Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.132 October 10, 1994 1) Introduction (Lori Padzensky and Joffre Champagne) 2) Yidishe publikatsyes in yisroel (Peter Kluehs) 3) Mendele as A Big Tent (Moyshe Zekharye Baker) 4) Yiddish software (Arnie Kuzmack) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Oct 1994 10:55:49 -0700 (PDT) From: birobid@netcom.com Subject: Introduction to us and Birobidzhan Hello! We are Lori Padzensky and Joffre Champagne (soon to be Joffre and Lori Champagne), the co-directors of Project Hashivanu. Our organization was established two years ago during a visit to Birobidzhan, capital of Russia's Jewish Autonomous Region. We lived in Birobidzhan for four months, against the recommendations of many Jewish leaders in America and Israel who said there were no Jews left there. We found a population of 10,000 Jews in a city of 100,000 people. It has been a joy to watch this community grow from being "Jewish" because it was stamped in their passports to being "Jewish" because they embrace the traditions and beliefs. Although Yiddish is still the official language of the region, and a daily Yiddish-Russian newspaper exists, less than half of the people actually speak Yiddish, though it is seeing a revival and is offered to any students who wish to learn, whether they are Jewish or not. Some store, as well as street signs still exist in Yiddish, and a Yiddish theatre in the city continues to perform. An offshoot of Project Hashivanu is Operation to Reunify Yiddish, directed by Michael Ben-Levi in Los Angeles. He is working to "de-Sovietize" the Yiddish used and taught in Birobidzhan and throughout the former Soviet Union. Many of the Hebrew words have been taken out and sofim are not used. This applies to text in the Birobidzhaner Shtern, their newspaper, as well as in the textbooks they create to teach Yiddish to the young. We could go on and on about our project, the work we have done, the rabbi we have sent, etc., but for now, we will stay brief. Project Hashivanu * Lori Padzensky and Joffre R. Champagne, Helping the people * Co-directors of Birobidzhan, Russia * A non-profit member of the Union of Councils recover their traditions * 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 09 Oct 1994 19:54:00 +0200 From: pete@pko.rhein-main.de Subject: yidishe publikatsyes in yisroel, a maysele ikh derveys zikh fun an i-briv fun zellig bach, az in yisroel zenen faran a tsol publikatsyes in yidish. ikh bin shtark farinteresirt zey tsu kenen un mistome oykh tsu abonirn. ken mir emetser gebn di adresn fun di aroys- gebers oder fun dem isroeldikn prese-farband? a sheynem dank foroys! a por vokhn tsurik louis fridhandler hot gebrakht in mendele di mayse fun mark twayn in daytshland. di gore mishpokhe mayne hot gelakht un gelakht! ikh trakht az s'volt zayn a hanoe far di mendele khaveyrim leyenen epes azoyns keseyderdik. ot, a maysele fun salcia landmann: ikh zog aykh, a yom-kiper iz dos geven - ekh, ekh, ekh...zenen mir gegangen nokh kol-nidre oyf der nakht: ikh, un der rov, un moyshe kischke, un froyim schwab, un mechl drong, un geredt al d'war-toyre un nokh azelkhe kleynikaytn...derzeen mir plutsem unter a lamtern shteyt zikh yokhtsiale mit a shikse. meyle hot der rov, zol lebn, ongekukt di shikse, iz er shir nisht geblibn oyfn ort...take aza yor tsu mir, vos far a shiksl dos iz geven! "du grober yung!" git der rov a geshrey oyf yokhtsiale, "du amorets! vi host du epes far got nisht kayn moyre? haynt iz dokh yom-kiper!..." "rebe", entfert im yokhtsiale mit a shmeykhl, "ikh darf zi den khas v'kholile oyf haynt? ikh hob zi mir nor bashtelt, mirtshe, b'li neder, oyf simkhes toyre!..." peter kluehs 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Oct 94 16:18:32 PDT From: bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu Subject: Mendele as A Big Tent As an employee of Yivo -- and as one whose Yiddish was acquired in large measure thanks to "College Yiddish" and the Uriel Weinreich Summer Yiddish Program (in addition to the tutoring of my grandfather, Reverend Samuel A. Baker) -- I ought to line up on the side of the "purists" among our Mendelnikes, with respect to the linguist-libhober debate. But it is one of Memdele's great virtues that it is A Big Tent -- we don't all have to be "tsadikim" to enter into it. I truly hope that there will be no schism, and that those who have much to learn, linguistically, will in turn continue to educate those of us who approach mame-loshn in a more formal(istic) manner. Zachary (a.k.a. Moyshe Zekharye) Baker 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Oct 1994 22:08:15 -0400 (EDT) From: kuzmack@umbc.edu Subject: Yiddish software The recent discussion of word processing software prompts me to put in a plug for the Word Perfect Hebrew Language Module. It is especially suitable for people who already use Word Perfect for DOS as their word processor in English, since you already know all the commands. It supports several Hebrew fonts (even Rashi) for laser printers (and 24-pin dot matrix too, I think), including scalable fonts in several faces using True Type for Word Perfect. The character set includes all of the characters needed for Yivo standard spelling, including paskh tsvey yudn, pe, khirik yud, khubuk vov, and fe and beys with shtriklakh. The screen display shows the Hebrew characters at VGA resolution, and full word wrap is provided in the Hebrew right-to-left mode. All of the rich feature set of standard Word Perfect is available, including columns, tables, footnotes, macros, fine control of placement, etc. The main drawback is limited support of nikud. And, of course, as a character-based program, you can't edit in a WYSIWYG display. I have been using it for several years to do the Yiddish section of the Yiddish of Greater Washington newsletter. Cost is about $150. Available from Kabbalah Software, direct from Word Perfect, and elsewhere. Arnie Kuzmack ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.132 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. 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