One More Curtain Call: A New Translation of American Yiddish Poetry
RIEMER, JACK
One More Curtain Call A New Translation of American Yiddish Poetry Oh, let me through to the joy of the Yiddish word. Give me whole, full days. Tie me to it, weave me in, Strip me of all...
...Nevertheless, they were involved with and responded to every stream of thought in the literature around them...
...You stroked the heads of children...
...Somewhere far, somewhere far away Lies a prisoner, lies alone...
...And you—touch wood—you're already a year-and-a-half And what will become of you...
...vdnV i>Vi>i 'i cik uvt m in-pa p-ixivtf iinx .pm x b'b — "UXT'iJXJ px 1" x ps OinX p'1X ?"jip-nyaBi>xin x pD jxs p'pi p'ix ycx...
...As through a funnel The sun dripped...
...I admit: there are no annual fairs Here in the big city...
...Teller immigrated to the United States from Galicia at age 9. By the time he was 22, he had published two books of poetry, Symbols and Miniatures...
...Was the soap stinging your eyes...
...But must it be only eggs or chickens one steals...
...How can a Yiddish poet not, When the destruction is enormous, So enormous...
...I had not thought of it that way before, but, of course, the thesis is correct...
...Today the first snow descended...
...Leivick was world-famous, yet he earned his living as a wallpaper hanger...
...It has helped to rectify the situation that Leyeles lamented when he wrote 50 years ago: "So many years in America, such a literature created here—and still we remain strangers to our neighbors, as if we had lived in Siam or had written in some Eskimo dialect...
...You ran like a grotesque phantom...
...For ten years he lived an assimilated lifestyle there, writing and speaking in German, until he returned home at the age of 22...
...Truly— The question gnaws like a gnat in my brain, The question eats at my heart like a worm...
...You overpaid him...
...He lived a passionate life, writing and speaking out as a radical on political topics...
...Even if Yiddish were not going to live on, it was an act of faith with them, and after the Holocaust writing in Yiddish became an act of affirmation* Caplan explained...
...Excerpt from I Am Coming to You Jacob Glatshteyn, 1929 Slender, middle-aged woman Watch out for the night Which paints your face with years...
...ps ixn -px oxn ixd px • .pix'-iinrp yv_a px Vxa x |xb or imo -px m Song of the Yellow Patch H. Leivick, circa 1940 How does it look, the yellow patch With a red or black Star-of-David On the arm of a Jew in Naziland— Against the white ground of a December snow...
...Tell me, how did you reach the moment That poured down on you Like a sunny rain On the eve of your grandfather's Passover...
...When he was 17, Leivick joined the Bund, the Jewish Social Democratic party, which stood for propagating the Yiddish language rather than Hebrew...
...They are gone now—but not quite...
...A narrow street...
...We shall surely take it along with us when we go to that conversation on the banks of the Jordan a thousand years from now...
...Tie me to it, weave me in, Strip me of all vanities...
...He was arrested at the age of 18 for belonging to the Bund and was sentenced to six years of forced labor...
...De old kike from stinkin' Polan' dragged wit' 'im Some yaysh-may-rabberry—** To hel vit it—dats right...
...Send crows to feed me, bestow crumbs on me, A leaking roof and a hard bed...
...But when I see that my son Doesn't have the slightest respect— He stands across from me With a paw to his ear, like a grown-up Who pretends to be deaf— Then I can see with my own eyes That nothing will come of him, And I have to shout...
...trm ps ir\sw ]ix rn -1x3 ,n»3'!» pi nsn Baxnaxa m si^a y^n ix D' 13H DSn ."jXDSX D1H T>X '11 .d'hk 1XB 37"?X BD1X11 — bd'id x r?n px ]xu iwxnBD x d'x ys rims px ,3h'» X D'B 'T B9XBX3 ]1k H37T3X "pi 13...
...The only difference is that their contributions and creations were in Yiddish and, perhaps for this reason, ignored...
...Why not silk and velvet from the big warehouses...
...Breaking away from his traditional roots, Leivick began composing his poetry in Yiddish...
...Many children of immigrants to the United States had developed a contempt for Yiddish and all that it implied—the narrowness of ghetto life—so that these poets were under no illusions that Yiddish would become a second language as it was in Europe "But even so, and this is the point their deepest inspiration was in Yiddish," Caplan maintains "I believe that at least for Glatshtyn, even if no one were to read a single line he wrote, he would have gone on writing in Yiddish...
...Instead of offering a few poems from each of many poets, as most anthologies do, this book * With the assistance of Kathryn Hellerstein, Brian McHale and Anita Norich...
...Children shouted Under the windows...
...How would it look, a yellow patch With a red or black Star-of-David On the arms of my wife and my sons, On my own arm— On the white ground of a New York snow...
...Waddya mean kadesh...
...Thought burst upon you Suddenly like this...
...mo njiorT ix n,-a ?jxu dms' n»d»n oxn i»n»j rx 'n nypw n tjasnasi uxn pnxs Vcn en .mxs px 'X pi px ox'^ayiD'ix th px pxn pix1...
...Of course it's mine...
...The book begins with a remarkable assertion: Yiddish literature represents the most * Excerpt from The Joy of the Yiddish Word by Jacob Glatshteyn ** American Yiddish Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology, Benjamin and Barbara Harshav, eds...
...B'iV tn !tt 1BOXH un — :Vip js'in T.XB jxt x VxT ni...
...What melody was tangled up in your head On that morning...
...Leivick was brought up in Byelorussia, and received a formal Jewish education at a yeshiva where the principal introduced him to secular books in Hebrew...
...And why should we escape with mere words...
...d'ix o'j u»:p -px oxn ixd ,x' -pn ix-iuu> ,nu?n p'p isp-ix'-v: d^yuVsT qi?:id ,'ro nxa p'p un "iu...
...When I find them, I'll send them to you And you will hide them in a book of poetry Next to dry petals of first love . . . Malka Heifetz-Tussman (1896-) Malka Heifetz-Tussman was awarded the Itsik Manger Prize for Yiddish Poetry in 1981...
...The devil take them...
...n px p'ni om a'1...
...Where else have I seen such a bloody war Between age and childishness, as on your face...
...In this book, Benjamin and Barbara Harshav* have brought them back for one more curtain call...
...They wrote about the subways and the harbor, the blacks and the Indians, the labor unions and the underworld, the trial of Sacco and Vanzetti and the alienation of the individual in a cold cosmos...
...Born and raised in Russia.she immigrated to the United States at the age of 16 and had her first poems published at age 23...
...Your brother copulated with an eagle...
...This very day go and light a fire, No matter where, But burn—I say—it must...
...He co-edited the journal Yiddish and an anthology of Yiddish writing called Zamlbikher...
...To spite them I'll walk the world As if the world were mine...
...To spite them I will not wail Even if (God forbid) my world becomes As big as where my sole stands— The world will still be mine...
...X ?u>3?-ixp pa vvi bxii —" aainDiwa ijx'jxs 'pruo Dips p'xp r?x n ,373,aXT,',aU'"X'' dxt ".CSn DBXT — U'x U'11 "73771 id But even if I shout and jump out of my skin My son looks at my words As I look at the scum The sea throws up every day And when I try to threaten him and show my fist, He stands there, touches it, and makes a face As if he were the only one in the Land of Tsimtsidrim,* The fist-hero Dirty Dog McCarthy— What a zero he is...
...Why not money...
...ittx-io 'n .pxn oxn bos Dmxn x 'n ittxno 'n ,|VxD»iD'nx uinn rx ":u...
...nn is mp ,'na ypny^a .yp^xVw bdx3 "ixs tt DTI .px1 U'B d'jd ]'H Ba'nttJXa dx11 pBHTI yBiyBJSVsiXD X piyi t1 .bxuw lycra nyn po p"nx n px iBJXTSJ px bs3 X ix utd17j tt axn tx B'yuyDanxD nypny'wB ps bxi "isn ,aynxa py pn jbti Vxt .B,,pB,jyj nyo'ru pn px por...
...Flies buzzed around the net of your sleep...
...His literary achievements include the books In New York and The Golden Peacock...
...If they hindered me, Fenced in my roads, The world would still be mine...
...With vacant eyes you surveyed the sky And strolled on like a madman...
...My father-in-law, for example, also knew Hebrew and could write in Hebrew, but when he really started to write from his heart it was in Yiddish, his mother tongue "Not only was it natural for those poets to write in Yiddish, they did it because they felt a dedication to the language and to its continuity," Leivick said...
...And in this country, all the evidence was against the survival of Yiddish because Yiddish readers were a shrinking group...
...DX1 Djft (Somewhere wanders a man, Deeply covered in snow...
...They knew there was no audience there for them...
...They had to eke out their livings as shoemakers, housepainters, tutors, newspaper writers and printers...
...As a columnist for the weekly Yiddisher Kemfer, Glatshteyn wrote hundreds of essays of literary criticism, book reviews, short stories and opinion pieces...
...As I used to in my childhood.— din nim uVjnii pns) •Osisunuhns n "iu> ps to ]N B'l ID TN 0N11 "INS ,p"INUU> pK N' TD ^nidii...
...He briefly studied law at New York University in 1918, but left to become a writer...
...nn Vxt nanVa yp'DiVa xtx pm ix: tx axn pnyn 'p .Banyj pn tix m B"piyirp px nyuVy pynx ,nn is mp tx .pnysayp ywnxj in ,B"pn]yuunxs ps pnyaons nyn ix .cs yBXuyjDX d'3 "ix: px Tn yaiVp yrn b'b tt V'sw px .px' B'B d'3s pn Bpraw oxn bdx: nyxjxa nyn pn nyBnyn Banyj bdtbix tx axn ns nyn px .tsns TXT t1x ]Vxa tt JTXV 0x11 IP'Bnx in oy tx Vyn prsyj Vyn tx tx nynft ps -pa x px pVxnxa oy Boyn in px .yaft nyauny ps np^ByVa-paiVa yujpnBnxs py1...
...H. Leivick (1888-1962) From an early life of struggle and pain emerged one of the strongest Yiddish poetic voices of the century...
...dst tra .oVsn nsiNi isi ps isnsV yVx isd'n — ixinsB ,ma pN pia x m tnyaiy sixis h .pSH DX1 dos OS1NT1 N '11 S1XTS ~n u^ii pny .u'pi pns) .(SISUNDIXS DX"I "UN1...
...I saw you an entangled deer In the branches of the big city...
...significant segment of 20th-century American literature not written in English...
...pB '11 p; p>« in: 't bsti 'is o'jdhVix "pix -ivirp pxa rmnn -px Vsm .nsnpp pxn -px pxT "T tx 1't pnxVs oxrn d'nn h cyanVix 1'ix u^im pa I'm vb't pxa px In Spite Ma/te Heifetz-Tussman, 1977 You say: ' 'You are a Jew and a poet And you've written no poems On the destruction...
...Several have said that writing in Yiddish was their answer to the Holocaust They had to take it into their poetry and come to terms with it in their poetry, and all of the good ones did this They would have considered it a betrayal to stop writing in Yiddish...
...Most of the poets never even considered whether Yiddish would live on in this country, according to Caplan...
...He was exiled for life to Siberia, but friends who had immigrated to the United States managed to send money so that he could escape...
...A Nobel Prize winner, Isaac Bashevis Singer, delivered his acceptance speech in Yiddish...
...Suddenly—terrified horses Behind you...
...I led you to a bed and said: Let the god of middle-aged understanding Watch over your every move, Let him stand by you in your great skill...
...ni?uu?ni...
...h uxn ?urT# -un uarpsjcix in 77 uxn 'n px .nxupn:xp asn pVxxxa is pi/nxs uoxn u^xxynwx irx uoxn ,"l»v9»p h istii nxur^p v&xsi uoxn .^n'n Din fxusj unxs x jnx j?u'HUtt>s?x o'8 .nin-non x 'n uuxbipvj ns/u'pi px ?jxuixs dw»' uaiVnyj th 7*1 uxn oxn •ix'ja' pn ps ps: onx osanrai pxn jrbs .jmVsp h ipxnunxs uxn uVyp h .nypix 'n uunpsn -pi pxn ]rVs .nyVnx |x u'a btkdm yt uxn isma ppi yjn nsn ix jraxnin luca ,n ,jxt -ih nya'x uj/arVsjn uxn oxn psn nsp'jii x in ?nos-2ny djt't pn px Letter to Sigmund Freud J. L Teller, 1940 How was the weather on that day...
...Or were you in your own room...
...p-ixD pim'x i»Vu'Vi» i'ix "pi pxiB nmrp — ."nB7»j-T'ns u'B u^'Dinix rx usi1...
...I would really like to ask him If he'll recite the Kaddish when I die...
...yVsi x pmonx oVxn m m-pa jnxiup "iinx ,p'n x B'B pi lis ms p?a ps omx pnx — omx oyjyi"x p:a I'lN piK -i»p-ix'-v: x ps |xd p'pi pnx — -wrrwD ,mn px pia x m onaajiy j;jxid 't .pxn dxi boi> amxn x m sixis 'i 7-iyB-iini u'a pn xxv -ixj oxn nxs px DD'Vo-nnnx sVid 'i jxu un oxn ixd px ?mx pnx |XD3x un i>pxu p'Vx px -m-pa p'a i>dxV mitt so-iiwip h .pVisa px 'ii pnx'-v: px m»i-D» ns1...
...This book helps undo the injustice reflected in that quotation...
...Somewhere far, somewhere far away, Lies the land, the forbidden land...
...And how did the part in your hair go...
...px on«w n ?p'?x]xxd1od |'h ]1S yp^ x in .0x1 i^xnw x .uysxpiu |n h uxn n»D suswxVsyx — ossi^s .th Tsurn .pOSDXU JSTSJO'IN pX pxVl?J UCa pjxtin -pix uxn 'nx .th <px UDJJXl'jDHX ?ny»'x px tt ^a nxa twdx px ]»hbw;i pxn nsnrp .ot»si pxn jrix h uxn p^urnyuxp x .nsux^d h isdhik .tVoj^ks x udxxj7j ,D"n ]ix ynxaa prim rx ixu nsn .imu-ixrnsn px "rpiuxV ir» uisujxVsyj in 71 uxn pr: isoxn .dxi-'u ,Dxn-Dxn .oxn-'u ?ns-iinrx dsw ?pmx h jo'aw th i...
...Only then did he reclaim his Yiddish heritage, publishing his first Yiddish poems in the Lemberg Tageblat in 1907 and participating in the first international Yiddish language conference...
...Each poem is printed in Yiddish and in translation, with helpful notes and commentary and a substantive introduction for each poet...
...offers enough selections from these few poets to enable the reader to get some appreciation of their talent in depth...
...A degradation to write "Sorrow" on paper...
...Dedicated to Yiddish education, she taught in a Yiddish school in Milwaukee in the 1920s, and at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles...
...u'ni pris) .pyiraxsitt x nw px vrb jpv ps px pnx' pa .orrox po .istibjj uxi x — ,-ii'r^B sn'V nm bx ixs Bn -pa is-iow — ,unm:x ovbs ixs x' -pa ix-iuu...
...m-pa pnasTiu-opsT art naN tin - sun:" liftsj isi ps :po-pN jpnasV^p dsi .iixV-nypiyn px pN-iw ip'uiansi is dstn nsnns p"msn px p'ft is px Disn-Din" nsrmx ps pxutz...
...Even after it was clear that Hebrew would be the official language in Israel, these poets chose to write in Yiddish...
...Jacob Glatshteyn (1896-1971) 1 , Raised in a strict Orthodox Jewish household in Lublin, Poland, Glatshteyn was nevertheless introduced to modern Yiddish poetry by his permissive father early in life...
...Do's and Don'ts—reference to the 613 positive and negative precepts governing all of Orthodox Jewish life...
...Vnt — yx jxt — piina nx: Bimnms x pn tb «a n,xi Boim n — tx jxt — Bnxn px ,l?ppXnSB1J '11 tt ]BVbp DX11 .BllTT B'B nixVnsBXD yp'^n oxn anx px ,jnp x p'siN Bim BiVa ]sxnB pir nxs ¦pVanxnuiNnxs pn tb luoim .nVyn x pynnx ps Excerpt from My Only Son Moyshe-Leyb Halpern, 1934 And if I talk nicely to my son—what good does it do...
...It will make for many interesting discussions on that day...
...O dear God, God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, Scold me not for this love of mine— Scold me for something else— Scold me for not kneading This wonderful snow of New York into a Moses, For not building a Mount Sinai of snow...
...i>uxV iiiViu isn pyn v1...
...His first book was published in 1921, seven years after he came to the United States...
...Flies kissed you like sugar...
...That was the kind of love they felt for it...
...Glatshtyn was very conscious of himself as a contemporary poet One of his famous remarks was 'As a poet I need to know W. H. Auden...
...ix .pmn ps isua'h -issn" x oxi pp ,-n era pn "?p-nn nsn rx o'nj 'its :u11»D .nyoo'rnsD "h cyanVix 'yix .n'omoa iw'ti o': -px 'jsn csan^is «ps cvanVix tik .nvnu pa p^iunxcix nuna x) (TSND I'lK "lyno" D'yanVix *pix ¦m oVsn isn i'n pianx t-n ^im .»r?a uVnii prai n ! rr:a 'xmx ?pi oyasm ,pyuu> tb pB usm pjm H TO p»'1x"IND .sr^n pi yVx -|io n osn ?yr?a B'3 — pixn py»!r B'j -px Vim cyanVix *px i^sn pn nWn u^sm pa jib -ra n D"1j H p»Tl TO TX «px V^VW DiJTl V1...
...These were actors who performed brilliantly before they made their exit from an empty hall...
...To spite them I'll marry off my children That they shall have children— To spite the villains who breed In my world And make it narrow For me...
...x b'b — ana rx ny tx .Vsbbhx om uaxa oxn .-pViirsn'^xa nxn -px vt ,pn u->: p'p d'x pS bsti'o tx .|xb "nwin x pup nxn 7s na ! jrViBBxrs in ,onx nxi ni?n — : -px jxt .IvVnyBiix nyp x p'j tb ibdVnt Bi".n n,xi ,in p'Bam b1...
...x spin pa na nsax'X ?»PXD UVSJ b'J oxn nXD ?pyjxV sens n ps bi>bxd px Tn b1: oxn nxs ,wb my 'p ]Bi»an px nVxj b'j dxii nNS sains oniny: pynx ainx -pi pxw osn !"t ix'' ni?Bxrs x — ?pVirnw px ni>i"B pi -im Bxrro tx ,m -px pn nx: ,Bn ^wsx ponra Din pypBis to nsTix 'pnm n,xi nn bVsbw ni...
...The Yiddish writers in the United States responded to all the same challenges and participated in all the same streams, schools and styles that other American writers did...
...Wait—I say—I'll make you into a president, With hands sticky as glue, And if the holy fatherland Goes to war, You'd better be responsible for every drop of blood From our heroes...
...First of all, in Europe, where there was potentially an audience for their poetry, Hitler destroyed not only six million Jews, he destroyed a whole culture out of which they came and out of which they drew their inspiration...
...Simple: In spite of the destroyers, To spite them I will not cry openly, I will not write down my sorrow On paper...
...tn px .nsonnj x m ,nimx pnx sdx...
...She now lives in Berkeley, California...
...They responded to modernism, socialism, Buddhism, Baudelaire, Villon and Whitman, and, at the same time, carried on a dialogue— that sometimes became a debate—with Maimonides and Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, Rabbi Akiva and other of their Jewish forebears...
...And from a Jewish perspective, Yiddish literature must be seen nol as part of the "world of our fathers," not as part of our nostalgia for the innocent piety of our ancestors, but as part of the "world of their sons...
...The works of several visual artists of the same generation and background are included, to illuminate the poems...
...cvanVix :udjxt n ns?ud,i uca ]is i" oca rt" n»T^ pp un ooa'na...
...Ti-dam, dam-dam, ti-dam...
...The eyes drooped tired...
...Ida Leivick, daughter-in-law of the poet H. Leivick, and a Yiddish enthusiast remembers: "All of the Yiddish writers I knew spoke to each other only in Yiddish—they never spoke English with one another...
...it n»p's3,,s p?a ?jnu oxn — in p?a is pu b'b -im 7s tn nxi pn insixa ,td *pix upip ni...
...Teller's education combined traditional Jewish studies at Herzeliya High School and the Teacher's College of Yeshiva University with a degree from City College of New York and a Ph.D...
...pn px 'ii inipoxa px px ]xi:xb px .mxs px — ixnnxD ,ma px pin x 'n union...
...Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987...
...Why not share in full unity And wear on our own arms The destined yellow patch with the Star-of-David Openly, in New York as in Berlin, In Paris, in London, in Moscow as in Vienna...
...What did you dream that morning...
...The day was cloudy and hot, Full of boredom and expectation...
...Tsunsi'drim—a derogatory nonsense word *• yaysh-may-rabberry—a distortion of the words of the Kaddish, making it close to raspberry...
...In the morning I search in vain for words That can be painted on pink paper...
...Moyshe-Leyb Halpern (1886-1932) Born in eastern Galicia, Moyshe-Leyb Halpern was sent away to Vienna at the age of 12 to study painting...
...Why They Wrote in Yiddish The complexity of early modern poetry is reflected in the work of many of the Yiddish poets, especially Leivick and Glatshtyn," said Marvin Caplan, Yiddish translator and member of the board of Yiddish of Greater Washington...
...piw ninm bxh pnnana nm ni?Bxs p?B ...BlSlWJSnN Ol'n V'lB DXn ,iwv.» pr id^ 1st -ps ixB-nx-Bi^n 1st *n»n i^'ss pns s .jsb dsdv pinuV tt .bVs pw ns1 pbsmmis mxi"p ,n px ?pn Bini oxn px tt-nx' p'p xbwi :rx nax ;bxuu> nsonnj nin px xn tux 'p ?rna nsrn'X .pisan ni...
...My father the cow Has opened his mouth again . . . I tell him: Son, Nowadays even a prince Has to learn how to do something...
...The latest proof that the obituaries for Yiddish are premature is an impressive book, American Yiddish Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology** from the University of California Press...
...Scold me for not really wearing The six-towered Star-of-David And the infinite circle of the yellow patch— To hearten the sons of Israel in Hangman'sLand And to praise and raise our arm With the pride of our ancestral emblem In all the lands of the wide world...
...a young man in Amherst, Masssachusets, has formed a center for the rescue of Yiddish books...
...When he looks at me, he stops just short Of saying aloud: How about that...
...But give me whole, full days, Let me not forget for a moment The Yiddish word.* A Yiddish writer, when told that Yiddish was a dying language, predicted that a thousand years from now Jews will sit together on the banks of the Jordan and talk about this subject—in Yiddish...
...The cold scared your blanket...
...At the height of Yiddish poetry, the Jewish state was created...
...Her poems have appeared in Yiddish journals such as Yiddisher Kemfer, In Zikh and Tint un Feder and she has written several books, among them Poems and Mild My Wild...
...B"7i>BU> ?mssa'S nna nsn px nyp'sr'x njn pjnsj dxt u^xn -iv 'ii — yp^Dxnsunn 'unxpsn iVsnioo'is nsn • rx oxn oxn d'j-ixj pa xtx .a'x ]xu 33ns x p2T jVsa x u^xn -px .B'lU p^a 1x3 jjxt i^ip B3711 13...
...Was it in Paris or in Vienna When inside you, like lightning, struck The Do's and Don'ts* Of your Psychoanalysis...
...JuddL Teller (1912-1972) Known for his political and journalistic talents as well as his poetry, J. L Teller served as editor-in-chief of the Independent Jewish Press Service, political secretary of the American Zionist Organization and founder and director of the Policy Planning and Research Institute of the Synagogue Council of America...
...Rather than trying to include all the poets, the Harshavs have chosen to focus on just a few: A. Leyeles, Yakov Glatshteyn, Moyshe-Leyb Halpern, J. L. TeIler,4\Malka Heifetz-Tussman, Barysh Vaynshteyn and H. Leivick...
...in psychology from Columbia University...
...nmrp 'i 'ii ,-|'x axn — .iVd'd ciin dih a'V -px axn -immxa px u'pi pvj-ii...
...Glatshteyn proved to be one of the most experimental of the Yiddish poets, intertwining colloquial folk Yiddish with modern intellectual rhythms...
...The decision by American Jews to write in Yiddish was a revolutionary movement, a break with the past, as much of a revolt as socialism or Zionism or the immigration to America...
...I say: Listen, you son of the dark...
...In 1908, Halpern came to the United States...
...Truly— The question gnaws like a gnat in my brain, The question eats at my heart like a worm...
...An organ-grinder Milked a folk-song...
...Auden does not have to know me.' But poets like Glatshtyn were very much aware of themselves as Yiddish poets...
...With this book, the University of California Press has made a major contribution to the understanding of an insufficiently known part of the American experience...
...It was the movement of visionaries who dreamed of creating an alternative to the tradition, who were as naive and unrealistic as those who thought Hebrew could be revived, or that Palestine could be rebuilt as a Jewish nation, or that socialism could be achieved...
...Why not gold and diamonds from those people Who sneak around among poor Negroes And swindle...
...and there is a center for the study of Yiddish at Oxford...
...Children are gliding on sleds in the park, The air is filled with clamor of joy.— Like the children, I love the white snow, And I have a special love for the month of December...
...Truly— The question gnaws like a gnat in my brain, The question eats at my heart like a worm...
...With how many colors did sunset burn...
...From an American perspective, American Yiddish poetry must be seen as an unjustly neglected branch of American literature, a kaleidoscope of American experience and art, unfortunately entombed in yellow, crumbling JACK RIEMER books, in the silence of its own nearly dead language...
...It was the first book of Yiddish poetry written entirely in free verse...
...American Yiddish writers had no university chairs and no sponsors...
...You silly warrior, I am coming to you, To the priestess of understanding, And I play with your wise words and still fresh legs All through the night that rouges your face with years...
...You forgot to pay the conductor...
Vol. 13 • July 1988 • No. 5
