[Mendele] Mendele Vol. 20.017

Victor Bers victor.bers at yale.edu
Mon Apr 11 10:26:22 EDT 2011


Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
____________________________________________________

Contents of Vol. 20.017
April 8, 2011

1) Jewish cabaret (Dina Levias)
2) mestn feld (Les Train)
3) mestn feld (Khayem Bochner)
4) mestn feld (Lyubov Dukker)
5) Hofshteyns "Friling" (Martin Horwitz)
6) Hofshteyns "Friling" (Akvile Grigoraviciute)
7) Hofshteyns "Friling" (Seth Wollitz)
8) "A katerinazh bin ikh" (Jane Peppler)

1)----------------------------------------------------
Date:   March 15
Subject:  Jewish cabaret

In answer to Jane Peppler and anyone else interested in Jewish cabaret in 
Poland between the wars, I suggest you contact Mike Aylward, to my mind 
the best authority and the compiler of the largest discography on Yiddish 
songs, theater, cabaret, etc.!

www.yidisher-gramofon.org

Dina Levias

2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 15
Subject: mestn feld

feld (field = graveyard) is a synonym for kvorim (graves).

Les Train

3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 15
Subject:

Lena Watson writes:
I am somewhat stumped by the meaning of the expression "mestn feld."

Niborski's Yiddish-French dictionary has "feldmestn," defined as "rite 
superstitieux consistant  entourer une tombe juive d'un fil de coton, ce 
qui confrerait  celui-ci des vertus magiques"

Our (http://www.verterbukh.org/) draft translation:
"superstitious custom of surrounding a Jewish tomb with cotton 
thread,supposedly giving the thread magical powers "

How, if at all, is it different from "mestn kvorim"?

That's beyond me, I'm afraid. But note that "feld " can be used 
(euphemistically) for "cemetery," so it wouldn't be surprising if 
"feldmestn" and  "mestn kvorim" meant the same thing.

Khayem Bochner

4)----------------------------------------------------
Date:  March 15
Subject: mestn feld

I believe both are referring to one and the same superstition. I have 
heard it called Feldmestn. When somebody is sick, a relative can go to a 
grave of a tsadik to measure it with a thread and then this thread is put 
into candles for the synagogue.

Lyubov Dukker

5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 17
Subject: Hofshteyns "Friling"

I asked a native speaker acquaintance re: the lines in question and got 
the following answer:

s'darf zayn  "storks "

"IZ GEKUMEN A BUSHL A HOYKHER TSU GEYN,
DI FIS VI DI SHPENER, DER SHNOBL FUN BEYN.
KVA-KVA, KVA-KVA. "

Martin Horwitz

6)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 28
Subject: Hofshteyns "Friling"

May I point out that the actual lines read:

alts gringer varft der kop zikh inderheykh
in [not 'un'!..] shnur  farbrokhenem di busheles tsu tseyln . . .

So the translation of Mr Hartman  "It's ever-easier to throw one's head 
back/to count the storks in their broken strings (of flight)" is a decent 
one.

Akvile Grigoraviciute

7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: April 10
Subject: Hofshteyns "Friling"

Dovid Hofshteyn's verse is singularly difficult because he uses mainly the 
German based origins of Yiddish in a tortured syntax.

My reading is:
even easier the head faces upward to count the storks, [flying in] a 
broken line.

Hofshteyn's verse is probably the tightest in all Yiddish poetry.

Sincerely,
Seth Wolitz

8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: March 22
Subject: "A Katerinazh bin ikh"

Hello, friends,

A friend whose father was a Russian orchestra leader/arranger just dumped 
four boxes of his music on me and I am sorting through it. Here is a 
little booklet saying  "our folksinger Ben Yakkov in the great hit "A 
Katerinazh bin ikh."  Elsewhere in this little page it is spelled 
katerinarzh, and in the English transliteration it says, "Der 
Katerinchik."
It is actually a tango which starts "Ikh makh kuntsn in gas / dos lebn 
makht khoyzek, spas / ven mayne glider tut vey lakh ikh un zing un shray 
... "
The refrain begins  "A katirinazh bin ikh on broyt un borves on shikh, 
keynem art dos nit... "
(note yet another spelling of organ-grinder, that's about five)

I understand Olshanetsky wrote an opera called the organ-grinder. Is this 
song from that show? Anybody know anything about Ben Yaakov?

I note that in the Freedman catalog this first line is also titled Gasn 
Zinger or Der Komediantshik or Komediant - did Peysakh Burstein rewrite it 
to suit his own occupation?

Thanks!
Jane Peppler

______________________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 20.017

Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead, direct 
your mail as follows:

Material for Mendele Personal Notices & Announcements, i.e. announcements 
of events, commercial publications, etc., always in plain text (no HTML or 
the like) to:

victor.bers at yale.edu (IMPORTANT: in the subject line write "Mendele 
Personal")

Material for postings to Mendele Yiddish literature and language, i.e. 
inquiries and comments of a non-commercial or publicity nature:

mendele at mailman.yale.edu

IMPORTANT: Please include your full name as you would like it to appear in 
your posting. No posting will appear without its author's name. 
Submissions to regular Mendele should not include personal email addresses 
in the body of the message, as responses will be posted for all to read. 
Please send postings always in plain text (no HTML or the like).

In order to spare the shamosim time and effort, we request that 
contributors adhere, when applicable, as closely as possible to standard 
English punctuation, grammar, etc. and to the YIVO rules of 
transliteration into Latin letters, which are explained in summary form at

http://www.yivoinstitute.org/about/index.php?tid=57&aid=275
<http://www.yivoinstitute.org/about/index.php?tid=57&aid=275> .

All other messages should be sent to the shamosim at this address:

mendele at mailman.yale.edu

Mendele on the web: http://mendele.commons.yale.edu/

To join or leave the list:
http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele




More information about the Mendele mailing list