Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.057 July 18, 1995 1) Nursery rhyme (Max ben-Aaron) 2) Mitsvevaser (Vera Szabo) 3) Mitsvevaser (Eliyahu Juni) 4) Yidish hot an ort in di nayes (Ruvn Millman) 5) Yugntruf: gebitn di date (Ruvn Millman) 6) Gebn a mishebeyrakh / an aliye (Eliyahu Juni) 7) Rabenu Tam (Refoyl Finkel) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Jul 1995 17:30:51 -0700 From: xeno357@ix.netcom.com Subject: Nursery rhyme My bobe (who was from Vilna) told us this nursery rhyme: Itzke Pitzke nodl tessel Geyt in krom und gamvet a flesl Geyt in shul un gamvet a siddur Geyt af'n gas und falt anider. Has anyone else heard this? Does anybody else know any other Yiddish nursery rhymes? Rhyming children's taunts don't count. By the way, where I come from (South Africa) where most Yiddish is Litvak, I believe the phrase "klaybn nakhes" is used. I do not believe that I ever heard of the other varieties (shepn/shlepn). Max ben-Aaron 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 17 Jul 1995 23:01:58 -0400 (EDT) From: vs55@columbia.edu Subject: Mitsvevaser - thank you! Thanks to all Mendelniks who replied to my question about mitsvevaser. Nice guesses! Here are some of them: -negl vaser -mayim akharonim -something that has to do with mikveyes -holy water (Catholic) -the Chinese water-throwing holiday -a reference to the ancient custom in the Temple in Jerusalem called "simkes beys ha-shoeve" -matsevaser -the water used for washing one's hands before entering a shul -mits ve-vaser (mits=zaft af loshn koydesh, thus "zaft mit vaser") In my question I did not provide a context because I was curious if anyone has ever heard the word. I asked several elderly Hungarian Yiddish speakers but they didn't know either, gave the same guesses. Here is the context where I have the word from and my guess: I found the proverb "Az oszer isz ka svue, miczvevaszer ka refue" , which translates into YIVO transcription "Az oser keyn shvue, mitsvevaser keyn refue" in a collection of Hungarian Yiddish proverbs. Since in Hungarian there are several proverbs about the lack of the healing effect of the holy water, I thought the Yiddish may be a parallel of it, so it means "Just like 'forbidden' does not mean 'promised', the holy water does not heal". Does that make any sense? Vera Szabo 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 00:50:05 -0400 From: ao107@freenet.carleton.ca Subject: Mitsvevaser, matsevaser, mikvevaser In vol. 5.053, Vera Szabo asked about the word 'mitsvevaser'. I'd never heard it before, but my first reaction was that it might refer to water brought to the table to sprinkle on the hands before bentshen, also known as 'mayimakhroynim vaser'. [A semi-related anecdote: the Minkatcher Rebbe (pre-WWII) used to say that one shouldn't say 'mayimakhroynim vaser', 'gityontif', or 'ingerishe naar', because they're all redundant. (He was a Galitsyaner in an ingerishe shtele.) He would therefore greet congregants on holidays with a blessing of "yontif".] Then I asked my grandfather (a poylisher fin Kozhnits). His immediate reaction was that it refers to mayim shelonu. (When baking matses for Peysakh, one must use water which was drawn the day before and stored in sealed containers overnight. This water is known as 'mayim shelonu', or 'inzer vaser'.) When I asked my father (a native speaker fin Vilyamzburg, Minkatsher/Galitsyaner parents), he said it might be a corruption of 'matse vaser'; he once heard 'matse vaser' used, and wasn't sure what the speaker was referring to, but had speculated that he meant mayim shelonu. I think that my grandfather's response may have been speculation, because his next comment was that it might be a corruption of 'mikvevaser' (water from the mikve). He then recalled that one would say, in reference to a tasteless drink, 's'iz azoy vi mikvevaser'--it's like water from the mikve. [Khsidim go to the mikve often (preferably every day), and even after the introduction of modern chemicals, they're still not very clean, especially on a Friday afternoon.] Eliyahu Juni 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 00:12:55 -0400 From: ruvn@aol.com Subject: Yidish hot an ort in di nayes Mendeleyner! Hot ir ale gezen dem artikl in der New York Times vegn Yidish (mitvokh dem 12tn yuli 1995 in der Metro opteylung). Oyb yo, un es hot ir gefeln shraybt a briv...oyb yo, un ir hot vegn epes tsu baklogn, shrayb oykh... yidish zol vern dermont in der prese! Iz undzere shprakh nisht hayntik? Ruvn Millman New York 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 00:04:50 -0400 From: ruvn@aol.com Subject: Yugntruf: gebitn di date Important: date changes!!! for our Brighton Beach trip... Vikhtig: a gebitene date... far undzer Brighton Beach aroysfor... Calling all yiddish-song-loving-beach-bums!!!! We will be enjoying a Sunday summer sunset (roze shkie) at Brighton Beach, a late afternoon/early evening of frisbees, eating, Yiddish singing and "hanging" on the beach, including a Boardwalk walk to Coney Island. We will meet Sun., Aug. 13, at 4:30pm at the Brighton 6th St. entrance to the Boardwalk. Take the "Q" train (not the "D"), which, due to Manhattan Bridge construction, will be running on the "N" and "R" line, to the Brighton Beach stop in Brooklyn (where else?). For those who want to meet in Manhattan and be beach-bound together...simply RSVP, call Binyumen at (212) 989-0212 before Fri., Aug. 4.....remember to leave your phone number!! Yiddish Vokh...don't forget Yugntruf's all Yiddish retreat near the Berkshire Mountains (NY) from Wed., Aug. 30 - Wed., Sept. 6 or any part thereof (Rokhl just said she'll be there, why not you?). Your chance to spend one fun week in Yiddish-land!!!! Call the office for details or email myself, ruvn@aol.com. Yugntruf Youth for Yiddish 200 West 72nd Street, Suite 40 New York, NY 10023-2824 (212) 787-6675 Ruvn Millman 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 04:19:18 -0400 From: ao107@freenet.carleton.ca Subject: Gebn a mishebeyrakh / an aliye In vol. 5.054, Reb Mikhl Herzog wrote that at a recent conference, some linguists "gave [him] a _mishebeyrakh_ [he] won't easily forget." I couldn't tell whether this mishebeyrakh was a good thing or not, but it reminded me of an expression my (poylisher) grandfather uses: by him, to tell someone off, giving a long, detailed account of all their faults and misdeeds, is "ts'gebn an aliye". Are any other mendelyaner familiar with the expression? Is it similar to, the same as, or entirely different from "gebn a mishebeyrakh"? Eliyahu Juni 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 18 Jul 1995 08:36:34 -0400 From: raphael@cs.engr.uky.edu Subject: Rabenu Tam ikh hob geleygt di verter tsu ,,rabenu tam'' (fun oysnveynik; mistome mit grayzn) af mayn vebs-blat: http://www.cs.engr.uky.edu/~raphael/yiddish.html Refoyl Finkel ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.057