Re: [Fwd: Re: Der yidisher tam]

[Solidarity Foundation <svzandt...>]

Yasher koyekh, Velvel!
On Sun, 08 Mar 1998 13:58:06 -0500, Wolf Krakowski wrote:

In their quest for upward mobility, American  Jews  traded in their
culture for the Cadillac and the  matching drapes and carpeting.  If a
young  Jewish man or woman were to approach their parents today  and
say, "I want to be a baker",  Mom and Dad would, likely as not, begin
sitting  <shiva> or arrange an emergency appointment with a
therapist.   The young person in question would be suspected of having
low self-esteem or lacking  intelligence for not aspiring to a
highly-paid elitist profession.

If a Jewish person  brings a (Jewish) plumber or a carpenter  (if you
can still find one) home to meet the folks,  they would feel they have
failed as parents.
 Jewish life in America has become decidedly bourgeois, where <es past
nisht>
("it is not suitable") and <nisht fin inzere> ("not one of us")  are the
dominant philosophies in many families --  if they can still speak
Yiddish, that is.
This has produced a population of squeamish, snobbish and sedentary
Jews, who not only cannot work with their hands, but sneer at and
devalue those that do, and those that  do not otherwise  conform to
conventional Jewish middle-class stereotypes.

It is worth remembering that while traditionally, the tailor and
shoemaker were considerd amongst the lowest in <shtetl> hierarchy  (and
<klezmer> was used as an epithet)  poets Itzik  Manger and Morris
Rosenfeld were tailors and  the beloved folk poet and songwriter,
Mordkhe Gebirtig  was a carpenter-joiner  (Yiddish: <stolyer>).
The Baal Shem Tov dug  clay to make  a
living.
____________

The main point for this List (writes Itzik_Leyb) is this -- if you love
traditional klezmer music, know where it comes from, who its audience was,
and have derekh-eretz (respect) for the yidishn bal-melukhe (the Jewish
craftsman). And if you don't like it, possibly you now have a clue as to
why. 

(Incidentally, while it is true that the klezmer was considered a low
profession, the WORD "klezmer", traditionally, was NOT used as an epithet
-- contrary to several statements I have seen on this list. That happened
only here in America. "Klezmer" in Yiddish just means "musician".)

Krakowski writes:
During the Shoah, people who could produce with their hands, often
managed to survive whereas thousands of middle-class intellectuals were
considered useless and dispatched with haste.  The ability to fashion a
pair of boots was considered infinitely more valuable than a hundred
learned papers on Kant or Hegel.  In flight and in exile, the  soft
middle-class people perished early in the War,  not having basic
survival skills or the ability to cope with change, hardship and loss.
__________

I-L: I want to dissociate myself from any implication about who suffered
more, whose life was more useful, or anything of the kind. I am against
these conflicts. The bal-melukhe should rspect the gelernter, the
gelernter should respect the gelernter, and they should both understand
how much they really have in common. It takes craftsmanship to be a good
scholar, and it takes imagination and intellect to be a good craftsman.
Both thake a lot of dedication, training and hard work, and both demand
highly ethical conduct. But I do believe it's good for a scholar to have
a trade or craft.

I've been voicing my views on this List long enough now, that it might
not be out of place here to give a little word about my "yikhes" and
where I'm cming from. Briefly, my grandfather was a carpenter. He was
from Baranovichi, White russia, and after living 20 years in the Lower
East Side, settled with his wife and 9 children in Boro Park, Brooklyn.
My father is (retired) carpenter, grew up in Boro Park, where he was a
talmid (pupil) of Rov Moyshe Ber Weintraub, a misnagdisher rabbi from the
Musar tradition, which really was devoted to the working poeople. My
father started out as an apprentice plumber with his mother's brother,
but left and became a carpenter. My uncle Jack, olev-ha shulem, who passed
away last week, who was married to one of my father's sisters, was a 
plumber. My brother Dan was a carpenter for years, but now runds a 
musical instrument store. 

I know there are a lot of craftspeople on this list -- the musicians,
and at least one typographer.

The issues raised by Krakowski have loomed large in my life. My parents
provided well for us and had high ideals, and thanks to their support
I was eventually able to acquire a doctorate in history. But I have a
craft as well. I'm a musician.

I learned more from my father than from anyone else in the world. And
one thing -- he always liked what later came to be called "klezmer music."

Itzik-Leyb