Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.308 February 1, 1995 1) Locating a Yiddish story (Gaston L. Schmir) 2) Galitsianer (Moshe Waldoks) 3) Galitsianer (Yude Rozof) 4) Yugntruf Activities for January (Roland Millman) 5) Western Yiddish (Yankel Lantz) 6) Marketing Yiddish courses (Kathryn Hellerstein) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 14:08:46 -0500 (EST) From: glschm@minerva.cis.yale.edu Subject: Locating a Yiddish story To Alan Shuchat: Do you know the story by Gerald Kersh "One way of getting a hundred pounds" in Nathan Ausubel, ed. "A treasury of Jewish humor", New York, 1951, pp 155-165? This story is neither in Yiddish nor by Sholem Aleichem, but illustrates very well the methods used by an entrepreneur who obtains the sum of one hundred pounds which he needs to become a wrestling promoter by selling (at a net loss of 21 pounds) chairs and eggs which he bought on credit. Gaston L. Schmir 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 14:56:02 -0500 (EST) From: waldoks@binah.cc.brandeis.edu Subject: Gevaldige Galitsianer a sheynem dank tsu unzer eretz-yisroeldiger mitglider [Leonard Prager]. efsher vet er tsunoyfshteln a bukh fun azelkhe perzenlekhkaytn far unzere yunger dor. Ikh meyn az der hechster tsvek fun "mendele" is tsu farshteyn vi tif un groys iz unzer yerushe fun yidishn lebn farn khurbn. Lomir oykh hern vegn oysergeveynlikhe yidishe froyen un medlekh fun di selbike tsaytn. Moshe Waldoks 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 01:20:32 -0500 (EST) From: jrosof@sas.upenn.edu Subject: Froyen-nemen/galitsye A mekhtikn dank Fraynd Prager fun Kheyfe far der shlal mit yedies vos er hot undz alemen moydie geven vegn di galitsyaner. Ikh aleyn bin a fertl a galitsyaner (Zol lebn Galitsye!) fun Tarnepol/Zborov. Mayn bobe hot geredt vegn fleysh mit beyner. Yetst hob ikh ober geleyent az Tarnepol vert barekhnt far a teyl fun tsentral yidish: flaysh mit bayner: staytsh?! The question has arisen: What female name pairings exist? I know that my Galician grandmother and her sister were called in Yiddish: Sushe=Gitl and Reyzheydl (Reyze=Eydl). So far, no one has been able to suggest a derivation or proper spelling for the name Sushe. Any assistance here? My grandmother was a rabbi's daughter, so Sushe may have a Biblical or even Talmudic (Aramaic?) derivation. Perhaps Sasya? Yude Rozof 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 11:50:40 GMT From: roland.millman@weiser.com Subject: Yugntruf Activities for January Yugntruf, Youth for Yiddish ****** Activities for January 1995 ***** The Yiddish Shmueskrayz (conversation group) for beginners. You know more Yiddish than you think! Come and surprise yourself. It will be held on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2:00pm at Deutsches Haus, 420 West 116th Street, Manhattan. RSVP to Brukhe Lang, (212) 280-1168. Refreshments will be served. Admission: free for students/Yugntruf members; all others $2.50. The Sholem Aleichem Cultural Center invites you to a viewing of the classic musical drama _Eyli, Eyli_. The film will be shown Sun., Feb.5, 1:00pm at 3301 Bainbridge Ave., Bronx. (Take the #4 train to Mosholu Pkway. or the D train to 205th St., and walk to Bainbridge Ave. and 208th St.) Refreshments will be served. Admission: free for students/Yugntruf members; others, $2.50. Yugntrufistn are invited to join a re-enactment of a _Shtetl Wedding_ to be held Thurs., Feb. 16, 8:00pm in the lounge of John Jay Hall, Columbia University, 114th St. and Amsterdam Ave., Enter through the Campus. Wanted: Yiddish Speakers possibly as shtetl role-players: khokhem, rebe, shadkhn, tam, yente, etc... Traditional dress requested. Glatt kosher food will be served. For further information or reservations, call or write Sara Benor SEB28@COLUMBIA.EDU, (212)-853-6641.....Admission free. Please join the Yugntruf Yiddish Shmueskrayz (disscussion circle) as we visit the Jewish Museum's exhibit, "Jewish Life in Czarist Russia: A World Rediscovered - from the collections of the State Ethnographic Museum, St. Petersburg." On display are some 300 objects including costumes, ritual and household items...etc. With us will be our resident khakhomim Dr. Mordkhe Schaechter, Beyle Gottesman and others to add depth and insight to our visit. We will meet Tuesday, Feb. 21st, promptly at 6:00pm inside the entrance to the Jewish Museum, 1109 Fifth Avenue, (entrance on 92nd Street). Admission is free (on Teusday evenings only from 5:00pm on) is _free_. Don't let bad weather, a runny nose or a "yidishe mame's fette yoykh" keep you away - this is an opportunity that Yiddish-culture and -folklore lovers shouldn't pass up. The Museum starts closing at 7:45pm so be there promptly at 6:00pm and after maybe we can all meet for "a tepple tey un a geshmake shmues!" The Yiddish Writers' Circle (shraybkrayz) meets: Thursday, Feb. 23, 6:00pm in our main office. Ruvn Millman 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 19:08:32 -0500 From: rlantz@globalcom.net Subject: Western Yiddish Several times I've come across the term "Western Yiddish." I have the impression that it is an archaic form of the language, which stagnated in Germany after dynamic development moved to the east. Is such the case? What would be some characteristics of "Western Yiddish?" Yankel Lantz 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 1 Feb 1995 05:15:04 -0500 (EST) From: khellers@sas.upenn.edu Subject: Marketing Yiddish courses In reply to Joseph Sherman's query -- (from South Africa) - re. how to draw students for a Yiddishcourse where Yiddish is not much valued or attended to: Yiddish is neither a dead language nor a ghetto language. (Of the shtetlekh, yes -- and only of the ghettos formed by the Nazis during WWII).. THe language holds the key to Jewish culture in Europe for 1000 years. No Jew of Ashkenazic descent in South Africa, Israel, America (either one) , Australia, etc., would be who he/she is without the legacy of Yiddish (whether or not he/she knows it!) (And why not learn your own legacy??!!!). A knowledge of Yiddish gives one access to a body of great literature, music, art, drama, and lore; Yiddish is history come alive! With Yiddish, too, a student can write/speak with Jews all over the world. Yiddish is a great way for a person to draw closer to Jewiness| draw closer to Jewishness without relinquishing a commitment to secularism (if that's what one has). Etc. etc. genug shoyn. Good luck -- hope you can draw students. Kathryn Hellerstein TelAviv/ Philadelphia ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.308 Mendele has 2 rules: 1. Provide a meaningful Subject: line 2. Sign your article (full name please) 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 Send articles to: mendele@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu Send change-of-status messages to: listserv@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu a. For a temporary stop: set mendele nomail b. To resume delivery: set mendele mail c. 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