Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
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Contents of Vol. 2 no. 198
May 12, 1993

1) Narr (Bob Werman)
2) Narr (Ellen Prince)
3) Joseph Opatoshu (Rosa Lehmann)
4) Irving Howe (Leonard Prager)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue May 11 17:56:12 1993
From: RWERMAN%HUJIVMS.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu
Subject:  RE: Narr

Berl Hoberman writes:

>I wonder, though, about the pseudo-Hebrew plural of the
>Yiddish word: naronim. The plural of German Narr is
>Narren; Hebrew naar has the plural neorim, as in the
>aliye on Simkhas Toyre known as kol-haneorim 'all the
>boys' (so pronounced by my grandfather).  Maybe all
>along Yiddish speakers have felt nar to be sort-of
>Hebrew, and gave it a plural, complete with -im, stress
>shift, and the additional derivational suffix -on- that
>in Hebrew often makes agent nouns) for good measure.

>(By the way, isn't that what a tradional shul is all
>about anyway--kol haneorim?  [Sorry.])

In the Hebrew we speak, the boys are called up as "kol
ha-na'arim."  On the other hand, we would render "kol
ha-ne'orim" as all the enlightened, just the sort of
people you are liable to find in the traditional shuls
I frequent.

Dan Breslauer writes:

>On the "naar" "nar" relationship:  I had a teacher who
>was fond of translating the last part of the birkat
>hamazon as "I was a "nar"--I was a fool--and then I
>grew older."  And he would comment that it was only
>"narishkeit", only the foolishness of an old fool, that
>could claim that a Zaddik is never abandoned or his
>children sent out to seek bread!

There are those who take this line very seriously
indeed. The German Jews, affectionately known as "Yecke
eighty - nineties," do not vocalize this passage for
fear of insulting someone.  After all, taking this line
literally, anyone who suffered a misfortune would be
indicted as NOT being a righteous person.

Bob Werman

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue May 11 20:19:13 1993
From: "Ellen F. Prince" <ellen@central.cis.upenn.edu>
Subject: Narr

yes, yiddish _nar_ is germanic, cognate of mod. german
naar. the yiddish plural, naronim, is cute, but it's
not unique: there's also _doktoyrim_ and perhaps one or
two others.

ellen prince

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue May 11 17:59:51 1993
From: DAVIDN@SARA.NL
Subject: Does anyone know the work of Joseph Opatoshu?

In vol. 2 no. 183 I asked a question about a story by
Joseph Opatoshu. It suprises me that till this day
nobody has answered my question. Is none of you
familiar with the work of Joseph Opatoshu? Let me state
my question again.

In his book "The Jews in Polish culture" Aleksander
Herz mentioned a story of the Jewish writer Joseph
Opatoshu. It was one of the last stories Opatoshu wrote
before his death in 1954. Aleksander Herz (1988, p. 5)
summarises the contents as follows:

   In a formerly Jewish town in Poland, there are no
   longer any Jews. All that remained is a dim memory
   of the strange people who once lived there. Of the
   town's present inhabitants only one, grey-haired old
   man, saw those Jews as a child and still remembers
   something of them. The young people of the town,
   having by chance heard of its former inhabitants,
   try to find out from the old man who those people
   were, what happened to them, why they perished. Thus
   begins the legend of those who had ceased even to be
   ghosts, and the legend seems to bring them to life
   again.

I would like to know the title of this story and the
book (or anthology) in which this story was published.
And is there any translation (in English, German,
French, Dutch, Polish) available?

Thanks for any information,

Rosa Lehmann, Amsterdam.
(c/o David Niemeijer, DavidN@sara.nl)

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed May 12 06:36:54 1993
From: Leonard Prager <RHLE302%HAIFAUVM.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu>
Subject: Irving Howe

Very moving news about Irving Howe.  We were close
friends during a certain period of my life.  I agree
with your estimate of the man.  Thank you for taking
the trouble to write about him.  I am sure many Mendele
readers are equally appreciative of your notice.

Leonard

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End of Mendele Vol 2.198