Re: Yiddish on List

[Alex Jacobowitz <Alex_Jacobowitz...>]

B"H Munich

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Regarding the use (or non-use) of Yiddish by subscribers to this Jewish
music list, 
I think both points of view have their own merits. However, it seems to me
that there 
*is a major distinction, and that this distinction settles the issue
decidedly -- for the 
Yiddishist side, for lack of a better word.

There's an expression in Judaism - "The bashful don't learn."

This principle -  that one must invest one's own curiosity in any subject,
to
learn the vocabulary, to ask the necessary questions, to overcome shyness
and 
fear of ridicule - extends to music as well. If a potential student doesn't
want
to invest him/herself, then that's their choice - but to fault the teacher
(or writer)
is less than responsible, and to my thinking smacks of political
correctness. 

IMO, threatening to send transliterated Russian sounds to me more like a
childish 
act of revenge than a desire to REALLY learn the subject matter - in this
case Yiddish
as it relates to Jewish music. When we write about Hatikva, must we *always
translate it?
And freilach? Hora? Words are building blocks of ideas. If you don't have
enough
blocks, then get some more, but please don't take them away from your
neighbor!

Let the writer write as he or she likes! It's *our job as interested
readers to understand *them.
And, if  translations are necessary, then they can be *privately requested,
either from this 
membership list or some other place. Let's learn - and teach - together!

If Yiddish - or transliterated Russian - is the language in which anyone
feels comfortable
expressing him or herself, gesunterhait!

Alex Jacobowitz