who died when I was seven or eight, I don't remember that they spoke Yiddish -- but I expect they probably did. The Tofflers arrived in the U.S. via Austro-Hungary and Glasgow. Religiously, I am sort of Conservative, trying to find my ground between liberal and traditional. I daven at the Library Minyan of Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles. I live in Sherman Oaks, and work as a systems software developer at NCR Corporation (formerly Teradata) in El Segundo, California. I sing in a Jewish chorus called Kol Echad Chorale, and we frequently include Yiddish songs on our lighter programs. "Sheyn Vi Di Levone" and "Bei Mir Bist Du Shoen" are our favorite encores. We have also sung less light-hearted Yiddish pieces like "Partizaner Lid" and "Zog Nit Keinmol". I am looking forward to increasing my Yiddish literacy in this group. Max.Stern@TorreyPinesCA.ncr.com 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 29 Jul 92 10:07 EDT From: ZOGUR@CUVMB.Columbia.edu Subject: Galitsianer and Lachoudisch Subject: Galitsianer (Alan Rutkowski) I'm interested in learning more of the details concerning stereotyping of Galician origin among non-Jews. Is there literature in English? Galician Jews were certainly stereotyped, but whether the details of the stereotype among Jews and non-Jews correspond is a question still to be answered. I cite a passage from the the Introduction to Volume 1 of the LANGUAGE AND CULTURE ATLAS OF ASHKENAZIC JEWRY, (now available at your local newsstand) which projects a series of specific substantive studies, to be undertaken by anthropologists and linguists once the data of the Yiddish Atlas become more easily accessible. They include: c) Areas of Archaism in Jewish and Non-Jewish Coterritorial Societies. An investigation of whether Western Lithuania, southernmost Galicia (Carpathian foothills), and other regions which are full of cultural and linguistic relics among Jews manifest the same conservatism on the non-Jewish social plane. k) "Verticalization" of Geographic Differences in Culture and Language. A contrast in the prestige ranking, by Jews and non-Jews of corresponding regions, of originally geographic differences in behavior and speech, and of the utilizaton of regional differences in the "vertical"-social differentiation of coterritorial societies. Sample question: Is Galician origin as much of a social stigma for Poles or Ukrainians as for Jews? If not, why not? ********** Subject: Lachoudisch (to Bob Hoberman) The Lachoudisch business keeps reemerging every so often as a kind of sensational "archaeological" find. It makes the rounds of world newspapers and each generation gets the thrill of rediscovery. Something like the discovery of crypto-Jews in Latin American jungles. I don't have immediate access to the bibliographic references. Didn't Dovid Katz include a piece on the subject somewhere recently? I think it's what you say it is, a concentration of vestiges, among non-Jews, of words deriving from Jewish speech. The pronunciation of the name probably varies among Lacho:dish, Lachoudish and Lachaudisch--which can be either "holam"-derived or "kamats"-derived in Western Yiddish (for example: Yiddish "broygez" and "xarote" have these variants). I'm inclined to derive Lachoudisch, a non-Jewish designation, from the frequent designation, among Jews, for their own language as something like "loushnakoudish". Mikhl Herzog ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 2.48 If your message is intended for MENDELE, please write to: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu If you want to discuss personal business or have a shmues with the shames, please write to: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.