Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 4.316 February 7, 1995 1) Blinde-Ovnt (Paul Pascal) 2) Teaching and learning Yiddish (Sheine Mankovsky) 3) Yiddish originals (Neyekh Zide) 4) From the mailroom (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 05 Feb 95 22:16:59 EST From: 75332.2735@compuserve.com Subject: Blinde-Ovnt Further to Bob Rothstein's suggestions on how the Ukrainian "Holy Evening" [Sviatyi Vechir] became Yiddish "Blind Evening", I would conjecture that there is a different play of words at work here: the root "sviat" is very close, in sound, to the root "sviet", meaning light. From there the ironic use of "blinde" seems but a short distance. Paul Pascal Toronto 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Feb 1995 11:10:28 -0500 From: sheine_mankovsky@cclink.metrodesk.metrotor.on.ca Subject: Teaching and learning Yiddish Ich "lurkeve" shoin a lange tseit un her zich tsu on redn. Itst hob ich fun vos tsu redn a por verter. I have been reading with great interest the introductions of new subscribers, as well as the submissions with respect to learning and teaching Yiddish. I have been teaching Yiddish in Toronto (Vus hert men bi dir gutes, Mikhl) for the last three years. I teach a beginner course at a public secondary school in North York, an area municipality of Metro Toronto with a large Jewish population. It is a credit course, which means that students taking the course get a credit in Yiddish as an International Language. This year was the first year that the three levels of Yiddish were available to high school students. Students taking Yiddish from grade ten on could ultimately earn a credit to be used toward university entrance. Those of us occupied with the continuation of Yiddish as a vital part of Jewish culture were proud that in Toronto it was (now) possible to study Yiddish from the pre-school level right up to post-graduate studies at the University of Toronto. While a large number of people are involved, I particularly respect Sylvia Lustgarten, Director of the Committee of Yiddish at the Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto, without whose dogged persistence much of this would not be happening. However, there are problems. First, with the exception of Bialik Hebrew Day School, which teaches Yiddish from grade 3 to grade 8, none of Toronto's Jewish day schools teach Yiddish. The Jewish Board of Education has been unalterably committed to not supporting Yiddish. I leave the justifications to them. The one Jewish high school in Toronto has been almost fierce in its resistance. Again, I leave the justifications to them--principal and board of directors. This year the Board of Education in North York has informed us that the credit courses may not be supported if larger numbers of high school students do not take the courses. From their point of view, the larger number of adults are not pursuing a diploma and could take the interest courses, for which a fee is charged. Admittedly, the bulk of students are adults, but their numbers have permitted the smaller number of high school students to take the courses which must maintain a minimum registration to be continued. We have a problem. A "khaverte" referred recently to the support of Yiddish as a political act, if I recall correctly. As a daughter of survivors of the Holocaust I have always considered it both a political act as well as a spiritual act, not to mention a just plain pleasurable one. It has pained me deeply to witness the manner in which it has been treated by the community. I am pleased to read about the interest in Yiddish displayed by Mendelniks, and about the Yiddish learning opportunities available internationally. While I am optimistic, if for no other reason than it feels better than the alternative, I believe that a great deal needs to be done for our Mame Loshen to have a vital future. Sheine Mankovsky 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Feb 95 12:32:49 CST From: n-zide@uchicago.edu Subject: Yiddish originals Can anyone tell me if the Yiddish originals of the following are available - and where: (1) the memoirs of Jacob Adler (apparently published serially in the Forverts) - made use of in his granddaughter Lulla Rosenfeld's Bright Star of Exile (Crowell, 1977) (2) Joseph Buloff's From the Old Marketplace (Harvard, 1991) - translated by Joseph Singer from Fun altn markplats. 3) The Yiddish folktales in Beatrice Weinreich's collection. Neyekh / Norman Zide 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Feb 95 14:42 From: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu Subject: From the mailroom The shames has received two interesting pieces in the last few days. The first is a catalog from Schwartz Judaica. While Mendele has a _very_ negative view of commercialism on the Internet we tend for obvious reasons to blink in the matter of booksellers. Especially the sellers of used books, who are more in the category of public benefactors. In addition to some very interesting titles in German, Russian, French, etc., there are in the 600 items in the Schwartz catalog a fair number of books in and about Yiddish as well as translations from the Yiddish (including one by our own Joseph Sherman of South Africa). The internet address is: schwartz@cts.com. The second piece of mail is a gorgeously-printed copy of Der Yapanisher Yid. Its editor is Jack Halpern, the associate editor Tsuguya Sasaki. The editor is I think a lexicographer; he has just completed a Japanese- English character dictionary. At any rate, the bilingual newsletter is written in a geshmaker Yiddish that's a joy to read. Here's the first paragraph of one item: Ikh heys Shinichi. Ikh bin a 43-yoriker arbeter in a fabrik in a kleyner shtot. Ikh hob lib Yiddish. Mit an erekh 26 yor tsurik hob ikh getrofn a verterbikhl fun Yiddish inem Lataynishn shrift, a baylage tsu der Entsiklopedia Britanika. Di enlekhkayt tsvishn Yiddish un Daytsh hot mir shtark farinteresirt. ***** An arbeter? Alevay af undz gezogt azoyne arbeter! For more information contact the editor at jhalpern@cc.win.or.jp Noyekh Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 4.316 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. 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