Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.050 July 7, 1994 1) YIVO archives (Carol Zemel) 2) YIVO archives (Jules Levin) 3) Questions about YIVO (Zachary Baker) 4) Yiddish language sports writing (Rob Frantz) 5) Jokes about Yiddish (Yohanan Weininger) 6) State of the Union Address (Yude Rozof) 7) Skongale (Andrew Cassel) 8) A Shimilekhl: Vos iz? (Shloyme-Khaim Cohen) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 06 Jul 1994 07:45:49 -0500 (EST) From: AHICZ@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu Subject: YIVO archives I recently returned from a visit to Vilna (and other cities in Byelorus and Ukraine), and as I understand it from brief conversations with Jewish museum people and guides there, the re-discovered YIVO archive is available for consultation, but it is considered the property of the Lithuanian state, not YIVO or any other Jewish institution. As Rachile Kostanian of the Jewish Museum commented to me, "With independence we have more of everything--more democracy, more money, more crime, more freedom, more anti-semitism...." Carol Zemel 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 1994 12:00 PST From: JFLEVIN%UCRVMS.bitnet@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu Subject: YIVO archives in Vilna In October 1991 I attended a meeting, (perhaps the first meeting) of the Society of Lithuanian Jewish Professionals in Vilna. At that meeting the discovery of the YIVO materials was discussed. A Jewish employee of the State Library (or Academy of Sciences?), who is "now" [Oct '91] responsible for the collection, was asking for support from fellow Jews for cataloguing the material, which contained many surprising things (he mentioned a letter from Albert Einstein!). Jews in the West tend to think only of "rescuing" Judaica from Eastern Europe, when de facto it means stripping the remaining Jews of the few treasures they have left. The Jewish community here should offer help in cataloguing, preserving, and using the materials, on the spot in Vilna, where there are still a few thousand proud Yiddish-speaking Litvishe Jews. (With regard to rescuing Judaica, when I was in Vilna in '81 for 4 months, two torah scrolls were stolen from the Synagogue, and the poor congregants had to pay 800 rubles for a scroll being kept by someone in Vitebsk. I learned that these scrolls were being stolen by opportunistic thieves, exported in third-world diplomatic pouches, and sold for thousands to Reform temples in places like Long Island, in guise of "rescuing" Eastern European torah scrolls. How sad... --Jules Levin 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 94 10:00:13 PDT From: BM.YIB@RLG.Stanford.EDU Subject: Questions about YIVO Responding to Gaston L. Schmir's request (MENDELE 4.048), (1) So far, YIVO's efforts to recover or microfilm those portions of its archives that have been found in present-day Vilnius have not been successful. Negotiations with Lithuanian archival and library authorities have led on more than one occasion to signed, but not implemented agreements. We hope to have more positive news to report in the not-too-distant future. (2) The last issue of Yidishe shprakh to appear was indeed vol. 38, no. 1/3 (1984/86). I have not heard of any plans to resume publication. The editor of that volume (and those immediately preceding it) was Dr. Mordkhe Schaechter, who can be contacted at the League for Yiddish (200 West 72nd St., New York, NY 10023). The YIVO Library and Archives closed to the public on July 1st. Over the next three months we will be inventorying, packing and moving our collections to two interim sites: (a) an office space at 555 West 57th St. (which will also accommodate about 50% of our library and archival collections) and (b) a nearby warehouse (where the remainder of our collections will be stored). Our telephone number (212-535-6700) and my e-mail address will remain the same. In about two years, we expect to move to a site on West 16th St., together with other Jewish research and cultural organizations. Meanwhile, we expect to reopen soon after the High Holy Days, on a somewhat reduced scale. Please stay tuned. Zachary Baker, YIVO Library 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 1994 09:39:43 -0700 (PDT) From: rfrantz@u.washington.edu Subject: Yiddish language sports writing With the World Cup of Soccer in full swing, I've been wondering if Yiddish has been used to describe soccer games. I'm interested in all sports, baseball especially, but here, because of its greater international expanse, would like to find any writings in Yiddish about soccer. Concomittant with this, while looking in the index of Kyle Rote Jr.s COMPLETE BOOK OF SOCCER, I see references to a soccer club New York Hakoah (I've guessed, but could be wrong that this is from the Hebrew for strength, ha-koakh) winning amateur soccer titles in the USA in the 1950s, as well as the Los Angeles Maccabees winning in the l970s. While this may not directly touch on Yiddish (I beleive Hakoah originates in Vienna and must have had numerous Yiddish speaking followers) I would appreciate any references you have on these and other Jewish soccer clubs outside of Israel. Rob Frantz 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 01:24:48 +0300 From: yohanan@shum.cc.huji.ac.il Subject: Jokes about Yiddish The following joke on Yiddish in Israel, was reportedly common among Iraqi olim in the maabarot (immigrant absorption sites) in early 1950s: Two Jews from Iraq meet one evening and chat in Iraqi Arabic about where each one was being sent. "Hezkel, where are you going?" asked the first. Hezkel answered, "To ulpan." -- "To what ulpan?" -- "An ulpan for Hebrew." -- "Why study Hebrew, learn Yiddish straight off." This is wryly told by Prof. Sasson Somekh of Tel Aviv Univ, (whose field I think is sociology of multiculturalism and education). Somech explains that the Eastern olim felt that the Jewish Agency clerks (Polish or Rumanian) used Yiddish against them. (The Iraqis of 1950s were the most educated aliyah after the yekkes of 1930s.) [The above I take from Yosef Algazi, "We did not inform on one another" *HaAretz*, 24.6.94, p. B6, a review on a new book on Iraqi Jewish communists.] (For the wider picture of misperceptions of Yiddish in Israel, there's the history by Arye Pilovsky, *Zvishn yo un nayn*, Tel Aviv, 1985.) - yohanan weininger 6)---------------------------------------------------- From: jrosof@sas.upenn.edu Date: Wed, 6 Jul 1994 19:24:50 -0400 Subject: State of the Union Address In letstn numer Afn Shvel vert gebetn fun di Leyeners zey zoln trakhtn vi azoy me volt gekent oysdrikn af yidish "state of the union address" mit laytishn kheyn. Der bal-mekhaber fun yener bakoshe un funem farshemtn bikhl "Laytish Mame-loshn", Dr. Mordkhe Shekhter, makht a pruv aleyn: "Melukhe Matsev Rede," ober er git tsu az se hot nisht genoy der rikhtiker tam un grandyezkeyt vos men dershpirt inem original. Letstns hobn mir arumgeredt mit groysn interes di teme iberzetsung: ot hobn mir a gingoldene miglekhkeyt di hent arayntsuton in kaltn vaser makhn a fartaytsh an eygenem. Mir dukht zikh se'lozt zikh nisht gring aribertaytsheven yene fraze on tsu farlirn dem tam vos me shmekt af english: iz vos viln mir batayt tsi gefil? Efsher ken men yo hobn beyde in eynem. Vos zogt ir khevre? Yude Rozof 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 Jul 94 10:24 edt From: acassel@philly.cerf.fred.org Subject: Skongale In my grandfather's zikhroines, he tells of going swimming in a place near his home in Keidan (Lite) which he calls "tife Skongale". I thought this was a local place name, except he also seems to be referring to the Neviashe river, which flows by the town. I can't locate the term "skongale" in Yiddish, Russian or Lithuanian dictionaries, but perhaps I'm missing something. Does it sound familiar to anyone? Andrew Cassel 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 06 Jul 1994 12:04:26 EDT From: smc5@Lehigh.edu Subject: A Shimilekhl: Vos iz? Kh'hob geleyent di artikl fun Yude Rozof in "Mendele 4.048", un er hot gezogt vegn di verter fun Brooklyn "to make a shimilekhl." Mayn mame, ver iz geboyren in Brooklyn in 1940, dertseylt vegn di dozike verter oykh. Di kinder hobn gezungen: "Make a shimilekhl in the old man's back" (Ikh veys nit ale verter af Yidish...) And when they sang the words "Make a shimilekhl" they drew a circle with their finger on their friends' back. At the word "back", they poked the friend's back, in the center of the circle, with their finger. I have asked my mother, who does not speak any Yiddish, what a "shimilekhl" is, or what the whole phrase means, and she cannot give me an answer. Efsher ken Yude Rozof, oder an ander mensh, dertseyln vos iz a "shimilekhl", vos zaynen di verter, un azoy vayter. -Shloyme-Khaim (Steve) Cohen ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.050 A Table of Contents is now available via anonymous ftp, along with weekly updates. Anonymous ftp archives available on: ftp.mendele.trincoll.edu in the directory pub/mendele/files Archives available via gopher on: gopher.cic.net Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line. 2. Sign your article. Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Other business: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu