DER YIDDISH-VINKL March 26, 2004
For anyone interested in the development of Yiddish culture as embodied and reflected in Yiddish literature, Miriam Weinstein’s “Yiddish: A Nation of Words” will prove to be an interesting, intriguing and insightful masterpiece. Published by the Steerforth Press, this 300-page volume overflows with the tam of Yiddish.
Each of the 19 tasty chapters is introduced by a short bit of Yiddish (in the Hebrew alphabet) with a transliteration into the Roman alphabet and an English translation. Individually and collectively, they sum up the substance and spirit of the book. She introduces the book as a whole with the following excerpt from a poem by Abraham Sutzkever:
Un vi der uralter kerndl
Vos hot zikh farvandlt in zang —
Veln di verter oykh nern,
Veln di verter gehern
Dem folk, in zayn eybikn gang.
And like the ancient kernel
That transformed itself in the stalk —
The words will also nourish,
The words which belong
To the people, on their eternal journey.
The following can be found in the first chapter, “Long as the Jewish Exile”:
A yid hot lib dem geshmak fun a yidish vort in zayn moyl.
A Jew likes the taste of a Yiddish word in his mouth.
The second chapter, “Poland: Rest Here,” offers a philosophical rationale for the many pains Jews suffered in Poland:
Falshe fridn iz beser vi a rikhtike krig.
A bad peace is better than a good war.
It says in the introduction to the chapter titled “Russia: Kissed by a Thief”:
Nokh a kish fun a ganef, tseyl iber dayne tseyn.
If you’re kissed by a thief, count your teeth.
In the chapter titled “Europe: Life From the Ashes,” that discusses the revival of Jewish life and literature in Europe after the Holocaust, these words from Jacob Pat provide the introductory quotes:
Ikh hob gezen toyzynter yidn vos yeder eyner fun zey iz a tzapldike tragedye oder an umgleyblekher nes.
I’ve seen Jews in [the] thousands, and every one of them is a fresh tragedy or a miracle of survival.
All of the above is intended to whet our readers’ appetites for a delicious, delightful discourse on Yiddish.
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