Yidbits - Put a Little Spring in Your Yiddish

"The word" for March -- and for all of 2009 -- is actually a phrase: Sholem-Aleykhem. No, not in this case the traditional Yiddish/Hebrew greeting (cognate with the Arabic Salaam Alaykum), but the pen-name of Sholem Rabinovitsh, born 150 years ago, March 2, 1859, in Pereyaslav, not far from Kiev, now the capital of Ukraine.

About the spelling of his world-famous (works translated into 63 languages) pen-name: the spelling in bold above is in keeping with the YIVO Standard for Transcription of Yiddish. The more "popular" spelling is the one under which his collected Yiddish works were published in the U.S. and copyrighted by Olga, his widow: "Sholom Aleichem."

Appropriately -- since the classic author's works reflected Jewish life as it was undergoing tremendous changes both in der alter heym (the old country) and here--the latter spelling reflects two trends in American Jewish life in the early 20th century. Sholom is the Sefardic pronunciation of the Hebrew word for "peace." Under the influence of both the Reform movement and then-growing Zionism, the Sefardic pronunciation was considered more genteel and, eventually, more "official." The spelling of Aleichem, on the other hand, reflects the earlier major influence of German Jews and their disparagement of Yiddish as "bad German." Thus, transliteration of Yiddish book titles and their author's names -- as well as of Yiddish words that came increasingly into English -- followed the rules of Germanic spelling. (Earlier this month, a series of three comic strips in the L.A. Times was rife with such Germanized mis-spellings of Yiddish words, as well as "Yiddish" words that never existed.)

The vortsman -- and the best anthology of Sholem Aleykhem's works in English, Marvin Zukerman's Vol. II of The Three Great Classic Writers of Modern Yiddish Literature -- both agree that it's long past time to give the writer's name in pure Yiddish: unadulterated, un-officialized, un-genteeled, un-Germanized.

Also, please note that the pen-name is a single, hyphenated phrase, not a given-name, family-name combination. To refer to the author as either "Aleykhem" or "Aleichem" is gauche, or, as we say in Yiddish: mishune vild.

But enough of (debatable) erudition. Below, as candles on Sholem-Aleykhem's birthday cake, are two translations of the epitaph which he himself penned for the gravestone that stands over his grave at the center of a pantheon of Yiddish writers and cultural figures in the New York cemetery of the Arbeter Ring/Workmen's Circle. The identities of the two translators are not given, so that readers may judge them without prejudice.

(Oh: and did you notice that this column made no mention of that Broadway musical? Probably because it so distorted the writing of Sholem-Aleykhem.)

Original Yiddish

do ligt a yid a posheter,
geshribn yidish-daytsh far vayber,
un far'n prostn folk hot er
geven a humorist, a shrayber.

dos gantse lebn oysgelakht,
geshlogn mit der velt kapores.
di gantse velt hot gut gemakht,
un er-oy vey-geven af tsores!

un davke demolt ven der oylem hot
gelakht, geklatsht, un fleg zikh freyen,
hot er gekrenkt-dos veys nor got-
b'sod, az keyner zol nit zeyen.

Translation A

He was a Jew who with his pen
Made heavy burdens lighter.
His tales were tales of simple men.
Now here he lies -- a Yiddish writer.

Laughter was his legacy.
The world around him felt so blessed,
With humor he could set them free.
But he, alone, felt most distressed.

And when his public, far and near,
Would laugh, applaud with joyful glee--
In secret he would shed a tear
Where no one, only God, could see.

Translation B

Here lies a simple Jew
whose Yiddish words made women brighter,
and for common folk, who knew
him as a humorist, a writer.

All of life was just his joke;
he faced the world with merry wit.
Though he, oh woe, was often broke,
The world was better off for it.

And just at the time the merry crowd
laughed and roared, was full of glee,
he was ill-- known but to god--
In secret, that none might see.

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