Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.094 November 11, 1996 1) Bathhouse women (Benyomin Moss) 2) Russian baths and mikves (Berel Leiser) 3) Bialik Yiddish class (Eitan Lallouz) 4) Help needed in learning Yiddish (Jay Meyer) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 11:51:39 -0800 (PST) From: kmoss@leland.stanford.edu Subject: Bathhouse women There's a fascinating description of a bathhouse and mikvah and its attendants in Bella Chagall's memoir of her childhood (which has been translated into English). It's an East European rather than an American case, but perhaps it could prove useful. Benyomin Moss 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Nov 96 15:58:48 EST From: leiser@pacevm.dac.pace.edu Subject: Russian baths and mikves In response to the recent query about Russian baths and mikves, I recall that when I was growing up in Denver, the Lake Russian Baths on the west side of town, where the largest Jewish populations was concentrated (spreading out from Colfax Avenue), advertised itself as a Russian and Turkish bath house, and had a mikve which was heavily used by the Orthodox community, which was quite large and had numerous shuls. Yiddish, of course, was the language of choice for the old-timers, who naturally sprinkled heavy doses of English into their conversation. Even young fellows--teens and twenties--repaired to the Russian bath for a good "shvitz" and a fine corn-beef senvitch with a bottle of Big Chief pop (soda to you easterners), which, incidentally, was produced by my Zeyde, Harry (Hershel) Leiser. It was a wonderful communal club where chaveirim from all walks of life would come together to shvitz and shuz. Wrapped in enormous towels, it was hard to distinguish the rich from the poor-- a levelling experience if there ever was one. I can't comment on what it was like on ladies' days, but my friends and I have fond memories of the shvitz-bud. Berel Leiser 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 12:43:15 -0500 From: yiddish5@bialik.netaxis.qc.ca Subject: Bialik Yiddish class On 10/17/96, we published a letter concerning a yiddish project that we are working on. We asked for as many responses as possible, so that the students in out yiddish class could each find one person to reply to, and to talk to over a period of time. Unfortunately, however, we have not gotten as many responses as we would have liked to get, and so we are republishing the letter one more time, in the hope that we will get at least 10 more responces, so we do not have to cancel the project. For those who have already written to us, we have gotten your letters, and have not forgotten about you. We thank you for being as patient as you have been, and we will respond to you as soon as all the letters come in. If for some reason we don't get enough letters, and we have to cancel the project, rest assured that we will get back to all that have written to us, and let you know. Thank you again. The letter that I am republishing is as follows: We are a senior high school class at Bialik High School in Montreal, Canada. As many of you know, Bialik High School is the only one of its kind in North America, where Yiddish is part of the core curriculum. There are 700 students in the school, approximately 130 in the senior class. Some of the students in the school have been learning Yiddish since grade 1 in the Jewish Peoples' and Peretz School, the elementary branch of the High school. Others only began studying Yiddish at the high school Level. Our particular class of 18 students are relative newcomers to the language. Our teacher, Anna Gonshor, has embarked on a project with us entitled, "Why Yiddish?" We have already studied the history of the Yiddish language and the beginnings of modern Yiddish literature in order to be able to understand the role of Yiddish in the shaping of modern Jewish identity. Part of our project also includes interviews with individuals who are involved in some way with Yiddish. This brings us to you. We would like to have you participate in our project by responding to our invitation via Mendele. It is our hope that we will meet people from various backgrounds and ages with varied interests and reasons for being interested in and committed to Yiddish. We hope to find approximately 20 interested individuals to respond with on an ongoing basis. We plan to post a summary of the project on the list for all Mendelyaners to enjoy. We are quite excited about this project and hope that you share some of our enthusiasm. If you do, please respond to the list. We will then choose from among the responders to ensure as varied a sampling as possible, and then communicate with you individually. A groysn dank. (Secretary) E-mail address to: yiddish5@bialik.netaxis.qc.ca N.B. Please respond in English, as some of us are still only learning Yiddish. Eitan Lallouz 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 13:37:05 +0000 From: jmeyer@jax-inter.net Subject: Help needed in learning Yiddish Is there anywhere within the Mendele domain that someone such as myself can learn Yiddish? My knowledge is limited to but a handful of words. My parents were fluent but only spoke it when they did not want my sister and I to know their conversation. I'm interested in conversation and reading (in Yiddish or English transliteration). Any help will be appreciated. A dank! Jay Meyer ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.094