Word: yiddishe
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...Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy, produced a Hollywood extravaganza so removed from the original that he still finds the whole subject extremely painful. But that setback didn't dissuade Isaac Bashevis Singer, 80, from launching two new plays off-Broadway. A Play for the Devil is currently running in Yiddish at the Folksbiene Theater, and a dramatic adaptation of his story Shlemiel, the First just closed at the Jewish Repertory Theater. Singer, who won the 1978 Nobel Prize for Literature, has no illusions about the differences between drama and literature, however. "I don't feel as experienced...
Isaac Bashevis Singer, 80, used to change translators with the seasons, arguing over every article and preposition as his stories went from Yiddish to English. But recently the novelist has professed "great compassion" for the workers he once abused. "Since every language contains its own unique truths," he now believes, "translation is the very spirit of civilization." Then he adds, "In my younger days I used to dream about a harem full of women; lately I'm dreaming of a harem full of translators." -By Patricia Blake
...Jews who arrived in Israel 36 years ago found that Jews from Poland, Germany and the Soviet Union had created a land in the image of their old European homes. Speaking the Judeo-Spanish language of Ladino, the Sephardim could not follow the cadences of its Central European equivalent, Yiddish. Accustomed to Middle Eastern pastimes, they were little taken with cafes based on the coffeehouses of Vienna and Budapest and filled with Hapsburg-era music. Raised on couscous, they had no taste for gefilte fish. Even their religious customs differed from those of the Europeans: at Passover, for example...
...household, the Papa is said to "have the right as master of the house to have the final word at home," True to the tradition, Bruce G. Sabath as Pape Tevye dominates the stage. Sabath grew a beard for his part, and even managers to maintain a Yiddish accent while singing, which itself is extraordinarily strong and solid, especially in Tevye's solo, "If I Were a Rich Man," As Tevye, Sabath brings in a stellar performance as the poor milkman trying to cope with a nagging wife Golde (Ann Pellegrini), five daughters, a perennially lame horse and a changing...
...Israel as "my late brother and master." Sinclair's luminous little volume is hardly the definitive study of the brothers Singer, but in its examination of sources it shows why Isaac has earned the title he once bestowed on another character: the magician of Lublin. Writing in Yiddish, using the demonic forces of art and recollection, he has kept his brother's memory alive, raised a ruined city, given the power of speech to a vanished people and revived an ailing language. Is it any wonder that at the age of 79, he still believes in miracles...