Yiddishkayt in December 

 

Sholem Aleykhem!   

 

Last month, we told you a little bit about our plans for next summer, including our student travel experience, the Helix Project, and this month we introduce Yiddishkayt Expeditions, our brand-new program offering innovative and educational travel adventures to the historical heartlands of Jewish life in Eastern and Central Europe, read all about it below.

 

And, as always, there's plenty of exciting music and performances all around L.A. this month. Hope you can come and enjoy some of this winter's festivities.

 

a likhtikn khanike!

best wishes for a bright khanike!

     Yiddishkayt

 

P.S. If you're interested in finding out more about our historical Yiddish images at the top of YidBits, check out Yiddishkayt in History, below.

DECEMBER 2011
YidBits Vol. 6 No. 12 
a bisl yiddishkayt
In This YidBits
Yiddishkayt Expeditions
The Klezmatics in L.A.
Der Vortsman
Klezmer Around Town
Yiddishkayt in History
yiddishkayt expeditions
Yiddishkayt Expeditions is heading out this summer!

This August, we'll discover traces of the lost world described so vividly between the covers of Yiddish books in the historic heartland of Jewish life on our premiere travel adventureYiddishkayt Expeditions.

Fall in love with Lvov next summer
We're offering two unique itineraries. One tour will take you to the Cradle of Jewish Theater and Song through Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, the second to the birthplaces of modern Jewish literature In the Footsteps of Jewish Writers through the Pale of Settlement's great metropolis, Kiev, and the old Austro-Hungarian provinces of Galicia and Bukovina, today found in Ukraine.

As we travel through the towns and villages that once held thriving Jewish populations, the traces of yiddishkayt are palpable, just waiting to be explored. Along the expedition, you will hear the echoes of cities and shtetlekh once full of Jewish life, and take in the sights and sounds of the alter heym (our "old country"), 
a land of often surprising natural beauty, with winding rivers, golden plains, and lush mountain pathways. Plus, you can always opt to hop off the tour for a personally-guided exploration of the shtetl, city, or village your ancestors lived in for centuries, customized and arranged through our tour operation staff. Visit yiddi.sh/expeditsye for more details and to reserve your spot.

 

the klezmatics
The Klezmatics
The Klezmatics at Disney Hall 12.19.11
at the Los Angeles Philharmonic
12.19.11 * 8:00 P.M.
Walt Disney Concert Hall
111 South Grand Avenue 
Los Angeles 90012 

 

The Klezmatics, reigning superstars of the klezmer world, headline a khanike-time concert on Monday, December 19. Blending sounds from aching shtetl melodies to raucous Latin stomps, soulful boogie-woogie, and Yiddish labor songs, the Klezmatics present a contagious celebration of the holiday, from their ebullient Jewish roots to Woody Guthrie's "Happy Joyous Hanukkah." The evening is part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's annual Deck the Hall series of holiday presentations.

The performance starts at 8 p.m. at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Click below to see and hear The Klezmatics sing "Holy Ground," with lyrics by Woody Guthrie and music by Frank London.
The Klezmatics sing Holy Ground
The Klezmatics sing "Holy Ground"

Der Vortsman
tsurikgeredt

The flow of inquiries from YidBits readers has slowed to a trickle -- that's not a Yiddish word, though it sounds like one (more on that subject here). We might conclude, optimistically, that all our readers have had all their questions answered. Or, pessimistically, that there aren't many readers out there.

 

Cup Oats
However (in Yiddish: tsurikgeredt - reverse-talk), Der Vortsman can depend 
Pioneer Capote
on true linguists in academia, loyal readers, who are always ready to comment on his meanderings and offer helpful advice that becomes grist for this column.
So it was with last month's discussion of the long coats worn by both ultra-Orthodox Jews, called kaPOtes in Yiddish, and by Anglo-Saxon pioneer-era re-enactors who call them cap-OATS in English. 

 

We surmised that the word came from Latin to French and into Yiddish, where the accent shifted. Not quite so, an academic linguist emailed: the direct source of the Yiddish word, and its accented second syllable, is Polish. Once again, we stand corrected and, thereby, informed.


  

In the course of that e-exchange, Der Vortsman used the term mishteyns gezogt and inquired as to its origin. Herewith the learn�d reply, translated into English:   

Tell it to the Stone
May It Be Spoken to the Stone

 

"'mishteyns gezogt,' which is now used as a means of dismissing something, was apparently an earlier synonym of 'nebekh' or 'nisht do gedakht' (see below*). 

 

It stems from 'dem shteyn zay es gezogt,' i.e., may it be spoken to (directed at) a stone, not at us."

 

Tsurikgeredt, the YidBits editor pointed us to Alexander Harkavy's indispensable Yiddish-English-Hebrew dictionary, which gives the same sympathetic meaning but adds, in a footnote, that the expression is "possibly an erroneous" transfer into Yiddish of the Polish niestety (alas), [na] nieszczęście (unfortunately). Hmm, there's that Polish connection again. So, how did a term of sympathy (he's sick; it's a pity) turn into one of dismissal (he's sick; you call that a sickness)? We'll leave that one to the socio-linguists. 

 

*nebekh=a pity 

*nisht do gedakht=not to be even thought of here 

*mishteyns gezogt in a sentence: "In the debate, the candidates showed off their knowledge, mishteyns gezogt."  

 


Meanwhile, Der Vortsman seized upon an opportunity to assist an academic linguist (not involved with Yiddish) who asked for back-translations of three Yiddish sayings that she had only in an English text. This was for an elementary school project called Stories of PLACE (People, Language, Art, Culture, Environment). 

 

If a Horse had Anything to Say...
Ven dos ferd volt gehat vos tsu zogn...

The three sayings were: 

  • If a horse had anything to say, he would speak up; 
  • Light is especially appreciated after the dark;
  • Trees bend only when young.

We provided: 

  • ven dos ferd volt gehat vos tsu zogn, volt es geredt; 
  • dos likht vert tayerer ven es vert finster; 
  • nor yunge beymelekh beygn zikh.


The first of those was found in Nokhem Stutshkof's magisterial Oytser - Thesaurus - of the Yiddish Language; we stabbed at re-rendering the other two.


Is there anyone out there who knows the actual Yiddish sayings and can provide sources? Both linguists and mentshn fun a gants yor - year 'round people, i.e., common folk - are welcome to weigh in.   

 


Finally, back in the Dark Ages of this column, we had opined that "tweet," the then-new word in cyberspace, had a Yiddish cognate: tsvistshe. Now that Yiddishkayt is on Twitter (are you a follower?), we noticed that the Twitterer-in-Chief (the Twit?) uses tsvitshe. Compare the two carefully. 

Tsvitshe

Armed with unshakeable childhood memories, we turned to all the dictionaries to prove which of us was right. Turns out that childhood memories aren't necessarily reliable. A lesson for us all...   

 

Kedey tsu zen di gantse rubrik funem vortsman...

For Der Vortman's complete column, visit  yiddi.sh/vortsman.
 
Yiddish Music around L.A.      

  

Mostly KosherMostly Kosher
12.18.11 * 7:00 P.M.
Eagle Rock Center for the Arts
5222 Colorado Boulevard 
Los Angeles 90041


Yiddishkayt is most proud to present Mostly Kosher -- a klezmer band based here in Southern California, but with the feel of a 1930s radio show broadcast from New York's Lower East Side. Directed by the multi-talented clarinetist, pianist and singer, Leeav Sofer, Mostly Kosher is already making a name in the klezmer world.  Leeav is joined by Janice "Rachele the Matchmaker" Mautner Markham on violin as well as Casey Solow, Mike King, Will Brahm, Adam Levy, Josh Friedman and Sean Fitzpatrick.

 

Join the studio audience for the taping of the Klezmer Music and More! radio show hosted by Leeav Sofer and the Mostly Kosher band. Refreshments will be served (including a chocolate fountain)! $15 for students, seniors, and groups; $20 for general admission. For tickets and more information, visit yiddi.sh/mostlykosher.

  

An Evening of Yiddish Song with Cindy Paley
12.22.12 * 7:30 P.M.
Valley Yiddish Culture Club * Adat Ari El 
12020 Burbank Boulevard
Valley Village 91607
 

The Valley Chapter of the Los Angeles Yiddish Culture Club is hosting a special khanike event with the acclaimed singer and recording artist Cindy Paley for An Evening of Yiddish Song with refreshments following the program. No charge for members and those under 21; Guests: $5.00.

 

 

Khanike Klezmer Kabaret
12.22.11
A Khanike Celebration with friends, families, and members of Los Angeles Yiddish culture and Klezmer organizations. Klezmorim will be converting what by day is a funky Silverlake architecture studio into a potluck Klezmer Kabaret. For more information and to RSVP, visit yiddi.sh/khanike.

 

You can always keep up with klezmorim around town by visiting our calendar of Yiddish and Klezmer music events at yiddi.sh/laklezmer. 

 

HistoryHistorical Yiddishkayt
The image at the top of this month's YidBits comes from the 1923 Vegvayzer far emigrantn (Guide for Emigrants), published by OZE. OZE, which originally stood for Obshchestvo zdravookhraneniia evreev (Society for the Protection of Jewish Health), was founded in Russia in 1912 to provide healthcare to Jewish adults and children. Its offices were moved to Berlin in 1923, and to Paris in 1933, where the acronym remained the same even as the language changed, becoming L'Œuvre de secours aux enfants (Society for the Aid of Children). The guide featured ship schedules and advertisements for shipping companies like this one for the White Star Lines. This ad features a sketch of the RMS Olympic above their office addresses in Wilno and Warsaw. The note on the right reads: 
 
"Equipped for communication with North America, Canada, and South America -
vasily grossman
 The world-renowned great ships such as the: Majestic, Olympic, Homeric and other ships that are famed throughout the world for their speed of travel, their safety, and their comfort. Regular transport of passengers in the ports of Danzig, Bremen, Antwerp, Cherbourg, Liverpool, Southampton. Leaving every week. Various information available at no cost."
 
Like us on Facebook for more Yiddishkayt history, including our new feature Today in Yiddishkayt, where you can find out all about major figures and events in the history of yiddishkayt throughout the world. 
Today, we honor the Soviet Jewish writer Vasily Grossman, who was born December 12, 1905.

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