Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.096 August 28, 1994 1) Translation help (Sam Kowarski) 2) Translation meditations (Andrew Cassel) 3) Found: An Irishman in Yiddishland (Zellig Bach) 4) On the Nature of Self-Deprecation (Zellig Bach) 5) Jewish self-hatred (Bernard S. Greenberg) 6) Mystery:lamed-sof=tzadik (Michael Shimshoni 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Aug 1994 14:24:07 -0700 (PDT) From: martinko@sfsuvax1.sfsu.edu Subject: Translation help Dear Mendelniks, I'm trying to translate a short piece published in _ZUKUNFT_ written by my father (who died only five weeks ago). He was a native of Vilne (as am I) and his Yiddish is idiomatic. Occasionally I need help with fine points of meaning. I'd like to get it just right. It's my father's memory of his last breakfast with his father, before leaving to join the guerrilas the day before the Vilne Ghetto was liquidated. If there's anyone out there who could stand an occasional query please let me know Sam Kowarski 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Aug 94 23:08 edt From: acassel@philly.cerf.fred.org Subject: Translation meditations If a rank amateur may contribute to the discussion on translation: In addition to Messrs Poe and Friedhandler's thoughtful insights on the problems they raise, I wonder if there's any consensus on how to handle multi-lingual passages in Yiddish texts. I'm currently working on my grandfather's memoir of the Shmini Atseres holiday in Keidan, and besides the numerous Hebrew liturgical phrases, there are a number of places where Russian and even French show up, typically in the context of the traditional holiday banquets, where members of the Khevre Kedisha and other honored societis drank and sang themselves into holy bliss. An example: "...Reb Leyzer Mendels, a kleyninker, velkher vert shiker fun a halbe glezel, iz oykh rusish geshtimt, un zingt: 'Akh ti reboyne-shel-oylem! Zatshem ti ne smotrish, zatshem ti ne vidish, mar goleseynu!' Un der oylem khapt unter: 'Mar goleseynu perebudem, laretzeynu fort poidiom!' Now I've managed to figure out more or less how that could be rendered in coherent English, but in this context, should it be? In other words, I presume the "foreign" sounding Russian words intermixed with Hebrew and Yiddish ones connoted something essential to the original readers, who were almost certainly themselves fluent in all three. But how do you convey that to a generally monolingual English audience? And beyond this perhaps somewhat atypical passage, where is the point along the spectrum of Hebrew-derived words, from those that seem thoroughly ingrained in Yiddish vernacular to those clearly conoting religiosity or formality, where one should do something other than simply translate into English -- perhaps stick with the original Hebrew, perhaps in quotes, perhaps with footnotes? I hear the answer as I ask the question -- this is why translation is an art. But I'd appreciate some additional discussion and perhaps some tips for a real novice at the game ... (By the way, I think a straight translation of the above would read: "... Leyzer Mendels, such a little guy that a half a shot makes him drunk, also falls into Russian, and sings: Oh, Lord of the Universe! Why don't you look at, why don't you see, our bitter exile! And the crowd sings along: Our bitter exile let us throw off, to our own land let us go off!") But I'm open to correction and/or criticism. I'll take all the help I can get with this.... Andrew Cassel 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Aug 94 19:10:46 EDT From: Zellig@aol.com Subject: Found: An Irishman in Yiddishland I did not exactly look for him, but when I found him It made me feel very good. It is not unlike when one is in a foreign country and accidentally stumbles upon one who speaks your native tongue. The book _A Century of Yiddish in America: Yiddish and English_by Sol Steimetz is out of print, and I called the Workman's Circle (the arbeter ring) Book Center in New York to inquire if it carried the book. A gentleman answered. No, they do not have it, and he gave me the name and telephone No. of another bookstore that may have it. I called, same results. Whenever I telephone a Jewish organization, I am in the habit of asking the party that answers in English, if he or she speaks Yiddish. So I asked the man of the Book Center if he spoke Yiddish. His reply: "Avade, farvos nit?" (I made a mental note that he answered my question with a question.) His name is Stephen Dowling. "Dowling?" I repeated his last name with a question mark, "this is not a Jewish last name, is it?" No, he said, I am not Jewish, I am an Irishman. My curiosity piqued, and I proceeded to inquire some more. Mr. Dowling, who is 30 years old, speaks, writes, and reads Yiddish. He took some Yiddish courses at the Workman's Circle. His teacher was the well-known Yiddish pedagogue Peysakh Fishman. Several years ago Mr. Dowling was stage manager of the Workman's Circle theater group _di folksbine_. Currently he is the manager of the Book Center. He is also secretary of the _hemshekh_Arbeter Ring Branch No. 105 in New York's Manhattan. This is a youth group of Yiddish-speaking members I then asked him if he knew some other non-Jews who speak Yiddish. He rattled off several names: Michael Spudic (he believes is Polish); Nina Warnke who speaks, writes, and reads Yiddish (some time ago she was a sound technician on a number of Folksbine performances); and Katsue Kishimoto, a former member of the above-mentioned hemshekh group (now in Japan). She, too, writes and reads Yiddish, but lacks fluency in speaking because she has no opportunity to practice it. Mr. Dowling then mentioned, with some glee in his voice, that the famous movie actor James Cagney, in a 1932 movie called _Taxi_ in which he played a a cab driver, gave at one point a 5-minute rapid-fire monologue in Yiddish. (This fact is mentioned in J. Hoberman's book on Jewish movies called _Bridge of Light_, published by Shocken Books.) This instance by itself is not necessarily evidence that Cagney knew a fluent Yiddish. As an actor he may have learned and well rehearsed this part in the movie, although having grown up on Manhattan's Lower East Side he may have picked-up some Yiddish. Dowling then mentioned another non-Jewish person well versed in Yiddish-Prof. Thomas E. Bird from Queens College (where he teaches Russian literature). Him I happen to know. We both serve on the Executive Board of the League for Yiddish in New York, with the only difference that he never misses a Board meeting, while I, for reasons of distance and health, am more often than not absent. Prof. Bird is an emeser yidishist. He subscribes to Yiddish journals, and goes to general cultural gatherings where Yiddish is spoken on and off the stage. In our khavruse we often call him Tevye. Jocularly I asked Mr. Dowling if he happens to have (or has selected) a Jewish first name. He laughed and said that some of his friends call him occasionally and good-naturedly "Shloyme." This started when he went several years ago to a Klezmer kamp organized by Yivo. Every guest received a lapel identification card with his or her name. His card read "Stephen," and everybody asked him what was his Jewish name. When he said that he had none, they called him for some reason Shloyme. P.S.: Miss Kishimoto would like to develop a pen-palship in Yiddish. In case some Mendele member is interested, here is her address: Daii 475 Seto-Cho Okaiwa Okayama 709-08 Japan Zellig Bach 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 26 Aug 94 22:05:39 EDT From: Zellig@aol.com Subject: On the Nature of Self-Deprecation Abe Igelfeld wrote (4.093,8): > Self-deprecation has acquired an undeservedly bad reputation. A >guter kibets is vert mer vi toyznt komplimentn. It is a matter of degree. A chronic and habitual kibetzer is often considered a pest. When one kibitzes oneself incessantly, it may suggest a not-so-hidden sign of extreme low self-esteem. And it may even occasionally border on a deep-seated sense of inferiority. When you call your group _shnorers_ and your newsletter _shmate_, you open the door to constant abuse and invite a stream of ridicule plain and simple. Zellig Bach 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 27 Aug 1994 16:04:14 -0400 From: bsg@world.std.com Subject: ``Jewish self-hatred'' I don't want to start a polemic war, but I'd like to protest Jay Lee's use of the term "Jewish self-hatred" without quotes; rather than a value-neutral or scholarly term, it is an artifact of the polemic lexicon of a world-view which characterizes the radical departure of certain third parties from the beliefs and values the holder expects them to hold as maladjustment, i.e., mental illness, an old Stalinist technique. The unqualified use of this term renders a disservice to Asch and the other quite worldly writers whose work is being discussed. Bernard S. Greenberg 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 28 Aug 94 10:59:10 +0200 From: mash@weizmann.weizmann.ac.il Subject: Re: Mystery:lamed-sof=tzadik I had planned to write shortly on the topic brought up by Leybl Botwinik in 4.072 (and once before) on the "Mystery:lamed-sof=tzadik", as the way a certain write signed some of his works. Leybl had checked in "Otzar Rashey Teyvot", for another reason when he came across that unusual lamed-sof=tzadiq combinations. If one wishes to be pedantic about it, it should not have been there as after all "*Rashey* Teyvot" means the *beginnings* of words (like in *Rosh* HaShana, the beginning of the year). As said that would be pedantic. Leyble rightly rejected some examples like u:m and Tanakh which have end letters (mem and khaf respectively) but these are *not* the last letters of the last word as in his example. I was reminded of the matter when in 4.093 Reuven Frankenstein gives the example Dalet Resh for Doctor like in European languages. Here at least he has the final resh of the word. I had planned to give another example namely yod final mem used frequently for YerushalayiM (with a hyphen between the two letters). In my example one also has only one word (as in doctor). There may be another related issue and that was the custom of having a verse of the Tanakh for one's name. The verse was usually chosen so that it starts with the first letter of the name and ends with the last letter of the name. I still remember Michael's verse being Mah tovu ohaleikha ya'aqov, mishkanoteikha yisraeL. In many siddurim of my youth, the list was usually after the shmone esre of shaharit. I have not seen it recently in siddurim. May I wish at that occasion all Mendeleniks Shana Tova, a guten un zisen yohr (sp?), Michael Shimshoni ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.096 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