Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 3.213 February 3, 1994 1) Transcription and rigidity (Berl Hoberman) 2) Kamershpil, kleynkunst-teater (Shleyme Axelrod) 3) Introduction (Paul Bakan) 4) A yidisher oysdruk? (Jeremy Stern) 5) European Jewry (Ted Steinberg) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Feb 2 09:29:55 1994 From: Robert D Hoberman Subject: Transcription and rigidity Just took a look again at Uriel and Beatrice Weinreich's Say It in Yiddish (Dover) (the National Yiddish Book Center sent it) and noticed that it uses a completely non-YIVO phonetic transcription, undoubtedly the uniform system of Dover's series. So we shouldn't get too far up on our linguistic high horses. E.g. # 288 ZIT (I with a macron) ah-zoy GOOT, FORT pah-MEH-leh-khehr. Though that sure looks ludicrous to me. Bob (Berl) Hoberman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Feb 2 10:17:00 1994 From: Seymour Axelrod Subject: "kamershpil", "kleynkunst-teater" The entry for the writer-photographer Alter Kacyzne in a Yiddish biographical dictionary mentions his "kamershpil" _Esther_, and also his poems (or songs) for Yiddish "kleynkunst-teaters". Can someone tell me how to translate the terms in quotation marks? A dank. --Shleyme Axelrod 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Feb 2 12:29:51 1994 From: Paul Bakan Subject: Introduction This is my first communication to Mendele. Mendele happens to be my father's name, he being deceased for quite a while. Opening up ny Yiddish memory brings up the times when we used to travel on the subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan, when he would speak to me aloud in Yiddish while I answered him in English. He could speak in English but wasn't comfortable in it. I found this embarassing, but I never told him not speak in Yiddish. My grandfather lived with us and communication with him was strictly in Yiddish. Paul Bakan 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed Feb 2 18:02:39 1994 From: Jeremy Stern Subject: a yidisher oysdruk? I've seen, in several places, the expression "kol koyre bamidber," which comes from Isaiah. But is this a genuine Yiddish expression (whatever that means) or a borrowing from Christian sources. I ask this because, according to the Jewish tradition, the verse in Isaiah is read, "A voice calls out; in the desert . . .," a reading that is attested to by the _trop_, or cantillation. Jeremy Stern 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu Feb 3 05:52:38 1994 From: "Ted L. Steinberg" Subject: European Jewry I have what must be a really elementary question, but since I don't know the answer, I'll ask. Where did European Jewry come from? I know that there were Jews in ancient Rome, of course, but I don't see how they could have grown and spread throughout Europe. I clearly look European rather than Middle Eastern (excuse the stereotyping), but where did my ancestors come from? It only recently occurred to me that when I think of, say, Rabbi Akiva, I think of him looking European. Talk about ethnocentrism| Thanks in advance for your answers. Ted Steinberg ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 3.213 To subscribe, send SUB MENDELE FIRSTNAME LASTNAME to: LISTSERV@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. Send submissions/responses to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@starbase.trincoll.edu Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files