Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 18.026 May 3, 2009 1) kezl (Noyekh Miller) 2) greenhorn (Aaron Kaplan) 3) cash cow (Rukhl Pudlowski Eissenstat) 4) lyrics to Holocaust songs sought (Joseph Toltz) 5) Zionist group s"s (Mark Froimowitz) 6) toytntants (Maurice Wolfthal) 7) Suggestions about Yiddish film sought (Rivke Margolis) 8) Ebonics and Yiddish (Ben Sacks) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 19, 2009 Subject: kezl What is a kezl and how does it get its name? It was my favorite dish at peysekh but I never had the sense to ask how it was made. And none of the cookbooks I've consulted mention it. The nearest thing to a recipe is in Niborski's Yiddish French dictionary: a pudding made from grated potatoes or crushed matzos.I hope there are Mendelistn who know more. My real interest, however, is in the origin of the word, there being no kez in a kezl. What to Niborski is a pudding reminds me (though some 40 years have elapsed since I last saw one) of a (collapsed) souffle. Is it possible that kezl once meant a cheese souffle but lost the kez for reasons of kashrus? I have an even longer theory about why it should have become a peysakh dish, but one weak theory at a time. Noyekh Miller 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 20, 2009 Subject: greenhorn Thanks to everyone for the comments about my derivation of greenhorn. I do know, for a fact, about the little Mexican boy's definition of green card even though I used broken Spanish in talking with him. At least I obtained a number of responses which do not agree with me. However, I would like to stick to my original definition, among others, as having at the very least, some veracity. Aaron Kaplan 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 20, 2009 Subject: cash cow How about a shmaltsgrub as in Sholem Aleichem's Motl peysi dem khazns "arayngefaln in a shmaltsgrub"? Rukhl Pudlowski Eissenstat [Moderator's note: Irwin Mortman offers the same suggestion.] 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 27, 2009 Subject: lyrics to Holocaust songs sought Hello to members of the Mendele list, I figure that it is normal convention to introduce oneself to a mailing list when joining.My name is Joseph Toltz; I am completing a PhD in musicology at the University of Sydney (Conservatorium of Music). My PhD examines the musical testimony of survivors from the Nazi ghettos and camps. I've interviewed 70 survivors in Australia, the UK, the USA and Israel (the majority in Australia). I've joined the Mendele list because some of the material that I have collected is in Yiddish, and I know that many on this list will be able to help me with the occasional inquiry. My Yiddish is for comprehension only, rather than conversation (I can understand slowly, but reply in English); I can also read very slowly. Both my grandfathers (o"h) spoke Yiddish, but neither of my grandmothers spoke it, thus it didn't pass to my parents or to me. I intend on studying Yiddish formally after the completion of my doctorate because I love the language and I want to become fluent. My study also examines songs performed in Czech, Polish, Russian, Hungarian and German - language is not my primary concern, rather the recording of these memories and discussing how survivors construct them in their memories. Does anyone have the full text for a Zionist song composed in Yiddish, and sung before the war in Poland. The survivor who is seeking this song is from Siedliszcze, and she remembers that the song was sung to the tune of the well-known Russian song, "Volga, Volga." The text I have so far is: Groyser got, mir zingn lider Undzer hilf bistu aleyn Mit der toyre, shvester un brider, Veln mir nisht untergeyn If someone could send me the complete lyrics, my friend and I would be very grateful. I am seeking the lyrics for a second song that was sung on a train in 1945, from Nyregyhaza to Budapest, by a group of Orthodox girls (possibly Chassidic - Kalover?) The fragment remembered by the survivor is: Men nemt dayn foter bay di soldatn, un es heyst adnoy. This survivor also thought that the song was subtitled Kaddish. Best wishes, Joseph Toltz 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 19, 2009 Subject: Zionist group s"s In translating a chapter from a Czestochowa yizker book, I came across a reference to a far left Zionist group with the initials s"s. Does anyone know what the name of the group is? Mark Froimowitz 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 20, 2009 Subject: toytntants Is there historical documentation for either the "toytntants" in the film "Der dibek" or for the marriage of Fishke and Hodl in the cemetery to appease the wrath of God in "Fishke der krumer"? Maurice Wolfthal 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: May 1, 2009 Subject: Suggestions about Yiddish film sought I am preparing for a new class I am offering this fall at the University of Ottawa called "Introduction to Yiddish literature and film" and am seeking advice on texts on Yiddish film that are readily available. Hoberman's "Bridge of Light" is out of print, I cannot get the distributor of "When Joseph Met Molly" to sell to Canada, and the new edition of Goldman's "Vision, Images and Dreams" is delayed until 2010. The course is a second year undergraduate class. They will also be reading excerpts of Sholem Aleichem, etc. in translation and watching the old classics: Dybbuk, Tevye, etc. Any suggestions would be much appreciated! A dank! Rivke Margolis 8)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 16, 2009 Subject: Ebonics and Yiddish When I was young, I remember hearing a pretty funny language tape from the 70s that taught the listener Ebonics on one side and Yiddish on the other. I've been trying desperately to find it. Does anyone know what it's called or remember it too? A dank, Ben Sacks ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 18.026 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: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> (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: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> 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, as responses will be posted for all to read. 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. A guide to Romanization can be found at this site: 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: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Mendele on the web: http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~mendele/index.htm <http://shakti.trincoll.edu/%7Emendele/index.htm> To join or leave the list: http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele _______________________________________________ Mendele mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/mendele
