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Do You Know Where You're From?
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|  The Jewish Genealogy Society of Los Angeles invites you to be a part of the world's largest Jewish Genealogy conference! Join hundreds of other researchers as we explore our roots and build
our family trees. The
30th International Conference on Jewish Genealogy will be held in
Los Angeles, California this summer at the brand new J.W. Marriott at L.A. LIVE.
Whether you're a beginner, just starting to trace
your family's history, or a pro looking for the latest information and
tips, the IAJGS conference will have something for everyone!
Yiddishkayt is particularly excited by the conference's array of programs focusing on Yiddish, Klezmer and Ashkenazi heritage. 40 films are part of the Convention film festival, including, "A Great Day on Eldridge Street: A Celebration of Klezmer Music." Research groups and seminars range from "Within and Beyond the Pale: Jews in the Russian Empire," and "Shtetl Sport: The Sporting Life in Jewish Culture" to "Yiddish Theater and Vaudeville." Click here to see the entire calendar of events.
Open to the Public: Mitch Smolkin Returns to LA
If you missed Yiddishkayt's presentation of "Khanike in Santa Monica" last December, you're in luck! Canadian singer Mitch Smolkin will perform his venerable renditions of the Yiddish repertoire of famed radio crooner Seymour Rexite. Mitch will again be accompanied by the talented Russian pianist, Nina Shapilsky.
To sign up for the whole conference, visit this page.
If you'd like tickets to just one evening, including Mitch Smolkin, click here.
P.S., Yiddishkayt will have a table on Sunday, July 11th at the Market Square fair promoting our 15 years of success connecting generations to their Ashkenazic heritage. Stop by the booth for some candy!
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MEET THE YIDDISHKAYT INTERN
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| Dear Friends of Yiddishkayt,
My name is Amanda Goodman, and I am Yiddishkayt's Communications/Programming Intern this summer! I am a junior at University of California, San Diego, with a major in Literature of the World and a minor in Law and Society. I applied for the internship at Yiddishkayt through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission internship program, and I am truly looking forward to gaining more insight about non-profit arts organizations and furthering my knowledge of the Jewish community and Yiddish culture. I am very excited to join Yiddishkayt and assist in planning this year's educational program for young adults like myself, the "Folks-Grupe."
I am especially looking forward to reaching out to Jews who are members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender community and familiarizing them with Yiddish culture and language. I hope to contribute to Yiddishkayt with the knowledge I have gained about the Jewish community and the LGBT community as an undergraduate at UC San Diego.
Best Wishes,
Amanda Goodman
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JEWS ON VINYL LIVE!
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|  As part of its Sunset Concert Series, the Skirball
Cultural Center will present the Los Angeles debut of the Jews on Vinyl Revue. On August 18 at 8:00 pm, come see this live
collaboration of young local musicians and musical legends featuring
international singing star Hedva Amrani, a rare appearance by visionary jazz
pioneer and cellist Fred Katz, and Sol Zim (the "Tom
Jones" of cantorial music). Backed by a house band led by L.A. guitarist David
Green,
this evening of song is not to be missed!
This live performance is in association with the Skirball's current
exhibition through September 5, 2010, Jews on Vinyl, which spans the history of Jewish
recorded music from the 1940s to the 1980s.
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HOW ABOUT THOSE KLEZMATICS?!
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|  Yiddishkayt was incredibly excited to present the Los Angeles premiere of On Holy Ground, an important and riveting documentary on the Klezmatics. The film was screened as part of the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival and let us just say... What a turnout!!
The screening completely sold out, well over 250 tickets -- standing room only -- and we're glad that the Fire Marshall didn't turn up. Unfortunately, we had to turn many Klezmatics fans and members of Yiddishkayt away at the door. Let that be a reminder to buy Yiddishkayt event tickets early! Many of the Sklamberg family were in attendance, as was Erik Anjou Greenberg, the film's director. Our thanks go out to the stars of the film, the director, Hilary Helstein (director of the film festival), the Music Hall and, of course, Junior's Deli and Canter's Deli for providing the delicious, free kugl!  Yiddishkayt founder Aaron Paley, festival director Hilary Helstein, Klezmatic Lorin Sklamberg and the film's director Erik Anjou Greenberg |
 VORTSMAN - SARCASM AND INGENUITY
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The 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 Board Member and Education Director at the Sholem Community
A reader, Arleen Slotnick, asks about a derogatory term used in her family to describe an unpleasant or stupid person: a flompots. She guessed that it might be a term unique to her family. She's right, though I'd guess that it was more of a localism: used as well by others in the family's shtetl of origin. The term unites two words: Flom (in Southern Yiddish pronunciation; floym in Standard Yiddish) means "plum" (languages often switch "p" and "f" in their cognates). Since the meaning of pots is difficult to translate in a family newsletter, let's simply call it the male member.
"Plum-bleep" makes no sense, of course. That's the idea: Yiddish is often startlingly inventive.
For that matter, take the word anshekrak. In his youth, The Vortsman believed it was a common term used to describe someone fanatical about cleanliness. He was set right by his teacher of Yiddish literature, renowned critic Itche Goldberg (who published a book of essays in his 101st year!). It appears that anshekrak was a localism, preserved by our maternal family, referring to a shtetl somewhere in the Odessa, Ukraine, region whose inhabitants were considered to display that particular fanaticism.
gey veys (preserved in Yinglish as "go know").
Another reader, Nancy, drew our attention to a recent ad in L.A.'s Jewish Journal which included in its headline these barbarisms: "...Farfolen? We Can Un-Farkemt You!" Oy. Where to begin?
We assume that by "farfolen" the advertiser meant farfaln -- lost, hopeless, doomed. We might forgive the hopeless transliteration were it not for the next horror: "Un-farkemt." As it stands, the hyphenated, hybridized Yinglish means "mess up your hair," since farkemt translates as "combed (or styled) hair."
Yes, we're aware that Saturday Night Live, decades ago, brought the Yinglish word "farklempt" into our lives, for more ill than good. In Yiddish, farklemt-without the useless "p"-means "depressed, grieving." As used on SNL it appeared to mean "heartsick, anxious." Either way, the advertiser stands guilty of violating BOTH Yiddish and SNL Yinglish. Neat trick!
(BTW, The Vortsman joins many others in hoping that the Jewish Journal finally learns that mentsh, meaning a decent person, is NOT the same as the German "mentsch," meaning just a person. And that the Yiddish plural is mentshn, NOT the horrific "mentsches." Brrrrrrrrr!)
Finally, and in the realm of genealogy, a brief return to the matter of satirically-chosen family names after Catherine the Great forced them upon the millions of Jews acquired in the partitions of Poland. We noted in the last column that some of our largely impoverished forebears chose family names denoting great wealth, related to precious metals and stones: gold, zilber (silver), diment (diamond), etc. Our own maternal grandfather's family chose Perlman (pearl man). Interestingly, the family name of a recent honoree of the National Lawyers Guild's local chapter -- and of a bas mitsve in The Sholem Community -- is Manpearl. Our wild guess would be that, in that family's shtetl, when the name Perlman was adopted by another family, this one found a way to keep the idea by reversing the order of the syllables.
Sarcasm and ingenuity: a tayere metsiye -- such a deal!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 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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3780 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1000 | Los Angeles, CA | 90010
Telephone: 213.389.8880 | Fax: 213.365.0702 | info@yiddishkayt.org
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