(no subject)

[skygiants]

A month or two ago, I went to the Yiddish Book Center for an archives conference that happened to be hosted there.

The idea of collecting Yiddish books was first conceived of by Aaron Lansky in the late 1970s, when Yiddish books were being thrown away by the thousands as a generation of Yiddish-speaking immigrants were starting to die and leave their possessions to children who didn't see a point in keeping a lot of books around that they couldn't read. Lansky -- at that time a graduate student in Eastern European Jewish Studies who was having a near-impossible time actually getting his hands on any Yiddish books to read -- put out a call in his hometown that if people were thinking of throwing away their Yiddish books, they should send them to him instead. Pretty soon, the story goes, his parents called to tell him that he had to figure out another solution because they were fairly sure the second floor of their house was about to cave in from the weight of the books that people were passing onto them. The Book Center, as it now exists, seeks out Yiddish books and digitizes them; sorts titles to identify unique ones; provides copies of Yiddish books to other libraries; runs a translation program to print Yiddish titles in English; and runs cultural and educational programs, among a bunch of other stuff.

I can't speak Yiddish -- it's a language lost to me by several generations -- but I've been starting to look into classes; I'd give a lot to be able to read Yiddish books. Until then, the next-best thing is reading about Yiddish books, so I put Aaron Lansky's Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued a Million Yiddish Books on library reserve.

Anway, last weekend aquamirage and I went to go see the Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof, and it was amazing, and all my Yid-lit feelings came roaring to the surface again. I came home and immediately picked up Outwitting History, which turns out to be a relatively light and cheerful collection of anecdotes about salvaging a language and culture that has at several points throughout the 20th century been the target of brutal and deliberate extinction. This is entirely in keeping with the general tone of Yiddish literature, which is often funny and depressing and uplifting and pessimistic all at once. (After seeing Fiddler, aquamirage said, 'I knew the whole plot but I didn't know how funny it was going to be!') So, you know. Come for the cute stories about enthusiastic elderly Jews stuffing the faces of bemused book-collectors with kugel and borscht, but stay for stuff like the first shipment of Yiddish books back to the Soviet Union after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Comments

[sovay]

I can't speak Yiddish -- it's a language lost to me by several generations -- but I've been starting to look into classes; I'd give a lot to be able to read Yiddish books.

If you have even a moderately working knowledge of German and any ability to read the Hebrew alphabet, you will not find Yiddish difficult. If you have only one of those things, you will still not find Yiddish that difficult. If you don't have either, you are invested in the subject and you will be fine!

This is entirely in keeping with the general tone of Yiddish literature, which is often funny and depressing and uplifting and pessimistic all at once.

+1.

[skygiants]

I have no knowledge of German but some ability to read the Hebrew alphabet! And I may have found a moderately affordable class, assuming they offer it in the spring. I'd like to be able to go to the Yiddish Book Center and buy one of the actual Yiddish books.

[sovay]

And I may have found a moderately affordable class, assuming they offer it in the spring.

Cool! I hope it works out.

(I can read Yiddish, but I am not conversationally fluent; I was exposed to its sound as a child, because of my grandparents, but I'm self-taught as far as the actual language goes. I do sing in Yiddish.)

[allchildren]

*barges in*

Hello! can you also read handwritten Yiddish? I have a mysterious photograph inscription that needs translation, if you're up for it.

[sovay]

Hello! can you also read handwritten Yiddish? I have a mysterious photograph inscription that needs translation, if you're up for it.

To be honest, I am not good with cursive Hebrew letters, but if you are comfortable with me getting back to you on an indefinite timeline, I am happy to look at it and see what I can do. What's the provenance?

[allchildren]

It came from a collection of photos of my great-grandfather Isador and his sisters Rebecca and Sadie, who were Ukrainian Jewish immigrants to Los Angeles. Please, take all the time in the world!!!! :o

[jadelennox]

If you want I can recommend the translator I used although he wasn't cheap. But it wouldn't cost that much for a single photograph. I tried translating my own handwritten Yiddish stuff, but it turns out the spelling was so idiosyncratic that my own feeble Yiddish knowledge plus Google translate wasn't enough to do the job. Ironically, I know 0 Polish, and yet I did much better translating the bits of Polish on the same documents.

[tree_and_leaf]

Yeah, I have no Hebrew, but I speak good German and I can often get the gist of spoken or transliterated Yiddish. It's a fascinating language!

[seekingferret]

A friend of mine is involved in this site, which I have not really checked out, but I gather involves making educational children's cartoons that teach Yiddish; http://www.yiddishpop.com/

[skygiants]

Oh, cool! I will have to check that out.

[kore]

Wow, I need that book.

[skygiants]

It's worth the read!

[tree_and_leaf]

A friend of mine is raising her child bilingual Yiddish (though children's books are a bit of a problem. They are observant, but pretty progressive Conservative - she's a rabbi -, and Yiddish literature for kids tends to skew ultra-Orthodox and politically conservative).

[skygiants]

That's really cool!

...and if it helps, the Yiddish Book Center has a Yiddish children's lit collection...

[allchildren]

Oh no, I am having every feeling.

[skygiants]

Visiting the place itself was an absolute feelings deluge

[obopolsk]

There are a bunch of Yiddish summer camps, too! They've always sounded really fun.

[skygiants]

I'm not gonna lie, I was thinking about applying for the writer's workshop thing they do (it's only a week! It's free!)

[obopolsk]

Ooh, you should!

[jadelennox]

that is so cool. I keep meaning to get out there; I've seen Aaron Lasky speak and he was very inspiring. I am arguably only one generation away from Yiddish (it was the language my father argued with my grandparents in, when none of them wanted us to know what they were yelling about, and the more I learn about my family history the more I wonder if he was basically true bilingual as a kid), but I know very little myself.

Last year I had a whole pile of letters in Yiddish professionally translated, between my great-grandmother and various members of her family, some of whom I'm almost positive were murdered by Nazis. It's complicated because of course it didn't occur to me to do this until the entire generation who knew the facts was dead. Also I've been sometimes watching YidLife Crisis, Which is cute, in which makes me realize I know a lot more Yiddish than I thought I did.

[skygiants]

It was pretty amazing to visit. Standing there in the library in the middle of shelves and shelves full of Yiddish books -- I wish it was closer, I think I would go there a lot just to be there.

I had not heard of YidLife Crisis, so thank you for the link! I'm glad you have the letters, though I can imagine the complicated feelings involved around the whole thing.

(I have a bunch of English-language letters from my grandmother to her long-term lover, who settled in Israel after the war, that I still haven't read all of and really need to.)