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Dear Friend of Yiddishkayt,
You have never seen a yidbits like this. Yidbits used to be that scrappy friend of yours who would drop you an interesting note from time to time. No longer. We are transforming yidbits into a monthly newsletter, packing more history, language and culture into every issue. Expect new columns, written by both Yiddishkayt staff and guests, like vortsman (man of his word) which will bring you the story of a different Yiddish word or phrase each month. And of course, we will continue to let you know about upcoming Yiddish-related events in Southern California and interesting news of Yiddish from around the world. Read on to hear about our experience at LimmudLA on President's Day weekend, another installment in the Chernovitz story and the meaning behind lakhn mit yashtsherkes, laughing with lizards. In the news: Check out the Yiddish Special section of the English Forward, which contains several great stories and reviews. Also in the Forward, watch video clips from productions of Fiddler on the Roof from around the world, just in time for Sholem Aleichem's birthday next week. Finally, if you haven't heard yet, the Oscar-winning Coen Brothers are adapting and directing Michael Chabon's book, The Yiddish Policemen's Union for the screen. mit vareme vuntshn, The Yiddishkayt Staff |
YIDDISH-RELATED EVENTS IN MARCH
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Lectures at the Los Angeles Yiddish Culture Club
8339 West Third Street
(310) 275-8455 or(323) 655-1341
Members free, Guests $4
Refreshments afterwards
3/2 - Lecture on David Hofshtein
Sunday, 2:00 pm
The Los Angeles Yiddish Culture Club invites you to a lecture dedicated to the slain Soviet poet, David Hofshtein. Given by lecturer Pesach Malevitsh, a teacher and Yiddish culture activist. Jacob Lewin will also read from Hofshtein's poetry.
Event will be in Yiddish.
3/30 - "The Underworld Dramas of Our Great Writer Sholem Asch"
Sunday, 2:00 pm
Join Sabell Bender, lecturer of Yiddish Theater history, for an exploration of the stories of Yiddish writer Sholem Asch.
Event will be mostly in English, mit a yidishn tam.
3/9 - "It's Online! Internet Sleuthing for the Family Genealogist"
at the Skirball Cultural Center
2701 N Sepulveda Blvd
(310) 440-4500
$20 Skirball and JGSLA members, $26.50 general admission, $16.50 students
One-Day Seminar about Online Genealogy
Sunday, March 9, at 1:00 - 5:30 pm
How well do you know the story of your family's names, birthplaces and lives? Learn how to connect with your ancestors - to better understand our history, culture and language - using resources on the internet. More details about the speakers and topics, as well as registration information, available here. Co-sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles. |
VORTSMAN - MAN OF HIS WORD
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We proudly present the first installment of a recurring yidbits series:
 vortsman, meaning Man of his Word, brings you the story of a different Yiddish word or phrase each month.
Written by Hershl Hartman, Long-time Yiddishkayt member (and Education Director at the Sholem Community)
Here's a Yiddish phrase you won't find in all those "clever" lists of funny-sounding words and curses - you know, the ones that are endlessly forwarded on email to demonstrate the "cuteness" of the language:
Literally, the words translate as "to laugh with lizards." The phrase means "laughing through tears," "...on the wrong side of the mouth," "... with anguish," depending on which dictionary you consult. Any way you slice it, it means laughter that is really its opposite. Two questions arise: (1) Why lizards? (2) Where does the word yashtsherke (pl. yashtsherkes) come from? The standard Yiddish answer to No. 1 might be: why not lizards? However, the best guesses of linguists relate to the fact that aquatic reptiles sometimes appear to be shedding tears while devouring their prey. In English, we refer to "crocodile tears" to designate hypocrisy and, in fact, the word crocodile comes from a Greek word for lizard. As to the origin of yashtsherke: it is part of the 15 percent or so of Yiddish words that derive from Slavic. However, Yiddish did not simply adopt the word. The Russian word for lizard is yashtsheritse. Yiddish speakers, noting the small size of the creature, lopped off its tail ( --itse) and gave it a common Yiddish affectionate diminutive ending: --ke. (Little girls named Ester would be called Esterke, boys named Benyomin might be called Nyomke, etc.) Now you know why, when I get one of those "cute" email lists, you'll see me lakhn mit yashtsherkes. _ _ _ _ _ Have a question for the vortsman? Send him an email and ask the meaning of a favorite, or confusing, word or phrase. |
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YIDDISH AT LIMMUD LA
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On President's Day weekend, Yiddishkayt Los Angeles participated in the inaugural LimmudLA, helping to bring Yiddish culture to a conference devoted to all aspects of Jewish life.
LimmudLA was a whirlwind of a Jewish experience, a grassroots exploration of Jewish life in LA and the world. The weekend was packed with 262 study sessions, 21 films, concerts, comedy and even some live theater. For a more thorough description, read the Jewish Journal's review of LimmudLA here.
Yiddishkayt LA sponsored three presentations, discussing Yiddish film, theater, and poetry in the context of the American - and Los Angeles - Jewish experience.
Caraid O'Brien, meyven of the Yiddish Theater, animated its vibrant history with the help of photos, rare sound clips, and even a performance of a monologue from Sholem Asch's God of Vengeance in both English and Yiddish. Caraid also introduced our screening of Uncle Moses, the captivating Yiddish film starring Maurice Schwartz as a wealthy Jewish sweatshop owner on the Lower East Side during the early 20th Century.
And Bradley Bernstein, graduate student at UCLA, presented the experience of Yiddish immigrants to Los Angeles through poetry. This fascinating session discussed some of the forces behind Jewish immigration to Los Angeles at the beginning of the 20th Century and explored reactions to this new home in Southern California.
We couldn't help sharing some of LimmudLA with you in this yidbits. Below is Bradley's translation of a poem entitled "Boyle Heights" by Kh. Goldovsky, published in Pasifik in March 1929 (Ed. H Rosenblatt).
A wind that whistles around your street corners, whispering
"Let me turn the basket over!" - "No, I'll turn it over!"
Brings the guest who spreads before me
A mixture of oranges, cinnamon and herring.
To hear a Yiddish word or joke does my heart good
Making it jealous of my ears for being the first to hear them.
From each window a fiddle or piano plays for me
In a mix of oranges, cinnamon and herring.
Here I am - and I am here - bombarded in all directions
The longing for "basar, kosher" signs and a familiar "sholem-aleykhem"
Boyle Heights in distant west-land, in the city of the "angels."
A mixture of oranges, cinnamon and herring.
The participants in our "Yiddish LA" session found this poem fascinating for the way its imagery mixes the traditional (herring) with the fruits of the poet's new home (oranges). What do you think? Let us know! |
THE STORY OF CHERNOWITZ
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We continue to explore the story of the famous Chernowitz Conference of 1908, where the great Yiddishists of the day proclaimed that "Yiddish is a national language of the Jewish people."
In this yidbits, we profile the life of Dr. Chaim Zhitlowsky, one of the main proponents of the conference.
 Born outside Vitebsk (Russia) in 1865, Chaim Zhitlovsky was afforded a good education by his successful Lubavitcher father. As a young man, "Chaim made the acquaintance of Shloimah Rappaport, who was later to become S. Ansky, the famous author of 'The Dybuk.' A warm life-long friendship developed between Zhitlowsky and Ansky, who had a weakness in common - writing." 1At the age of fourteen, Zhitlovsky was introduced to the thoughts of socialist writers as well as the presence of socialist parties working within the Russian Empire. Taken by socialist doctrines, Zhitlovsky left school to propagate socialism among Russian peasants. However, Zhitlovsky never forgot about his own people. His commitment to the Jewish people is illustrated by a revelation he had in a cemetery: ...Upon hearing a young woman beside a grave bewail her deceased husband with the words, 'To whom have you abandoned me?', he made an oath never to desert the Jewish people. He pledged himself, 'always to remain true to my two-fold duty as a Jewish intellectual, to serve the ideals of general progress in the light on my responsibility for their destiny among my own people.' 2
Political Zionism, gaining popularity around the turn of the Century, did not attract Zhitlovsky. He was more concerned with what he saw as the "real tangible life" of the Jewish people and forged a different philosophy. 3 Combining Yiddish language and culture with non-Marxian socialist populism, he promoted what would soon be known as Diaspora Nationalism, a socio-political doctrine concerned with serving the Jews where they were already living. Zhitlovsky felt that assimilation, whether proposed by a Marxist or a Western European Jew, was an affront to Jewish humanity. Similarly he saw opponents of Yiddish as proponents of the very assimilatory forces seeking to destroy the Jewish people. Following revolutionary exploits in Russia and Europe, Zhitlovsky settled in New York City, where in 1907 he met visiting Yiddishist Nathan Birnbaum, architect of the Chernowitz Yiddish Language Conference. Zhitlovsky was highly impressed with Birnbaum's plans, and not after long Zhitlovsky was drafting the invitations for the groundbreaking summit. To be continued...
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Footnotes
1. Zhitlovksy Anniversary Committee, "Zhitlovsky's Biography in English." In YIVO Archives.
2. Emanuel S. Goldsmith, Modern Yiddish Culture (New York: Fordham UP, 2000) 161-181.
3. Chaim Zhitlovsky, The Future of Our Youth in This Country and Assimilation In YIVO Archives.
Source 1 viewable here, source 3 viewable here.
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Yiddishkayt Los Angeles
www.yiddishkaytla.org
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