Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ____________________________________________________
Contents of Vol. 21.018 April 24, 2012 1) "Vi shver s'iz tsu gleybn" (George Sacks) 2) tsushnaydn eydes (Martin Jacobs) 3) tshuve in Singer's "Mayn tatns beys-din shtub" (Maurice Wolfthal) 4) William Blake (Morton D. Paley) 5) gimze (Yankl Falk) 6) "Hatikva" in Yiddish (Sema Chaimovitz Menora) 7) rebbe, reb, rov (Norbert Hirschhorn) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Subject: "Vi shver s'iz tsu gleybn" Date: April 22 I am looking for the name of the author of a poem that begins "vi shver s'iz tsu gleybn." I would also appreciate a link to the English translations. Thank you. George Sacks 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: tsushnaydn eydes Subject: April 13 I understand the old Jewish customs of not cutting fingernails consecutively (but skipping nails and then getting back to the ones skipped), and the custom of not discarding the parings on the ground, but what does er hot keynmol nisht tsugeshnitn keyn eydes mean? What kind of witness are we talking about here? This story concerns an epikoyres who ignores halakha. The immediate context: Oykh hot er zikh geshnitn di negl nisht ibergehipert, keynmol nisht tsugeshnitn keyn eydes un azoy aroysgevorfn durkhn fentster. Many thanks in advance. Martin Jacobs 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 29 Subject: tshuve in Singer's "Mayn tatns beys-din shtub" In Singer's Mayn tatns beys-din shtub, he relates, in the story Der sod, that a woman pours out her heart with grief, first to the rebbetsin, then to the rebbe, confessing that she had abandoned her illegitimate infant on the steps of a church. Both of them assure her that God will forgive her. In addition, the rebbe prescribes a penance, a tshuve: to fast Mondays and Thursdays, not to eat meat any weekday, to say the psalms, and to give charity. I had never heard of such a practice among Jews, whereas it is standard in Catholicism. Was this common in Singer's day? Is it still? Maurice Wolfthal 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 2 Subject: William Blake I wonder whether anyone can inform me about scholarship and/or criticism published in Yiddish about the art and poetry of William Blake. My interest is limited for editorial reasons to European publications. With thanks, Morton D. Paley 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 24 Subject: gimze Earlier today, Gloria Berkenstat Freund posted a question to the Mendele Personals list, but the answer is of general linguistic interest. Gloria wrote: I am translating an article from the Kurow Yizkor Book. There is a reference to "leder gimzes". The phrase appears in a paragraph about a Polish shoemaker who agreed to hide Jews in exchange for 10 "leder gimzes." Does anyone know what a leather "gimze" is? In "Jews and Shoes" (Oxford, UK: Berg, 2008), Edna Nahshon defines "gimze" as "thin and supple goat hide... Gimze, which was very pliable and expensive, came in brown and black." [95] For European shoemakers, gimze was "[t]he most expensive leather for uppers." [97] I found another clue in the soc.genealogy.jewish archives (14 Nov 2011): "Gimze" is a regional Yiddish variant for the German gemze but is not standard Yiddish. And Gemze? It's the German name for the wild European antelope better known to us by its French name (chamois). But so far as I know, not related to Gomez (gam zu l'tovah). Yankl Falk 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: April 23 Subject: "Hatikva" in Yiddish Dear Mendele, Has anyone ever translated "Hatikva" into Yiddish? And was it ever recorded? I would love to obtain a copy of the words in Yiddish, and the recording, if there is one. Thank you. Sema Chaimovitz Menora 7)---------------------------------------------------- Date: March 30 Subject: rebbe, reb, rov But according to http://www.yiddishdictionaryonline.com/ 'rebe' is a Hasidic rabbi, right? Norbert Hirschhorn ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 21.018 Please do not use the "reply" key when writing to Mendele. Instead, direct your mail as follows: Material for postings to Mendele Yiddish literature and language, i.e., inquiries and comments of a non-commercial or publicity nature: [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 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). 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