Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 1 no. 242 May 6, 1992 1) Layte/leute (Ruvn-Mendl Turkel) 2) Yiddish software (Mark H. David) 3) Sid Resnick on Vergelis (Victor Bers) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 May 92 12:29:31 EDT From: rmt51@cas.bitnet Subject: RE: Mendele Vol 1.241 Margaret Mikulska writes in Mendele Vol 1.241: > Doesn't -layt come straight from the German "Leute" > people/men&women) ? I hate to sound like a nit-picking pedant, but very little Yiddish actually "comes from" German. There are probably a few borrowings here and there, but that's it. Words that are similar to German words, e.g., Y. 'layt' vs. G. 'Leute,' are cognates, i.e., words that developed in parallel from a common linguistic source, in this case Middle High German. However, 'Leute' is Modern High German, and most certainly had a different form in Mittelhochdeutsch. Saying that Yiddish words come from German demeans Yiddish as an independent language and implies a lesser linguistic significance than German, which we all know is not the case. Now descending from my soapbox, I remain: Rick (Ruvn-Mendl) Turkel (rmt51@cas.bitnet) (rmt51@cas.com) 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 6 May 92 14:18:30 EDT From: gensym!mhd@harvard.harvard.edu Subject: Computeray Does anyone know what computer hardware/software it takes to produce Afn Shvel (the journal of the League for Yiddish)? The typefaces are proper Yiddish, and look quite nice. There is plenty of English mixed with Yiddish, and there are footnotes. I would especially be pleased to learn it, or something as good, is available at hobbyist pricing to anyone owning a Mac with a non-postscript laser printer. Mark H. David 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 06 May 92 14:37 EDT From: VBERS@YALEVM Subject: Relayed submission to MENDELE I forward this at Sid Resnick's request: Aaron Vergelis and His Role in Soviet Yiddish Literature On the subject of Aaron Vergelis, the editor for the past 30 years of the monthly Yiddish magazine in Moscow, Sovetish Heymland, readers of Mendele may be interested to know that the hostile view of him expressed in the recent submissions of two list members is not unanimously shared in Yiddish cultural circles. For example, the New York Forverts (April 10, 1992) published the Yiddish text of the same letter your Bulletin Board did from Aaron Vergelis and his editorial committee which appealed for financial support to keep their magazine alive under its new name, Di Yiddishe Gass. It is noteworthy that the Forverts editors who in the not too distant past were themselves quite antagonistic to Mr. Vergelis, revealed in their introductory note to his letter that in Yiddish cultural circles there are now two different approaches regarding him. They cite one view which insists that "one mustn't cooperate with him because of the sins he committed as editor" and a contrary view which holds that "all these sins should be forgotten and everything ought to be done to help him and other writers to see to it that the Yiddish language and literature shall continue to exist and develop in the countries of the former Soviet Union." Even in the pre-Gorbachev era Jewish writers and journalists voiced differing evaluations of him. Though negative pronouncements on Vergelis werre numerous, there were also more favorable estimates. One opinion of the latter type was offered by Prof. Wolf Moskovich in an article in the scholarly and highly regarded journal, Soviet Jewish Affairs, which is published in London by the Institute of Jewish Affairs. Prof. Moskovich wrote in part: "Sovetish Heymland remains one of the best Yiddish literary journals in the world; it maintains high standards and is distinguished by an imaginative editorial policy which includes the publication of ethnographic and linguistic material of indisputable interest for the average Yiddish reader. We may designate the general line of Sovetish Heymland's editorial board as 'revivalist' since it aims at arresting the decline of Yiddish and Yiddish cultural institutions and at preventing their complete disappearance from the Soviet scene..." (Soviet Jewish Affairs, Nov. 1984, page 35). It is true, of course, that during the period of Brezhnev's rule Vergelis wrote some deplorable things about Zionism and also about his critics in the Yiddish cultural field. Nevertheless, I believe that our judgment of him should not only be based on these unfortunate comments that were made during the embittered cold war period. It is undeniable that Vergelis as the editor since 1961 of the only Yiddish literary magazine in the Soviet Union gathered around it more than a hundred of the surviving Yiddish writers, poets and cultural workers and in more recent years nurtured a group of younger Yiddish contributors. With circumspection and stubbornness Vergelis published this magazine and in doing so upheld the value and esteem of the Yiddish language and culture in Soviet society. I am a long time reader of Sovetish Heymland and have often been amazed at the sheer amount and variety of Yiddish literary expression that appeared in its pages. All this far outweighed, in my opinion, the relatively small number of pro-forma party-line articles which, it seemed to me, were rendered in such a wooden Yiddish that it was more often a trial to read any of them to the end. In the 25th anniversary issue of Sovetish Heymland in August 1986 Vergelis was able to announce that it had already published 76 novels, 109 novellas, 1,478 short stories, 6,680 poems, 1,628 articles dealing with literary criticism, the arts, etc.,--all in Yiddish! By any standard this was a substantial achievement and the object of some envy abroad. When I visited Vergelis in his office a year and a half ago I spoke of the objections against him in Jewish circles in the U.S. I shall never forget the earnestness of his reply: "They have no idea of the pressures we were under in those [Brezhnev] years! But we were determined to continue the golden chain of our literature and to keep alive the legacy [yerushe] of our comrades who perished"--this last an allusion to the Yiddish writers and poets who were the victims of the Stalinist repressions. I am sure that Aaron Vergelis will be judged more kindly in future years than his detractors now allow. At any rate, Vergelis and the magazine he edits are quite different now than they were when the cold war was going strong. In recent years Sovetish Heymland became more open, more Jewish and more respect- ful of other ideological trends in Jewish life which it had previously maligned or ignored. Now the magazine under a new name and orientation seeks to maintain itself as a platform for Yiddish literary creativity in Russia--and it is, perhaps, the only publication there capable of being that--and thus it deserves our attention and good wishes. Sid Resnick New Haven Victor Bers ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol 1.242 Submissions: mendele@vax1.trincoll.edu Business: nmiller@vax1.trincoll.edu Please sign your articles.