what’s worth reading in yiddish today, a nd why should we care?

What’s worth reading in Yiddish today, and why should we care?

Zackary Sholem BergerYiddish House LLC

Zackarysholemberger.com

Greenfield InstituteJuly 11, 2011

A digression

Which famous Yiddish writer is this?

Kant’s Esthetics (courtesy Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

• Judgments of taste –Disinterested–Universal–Necessary–Purposive without purpose

Why do we need an esthetic to decide what to read?

• We are mortal• Amount of written material >> time we have

to read• Esthetics is about judgments, and judgments

make us human• It beats reading book reviews• Or you could just buy my books (available

later)

My esthetic

• I believe in language more than I believe in ideology• I have little patience for prose• I have more patience for poetry• Jewish literature is integral to being a

modern Jew

Can you really say that one writer is better than another?

• Yes!• Here are the writers I think are the *best*

today writing in Yiddish– You are going to ask the following questions• Who are you to say?• Big fish – small pond?!• Aren’t you leaving someone out?• I haven’t heard of any of these people!• Where can I buy their books?

Characteristics of Yiddish literature today

• Miniature• Ultra-Orthodox• Anonymous• Male

Characteristics of Yiddish literature today

• International• Multicultural• Disconnected• Academic

10: Yitskhok Luden

Yitskhok Luden

• Editor of Lebnsfragn• Author of volume of art criticism• Political columnist for Forverts• Two-volume selected essays

recently published• Hopeful cynic

9: Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman

Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman

Autumn Song, by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (trans. Squiddoo.com)

See, it's fall, and all that was green is yellow, withered.

See, it's fall and all that bloomed is gone.

And I, who thought spring would last forever, since in my hand I hold eternity.

Chorus: Oh, falling leaves, flying days!How will I wander now when thick fog settles on my

way?

8. Rivka Basman Ben-Haim

A poem by Rivka Basman – Ben-Haim

פארוויינטע קעמלען אירגרעסער איז מידבר מייןהייסער איז מידבר מיין

מקנא ניט זייט אוןמידבר מיין האט פארברענט

מארגאנא פאטא זיין

You Weeping Camels

Ir kemlen farveynte You weeping camelsMayn midber iz greser My desert is largerMayn midber iz heyser My desert is hotterUn zayt nit mekane And don’t be jealousFarbrent hot mayn midber My desert burned upZayn fata morgane. Its fata morgana.

modified from Z. Kahan-Newman, Women in Judaism 2006;2

7: Alexander Shpiglblatt

6. Yoel MatveevSlalom:

a guy in a crimson parkawholly outsmarted all of Newton's laws--terror, a sudden crash

then a deadly fall.

Red:in the mouths of alpine eagles.Red is dawn but rust is even redder.Where life grows steeper and sweeter,where fear is the closest of fellows

sway always the bells of death.

Circles:you cannot complete the full circle.

Go ahead, make your jump as you're falling.Let's slide down with the doors wide open.Let's get lost, let's burn all bridges.

Roads:

They stretch on with a song along themOf lying dead and about flying,Always clamped tight between night and dawning:Roads are the truth. Homes are a lie.

5. Leye Robinson

Number 5: Leye Robinson‘Remembered’…How the word

reverberatesThrough the world of

humans, and beyond!

Wild bears growl:“He talked with us as

if he wereBorn brother to the

bears.”

Sea waves clapTheir foam-scalloped,

jeweled hands,And reminisce:“The secret longingsHidden in our hearts

of storm—he felt them.”

Oak trees creak:“His rhapsodies

return,Whenever red, or

green, or golden leaves

Whirl madly in the wind.”

4. Yisroel Nekrasov

A poem by Yisroel NekrasovA sparrow is chirping on a treeStuck-up ducks are splashing in the pondSpring's now put in suddenlyan appearance, the world is newly bare. And

the pump, waking with a squeak, startsbending to black water with its neck.A sun's dropping down into the welland the soul rips itself from the chest.

3. Boris Sandler

An excerpt from a story by Boris Sandler (trans. Di Tsukunft)

Or take the widely distributed announcement that you can see these days, it seems to me, in every language spoken in New York—English, Spanish, Chinese, and Russian—but not in Yiddish. Why? So I was not lazy, and I decided to translate that important announcement, and here’s how it sounds in Yiddish: “In the past year, 1944 New Yorkers have seen something or heard something. If you see something, say something. Let a police officer or a subway employee know about it, or telephone…” I hadn’t managed to finish my work when I heard in my ear the familiar squeaky little voice (when my grandmother got angry, her voice used to get thin and squeaky): “God forbid! Again informing? And they even boast about it! And they even call on you to inform on someone else! It’s a good thing I didn’t live to see such an ugly time!” But I couldn’t just swallow her words so easily, so I answered her: “We’re talking here about terrorists! And you mustn’t coddle terrorists!” Then I hear again: “Informing on someone is all right, but when you give them, the bad people, the murderers, a good

squeeze, you immediately hear on all sides: ‘Human rights! Illegal”’!

2: Dov-Ber Kerler

I’ve got time todayI've got time today so today I won't run around, bustle, or rush I've got time today bags full of moments ripe and fresh That's why it's the apple of my eye— I mean time— because I have so much today piled up high. Short winter Fridays in Jerusalem, don't think to stop or delay themwhere you're kindly lectured by sun's every caress: you've got time today and don't you forget it

Boris Sandler and Dov-Ber Kerler

1: Katle KanyeAnd if you’ll ask me why I’m so furious about this? It’s simple. Even though many of those killed in our catastrophe were God-fearing – nevertheless we took the blessing of ‘Your seed shall multiply like the sand of the sea’ and buried our heads in it. If we don’t admit our problems and do something about it, it’ll go on this way, or our kids will get disgusted with us, like many have already. But if we do admit to them, and tell our kids that the tzaddikim are not our models and the gedolim are not our guides but what it says inthe Torah and the Talmud – with a good bit of the “fifth section of the Shulchan Aruch” and humanity – then maybethere’s hope.

Thirteen O’Clock, by Pini GlauberChasidic yeshivas work to establish curricula in the Litvish fashion, black-hat yeshiva students visit rosh yeshivas for their blessings, Chasidic cantors sing with an American pronunciation, and modern singers spread Chasidic bleacher tunes far and wide.

Automobiles are stuffed with the conveniences of a permanent abode, but no rest is to be found at home. We slave away for a comfortable old age, which is spent idolizing youth and following its path.

We consume kosher for Passover cookies, parve milk, grilled meat made from tuna, raw fish and cooked fruit. We crowd into narrow city houses, but try to flee from them at every opportunity.

A summary: writing and reading in Yiddish

• Who reads?• Who writes?• Who reviews?• Who publishes?• Who cares?

Other writers

What will the future bring?