Is Jozefów Close to Chelm?

Simply stated, the answer is no.

Jozefów was a hamlet south of Warsaw in the 19th century that has all but been swallowed up by today’s metropolitan Warsaw. (It is only about 15 km. from downtown Warsaw.)

Chelm, on the other hand, is quite a distance to the east and situated today within the borders of Ukraine.

Chelm is famous, of course, in Jewish folklore for its “wise men,” whose solutions to problems challenge logic except when viewed through the lens of “pilpul.”

Why raise such a question?

Before giving an answer, I need to back up a bit. It was not uncommon in Eastern Europe for a Hebrew book to have its title also given in a transcription into the “vernacular” of the majority culture, i.e. Russian (Cyrillic) or Polish (Latin). (This generally was a requirement of local censors.)  Moreover, such transliterations often preserved the Hebrew pronunciation peculiar to the locale.

For example, in Lemberg (present-day L’viv, Ukraine), in 1892 a work on Talmudic hermeneutics by Joseph Engel was published whose title was אתוון דאורייתא that we today transliterate as: Atvan de-Oraita. Yet clearly on the page in Latin characters we read: Aswon deorajsu.

Another example: In Jozefów in 1826, an edition of Moses Chaim Luzzatto’s La-yesharim tehilah appeared, and on the title-page it also stated in Latin characters: Laieszurym tehyłu. As bizarre as it may look to (some of) us today, this fairly replicated the Ashkenazic Hebrew pronunciation of central Poland in the 19th century.

In Jozefów in 1835, however, another book by Moses Chaim Luzzatto was published, Mesilat Yesharim. And on the title-page one finds the following gibberish:  MYRUZSJ SEŁYSM.

Or is it gibberish? Or perhaps the type-setter was from Chelm? Or was he ignorant of the fact that Polish is written left-to-right- rather than right-to-left?

For if one reverses the letters, one finds: MSYŁES JSZURYM a perfectly rendering of M’siles yeshorim, as Hebrew was pronounced at that time and in that place.

Such “slip-ups” appear not to have happened often, so when I came across this, it took moment to figure it out.

Fishing for favorite podcasts

In honor of my new (and first) iPod, I thought I would highlight some of the podcasts that I’ve been downloading and enjoying.

First off is the Book of Life.  Created and hosted by fellow librarian Heidi Estrin.  This podcast focuses on “the Jewish people and the books we read.” Heidi does a great job interviewing authors, illustrators, and any one else involved in Jewish literature.

Have you ever been to a convention and wished that you could be in 3 places at once?  The Association of Jewish Libraries podcasts many of the sessions from their convention.  Since I tend to go to the presentations that are applicable to academic libraries, I really enjoy listening to the sessions I missed on Jewish kid-lit, history, and Jewish culture from around the world.

Next on my list of podcasts to check out is at Vox Tablet – the podcast of Tablet Magazine (a project of Nextbook Press) Their very diverse offerings cover Jewish art and culture.

Book lovers will enjoy Nancy Pearl’s Book Lust

While straying much further from Jewish books, I love the many varied talks at TEDtalks.  These are short (5-20 minute) lectures by brilliant people of the subjects that they are passionate about.

I would love to hear more suggestion of great Jewish and/or literary podcasts!

Audio Tanach

The Jewish Publication Society is publishing the Tanach on mp3 files.  You can hear the portion of the week here.
http://jewishpub.org/books/audiobible/

This book is OVERDUE!

No, I’m not sending out a mass scolding … I’m reading a wonderful new book with that title by Marilyn Johnson.  While the real subtitle is “How librarians and cybrarians can save us all” it just as well could have been “All Librarians Great and Small.”  Instead of showcasing the triumphs and tragedies of a country veteranarian, Johnson highlights the triumphs and tragedies of contemporary libraries.

With a trunk full of old newspapers and Web 2.0 tools, Johnson roams the country and cyberspace in search of the new frontiers of library science, old treasures with fresh polish, and of course charmingly quirky characters.  She finds them all.  This highly readable collection of essays is both fun and inspiring.