Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
______________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 6.036
July 21, 1996

1) The healing powers of Yiddish (Zellig Bach)
2) Shpil'zhe mir a lidele (Hershl Hartman)
3) Homosexuality in Yiddish film (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan)
4) Warschauer Ju"dische Zeitung (Scott Mendel)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 19:30:28 -0400
From: zellig@aol.com
Subject: The healing powers of Yiddish

Browsing the Web recently, I typed the word "Yiddish."

A news item appeared on the screen, in response to my search, about the
Kaiser Permanente hospitals in San Francisco.

Kaiser Permanente is one of the first Health Managed Organizations in
America.  Over half of its patients do not speak English.  In both its
hospital campuses it has 40 medical interpreters for patients who
request or need language assistance in Chinese or Spanish.

Kaiser Permanente also has a backup network of over 200 volunteer
interpreters who speak 45 different languages and dialects -- from
Armenian to Urdu, from Burmese to _Yiddish_.

My advice:  Dear reader(s):  Do not even think of getting sick!  _Dos iz
eynmol avek!_  (How would you convey this Yiddish idiom in English?)

But if you are a San Franciscan, and your physician has K.P. privileges
(K.P. not in the military vernacular), and he feels it necessary--for a
minor reason, I hope -- to hospitalize you, my advice to you is:

Immediately upon admission ask for a Yiddish interpreter, preferably one
who is a Mendelyaner.

I assure you that this _Yiddish contact_ will make your recovery less
stressful,  actually speed it up, and, in general, shorten your hospital
stay.

To everyone and to the entire khavruse:  Zay un Zayt Gezunt!

Zellig Bach
Lakehurst, NJ

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 1996 13:01:49 -0400
From: hershl@aol.com
Subject: Shpil'zhe mir a lidele

As a matter of interest, the song (lyrics ascribed to J. Kotliar) is
used as part of the secular kolnidre observance conducted annually by
the Sholem Community Organization in Los Angeles. It is a "standard"
with the Sholem Yiddish Singers choral group.

Hershl Hartman

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 08:59:43 -0400
From: shirshan@aol.com
Subject: Homosexuality in Yiddish film

[In response to Scott Mendel's query, 6.034:]

Eve Sicular's ideas about homosexuality in the Yiddish film were
published in the winter, 1996 issue of Lilith Magazine (250 West 57
Street  New York 212-757-0818.) Naomi Danis should be able to help
locate her.

As I recall ir gantze toyre oyf eyn fus: Sicular proposes the concept
that the anxiety and discomfort suffered by the Jewish immigrant in
his/her attempt at acculturation found an outlet in the emotions
involved in presenting females disguised as males (with the implied
anxiety and discomfort at being exposed).

Molly Picon is presented as a cross-dresser in Yidl Mitn Fidl, and is
compared to Marlene Dietrich performing in a night club in top hat and
tails, blatantly planting a kiss on the lips of a female patron. (Can't
recall the name of the film.)

I view Picon's playful, callow presentations (rather like a pre-genital,
little boy) as the narishkayt and shpas the immigrant enjoyed (or
needed) to assuage the tsures he carried in him. I find it difficult to
equate Molly's shpilevdike prancing through her films with Dietrich's
steaming portrayals as woman or lesbian.

Too bad mighty Joe Green is no longer around for rebuttal or agreement.

Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan
North Conway, New Hampshire

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 96 14:12:28 CDT
From: sm21@midway.uchicago.edu
Subject: Warschauer Ju"dische Zeitung

My attempts to find an archived set of the _Warschauer J"udische
Zeitung_ have come to nothing, so I thought someone on the Mendele list
may know of a library or archive somewhere with the following dates:
July-October 1867.

I know very little about this publication.  It is listed in Robert
Singerman's _Jewish Serials of the World: A Research Bibliography of
Secondary Sources_, but Singerman doesn't give a location of existing
copies.

I'm looking for the Ayzik Meir Dik story serialized in these editions,
entitled _Der shadkhn_, which is listed in David Roskies bibliography of
Dik's writings.  (I don't want the later version of the story, published
under the same name in book form...for various reasons.)

So if anyone knows where I can get this, please let me know by private email.
Thanks in advance.

Scott Mendel

______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 6.036

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