Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.258 March 7, 1997 1) Tzadik in pelts (Etan Cohen) 2) Tzadik and tzadi (Gilad J. Gevaryahu) 3) The Jazz Singer (Ron Robboy) 4) The Jazz Singer (Anita Weiner) 5) Yiddish spelling (David Herskovic) 6) _Yidishe Shprikhverter_ (Nina Judith Katz & Leonid S. Blickstein) 7) "Commedia dell'arte" af yidish (Hugh Denman) 8) On the nature of Mendele (Etxeshveyresh Purimendy) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 12:05:58 -0500 From: ecohen@husc.harvard.edu Subject: Tzadik in pelts In yeshiva, I once heard a non-Yiddish-speaking rabbi explain the phrase "A Tzaddik in pelts" along the English word "pelt." Meaning: he's a tzadik as long as he's comfortable or insulated. Apocryphal? Etan Cohen 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 12:07:32 -0500 (EST) From: gevaryahu@aol.com Subject: Tzadik and tzadi After my last posting where I suggested that the dual names (i.e., both tzadik and tzadi) of the 18th letter in the Hebrew alphabet must have been around for centuries, I was looking for support in old texts. There are several midrashic texts for the use of tzadik such as Geb. Rabbah 1:11 sv. Amar R. Simon (discussing m, n, kh, tz, for tzadik) and Otzar Hamidrashim (Eisenstein) page 432 on Jeremiah 14:2, a small tzadi because of small tzadikim. But all those are midrashic not specific. The only old midrash in which the letter is specifically called tzadik is brought by A. Jellinek, Bet Hamidrash III, page 57. He brings Midrash Alpha Beita deRabi Akiva, Ver. A, according to Kostendina and Amsterdam printing where the letter is called tzadik not on a midrashic basis. "Tzadik mipnei mah yesh lo shnei rashim" [=why does the letter tzadik has two heads]. I do not know the exact date of this midrash, but it is in the centuries. I have the feeling that there are other midrashim and old texts supporting the dual names. Gilad J. Gevaryahu 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 09:15:33 -0800 From: rrobboy@cts.com Subject: The Jazz Singer The story Ellen Prince [6.255] heard, that _The Jazz Singer_ was originally intended as a Yiddish film, is indeed apocryphal. It was at every stage an English-language work, though there were a few Yiddish words tossed into the original short story by Samson Raphaelson. Ron Robboy 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 12:43:39 -0500 (EST) From: ncjf@logos.cc.brandeis.edu Subject: Jazz Singer in Yiddish? I can't say whether "The Jazz Singer" was supposed to be originally produced in Yiddish. However, "Overture to Glory" ("Der Vilner Balebesl") is a 1940 Yiddish film starring Moishe Oysher. Although based on the legend of the Vilner Shtot Hazn, "Overture..." is "The Jazz Singer." A Vilna cantor forsakes his community for the Warsaw opera stage. We have just restored this film. It is currently screening around the country and videos will be available within the next few weeks. Please contact us for more information. Anita Weiner 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: 06 Mar 97 12:32:17 EST From: 100114.750@compuserve.com Subject: Yiddish spelling Di folgende mase hob mikh arangeshikt a mendelistisher landsman. Er hot tsigeshribn az er hot es gehert fin a mekor mismekh vos khotch yener iz alayn nisht derbay geveyzn hot er es ober gehert fin a yidene vos zi hot es gehert fin a shokhente vos shvert az ire aydes iz vor azoy vi tog iz tog in nakht iz nakht. Di mase iz forgekimn be'ays der baviste ipkhe mistabre berl shaw iz geforn kan moskve zikh imkikn ofn nayem shomayim al ho'orets. Nokh apor teyg arimvandern of kol khusn in zikh imkikn in shpiteylr of di klemn fin proletarishe doktoyrim iz er gegangen zikh abisl bodn ofn takh. Di shokhente finm fro vos hot dertsaylt man khavr ot deym dertsaylung hot beshim oyfn nisht gevolt antplekn dem nomn finm takh veygn a tam hakomis. Ober zi zogt az di mase iz azoy emes azoy vi es flist vaser in yenem takh. Al kol ponem, az berl shaw hot geshpirt az er iz in gan aydn hot er zikh gebodn vi der shtayger iz dort geveyn. Vi zogt di velt: ven in gan aydn di vi di gan aydener tin. Iz ober geveyzn a brik hekher der takh in pinkt ven er hot zikh osgetsoygn in ongehoybn tsi trakhtn fin mesisheylekh in di andre khevre hot zikh pinkt gemakht in es zenen ofn brik dorkh gegangn tsvay yidn. Ayner fin di tsvay get bald a freyg dem khaver ver is der yid mit'n lange bord vos es kholemt zikh eym az er iz in gan ayden. Zogt der tsvayter az er ken deym ende tadik, in er hot eym shoyn forgeshlogn az vibald es gefelt eym azoy iz er maskim zikh mit eym tsi toshn. Der yid vet forn kan eyngland in reb berl zol do balbn leoylm voed. Berl shaw hot tsi mazl ober nor gehert di verter ende tsadik. Freygt er zikh nokh of di badayt fin di verter in herndik dem pshat hot er gevolt visn tsi es iz okh faran an ende tsedaykes. Eym iz nisht gefoln di gantse aysek in er hot geshribn 'tsadik in ende tsadik' vos in deym iz er masbir az men darf oyker min hashoyresh zan ale ende oysiyes fin alef biz tof. Dos iz eym okh nisht genig geveyn in er hot tsigeshribn nokh a kintresl veygn di ende tsedaykes in er hot es a nomn gegeybn 'sotsialistishe ivre far erlikhe yidenes'. Akhray kikhles hakel iz er tsrik ahaym geforn limenikhes in yidish hot er gelost tsim kadokhes. Herndik di groys hatslokhe fin zane khidishim hot er es gevolt nokhmakhn in eyngland. Er hot ober fargesn az a khokhem in risland iz nokhnisht a khokhem in eyngland. Er hot taykef in miyad geshribn a tsavoe az dos gelt vos er lost iber nokh zane hindert in tsvontsig yor zol men nitsen tsi drikn kayl mole rakhmims osgelaygt vi men zogt of telerlekh ober in lataynishe bukhshtabn of a nayem sisteym in dernokh zol men tsibislekh fardrayen di oysiyes finm resht finm shprakh. An intersante merkung, khotch er hot gekent haysn drikn zane sforim kapoyr hot er ober nisht gevolt. Di eynglender hobn ober gehert vos er hot alts fararbet ofn endetsadik in'm shlos mem, in az er hot tsilib deym geshribn tsvay khibirim, in eyglish iz sakh hakel dermant in a tsavoe. hobn zay derof getanet: yidish vet zikh arimdrayen mit a shterntikhl in eynglish vet bloyz gayn a farkatshete fartshayle? Vloy tehay golde k'shayne shayndl? Hobn zay zikh genimn dos gelt in gelost eynglish vi di zaydes fleygn es tsi shrabn, in berl shaw, hobn zay gezogt, zol moykhl zan zikh vater bodn in gan aydn. David Herskovic 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 20:21:45 -0500 From: lblikcht@bu.edu Subject: _Yidishe Shprikhverter_ 227 examples from I. Bernstein's _Yidishe Shprikhverter_ (1908 ed.) are available at http://www.glasnet.ru/~anbredstein/text/vertlekh.htm courtesy of the site of Moscow?s Yiddish newspaper, *Di Yidishe Gas,* which can be read in Yiddish and Russia at http://www.judaica.ru . Nina Judith Katz & Leonid S. Blickstein 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 13:11:11 +0100 (MET) From: h_denman@maier.vol.at Subject: "Commedia dell'arte" af yidish With all due respect to both Vera Szabo [6,256:6] and Andrey Bredstein [6257:2], it has to be said that the question is misconceived and consequently both the answers offered inappropriate. Highly culture-specific concepts and realia can only be referred to by their unique names. Do we ask ourselves, for example, what is English for 'purim-shpil'? No, the only problem is that of choosing the most suitable transliteration. Similarly the Yiddish for 'commedia dell'arte' is 'commedia dell'arte' appropriately transcribed. If societies/ languages share cultural phenomena that is a different matter. Translating 'purim-shpil' as 'mahaze shel purim' is unproblematic, but just as we retain 'commedia dell'arte' in English, so we should in Yiddish. Even Andrey Bredstein's 'precise' rendering as 'masknshpil' is so approximate as to be misleading. If we go on like this, someone will post a question asking what is the Yiddish for 'haiku'. Hugh Denman 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 17:29:44 EST From: dovid@mit.edu Subject: On the nature of Mendele [apropos 6.257]: ... and most of the linguists on Mendele are Basque. Etxeshveyresh Purimendy (aka Dovid Braun) Cambridge, Basque Land ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.258