Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
______________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 5.036
June 30, 1995

1) Fil, fihl, viel (Arre Komar)
2) "Irrational" feelings about Yiddish (Harvey Spiro)
3) Moyshe-rabeynus kiele (Bob Rothstein)
4) Shretelekh (Howard Lenhoff)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 14:11:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: komar@yu1.yu.edu
Subject: fil, fihl, viel

Dovid Braun asks why I used a nonstandard spelling for the Yiddish word
fil, or equivalently the German word viel. It was simply that I was
attempting to capture the in-between pronunciation which I was more
comfortable with: slightly more E-like than fil would imply, but also
with a slight aspiration lacking in the German. Of course such minor
dialectal distinctions get lost once one imposes a standard spelling.

Arre Komar

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu Jun 29 16:26:36 1995
From: hjs@nrc.gov
Subject: "Irrational" feelings about Yiddish

I'd like to clarify a comment I made (Mendele 5.025) which has elicited
several strong responses.

After criticizing what I termed the "disparaging" of Yiddish, I stated
that I had "admittedly irrational" feelings about Yiddish.  Both Zellig
Bach (5.030) and Miriam Isaacs (5.031) took issue with my use of the word
"irrational" to describe my feelings about Yiddish.  Shleyme Axelrod and
Louis Fridhandler (5.034) followed up with equally perceptive comments on
the difficulties in educating people about Yiddish.

I believe that there is no disagreement among most of us about the
underlying principle here:  Yiddish has historically been belittled and
disparaged, not infrequently by Jews; such disrespect is unjust,
offensive and unacceptable.  Many of us have posted letters to Mendele
addressing aspects of this issue.  To me, it is most painful when the
derision or disrespect comes from a fellow Jew.

Objectively speaking, Yiddish is one of many European languages, with a
distinctive body of literature and folklore that spans nearly a
millenium.  As such, it deserves the same respect given to other
languages with similar accomplishments.

Yiddish also represents to many of us the symbol of a 2000 year sojourn
of the Jews in central and eastern Europe that was obscenely wiped out
while the world closed its eyes, both by Hitler and Stalin.  Adding
insult to injury, assimilation and the realities of a stateless minority
in the 20th century have all but eliminated Yiddish as a mother tongue
for new generations.  Although laden with emotion, it certainly is
"rational" to grieve those losses.

Less rationally, to me Yiddish is simply the language of my people, my
family, my roots.  These are _my_ personal emotional ties to Yiddish,
that I share with other lovers of Yiddish throughout the world and
certainly on Mendele.

Yet, though I profess love for Yiddish, I can only haltingly speak it,
read it mostly with dictionary at my side, and am unable to teach it to
my children.  And if I could teach them Yiddish, I doubt if they could
find half a dozen peers within 100 miles with whom they could speak in
Yiddish -- here, in the capital city of the nation with the highest
Jewish population in the world.

Hence, the "irrationality" of my love of "a velt vos iz nisht do mer," my
personal dilemma, my frustration and guilt.  If I cannot help build a
next generation of Yiddish speakers and lovers, who will?  "Im eyn ani
li, mi li?"  As a fragile heirloom, Yiddish can survive among its
ever-shrinking group of lovers.  But can it _live_ again, if children do
not speak it?

In Glatshteyn's poem "Yiddishkayt," he declares:

Benkshaft-Yidishkayt iz a viglid far zkeynim,
Vos tshkayen ayngeveykte khale.
Zoln mir tsushteln di veykhe krishkes,
Di verter oysgelebte un hoyle,
Mir vos hobn gekholemt
Fun a nayer Anshey Kneses Hagdolo?

Yiddishkayt nostalgia is a lullaby for old men,
Gumming bits of soft challah.
Should we provide these soggy bits,
The bare and outlived words,
We, who once dreamed
Of creating a new Great Assembly?

Harvey Spiro
Vienna, Virginia

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 1995 22:16:46 -0400 (EDT)
From: rar@slavic.umass.edu
Subject: Moyshe-rabeynus kiele

Back in May I reported on the fact that a dissertation on the ladybug had
been defended at the University of Zurich in 1932. Since then I have
obtained a copy of the published version of Dora Aebi's doctoral
dissertation, _Der Marienkaefer, seine franzoesischen Namen und seine
Bedeutung im Volksglauben und Kinderspruch (The Ladybug, Its French Names
and Its Meaning in Folk Belief and Children's Sayings)_.

The author points out that in Germanic antiquity the ladybug was
connected with Freya, the goddess of love and marriage, and called
_Freya-Vugle_ 'Freya-little bird'.  The Old Norse name was _Freyjuhoena_
'Freya's hen'.  "In Christian times," she continues, "the pagan goddess
was replaced by the Virgin Mary. Thus in Danish the ladybug is now called
_Marihoene_ = Maria's hen."  The connection with the goddess of love and
marriage, however, is perhaps reflected in children's rhymes like the
American "Fly away East and fly away West, --Show me where lives the one
I love best."

Aebi lists 377 such rhymes (from various Romance and Germanic languages),
only some of which involve finding a lover or husband; among other themes
are the weather, asking the ladybug to intercede with God and warning the
ladybug of danger.   The "warnings" range from the American version that
I learned as a child in New York ("Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home...")
to a Gallo-Roman text from Lorraine:  "Augate!  Augate!  envol'teu,-- Ou
les juif viendront t'charcheu! (Augate!  Augate!  Flee, or the Jews will
come looking for you!)."  Did Jewish children have any such rhymes?

I would assume that just as the pagan Freya was replaced by the Christian
Mary, so too the (Christian) _bog_ of Russian _bozh'ia korovka_ 'God's
(dear) little cow' was replaced by the Jewish _moyshe-rabeynu_.

Bob Rothstein

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 28 Jun 1995 14:03:53 -0700 (PDT)
From: hlenhoff@orion.oac.uci.edu
Subject: Shretelekh

I am searching for tales of the Yiddish "elves," shretelekh. I am
particularly looking for tales of singing and/or music-playing
shretelekh.

Thank you,

Howard Lenhoff

______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 5.036

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