[Mendele] Mendele Vol. 21.011
Victor Bers
victor.bers at yale.edu
Thu Feb 2 09:29:01 EST 2012
Mendele: Yiddish literature and language
____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 21.011
January 24, 2012
1) tentler/burkis (Jane Peppler)
2) shibilnitse (Jan Jonk)
3) "Shotns baym hodson" (Miriam Udel)
4) Simms Taback (Hershl Hartman)
5) Israel Rosenberg (Bob Rothstein)
6) French translations of Yiddish songs (Samy Staro)
7) halevay (Elvira Groezinger)
8) Neshe (Hannah Salamander)
9) kheshbn (Zevi Ghivelder)
10) Jabberwocky in Yiddish (Leybl Talmy)
1)----------------------------------------------------
Date: January 2
Subject: tentler/burkis
In the novel "Hershele" which I've mostly finished translating, (1) a
"tentler" helps the yeshivah boys with their costumes. (2) The "maker of
burkis'" is deemed to be unhappy in comparison to the "maker of perfume."
Ideas? Thanks!
Jane Peppler
2)----------------------------------------------------
Date: January 16
Subject: shibilnitse
Tayere Mendelyaner,
Is there anyone who can explain the meaning of the word "shibilnitse" in
"Di heyzer ale glaykhe, hoykhe shibilnitses .." and the verb form
"farshmalyet" (from the short story "Vos er hot gezen in yihsihn teater,"
Leon Kobrin,Shriftn, pages 778/ 779)
Thanks for your help,
Jan Jonk
3)----------------------------------------------------
Date: January 1
Subject: "Shotns baym hodson"
"Shotns baym hodson" is accessible on microfiche at the NYPL and several
other libraries, under Yitskhok Bashevis. It is VERY cumbersome to
access. The serial ran twice a week, and I should have in my notes
somewhere which two days they were. Alice is welcome to email me directly,
and I'll try to look it up if that's helpful.
Al dos guts,
Miriam Udel
4)----------------------------------------------------
Date: January 2
Subject: Simms Taback
The obituaries in today's LA Times and yesterday's NY Times properly
concentrate on Simms' tremendous achievements as illustrator/author of
some 50 books for children, his drawing upon his secular Yiddish cultural
heritage, and his union activism as founder and president of the guilds
for illustrators and graphic artists.
As a childhood friend, let me add some lesser-known facts about this
extraordinary mentsh:
Simms was, as the old phrase had it, "a kind fun undzere shuln " - a
child of our progressive Secular Jewish schools. It was in shule No. 1 of
the International Workers' Order (IWO) in the Bronx Workers' Cooperative
Colony ( "the coops ") that he learned to read and write Yiddish, to
absorb the lessons of Yiddish literature and culture, and to sing Yiddish
labor and folk songs, one of which was the inspiration for the book that
twice won the Caldecott medal, "I Had A Little Overcoat."
His unusual name was given to him by his Communist parents since he was
born (Feb. 13, 1932) two days after the martyr death of the Jewish labor
organizer and member of the Young Communist League, Harry (Hersh) Simms.
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA05/luckey/amj/harlan.htm
(By almost poetic coincidence, Simms Taback died on the centennial of
Hersh Simms' birth, Dec. 25, 1911.)
In a winking tribute to his heritage, Simms included in his Caldecott
medal book the masthead of the Communist Yiddish newspaper his parents
read (and for which I was a cub reporter), the Morgn frayhayt - Morning
Freedom.
Simms' last book, "Postcards From Camp," published last June, jokingly
"promotes" Camp Woodlands, an actual summer camp that was a spiritual
descendant of the Jewish and multicultural camps founded by the IWO.
http://stevebrodner.com/2011/06/24/advance-copy-postcards-from-camp-by-simms-
taback/
kovid zayn likhtik-kolirtn ondenk - honor to his brightly-colored memory!
Hershl Hartman
Obituaries:
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-simms-taback-20120102,0,3525229.story
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/books/simms-taback-writer-and-illustrator-of-
childrens-books-dies-at-79.html?refobituaries
5)----------------------------------------------------
Date: January 2
Subject: Israel Rosenberg
Helene Courtois asked about Israel Rosenberg (21.009). Rosenberg (or
Rozenberg), the son of a rabbi, was born in Lublin in 1895 and died in New
York City in 1963. He was best known as a playwright, the author of
musical comedies, melodramas, operettas, etc., but was also a director, an
actor, a lyricist and a writer. He was married to the actress, singer and
writer Shifra Viner, who performed (and published) under the name Vera
Rozanka (or Rozanko) and as "di yidishe shikse." (See my MENDELE posting
of May 16, 2005, issue #15-002.) Rosenberg and his wife ran various
Yiddish theaters in New York City and conducted a Yiddish radio program on
WEVD in New York for many years.
There is a long entry on Rosenberg in volume 4 of Zalmen Zilbertsvayg's
/Leksikon fun yidishn teater/ (columns 2533-41).
I know of no evidence that Rosenberg wrote the Yiddish stanza
beginning "Vu iz dos
gesele...," although Irene Heskes (/Yiddish American Popular Songs 1895 to
1950: A Catalog Based on the Lawrence Marwick Roster of Copyright
Entries/, Library of Congress, Washington, 1992. Entry #1934, p. 274)
cites sheet music sold as a souvenir at the Hopkinson Theater, where
Rosenberg's musical /Mashe, oder Margarita/ was performed in 1926. The
sheet music does credit Rosenberg with the lyrics, but also credits Sholem
Secunda with the melody, which is a folk tune. "Vu iz dos gesele" is part
of a macaronic (/mishshprakhik)/ song with other verses in Polish, Russian
or Ukrainian, and sometimes Hebrew.
Bob Rothstein
P.S. Israel Rosenberg and Vera Rozanko's archives are housed at YIVO,
contributed by their daughter, Betty Perlov.
6)----------------------------------------------------
Subject: French translations of Yiddish songs
Date: January 3
for Helene Courtois:
I am French too and I am currently transcribing hundreds of Yiddish songs.
http://samstar.jimdo.com/chansons/
If you need some help in French translation, I'll be glad to help you.
By the way, there are already French translations of Yiddish songs.
Samy Staro
7)----------------------------------------------------
Date: January 2
Subject: halevay
Ref. Query no.5 (h)alevay (by Gale Kissin)
Alevay, halevay or levay: This means, "oh, may this come true " or "may
itindeed happen," and comes from Hebrew or Aramaic.
Best wishes for 2012,
Elvira Groezinger
8)----------------------------------------------------
Date: January 1
Subject: Neshe
I'd like to know how one spells the Yiddish (female) name Neshe-pronounced
either Neshe or Nesha. Is it possible to spell it like: nun, ayin,
samekh, hey, alef? Or a shin instead of a samekh?
Many thanks,
Hannah Salamander
9)----------------------------------------------------
Subject: kheshbn
Date: January 10
Khezm is the Yiddish version for the Hebrew word Kheshbon.
Zevi Ghivelder
10)----------------------------------------------------
Subject: Jabberwocky in Yiddish
Date: January 19
fartaytsht un farbesert fun Leybl (Len) Talmy
Averbakheray
S'iz brilik un di slivne toyves
Goyen un gimlen in di vaybn:
A tmimes hobn di bar-agoyves
Un di mume-roytes tsegraybn.
"Hit zikh far Reb Averbakh, mayn zun!
Di peyes vos khapn, di bord vos shnaydt!
Hit zikh farn fe-fe foygl,
Un di frume bender-snyatshke farmayd!"
Nemt er in hant dem vorpl-shverd:
Lang hot er dem minkhn faynt gezukht --
Ot rut er zikh baym bim-bam boym,
Un shteyt a vaylinke fartrakht.
Un, vi er shteyt azoy oyfish fartrakht,
Kumt Reb Averbakh, di oygn tseflamt,
Farviflt durkhn tulgn vald,
Un burtshet vi er kumt!
Eyns, tsvey! Eyns, tsvey! Adurkh mit a drey
Shnaydt di vorpl-sharf mit a shiker-shlak!
Nokh dem mord, un mit der bord
Kumt er gelofn tsurik.
"Tsi hostu gekoylet Reb Averbakh?
Beheymisher bokher, kum gezunterheyt!
Oy zhlobisher tog! Az klug un az klog!"
Tsholnt er derfreyt.
------------------------------------------------------------
original English
JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.
__________________________________________
End of Mendele Vol. 21.011
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