Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.006 May 17, 1995 1) Tsar Nikolai (Bob Rothstein) 2) (H)aysin (Mikhl Herzog) 3) National Yiddish Book Center (Harry Stillman) 4) National Yiddish Book Center (Berel Leiser) 5) National Yiddish Book Center (Shimen Kass) 5) National Yiddish Book Center (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 May 1995 23:06:42 -0400 (EDT) From: rar@slavic.umass.edu Subject: Tsar Nikolai The song about Tsar Nikolai quoted by Sheldon Benjamin (4.420) in response to Meyshe-yankl Sweet's earlier posting (4.418) was one of the most popular Russian workers' songs of 1905, known in many variants. Perhaps the most famous lines are from the middle of the song: Tsar' ispugalsia, izdal manifest -- Mertvym svobodu, zhivykh pod arest. (The tsar got frightened and issued a manifesto: freedom for the dead and jail for the living.) Two lines from the refrain are also well known: Rossiia, Rossiia, zhal' mne tebia, Bednaia, gor'kaia uchast' tvoia. (Russia, Russia, I feel sorry for you; poor and bitter is your fate). The Yiddish text that I learned from a graduate-school roommate (who claimed to have learned it from his mother) starts off: "Tsar Nikolayke..." and proceeds into Russian and Yiddish obscenities directed at Nikolai's mother and his wife ("Zey nor mit vemen du host khasene gehat..."). If anyone is interested, I can supply the text (in a plain brown [electronic] envelope) upon request, but unless otherwise directed by Reb Noyekh, I will--in keeping with the mores of my generation-- refrain from sullying the pages of Mendele. Bob Rothstein [The shames--in keeping with the mores of _his_ generation--would never dream of directing Bob Rothstein to do anything of the sort. nm] 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 May 95 23:35 EDT From: zogur@cuvmb.columbia.edu Subject: (H)aysin Harriet Feinberg: Were your mother's Podolyer parents (h)aitsh [i.e., "h"] droppers? Re koyletsh, keep your eye on this space. Mikhl Herzog 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 16 May 1995 22:29:35 -0800 From: durian@coyote.csusm.edu Subject: National Yiddish Book Center I was appalled by Mr. Sherman's response to the call of organized labor to require the National Yiddish Book Center to deal with the employers who use union labor.Since when do we as ethical Jews measure all things,or for that matter ethical Americans ,by the "best price"? Should we buy goods made by Chinese Communist child labor brcause its cheaper? Should we have bought Nazi made goods bedause it was cheaper? Did we buy Japanese made cars because they may be cheaper without any concern for our fellow Americans in Detroit? Do we spit in the face of the American trade unions that for years have supported Jewish causes throughout the world with money, manpower and political clout? There are thousands of us, who live fairly decent lives in our old age because of the unions, who resent the contemptuous, gratuitous attacks by dollar worshippers. I speak for a group of about 60 Jewish senior citizens who attend my Hadassah discussion group . Most of us have given time, money, books and labor to the NJBC . At our next meeting we will send a massive telegram, solicited in many areas in San Diego, urging the NJBC to do the ethical thing and support organized labor. Harry Stillman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 May 95 11:27:45 EDT From: leiser@pacevm.dac.pace.edu Subject: National Yiddish Book Center A sheynem dank David Sherman! I fully agree that the NYBC is fully justified in hiring non-union workers for the construction of its new facilities. Perhaps I'm denser than most, but I fail completely to understand why the fact that an institution is trying to preserve Yiddish literature and to disseminate it imposes a special obligation on it to spend more of its limited resources in order to please old-line unionisten. I'm even more puzzled as to why this issue is germane at all to a group that is devoted specifically to Yiddish language. It's a political issue, not a linguistic or even a cultural one. Berel Leiser 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 16:48:55 EDT From: kass@umbsky.cc.umb.edu Subject: National Yiddish Book Center Construction of the new NYBC headquarters with scab labor desecrates the memory of the donors, whose gifts of Yiddish books made the NYBC possible. It is misleading to write, as David Sherman has written, that the NYBC "collects and distributes Yiddish books". More accurate is this: the NYBC is given Yiddish books free of charge and it then turns around and sells them at market or above market prices. The books' donors were, by and large, workers -- proste mentshn, undzere eltern, bobes, zeydes -- who, in many cases, bought the books with sweat-shop earnings. In the 1920's and 1930's, some fought with their blood to build labor unions to insure humane working conditions for themselves and succeeding generations. By accepting these books, Aaron and the NYBC board have incurred a moral obligation to the donors -- certainly not to desecrate their memory. Most wouldn't have knowingly given away their books for housing in quarters built by scab labor. Shimen Kass 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 17 May 95 From: nmiller@mail.trincoll.edu Subject: National Yiddish Book Center Now that we've had a suitable exchange of pleasantries, maybe we can avoid an endless repetition of the same themes and arguments. However, and with all due respect to Berel Leiser, the notion of a non- political culture is beyond imagining. Is there a culture anywhere that has nothing to say about power or justice or good and evil? And even if there were such a culture (there isn't), can anyone visualize a non-political _Yiddish_ world? The existence of Yiddish has been and is a political issue. Its very orthography has been a political issue. Its literature began with the quite explicit political satires of the eponymous Mendele. Yiddish-speakers without politics? Zekher Sam Goldwyn: in two words, im possible. Mendele will therefore always be open to politics. What's to be avoided is slogans, bromides, cliches and heartfelt (as well as heartless) pieties. Mendele will therefore not accept any further posts on this subject unless they have something fresh and interesting to say. Rules of civility apply as always. Noyekh Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.006 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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