RE: Rebbe Abimelechs tanz

[Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl...>]

Josh,

None of the expressions using khale in Yiddish thieves can apply here. 
  "Zikh vashn tsu khale" has only the traditional meaning of washing before 
eating any kind of bread so that you can make the hamoytsi blessing.

>After all, khalle nemn is more fun than stealing.

Today you can eat khale whenever you want, but in Eastern Europe, it was a 
special occasion that denoted a celebration, - fun.  Remember there was no 
smooth refined flour bread the way we have nowadays.


Reyzl



----------
From:  Joshua Horowitz [SMTP:horowitz (at) styria(dot)com]
Sent:  Friday, August 20, 1999 1:02 PM
To:  World music from a Jewish slant
Subject:  Re: Rebbe Abimelechs tanz

> >I'm not quite sure about the khales bit.  Can anyone verify it or 
correct me?

Joe, there are 2 other obtuse meaning to Khalles:

In ganovim-loshn (and also perhaps klezmer-loshn, the secret jargon of
thieves and klezmorim) the word khalle was used to denote the act of
deflowering, i.e. dishonering a woman, also called *Khalle nemn* not to
be confused with *Kale nemn* as the first plays with the visual
association of the form of a khallah (bread) and not the kale (bride).

The second meaning in ganovim loshn denotes the act of stealing only
objects which would not be missed right away by their owner, thereby
allowing the thieves some getaway time:
*Khalle bakn* Khalle handln* and *Khalle shlagn* all denote this method
of stealing.

I vote for the former as a translation of the text in question. After
all, khalle nemn is more fun than stealing. Josh Horowitz

> >I even have another verse on an old recording on 78, which says: "Un az 
der
> >rebe Elimeylekh iz gevorn zeyer shtark freylekh / Iz gevorn zeyer shtark
> >freylekh Elimeylekh. / Hot er oysgeton dem talis, / Un gevashn zikh tsu
> >khales / un geshikt nokh di fayflers di tsvey. / Un az di fayfldike
> >fayflers..."
> >
> >Which, according to my poor translation, means:  "And when Rabbi 
Elimeylekh
> >grew strongly merry...he took off his tallis, and washed himself 
according
> >to law, and summoned his two flautists.  And when the flutey flautists
> >fluted flutily..."



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