Azalea nearly fell out of her flowerpot on encountering the lines below in a comic English county house novel:

It has been remarked by the less stupid of psychologists – and that is not saying much – that cunning and intelligence are not often combined. Conversely, as Dr. Nancy Neerly shrewdly remarked, when her assistant at the Hospital for Nervous Diseases, gonophed her microscope, extreme incompetence is often accompanied by cunning.

She banged down the receiver. . . There’s a schlemozzle! Telephone broken down! Saturday night…! And no redress, no aid.

I challenge the reader to guess the year within 10 of the book (answer tomorrow).

In just a few days, the majority of the world will celebrate Christmas. On the 8th day following the day that is set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the secular New Year will be observed.

In preparation for these worldwide celerbations, a local paper shared how to say Merriy Christmas and Happy New Year in 81 different languages.

Now, I don’t know about you. But whenever I see anything like this, I always look to see if we’ve been included.

I am happy to report that not just one but TWO of our languages were represented.

Now before you completely fly off the handle, you should remember that there are about 140,000 Christians who live in Israel. Most of them (about 120,000) are Christian Arabs. Although…I am wondering if Christian Arabs use Hebrew as their vernacular or Arabic. Given that they are living in a predominantly Hebrew-speaking country, it stands to reason that there would be an appropriate greeting in Hebrew.

That being said, this is what our local paper had listed:

Mo’adim Lesimkha and Shanah Tova.

Once I picked myself off of the floor, I remembered that the proper greeting for Christmas should have read:

Chag Molad Sameach. Happy Birth Festival.

The second Jewish language they included was Yiddish.

I have no answer for this one. Are there Yiddish-speakers who celebrate Christmas? Other than Colin Powell?

I’ve read or heard two different meanings attributed to the Buddhist saying, “When the student is ready the master will appear.” The first suggests that the universe is ordered in such a way that things happen when they are supposed to, and that when one is ready for knowledge, that knowledge will be offered by events in the universe (or God). If I am allowed to amplify the meaning slightly, the saying would also refer to the idea that when you are ready, the right person for you might also appear, not just a teacher, but your future love.

I prefer, however, another, more psychological way of thinking about this aphorism: that there are always available “masters” or other persons who might be important in your life, but that the “student” doesn’t notice the presence of those persons until he is ready. Or, to look at a different aspect of this notion, that important knowledge is always or almost always available to us, if only we are open to it, prepared by experience or mind-set to receive it. In other words, we must be ready to learn, to think and feel differently than we have before, in order to recognize that there is something important there to be learned.

Those in life who have all the answers, who are certain of everything, will never learn anything new. Those who are afraid to do new things are unlikely to learn, since in order for the “master to appear” one must have one’s eyes open and actually get out of the house–the master is unlikely to call you on the phone to make an appointment, unsolicited. But if you are humble about what you know, humble in the knowledge that there is always more to learn, you might just learn something. Branch Rickey, the baseball executive, said that “luck is the residue of design.” I’d add to that, so is learning the residue of design. And part of that “design” or preparation is to put yourself into situations where it is possible to be enlightened, whether by people or events or your actions, by books or theater, music or child-rearing or romance.

A good therapist is enlightened his patients. He experiences a whole world, the world of the patient, seen through the patient’s eyes. His patients’ also inform him, directly or by their response to him and to the therapy, what works and what doesn’t.

People in less formal relationships than therapist and client teach us too, and enrich our lives. For example, some people believe that there is only one person who represents our romantic destiny. So, when that person comes along, one might say, by the first definition I gave you at the top of this essay, that the universe or God put this person in our lives at just the right time. There is a Yiddish word that captures this notion nicely: “bashert” or “beshert.” In other words, to be “fated.” It is used when someone tries to say that an event was “meant to be,” and is often used with respect to a reference in the Jewish Talmud that God has chosen your soul mate.

My own opinion, however, is that most of us might have met, fallen in love with, and married any number of good people and had equally good lives as we have with the person who we did marry; different, certainly, but just as good, more or less. That we didn’t marry someone else might have been due to a lack of maturity when that “other” person appeared, poor judgment about the value of the qualities in that person, or fear of rejection and heartbreak, to name just a few possible reasons. If you protect your heart against the poisonous arrows that can break it, you also might just be preventing Cupid’s arrow from reaching it.

One must be open, then, for the right person, for the master, for whatever knowledge or experience might enrich us. Vincent Van Gogh wrote the following to his brother Theo in 1880: “Many a man has a bonfire in his heart and nobody comes to warm himself at it. The passers-by notice only a little smoke from the chimney, and go their way… I am drawn more and more to the conclusion that to love much is the best means of approaching God. Love a friend, anyone, or anything you like, and I tell you, you will be on the right road to learn more. You must love with a high and intense determination, with your will and your intellect, and seek always to deepen, expand, and improve your knowledge…”

Which makes me think of my friend Mel. Mel is an old friend in both senses of the phrase–I’ve known him since the ’70s and he is now 89 years old. Less than two years ago he lost his wife of 50 years and was devastated. But, to his credit he has fought through and grieved his broken heart to the point that he just went on his first date! And so, Mel lives as he always did, learning, taking classes, counseling others, being with his children and grandchildren, making friends young and old; ever curious about politics, music, sports, medicine, and the world. In other words, open to life and whatever it will reveal to him.

My advice then, to you and to myself, is to keep learning and keep being open to “possibility,” including the possibility that there are things yet unseen, unexpected, or unacknowledged that will enlighten us if only we keep our eyes open and look.

We are all students of the greatest teacher of all: life.

This Cabinet card featuring a well dressed couple, offers a bit of mystery. The last owner of this card states that this couple are “Brody Yiddish Singers”. So what does that mean? First of all, Brody is a city in Lviv Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. The city was a crossroads and jewish trade center in the 19th century. Brody is considered to be Shtetls,  Brodersanger, Purim, Jewish theater, CzarAlexander III, Berl Margulis, Berl Broder, one of the “shtetls”. The city was famous for the Brodersanger or Broder singers who were among the first Jews to publicly perform Yiddish songs outside of Purim (a holiday) and wedding celebrations. These performers were the precursors of jewish theater. Due to anti Jewish regulation enacted in 1882 by Czar Alexander III of Russia and the resulting exodus of Russian Jews; throughout 1881 hundreds of Jewish immigrants arrived in Brody daily. The most famous Broder singer was Berl Margulis also known as Berl Broder (1815  -1868). It is not certain that this cabinet card really depicts Broder singers and no evidence is available to support the claim , but it is not unusual for families to pass down such information over generations and  there is a reasonable chance that the history is correct and the story is worth telling. The photographer of this cabinet card is Buscdorf.

So I told Ms. Chris about my blag and she had one pressing etymological question: Where does “butterfly” come from? I had never thought about it, but she had been wondering for years, apparently.

• based on the old notion that the insects (or witches disguised as butterflies) consume butter or milk that is left uncovered

although some people also think it is based on the color and consistency of butterfly excrement. This explanation is highly unlikely. Now, I don’t know about you, but I had never really looked at butterfly excrement before.

What about in other languages?

Off the top of my head:

Spanish – Mariposa - from “la Santa Maria posa” = “the Virgin Mary alights/rests” ?

French – Papillon - this actually comes from the Latin papilio meaning butterfly. Our English word pavilion comes from the same root… a canopy spread out like wings.

German – Schmetterling - from “Schmetten”, an Upper Saxon dialect loan-word first used 16 & 17th C, from Czech “smetana”, both meaning “cream”, referring to butterflies’ proclivity to hover around milkpails, butterchurns, etc. Folk belief had it that the butterflies were really witches out to steal the cream.

Tagfalter is another name for butterfly, perhaps meaning “day-hinge” or “day-folder”, and Nachtfalter is a moth.

Italian – Farfalla - This also comes from the Latin. (Eventually I’m going to do a post about how p’s became f’s and f’s became h’s. …later.) This is also the English word for those bow-tie pasta things that look like butterflies.

Notably, a few others:

Norwegian and Yiddish both call it a “summerbird,” sommerfugl and zomerfeygele respectively.

Babochka in Russian. This means “butterfly” or “bow tie.” Go with me here. Baba or Babka means woman or grandmother. Babushka can mean grandmother or grandmother-like-thing, like a grandmother-like-handkercheif, like one that can be tied to the shape of a butterfly, babochka.

Many viewers know Andy Cohen for his role in Bravo reality show reunion specials, however, as of late, he has capitalized on his amazingness with Watch What Happens Live! on Bravo, Thursdays at midnight. When I first caught wind of the Bravo exec on the reunion specials, I tweeted and updated my Facebook status about how badly he needed a Twitter and his own show. My prayers were answered. Winter is a listy season, so I’ve compiled a list of why I absolutely love Andy Cohen:

1.) He’s obsessed with weaves and could probably earn a PhD in weaveology.

2.) He makes Yiddish hipper than it has ever been before.

3.) He looks like he mixes a mean drink.

4.) He’s probably the only gay, white, Jewish man who could pull off the phrase, “Who gonna check me, boo?” better than NeNe.

5.) He is the brains behind all good things Bravo.

6.) He has a great TV voice.

7.) He’s an envelope pusher . . . Dwight or D’wrong?

8.) He makes great celebrity arm-candy; Cohen accompanied SJP to a premiere this week.

9.) Loyal tweeter; Andy uses his Twitter account daily.

10.) Treats everyone equally; he handles the craziness of his guests with grace.

11.) He is never tardy for the party.

12.) He is just plain adorable. Such a shana punim (pretty face – Yiddish).

December 15 is the most important day in the calendar for people who speak Esperanto. It is Zamenhof Day, named after the man who dreamed up the idea of a language that the entire planet would one day speak. L.L. Zamenhof (that’s him in center of the photo, the one staring at the camera) was born 150 years ago.  Though his dream was never realized, Esperanto is still spoken — in fact it’s undergoing something of a revival in the internet age. We consider the failure and success of Esperanto, first in a piece I reported for the Big Show on December 15, and then in an interview with Princeton English professor Esther Schor, who’s writing a book on Esperanto. In the piece, you’ll hear from Arika Okrent, author of the fabulous In the Land of Invented Languages. To listen to an extended interview with Okrent on Esperanto, Klingon, Blissymbolics and other made-up languages from July 2009, go here. Also in the piece, listen out for a clip from the 1965 Esperanto language movie Incubus, starring the incomparable William Shatner. Shatner delivers his Esperanto lines in that same jig-jaggy way as he does English on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. Other BBC stories on Esperanto are here and here.

After our Esperanto extravaganza, we consider why the Irish parliament bans words such as guttersnipe and brat, but permits certain swearwords. We know this because Irish MP Paul Gogarty recently dropped the F-bomb — and not in a particularly jocular manner — in the Dáil. We get the back story of why certain words — another is yahoo – cannot be uttered in the Irish parliament from Harry McGee of the Irish Times. A document called Salient Rulings of the House lists all manner of old-fashioned expressions as no-nos in debate. The f-word is not among them.

Finally, a follow-up to a previous podcast in which Carol Hills and I talked about baby names that don’t translate well into certain foreign languages.  After that , a Norwegian pod-listener wrote in with some alarming news: if your name is Mark, expect to be teased in Norway. And under no crcumstances name your child Musa. It’s apparently a popular name in Turkey. In Norwegian it refers, coarsely, to female genitalia.

Listen in iTunes or here.

I have become fascinated by Yiddish, just to let you know

Following on from my YIVO special, here are some more Yiddish archival treasures. Below the fold, the usual round up of newly available radical material.

Our focus today is the Yale Judaica collection. Below are some exhibitions. Clicking on the images enables you to see them in context.

And You Shall Tell Your Children, Passover Haggadah exhibition:

Kibbutz Haggadah

Yiddish Sheet Music:

Illustrated Yiddish Books:

These illustrated books date from the post-revolutionary period, the golden age of Soviet Yiddish, when Russian plebian culture and Jewish folk culture, avante-garde graphics and radical politics, all worked together powerfully. -P.

Avant-garde Maquettes (1929):
Avant-garde maquettes for Jewish-Communist wall posters in Yiddish (1929): Leaf One

Ink and watercolor manuscript, possibly a mock up for publication, consisting of two leaves (28 x 19 cm.) mounted side-by-side in a contemporary mat. This poster contains the phrase “Proleṭarier fun ale lender, fareyniḳṭ aykh!” [Proletariat of all lands, unite!] and large lettering with the words “Arbeṭ un ḳulṭur” [Labor and culture] across an illustration of a hammer and sickle topped by a red star.

Avant-garde maquettes for Jewish-Communist wall posters in Yiddish (1929): Leaf TwoThis poster has the heading “Ḳegn Goṭ un shṿindl” [Against God and swindle] above a paragraph urging Jews not to be duped into the backward religious practice of attending high holiday services. It is signed אמכא–Amkha, a deliberately misspelled version of the Hebrew word עמך — Amkha [Your People].

Workers’ life in America:

The Sweatshop

Below the fold, the archive of struggle no. 40.

I haven’t had time recently to work on this properly, so I am stealing almost all of these links from Entdinglichung:

Fundación Andreu Nin:

* Wilebaldo Solano: El hospital proletario/ La organización sanitaria de la comuna asturiana (1935, pdf-Datei)
* Wilebaldo Solano: El recuerdo de la comuna de Asturias (2004, pdf-Datei)
* Emilio García García: secretario local del Sindicato de la construcción de la CNT y militante del POUM (1941, pdf-Datei)
* Carta de José Luis Arenillas a Juan de Ajuariaguerra, horas antes de ser fusilado (1938)

RA Forum:

*Review of Luigi Galleani’s The End of Anarchism? by Paul Avrich (1983)

LibCom:

* Anthony McElligott: Street politics in Hamburg, 1932-3 (1983)
* Elisabeth Behrens: Workers’ Struggles And The Capitalist Counter-Offensive Under National Socialism (1974)

* The British miners strike of 1984/1985 – a retrospective view of some events at St. John’s Colliery in Maesteg, South Wales (1986, mit einem Nachwort von 2009)
* Boris Souvarine: Stalin: Why and How (1978)
* George Orwell: Notes on Nationalism (1945)

MayFlyBooks:

* Herbert Marcuse: Negations: Essays in Critical Theory (1968, pdf-Datei)

Big Flame 1970-1984:

* EPISODES IN BIG FLAME HISTORY: No 22. 1979-80 Debate – Transitional Politics and Alternative Plans
** A Contribution towards a General Direction for Big Flame (1980, pdf-Datei)
** Comments on the Tendency Motions and Documents (1980, pdf-Datei)
** Motion on Perspectives and Priorities (1979, pdf-Datei)
** Statement of the Political Basis for the Formation of a Tendency In Big Flame (1980, pdf-Datei)
** Theses on Reformism (1979, pdf-Datei)
** Towards a Transitional Strategy: Prospects for Class Struggle (1980, pdf-Datei)
* REVOLUTIONARY MARXIST CURRENT [RMC] (Groups which joined Big Flame no 1)
** About the Revolutionary Marxist Current (1977, pdf-Datei)

* EPISODES IN BIG FLAME HISTORY: No 24. Trotskyism
** The Revolution Unfinished? A Critique of Trotskyism (1977)
*** The Revolution Unfinished?: front to section 2 (pdf-Datei)
*** The Revolution Unfinished?: sections 3 to 5(b)(i) (pdf-Datei)
*** The Revolution Unfinished?: section 5(b)(ii) to 5(c) (pdf-Datei)
*** The Revolution Unfinished?: section 5(d) to back (pdf-Datei)
** Class and Party in Trotskyism and Leninism (1975, pdf-Datei)
** On the IMG’s Concept of the Vanguard and Ours (1978, pdf-Datei)
* A book about Big Flame
* LIBERTARIAN COMMUNIST GROUP [LCG] (Groups who joined Big Flame no 2)
** A Short History of the Libertarian Communist Group
** Coalitions, Libertarian Communism and Ireland (1980, pdf-Datei)
** Report of a Meeting of ex-LCG Members (2004, pdf-Datei)
** Report of a Meeting of ex-LCG Members (1981, pdf-Datei)

* EPISODES IN BIG FLAME HISTORY: No 25. State Collectivism

** Century of the Unexpected: A New Analysis of Soviet Type Societies (1979)
*** Century of the Unexpected front-p12 (pdf-Datei)
*** Century of the Unexpected p13- back (pdf-Datei)
** The Nature of So-Called Socialist Societies (1980)
*** Some Notes on Big Flame’s Contribution to the Discussion of Soviet-Type Societies (pdf-Datei)
*** The Failure of So-Called Socialism (pdf-Datei)
*** The Origins and Basis of State Collectivism (pdf-Datei)
** Motion on BF’s Analysis of the USSR, other Comecon Countries and China (1980, pdf-Datei)
* INTERNATIONAL SOCIALIST ALLIANCE [ISA] (Groups who joined Big Flame [or in this case didn’t] no3)
** Big Flame contribution to the ISA post-conference bulletin (1979, pdf-Datei)

La Bataille Socialiste:

* Marceau Pivert: ¡Fascismo o Socialismo! (1937)
* Marceau Pivert: Frankreich und Deutschland – Morgen (1944)
* International Bureau for Revolutionary Socialist Unity: A Lead to Word Socialism. On Spain, War, Fascism, Imperialism (1936)
* Rosa Luxemburg: L’impérialisme français en Algérie (1913)
* Images du Bund
* Maurice Rajsfus: Il y a cent ans, la naissance de la SFIO (2005)

* 4 meetings SIA à Paris en 1938
* Le papier-monnaie en Catalogne en 1936-37
* Wilebaldo Solano: Le PSOP dans le sauvetage du POUM en 1939 (1989)
* Benjamin Péret: Lettre à “Noir & Rouge” (1957)
* Maurice Dommanget: Jean Colly (1858-1929) (1967)
* Socialist Party of Great Britain (SPGB): Marx & Keynes (1971)
* Alfred Rosmer: La conférence de Berlin (1922, pdf-Datei)
* Jean-Jacques Soudeille: La politique de l’I.C. aux Indes (1931, pdf-Datei)
* PSOP: Pour un nouveau juin 36 (1938, pdf-Datei)
* Natalia Sedova-TrotskyLettre sur la question russe (1944, pdf-Datei)

* Jaime Balius: Recordando Julio de 1936 (1971, pdf-Datei)
Pierre Broué: Spartakisme, bolchevisme, gauchisme face aux problèmes de la Révolution prolétarienne en Allemagne (1973, pdf-Datei)
* Pablo Ruiz: Elogio póstumo de Jaime Balius (1981, pdf-Datei)
* Éric Nadaud: Le renouvellement des pratiques militantes de la S.F.I.O. au début du Front populaire (1934-36) (1990, pdf-Datei)
Giorgio Amico: Alle origini del socialismo italiano (1879-1892) (2000, pdf-Datei)

* Bert Hogenkamp: Marceau Pivert et le service du film de la Fédération de la Seine (2008, Auszug aus Une histoire mondiale des cinémas de propagande)
* Pierre Monatte: Préface à Socialisme et liberté (1954)

* Tim Mason: The Workers Opposition in Nazi Germany (1981)
* René Le Bras: Un ouvrier parle du système Bedaux (1948)
* Angelo Tasca: La guerre de Finlande (1951, Auszug aus Les communistes français pendant la drôle de guerre 1939-1940)

* L’Internationale: La jeunesse communiste ibérique (POUM) est à l’avant-garde de la révolution espagnole (1937)
* Union communiste (UC): Camarades anarchistes! (1937)
* Nicolas Lazarévitch: L’assassinat de Berneri (1937)
* Lettre ouverte à la Commission exécutive du PSOE (1937)
* Le Comité pour la reprise des Relations internationales (1921, Auszug aus der Encyclopédie socialiste, syndicale et coopérative)

Collectif Smolny:

* La Révolution prolétarienne: Albert Camus et nous (1960)
* BILAN: M. Albert Sarraut, symbole de la cohérence capitaliste (1936)
* Iosif Solomonovich Bleikhman ( 1868 – 1921 )

Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (ESSF):

* Daniel Bensaïd: Marxisme contre totalitarisme (1984)
* Michaël Löwy: Nationalismes du Sud (1995)
* Houshang Sepehr: Sur la nature du régime iranien (2007)
* Democracia Socialista/PT: Un débat sur l’internationalisme d’aujourd’hui (2006)

Workers’ Liberty:

* Chronology, and small selection of texts, for studying AWL history (2009, pdf-Datei)

* Sean Matgamna: Why Lenin got Ireland wrong (1995)

Hagalil:

* David James Fisher: Zum psychoanalytischen Verständnis von Faschismus und Antisemitismus (2003)
* David James Fisher: Towards a Psychoanalytic Understanding of Fascism and Anti-Semitism: Perceptions From the 1940’s (2003)

Archive.org:

* William Alfred Hinds: American communities : brief sketches of Economy, Zoar, Bethel, Aurora, Amana, Icaria, the Shakers, Oneida, Wallingford, and the Brotherhood of the new life (1878)
* Isador Ladoff: The passing of capitalism, and the mission of socialism (1901)
* Proceedings: Socialist Party – Emergency National Convention at St. Louis, 1917 (1917)
* Harold Laski: Karl Marx; an essay (1922)
* Ramsay MacDonald: Socialism and society (1906)

* Adelheid Popp: The autobiography of a working woman (1912)
* Albert Richard Parsons: Anarchismus. Seine philosophie und wissenschaftliche Grundlage (1887)
* G.C. Clemens: A primer on socialism (1900)
* Norman Thomas: Why I am a socialist? (1932)
* The Batt-Dannenberg debate on resolved, that by political action alone, without the assistance of the Socialist Industrial Union, the workers can emancipate themselves … between Dennis E. Batt, representing the Socialist Party, and Karl Dannenberg, representing the Workers’ International Industrial Union (1919)
* Allan Benson: A way to prevent war (1915)

Marxist Internet Archive (MIA):

*Added to the E. Belfort Bax Archive: The Socialist Platform, No. 1, with William Morris., June 1885

*Added to the Chris Harman Archive:

**Crisis of the European Revolutionary Left (1979) (Analysis of the virtual collapse of most revolutionary left organisations in the late 1970s)
**Afghanistan – Only a Pawn in Their Game (1980) (short article on the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan)
**Marxism and the Missiles (1980) (Analysis of the new Cold War and the proposal to station cruise missiles in Western Europe) Philosophy and Revolution (1983) (Critique of Althusserian positions adopted by fellow leading SWP member, Alex Callinicos)
**1984 and the shape of things to come (1985) (Analysis of the roots of the defeat of the miners’ strike and its significance for the future course of the class struggle.
**Imperialism – East and West (1986) (Takes up the argument whether the USSR or Russia can be described as being imperialist)
**The Market and the Future of Eastern Europe (1989) (Notes from summer 1989, just before the collapse of Eastern Eruope started)
**The Storm Breaks – The Crisis in the Eastern Bloc (1990) (Major contemporary analysis of teh colapse of Stalinism in Eastern Europe written while it was still happening)
**The state and capitalism today (1991) (Major theoretical study of teh relationship between the state and capital)
**The Return of the National Question (1992) (Study of the way nationalism revived as a major force during the collapse of Stalinism)
**Globalisation – A Critique of a New Orthodoxy (1996) (Early study of a phenomenon that became central to anti-capitalist analysis after the evenst in Seattle in 1999 – more than 3 years after publication of this peace
**Movie with an Open Ending (2000) (Obituary of Tony Cliff)
**Anti-capitalism – Theory and Practice (2000) (Analysis of the new worldwide movement that arose after the protests in Seattle at the end of 1999)
**Argentina – Swimming with the Tide of Revolt (2002) (Report from Argentina, where one government after another was falling at the time as a result of the economic crisis there)
**To vote or not to vote? (2002) (Polemic with the French LCR about whether it was correct to call for a vote for Chirac against Le Pen in the run-off for the French presidential election)

*Added to the Sy Landy Internet Library

**Forward to the book The Life and Death of Stalinism

*Launched: the Chinese language Chen Duxiu Internet Archive. Chen was the founder and first General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Opposing the the 1920s alliance with the Kuomintang lead first by Sun Yatsen and later Generalismo Chaing Kai-shek. Chen was expelled from the CCP for this opposition and ended up supporting, along with many of the surviving leaders of the CCP, the International Left Opposition founded by Leon Trotsky. The writings here are his ‘late’ writings, from Chen Duxiu Collected Works (1929-1942).

*Added to the Chinese language section of the Marxists Internet Archive is the Chinese translation of the 2003 book: The Revolution Defamed: A Documentary History of Vietnamese Trotskyism

Original Williamsburgh Savings Bank Headquarters at 175 Broadway (Source: Flickr)

Did you know Williamsburg used to have an “h”? This week’s entry is a cross-post with Gotham Lost and Found, an insightful blog by David Freeland, author of Automats, Taxi Dances and Vaudeville: Excavating Manhattan’s Lost Places of Leisure.  On a recent afternoon, David and I trekked across the river to the Marcy Avenue subway station (J/M/Z line) in Brooklyn, our starting point for an exploration of Williamsburg, one of Gotham’s most diverse and intriguing neighborhoods.  New York City’s toponymological evolution can often be traced in the design of its buildings; and today, specifically, we were looking for physical signs of Williamsburg’s original 19th-century spelling: “Williamsburgh.”

Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh (Photos by Michelle Young)

Our first stop was the Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh (at the corner of S. 5th and Havemeyer Streets), a solid-looking Greek revival edifice whose frieze, set above a line of Corinthian columns, is inscribed with the bank’s full title – including the final “h.”  Across the park at 175 Broadway is the domed Renaissance-inspired HSBC Bank, the original headquarters of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank built in 1870-75. The landmarked building fortunately preserves some of the original signage. According to most historical accounts, the “h” was dropped after Williamsburg became consolidated with Brooklyn in April of 1854.  One of the more interesting footnotes unearthed during research for this post was the argument, expressed by an editorialist in the Brooklyn Eagle of June 6, 1853, that with consolidation, “we should also be much better able to stand against the oppressive measures of the big city over the river.”  Of course, all of Brooklyn was eventually incorporated into that city, in 1898.

Brooklyn Public Library (Photo by Michelle Young)

Making our way past 1930s housing developments and 19th-century row houses (a few of which were being replaced, evidently for new construction), we landed at the Williamsburg branch of the Brooklyn Public Library (built in 1903 at Division and Marcy Avenues), where the original “h” is again preserved in the building’s design, in a frieze above the main entrance.  The book stacks inside the library are arranged radially in a semi-circle, filling a large bay window, and include many titles in Yiddish (which is spoken by the Satmar Hasidim who comprise one of the neighborhood’s most populous social groups).  Outside I took a few photos of the imposing Classical Revival facade, but was then stopped by a security guard.  David was reminded of the many insidious ways in which New York has become a city of “don’ts.”  Few of these proscriptions make any logical sense; they stifle the expressive freedoms for which New York has always been known.  After pointing out to the guard that there is no law preventing buildings being photographed from the outside, we moved on.

Williamsburg(h) Street. (Photo by Michelle Young)

If “Williamsburgh” did indeed become “Williamsburg” after consolidation, evidence suggests that the two spellings were used interchangeably for a long time.  Even today, an “h” will sometimes appear in printed references to the neighborhood.  This confusion was made manifest as we strolled along Williamsburg Street, half of which seems to have been lost to the expressway which runs parallel to it.  A street sign announcing “Williamsburg St” sat one block away from one that proclaimed “Williamsburgh St”; the signs appeared to be about the same age, of relatively recent design and placement.  If “Williamsburgh” has indeed been removed from the New York lexicon, it is having a serious case of departure anxiety.

Williamsburgh Savings Bank (Photos by Michelle Young and Jake Dobkin, top left, bottom right)

We ended our tour at the Williamsburgh Savings Bank tower near the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) downtown, for the documentation of one final “h” (above the central arch) and a view of some exquisite tile mosaics in the lobby.  Still the tallest building in Brooklyn, the tower’s landmark status helps ensure that “Williamsburgh” will not disappear any time soon.  It is currently being converted into condos, which despite anti-gentrification proponents, is sometimes a way to preserve historical architecture – in this case, 63 ft vaulted ceilings, marble interiors and 40 ft ornamented windows. And in the tradition of the preservation – this building did not generate any media or internet presence until after 2007, when it closed and was sold to developers.

Williamsburgh Savings Bank Facade and Mosaic (Photos by Michelle Young)

How to Get There:
Dime Savings Bank J/M/Z Subway to Marcy Avenue
Williamsburgh Savings Bank 2/3/4/5/B/D/M/N/Q/R Subway to Atlantic-Pacific

Special thanks to Jake Dobkin for usage of his beautiful nyc photography from www.bluejake.com

ESPNChicago.com –The White Sox signed relief pitcher J.J. Putz to a one-year, $3 million contract on Friday.

Putz can make another $3.25 million in incentives, but that figure is based on Putz closing all season. Putz, who was the closer for the Seattle Mariners from 2006-2008, signed a free-agent contract in 2008 with the New York Mets before being released last season. He went 1-4 with a 5.22 earned-run average in 29 games with the Mets.

Putz is rehabbing an elbow problem. The White Sox have watched him pitch extensively in Phoenix as have upwards of 10 teams. If Putz makes it all the way back to his previous form, when he saved 36 and 40 games in 2006 and 2007, respectively, the White Sox will have a right-handed setup man to go along with lefty Matt Thornton.

This also gives the White Sox an alternative if they decide to trade closer Bobby Jenks, who is scheduled to make upwards of $7.5 million via arbitration.

The Cubs were also very interested in Putz. Cubs scout Brad Kelly watched Putz pitch in Arizona on Wednesday and was scheduled to watch him again Friday before the signing took place.

This was not a very surprising move by the White Sox.  After not resigning Dotel, the Sox needed a right-handed arm to get the ball to Thornton and Jenks.  Speaking of Jenks, we wonder if this makes a trade for the hefty closer even more  inevitable.  Putz put up some awesome numbers before his injury last year, and if healthy, gives the White Sox a much better bullpen.  The happiest person in Chicago is Matt Thornton who has expressed a “bromance” with Putz.  This stems from their playing days together in Seattle, stay tuned for more on that story.

For fun make sure you google putz and see what it means in Yiddish.  Needless to say, there could be a few fun signs around the Cell if this move backfires.

“Jews are just like everybody else. Only more so.”- Dorothy Parker

What’s great about The Coen Brothers is that they never repeat themselves or pander to popular taste. They make movies they want to and are not afraid to mystify their audience. This is not done with any arty farty pretentiousness but out of a realisation that life doesn’t provide the easy solutions or self contained narratives that more mainstream cinema presents.

After their star-studded comedy ‘Burn After Reading’, the easy option would have been to repeat the anarchic slapstick formula and laugh all the way to the bank. The Coens preserve their reputation for independence, innovation and all round strangeness with their latest movie ‘A Serious Man’.

Set in 1967 in the American mid-west, it centres on the Jewish subculture which has obvious connections with the Coens own upbringing. Although their own father – like the main character- was a University professor Ethan & Joel deny that it is intended as an autobiographical film. And as the disclaimer indicates  (“No Jews were harmed in the making of this motion picture”) it is an affectionate portrayal of this largely hidden community.

The movie is deliberately un-star-studded as it features a largely unknown cast. At its centre is Michael Stuhlbarg as Larry Gobnik, a physics professor, whose encounters a catalogue of mishaps that turn his safe suburban existence upside down.

We first see him having a medical check up after which he is told he has no health worries. Later he receives a phone message from the doctor which refers to ‘unjust results’.  As the Kaftaesque series of minor catastrophes mount up, he becomes increasingly desperate. His domestic and professional life begins to fall apart and his attempts to get help from a legal advisors and rabbis fails to provide a solution.

His life could be seen as a metaphor for an unjust fate. Believers might argue was some sort of penance for past sins committed but it really just shows that however righteous and unselfish you are, terrible, tragic things can befall you anyway.

His increasingly desperate cry is “I haven’t done anything” and it is far from clear how we, the viewers, can interpret his plight. Is it the wrath of God or simply the consequence of his being a man incapable of overcoming setbacks?

Also, what are we supposed to make of the opening scene (in Yiddish) in which a wife suspects the man her husband has befriended is a dybbuk (a malevolent ghost) and plunges a screwdriver into his chest to prove her point?  The Coen Brothers, in typically enigmatic fashion, have said that they chose this scene not because it had any link with what followed but because it set the right tone.

What’s the message behind a Rabbi’s tale of a Jewish dentist who discovers the message ’save me’ written on the teeth of a non Hebrew patient?

Like the God Larry appeals to, there are many questions and no answers. The sum total of the advice he receives is to let the mystery be and try to get a sense of perspective is.

I watched this movie in the Italian dubbed version and am now eager to see it in the original. I doubt, however, that this will give many fresh insights into what it all means. A great movie all the same, and further proof (as if you needed it) that The Coen Brothers are head and shoulders above other film makers working today.

Presentation is everything, until you eat them

One Rugelah, many rugelach. The suffix lach (pronounced with a guttural h at the end) indicates a Yiddish plural. In the case of these small cream cheese filled cookies, one is never enough. Also a note of clarification for all the people who have fallen in love with the sweet greasy confection offered in the bakeries of Israel- these are different. The Israeli version is parve, meaning it contains no dairy (or for that matter meat) and uses a fair amount of oil and sugar to attain its hyper-palatable state. The down side is that after a few hours the Israeli ones taste like congealed grease. The best way to eat those is on the way home from the market.

These are less filled croissant, and more of a rolled cookie. They keep well and could even be frozen (if you manage to keep them that long). This recipe comes down on my mother’s side of the family. It was scribbled in her grandmother’s copy of the Settlement Cookbook in her own long hand. When my mother operated a bakery in Salt Lake City (yes, Jews in Utah) she sold these by the dozens to Jew and Gentile alike.

When I went to look these up in Joan Nathan’s cookbook she asserted that the cream cheese dough recipe was a product of the marketing department at Philadelphia Cream Cheese. The earliest published version turned up in a cookbook written in 1950 and its provenance was given as coming from the wife of pianist Arthur Rubinstein, Nela.

While all of that may be true, and this recipe is very similar to the one that Joan Nathan offers, it still is a bit of a family heirloom and having a chance to make these with my mother over Thanksgiving was great.

A word of caution, these contain almost nothing that is good for you (well, possibly the nuts) and they turn out to be mildly addictive. I found myself idly snacking on them if I left the cookie tin to close by, or even if I was just wandering through the kitchen.

Recipe after the break

Rugelach

For the filling:

1/2 lb cream cheese

1 cup plus 1 tb powdered sugar

1 cup chopped walnuts

3/4 cup raisins

Soften cream cheese in a mixer, cream in sugar until smooth. Mix nuts and raisins in by hand. Refrigerate until ready for use.

For the dough:

1/2 pound cream cheese

1/2 pound butter

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

pinch of salt

zest of orange

1/4 tsp vanilla

In a mixer soften butter, add cream cheese and mix. Cream in the sugar, until smooth. Then add in the egg, vanilla, and orange zest. Add the flour slowly, once the dough comes together in a soft ball stop. Divide dough into quarters and wrap in plastic before chilling. Chill for at least 4 hours, allowing the flour to hydrate fully and the fat to become as cold as possible.

On a well floured surface roll each piece out until it is as thin as possible without coming apart. Cut into roughly triangular shapes with a paring knife or pizza cutter. You should get 6-8 pieces from each ball of dough.

Place a tea spoon of filling in the middle of each dough section and then roll up. As you master the feel of the dough and filling it becomes easier to create uniform cookies- but they all will taste the same. the classic look is to place the filling at the large end, fold the sides in and the roll towards the long tip of the triangle.

Place on a greased or Silpat lined cookie sheet with the end of the dough tucked down and bake in a 350 F oven for 20-25 minutes until they are light brown in color. Cool on a rack and dust with powdered sugar before serving.

אױפֿן פּריפּעטשיק
By Mark Warshavsky

Oyfn pripetchik brent a fayerl,
un in shtub is heys.
Un der rebe lernt kleyne kinderlakh
dem alef-beyz.

Zet zhe kinderlakh,
gedenkt zhe, tayere, vos ir lernt do.
Zogt zhe nokh a mol un take nokh a mol:
“Komets-alef: o!”

Lernt kinderlakh, lernt mit freyd,
lernt dem alef-beyz.
Gliklekh is der Yid, wos kent die toyre
un dos alef-beyz.

.en translation

At the fireplace

At the fireplace a little fire burns
And in the room it’s warm.
And the Rabbi teaches little children
The aleph-bet

See you children-dear,
Remember dear, what you’re learning here.
Say once again, and then once again,
“Komets-alef: o!”

Children, learn with happiness,
Learn the aleph-bet.
Lucky is the jew who knows the Torah.
And the aleph-bet.

‘When we say “Cherie gave Jim a headache”, we mean that she caused Jim to have it, presumably because she’s a nudnik whose antics made his head hurt, not because a headache walked over on little legs from Cherie’s head into Jim’s.’

Stephen Pinker, The Stuff of Thought, p59, (Chap 2, Down the Rabbit Hole)

Definitions of nudnik (Yiddish):
‘a person who is a bore or nuisance’
Merriam Webster online dictionary. Click here to see full entry.

Free Hanukkah / Chanukah Printables
10 Websites featuring free Jewish, Yiddish, Hanukkah activities, printables, greeting cards,games, decorating, coloring, cut and paste and lesson planning.
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Sam has just finished another Harry Potter book, so it’s time to catch up on a few picture books. Last night it was this one, full of interesting yiddish words (there are lots in English now)and great little tales.

I blogged Simms Taback before once or twice, but I’m coming back to him, because I like the warmth and generosity of his tales and illustrations. His website’s got better too.

So, one of the smaller tales (in my own words):

§ § § § § § §

Once there was a farmer, he was a bit of a shmendrik, who had two chickens. One of the chickens gots sick, and he couldn’t stop worrying about the sick chicken.

So, he killed the other chicken and made chicken soup for the sick one.

§ § § § § § §

Did Barack Obama learn a word or two from his grandmother? Well, maybe not — he didn’t grow up with the gran pictured here (it’s his Kenyan stepmother). But many people did learn their very  first foreign words from their grandmothers. The Big Show’s Marco Werman learned a Dutch curse. Nina Porzucki learned a Yiddish word that speaks to a existential Jewish mindset: dafka. Nina’s grandmother didn’t think she was conveying such a Big Idea. She was just describing the stubborn behavior of her granddaughter.

Marilyn Chin learned insults, puns and tongue twisters, many of which later found their way into her poetry. Chin has published three volumes of poems. Many of her poems are linguistic investigations of her own Chinese-Americanism.  Now she’s published her first novel, Revenge of the Mooncake Vixen. It’s the story of two Chinese-American twins, Moonie and Mei Ling Wong,  and their search for double happiness. Or maybe single happiness. Double Happiness is just the name of their family restaurant (wordplay and irony abounds). Between episodes of Chinese food delivery gone hilariously wrong — thanks to Mei Ling’s souped-up American need for sex and drugs — the twins enter a mythological world of Chinese fable. From profane to sacred, and back to profane again. In the pod, I interview Marilyn Chin, who like the twins in her novel, had an overly protective Old World grandmother raising her. Chin can still recite her grandmother’s curses and sayings, delivered in the Toisan sub-dialect of Cantonese. She also recites a super-punning poem from her 2002 collection, Rhapsody in Plain Yellow.

Listen in iTunes or here.

Queridos lectores, se que consideran que debí haber empezado por aquí, pero pienso que no hubiera sido interesante. Hoy por hoy mi familia solo es una más de las de tipo extraño que abundan por ahí. Es más, tal como están las cosas, ya tener una familia, sea como sea está, es ganancia. Así que, sin darle mayor importancia empecé a contar de todos usando sus nombres, sus diminutivos y sus sobre nombres, con lo que comprendo la confusión general.

Voy a empezar entonces por relatar la historia de la familia desde mi punto de vista y guiado por la línea familiar Grinberg remontándome lo más posible en el pasado.

Así hacemos un mapa para comprender mejor a los múltiples personajes del blog.

Yosomos también lo que llevamos en la mochila del pasado. Dentro cargas pesadas y ligeras viajan de generación en generación y casi sin darnos cuenta vamos dejando por el camino, como si fueran una señal, parte del contenido y así mismo metemos cosas nuevas o prestadas por el viento de los lugares en donde andamos y que se vuelven parte de la mochila, que a su vez pasamos a nuestros hijos, amores, amigos, lectores…

El Abuelo Que Se Volvió Grinberg

Mi abuelo Samuel David Warshavsky nació en un pequeño pueblo cercano a Varsovia de nombre Sokoloff Podliansky. Hijo de un rabino estudioso y escritor de libros de comentarios de las escrituras, decidió dedicarse a los negocios, abriendo una peletería en el pueblo.

Con los años se caso y tuvo cuatro hijos, el único varón fue mi padre Abraham.

A mi abuelo le empezó a ir muy bien, tanto que los recaudadores de impuestos polacos no le quitaban el ojo de encima, hasta que lo obligaron a pagar una suma que no tenía y como no la pagaba, las autoridades le denegaron el permiso para poder sacar un pasaporte para él y su familia, de esta forma se aseguraban de que no dejaría el país.

Así las cosas, una mañana leyendo el diario en Yiddish que se editaba en el pueblo, mi abuelo se encontró con un anuncio sorprendente:

“México, país americano con las mejores oportunidades, abre sus puertas a la emigración europea. Especialmente son bienvenidas las familias judías

Firma: Plutarco Elías Calles. Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos”

Mi abuelo leyó una y otra vez el anuncio.

-       ¡ Hay un país en el mundo que quiere a los judíos y no solo a los que ya viven ahí, si no a los de Europa, a los de Polonia, a los de Sokoloff Podliansky, es decir a mi y a mi familia. !

Estaba claro, tenían que emigrar al paraíso terrenal. Pero ¿Cómo?

Les habían quitado el permiso para sacar el pasaporte y no podían salir de Polonia. La cabeza de mi abuelo daba vueltas y vueltas hasta que entro un vecino a la tienda.

-       Samuel David, se murió tu tocayo Grinberg,  el pobre hombre, quince años enfermo y nadie quién le llore, cierra, cierra, vamos al entierro.

Mi abuelo bajo la cortina de la tienda y salio a acompañar al cortejo. Luego del entierro ofreció su casa para rezar durante los siete días de luto y una vez concluidos, se ofreció también a hacerse cargo de los tramites de defunción.

Una mañana se levanto temprano para viajar a Varsovia y encargarse de todo el papeleo. Mas al bajarse del autobús que lo llevo a la capital, le vino repentinamente una idea a la mente.

Fue a retratarse, espero dos horas de revelado, pidió permiso para entrar al baño del estudio fotográfico, saco una pequeña navaja, tomo el pasaporte de Grinberg, le quito la foto y en su lugar puso la suya.

Salio al ajetreo de Varsovia. Se hablaba y se gritaba en Yiddish y Polaco por igual, se ofrecía pan de los pueblos cercanos, los anarquistas discutían con los comunistas, el teatro en Yiddish anunciaba un circo judío, música Kleismer sonaba a cambio de unas monedas y un profesor sentado en una banca ofrecía clases de Esperanto, el idioma de la paz.

Pero la mente de mi abuelo, recién autobautizado con un nuevo apellido, caminaba ya por las calles situadas a espaldas del Palacio Nacional, donde gobernaba el presidente Calles que había escrito aquella nota publicada en el diario local de su pueblo.

Y la familia llego a la capital mexicana en donde fueron muy felices, pero además, en donde se salvaron del asesinato masivo que dejo a aquel pueblo sin un solo judío y que, por si fuera poco, sepulto la tumba donde esta enterrado el Grinberg original, debajo de toneladas de basura.

Muchos años después, el heredero del Presidente Calles ordenaba disparar contra los estudiantes en la Plaza de las Tres Culturas en Tlatelolco, la Ciudad de México celebraba los Juegos Olímpicos izando una bandera manchada de sangre y en un hospital de la Colonia Roma nacía un niño con los mismos nombres de su abuelo ya fallecido: Samuel David, mejor conocido como David o Dudi, para mi simplemente yo y que escribe estas palabras que ahora lees.