Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 5.165 November 13, 1995 1) Standards and written Yiddish (Hershl Hartman) 2) The Russian Forward (Zachary Baker) 3) Yidish in dem _Times_ (Ruvn Millman) 4) Poem about Yiddish (Bob Rothstein) 5) Poem about Yiddish (Moises Kijak) 6) Poem about Yiddish (Shoshana Balaban-Wolkowicz) 7) Yiddish language schools (Robert Fuhrmann) 8) November 6 (Noyekh Miller) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 3 Nov 1995 13:19:13 -0500 From: hershl@aol.com Subject: Standards and written Yiddish Khayim Bochner's defense (V 5.160) of "standard Yiddish" was very welcome; however, he may have overlooked one aspect of the objections to it. In none of the attacks have I found _any_ references to the printed word: neither in newspapers nor in the vast reaches of Yiddish literature. It seems to me that those who object to standards in Yiddish conceive of the language basically if not entirely as a _spoken_ language, devoid of the written word. They object to the absence of "their" dialects when Yiddish is rendered in Latin characters. It is as if (switching shoes and feet) some New Yorkers were to object to the Hebrew-character rendering of English words ending in yud-nun-giml because _they_ don't pronounce the final consonant. Of course, that wouldn't apply to New Yorkers who were well educated in English. Which is precisely the point. ; > ) Hershl Hartman 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 3 Nov 95 11:24:37 PST From: bm.yib@rlg.stanford.edu Subject: The Russian Forward The editor of the Russian Forward, Vladimir Yedidovich (via my co- worker Nikolai Borodulin), has asked me to convey the following information: The Russian Forward will begin to come out during the second half of November. It will pay particular attention to developments in the Yiddish world, and (with the permission of the Shames) would like to share with his readers some of the postings that appear in Mendele. If you are interested in the Russian Forward you may write to Mr. Yedidovich (who speaks and reads Yiddish) at the following address: Russian Forward, 45 E. 33rd St., New York, NY 10016. Tel. (212) 889-8200, ext. 451 or 452; fax (212) 684-3949. Zachary Baker 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 5 Nov 1995 03:14:20 -0500 From: ruvn@aol.com Subject: Yidish in dem _Times_ Tayere leyeners! S'iz haynt dershinen nokh an artikl vegn Yidish in dem zuntikn _New York Times_! S'iz an artikl vegn der konferents, "Di Froyen: Women and Yiddish." Ikh leyg es bay: Yiddish: The Seminar Mama-loshen [sic] lebt! Yiddish lives! Yiddish is a language whose death has been forecast for a half century, a victim of Nazi extermination and linguistic assimilation. But, like the rising inflections that often serve as coda to its sentences, Yiddish refuses to die. Witness last weekend's "Di Froyen: Women and Yiddish," a seminar sponsored by the National Council of Jewish Women New York Section. More than 400 people came to Hunter College on Saturday, and the Jewish Theological Seminary on Sunday, for panels, readings and performances. Borough President Ruth W. Messinger even proclaimed it "Women and Yiddish Weekend." Eve Jochnowitz lectured on "Yiddish Vegetarian Cookbooks as Women's Literature." Shulamis Berger spoke on "The Making of the American Baleboosteh[sic]/Housewife." Mina Bern, a diva of the Yiddish stage, reminisced. In the lobby, people drank coffee and shmoozed. A recording, "A Legacy of Lullabies," sold briskly. "Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers" was a best seller. And a note on a bulletin board sought Yiddish-speaking basketball players. To one participant, Paula Teitelbaum, 41, Yiddish is a way of life. The singer and Yiddish teacher has a Yiddish-speaking household. But there are exceptions, as when her daughters play. "Barbies," observed Ms. Teitelbaum, "don't speak Yiddish. Rosalie R. Radomsky _The New York Times_, Sunday, November 5, 1995 Section: 13, "The City" Page: 8 Photo: (Yugntruf, Youth for Yiddish button: "Redt mit mir Yidish," no credit given) Ruvn Millman 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 06 Nov 1995 21:21:28 -0500 (EST) From: rar@slavic.umass.edu Subject: Poem about Yiddish The poem about which Anno Siegel inquired (5.161) is Morris Rosenfeld's "Yiddish," which begins: Ir fregt, oyb yidish iz a shprakh, gramatish un negidish -- ikh ken aykh zogn nor eyn zakh: dem yidns shprakh iz yidish. Since the poem is longish (40 lines), I've sent a photocopy directly to Anno rather than posting it on Mendele. Bob Rothstein 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 04:22:50 -0300 From: administ@kijak.recom.edu.ar Subject: Poem about Yiddish der khaver Anno Siegel fregt zikh nokh vegn a lid vos hoibt zikh on mit di verter: ir fregt oib idish iz a shprakh. dos lid hot ongeshribn moris rozenfeld. dem fuln text kent ir gefinen in band 33 fun di "musterverk", zait 159. zait ale gezunt. Moises Kijak 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 15:39:51 -0800 From: shoti@eworld.com Subject: Poem about Yiddish De dikhter vos hot farfast s'lid "Yiddish" iz Moris Rozenfeld. Es iz ibergedrukt in" Yiddish in Lid" pp.159-160, (10 ferzn), Band 33, Musterwerk fun der Yiddisher Literatur, Yiddish in Lid. Dershinen in Buenos Aires, 1967. Shoshana Balaban-Wolkowicz 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 12:18:51 -0500 (EST) From: fuhrmann@sas.upenn.edu Subject: Yiddish language schools I'm looking for summer Yiddish language schools/courses, preferably outside the U.S. Given the revival in things Jewish in Poland, perhaps there is something offered at the universities in Lodz, Cracow or Warsaw. And certainly there must be something in Israel. Any information I can get, will be most helpful. Thanks in advance. Robert Fuhrmann 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 13 Nov 1995 From: nmiller@shakti.trincoll.edu Subject: November 6 On November 3 (5.162) your shames wrote: Mendele will be mostly silent for the next ten days or so. A number of Mendele's readers were understandably upset when on November 6, the day that Yitzhak Rabin was buried, an issue of Mendele arrived as though it were business-as-usual for Yiddishists. Not so. Eliyahu Juni had written a lengthy post. At the shames's request the single post was reformatted as three posts. Since the shames planned to be away, 5.163 and 5.164 were programmed in advance to appear on the following Monday and Thursday. Hence the "_mostly_ silent". Eliyahu is blameless in the matter; the shames apologizes for the contretemps. Noyekh Miller ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 5.165