Lorde's "Team" song in Yiddish

A recent Jewniverse article on the Yiddish version of Lorde's song "Team" was interesting. The translation of the English Lorde lyrics of "Team" to Yiddish was done by Saul Noam Zaritt and Yael Levi and sung by The Technicalities. The Yiddish translation is very nice and I think The Technicalities have done a great job performing it. Although the Yiddish is mostly a fairly close translation of the English lyrics, there are various subtleties (some were mentioned in the Jewniverse artice). In my opinion, the Yiddish version has a "power" that the English version doesn't. In order to allow an easier comparison of the differences, I created the following side-by-side comparison of the English and Yiddish lyrics. The Yiddish words have been run through Refoyl Finkel's Yiddish Glosser utility so that one can see the individual Yiddish word definitions in English. Rest your mouse on a Yiddish word in the lyrics to see the English gloss. A few minor corrections have also been made. Words with a yellow background have had their spelling and/or nekudes adjusted from what was in the Technicalities lyrics. Words with an orange background had their definitions and/or spelling provided from the Medem dictionary. Words with a cyan background are hyperlinks to a web page.

To play the English lyrics, click here to go to Youtube site.
To play the Yiddish lyrics:

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Team	באַנדע
Wait 'til you're announced	װאַרט‪wait ביז‪until, at the time (in future) when מע‪well then: expression of dismissal, one (indefinite subject) רופֿט‪call דיך‪thigh, you אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see
We've not yet lost all our graces	זײַנען‪be מיר‪me, we נאָך‪after; yet, still; even; more (in positive constructions only) חנעװדיק‪graceful; cute, attractive; charming
The hounds will stay in chains	די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) הינט‪dog ליגן‪lie, falsehood אין‪in קײטן‪chain
Look upon Your Greatness and she'll send the call out	זע‪see דאָך‪of course; yet, still דײַן‪your גרױסקײט‪greatness און‪and זי‪she שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Send the call out	שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Send the call out	שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Send the call out	שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Send the call out	שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Send the call out	שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Send the call out	שיקט‪send די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) בשׂורה‪news, tidings
Call all the ladies out	רופֿט‪call די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) מײדלעך‪girl אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see
They're in their finery	זײ‪they, sow (seed) זײַנען‪be אױסגעפּוצט‪doll up, make fancy
A hundred jewels on throats, A hundred jewels between teeth	צירונגען‪jewelry אױפֿן‪on, on the האַלדז‪neck, embrace (with "zikh") צירונגען‪jewelry צװישן‪between צײנער‪tooth
Now bring my boys in	איצט‪now רופֿט‪call די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) ייִנגעלעך‪boy, fellow, lad אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see
Their skin in craters like the moon	די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) פּנים‪face מיט‪exert, with, middle לבֿנה‪moon-טאָלן‪valley
The moon we love like a brother,	װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) מיר‪me, we ליבן‪love, dear װי‪how; as אַ‪a (article), the letter A ברודער‪brother
while he glows through the room	בעת‪while; during זי‪she שײַנט‪gleam אומעטום‪everywhere
Dancin' around the lies we tell	טאַנצן‪dance אַרום‪around די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) ליגן‪lie, falsehood דאָ‪here
Dancin' around big eyes as well	טאַנצן‪dance אַרום‪around די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) אױגן‪eye (body part) דאָרט‪there ( אַ‪a (article), the letter A-אַ‪a (article), the letter A)
Even the comatose they don't dance and tell	אַפֿילו‪even, only די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) שיכּורים‪drunk (intoxicated) - זײ‪they, sow (seed) טאַנצן‪dance אַלזאָ‪therefore, consequently
We live in cities you'll never see on screen	װױנען‪live, reside אין‪in שטעטלעך‪town װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) האָבן‪have; give birth ניט‪not קײן‪to, not any גלי‪glow; heat to glowing
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things	אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see שום‪in no way קײן‪to, not any שײנקײט‪beauty אָבער‪but גרױסע‪large מאַכערס‪big shot; fixer זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
Living in ruins of a palace within my dreams	װױנען‪live, reside אין‪in חורבֿות‪ruin פֿון‪from; of דעם‪the, this פּאַלאַץ‪palace פֿון‪from; of קוזמיר
And you know, we're on each other's team	און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know, אַ‪a (article), the letter A באַנדע‪gang, band זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
I'm kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air, so there	ס‪it׳איז‪be מיר‪me, we נימאס‪end up boring/tiring (s.o.); rev. be fed up (with), have had enough (of) װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) זײ‪they, sow (seed) הײסן‪order, tell, be called, be named, hot זאָלן‪should זײ‪they, sow (seed) זײַן‪be, his, its מײַן‪my בעל‪master-הבית‪house; tefillin box - נו‪well then װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun)
So all the cups got broke shards beneath our feet but it wasn't my fault	נו‪well then אַלץ‪everything, all the more אױף‪on שטיקלעך‪piece (of substance), small amount of, piece (in a performance), foreskin discarded after circumcision גײט‪go; plan to (with infinitive)
And everyone's competing for a love they won't receive	שערבלעך‪shard אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see אַ‪a (article), the letter A שיעור‪limit, boundary; Talmud lesson
	אָבער‪but גאָרנישט‪nothing געטאָן‪do
	און‪and קאָנקורענטן‪rival אַלע‪all
	פֿאַר‪for; before; in the time of אַ‪a (article), the letter A ליב‪love, dear װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) קומט‪come זײ‪they, sow (seed) נישט‪not
'Cause what this palace wants is release	װײַל‪during, as long as; because, stay; enjoy oneself (with "zikh") װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) װיל‪want פּאַלאַץ‪palace? אַן‪a (article), foresee, predict, anticipate אָפּלאָז‪release
We live in cities you'll never see on screen	װױנען‪live, reside אין‪in שטעטלעך‪town װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) האָבן‪have; give birth ניט‪not קײן‪to, not any גלי‪glow; heat to glowing
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things	אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see שום‪in no way קײן‪to, not any שײנקײט‪beauty אָבער‪but גרױסע‪large מאַכערס‪big shot; fixer זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
Living in ruins of a palace within my dreams	װױנען‪live, reside אין‪in חורבֿות‪ruin פֿון‪from; of דעם‪the, this פּאַלאַץ‪palace פֿון‪from; of קוזמיר
And you know, we're on each other's team	און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know, אַ‪a (article), the letter A באַנדע‪gang, band זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
I'm kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air, So there	ס‪it׳איז‪be מיר‪me, we נימאס‪end up boring/tiring (s.o.); rev. be fed up (with), have had enough (of) װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) זײ‪they, sow (seed) הײסן‪order, tell, be called, be named, hot זאָלן‪should זײ‪they, sow (seed) זײַן‪be, his, its מײַן‪my בעל‪master-הבית‪house; tefillin box - נו‪well then װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun)
I'm kinda older than I was when I revelled without a care, So there	איך‪I בין‪bee (insect), be דאָך‪of course; yet, still עלטער‪old, stale, age (with "zikh") פֿון‪from; of די‪the, this, stall where something is sold, as in "di puter", does not become "der" in the dative (Vilna) טעג‪day פֿון‪from; of אױס‪out; because of פֿאַרברעגנן‪spend/pass (time); amuse oneself; have a good time נאָך‪after; yet, still; even; more (in positive constructions only) חצות‪midnight; midnight prayers - נו‪well then װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun)
We live in cities you'll never see on screen	װױנען‪live, reside אין‪in שטעטלעך‪town װאָס‪what, why (interrogative); that (conjunction); something, someone (pronoun) האָבן‪have; give birth ניט‪not קײן‪to, not any גלי‪glow; heat to glowing
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run things	אָן‪without, upon (as separable part of verb), apply (with "in"), see שום‪in no way קײן‪to, not any שײנקײט‪beauty אָבער‪but גרױסע‪large מאַכערס‪big shot; fixer זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
Living in ruins of a palace within my dreams	װױנען‪live, reside אין‪in חורבֿות‪ruin פֿון‪from; of דעם‪the, this פּאַלאַץ‪palace פֿון‪from; of קוזמיר
And you know, we're on each other's team	און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know, אַ‪a (article), the letter A באַנדע‪gang, band זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
We're on each other's team, and you know	אַ‪a (article), the letter A באַנדע‪gang, band זענען‪be מיר‪me, we, און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know
We're on each other's team	אַ‪a (article), the letter A באַנדע‪gang, band זענען‪be מיר‪me, we
We're on each other's team, and you know	אַ‪a (article), the letter A באַנדע‪gang, band זענען‪be מיר‪me, we, און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know
And you know	און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know
And you know	און‪and דו‪you װײסט‪know

Hebrew Keyboard Bookmarklets

Introduction

Dan Sieradski's "31 days, 31 ideas" posts included his Hebrew Input Widget post. In it, Dan complains about the hassles he has when he has to setup a computer for Hebrew input or when he wants to enter Hebrew text in a browser when he's on a public computer (e.g. - when traveling or when using someone else's machine). This post attempts to provide a solution for that problem by providing a set of browser bookmarklets that can be easily used to enable/disable Hebrew input. Simply bookmark this post in Delicious (or some other online bookmark service), and you're set - just follow the instructions below whenever you're in a browser and you need to enter Hebrew or Yiddish text in a text area!

Text Areas (for testing purposes)

Text area#1:

Text area#2:

Instructions:

1. Hebrew Bookmarklets: Drag one of the following 4 bookmarklets to your Bookmark Bar (depending on which Hebrew keyboard layout you're most comfortable with):
   Hebrew-SIL (using the SIL Hebrew keyboard layout - this is probably the better format to use if you're more accustomed to typing in English than Biblical Hebrew)
   Hebrew-Tiro (using the Tiro Hebrew keyboard layout - this is the better format to use if you are accustomed to using an Israeli Hebrew keyboard)
   Hebrew-QWERTY (using the Mac Hebrew QWERTY keyboard layout - this is the better format to use if you are used to this keyboard layout on the Mac and don't need all of the Biblical Hebrew characters)
   Hebrew-ZC (using my own Hebrew-ZC custom keyboard layout - this format combines (IMHO) the best qualities of the Hebrew-QWERTY and Tiro keyboard layouts, supports Biblical Hebrew characters, and is a very efficient layout for someone who is a fast touch typist on US English keyboards)
2. Assistive Bookmarklets: Drag the following 2 bookmarklets to your Bookmark Bar:
   No Hebrew
   RTL/LTR
3. Click the "Hebrew" bookmarklet (whichever one you selected above) to enable Hebrew input in any textarea on the current HTML page that you are on (this works on any HTML page, not just this one but I've added two textarea's to this post so that you can experiment here). Type in Hebrew (the Hebrew that appears will correspond to the keyboard layout that you selected in step #1 above. If you're not familiar with the keyboard layout you selected, you will need to print out the keyboard layout from the documentation page specified next to the keyboard in step #1).
4. Click the "No Hebrew" bookmarklet to revert back to standard keyboard input in all textareas (e.g. - when you want to resume typing in English or whatever language was the default before you clicked the Hebrew bookmarklet).
5. Click the "RTL/LTR" bookmarklet to toggle the text direction in all textareas (if you're mixing Hebrew and English, you may prefer right-to-left or left-to-right rather than the default for the textarea).

Update to "Yiddish Dictionary/Translate in Browser" post

I've updated my previous post (Yiddish Dictionary/Translate in Browser) to include a bookmarklet link to The Complete Works of Sholem Aleichem site. Refer to that page for all the different bookmarklets/links but I've duplicated it here so that you can try it out:

 The following bookmarklet lets you input Yiddish (Hebrew characters) and it will bring up a list of all matches of the entered text in the Complete Works of Sholem Aleichem (the site was created by Refoyl Finkel). This utility is very useful if you want to see sample usages of the entered word in Yiddish texts. If you select a word on any web page before pressing this bookmarklet, the selection dialog will be pre-populated with the word you selected.

• Sholem

Yiddish Dictionary/Translate in Browser

Yiddish Dictionary/Translate Bookmarklets and links: There are a number of excellent Yiddish/English dictionaries/translation utilities online. You may find you that you prefer one or the other or you may find that you use several of them. Try them out and see which ones you prefer. I've created bookmarklets that make it easier to pre-populate the search dialogs for several of these. Just drag each of these (or, whichever ones you choose to use) to your browser's bookmarks bar and read the descriptions/instructions.

The following 3 bookmarklets translate from English to Yiddish, Transliterated Yiddish (e.g. - Latin characters) to English, and Yiddish (Hebrew characters) to English using the Yiddish Dictionary Online web site for the translations. If you select a word on any web page before pressing these bookmarklets, the selection dialog will be pre-populated with the word you selected.

1. en->yi
2. yi(lat)->en
3. yi->en
   Sample results for "family":

The following bookmarklet lets you input English, Transliterated Yiddish (Latin characters), or Yiddish (Hebrew characters) and it will bring up a list of multiple possible definitions for the word (displayed as transliterated Yiddish) using Refoyl Finkel's dictionary search utility. This utility is particularly useful if you know only a fragment of a word or don't know the correct spelling as it will try to determine many reasonable choices. If you select a word on any web page before pressing this bookmarklet, the selection dialog will be pre-populated with the word you selected.

• Refoyl
  Sample results for "family":

The following bookmarklet is a shortcut to Google Translate which preselects translation from English to Yiddish. If you select a word on any web page before pressing this bookmarklet, the selection dialog will be pre-populated with the word you selected.

• Google
  Sample results for "family":

The following bookmarklet is a shortcut to the online version of the Medem (Niborsky) Yiddish-English, Yiddish-French dictionary. If you select a word on any web page before pressing this bookmarklet, the selection dialog will be pre-populated with the word you selected. You need to specify whether you're translating from or to Yiddish and whether you want translations in English or French. Optionally, you can also have Transliterated Yiddish displayed. You need to setup an account first in order to use the utility. Initially, you get 20 word lookups for free with an additional 5 word lookups for free each month. For a small fee, you can purchase additional word lookups. For casual use, you may prefer to use one of the free alternatives on this page; however, for professional use, the Niborsky dictionary is probably one of the most highly-rated and many Yiddishists consider it extremely valuable.

• Medem
  Sample results for "family":

The following link is a shortcut to another utility created by Refoyl Finkel (who also created the dictionary search utility listed earlier on this page). This isn't a dictionary lookup utility but serves an analogous purpose. It lets you paste Yiddish text into a dialog (or select a file to upload) and it then creates an HTML page which it "glosses" (e.g. - adds English translations) to every word it recognizes from the Yiddish text you uploaded (similar to what The Forward does with Yiddish words in it's online Yiddish newspaper). This is quite nifty as it allows you to get word help on any Yiddish word in the text by just clicking on it! As an added bonus, it also automatically corrects (according to current YIVO standards) any incorrect nekudes in the text!

• Glosser
  Sample results when the Yiddish text of "The Internationale" was pasted into the Glosser utility:

The following link is a shortcut to a page that indexes individual PDF pages of "Harkavy's Yiddish-English (6th edition), English-Yiddish (11th edition) Dictionary (1910)" (a popular Yiddish dictionary at the beginning of the 20th Century). It was also created by Refoyl Finkel (who created the dictionary search and glosser utilities listed earlier on this page) and one of his students. It's useful for quickly getting to the correct page in the PDF document when looking for a particular word.

• Harkavy

The following link is a shortcut to a PDF version of Uriel Weinreich's Hebrew/English Dictionary (1968) (probably the most popular Yiddish dictionary in common use today). Unlike most PDF Yiddish dictionaries, this one allows you to search for words within the PDF document. It's very worthwhile to download the PDF and use a local copy of it but you can also use it online.

• Weinreich

The following bookmarklet lets you input Yiddish (Hebrew characters) and it will bring up a list of all matches of the entered text in the Complete Works of Sholem Aleichem (the site was created by Refoyl Finkel). This utility is very useful if you want to see sample usages of the entered word in Yiddish texts. If you select a word on any web page before pressing this bookmarklet, the selection dialog will be pre-populated with the word you selected.

• Sholem

Lastly, some related material:

• Other online Yiddish Dictionaries - a page which lists a number of other Yiddish dictionaries (including some specialist ones) that are available online
• YIVO list of Yiddish Dictionaries - a YIVO list of different Yiddish dictionaries
• Pakn Treger Yiddish Dictionaries article - a very good Pakn Treger article about Yiddish dictionaries
• How to choose your Yiddish Dictionary article - a good summary of available dictionaries and how to choose which one(s) to use

HebrewBible Version 8.1 now available on the Apple App Store

A new version of my Hebrew Bible app is now available on the Apple App Store. It contains the following changes:

1. Enhancement: Support for iOS 8.
2. Enhancement: Support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices (with their larger screens).
3. Enhancement/Fix: In the past, Bible text audio was streamed from the Snunit educational site in Israel. This site has recently had extended down-time and performance issues so I now stream the audio from the Mechon Mamre site (also in Israel). The audio streaming from Mechon Mamre is much more reliable and the performance is better as well. My apologies to those of you who weren't able to hear the audio this past week while the Snunit site has been down. Also, for those users who don't want to rely on Internet streaming of the audio, I've posted some instructions detailing how to download the audio files to your device. Downloading all of the audio files will require about 1GB of space on your device so, unless you use the audio functionality a lot, you may choose to just continue streaming the audio from the Internet.
4. Fix: A number of minor text and other fixes were included in this release.

I recommend that all current users download the update from the Apple App Store (it is a free update for existing users of the app).

HebrewBible Version 7.3 now available on the Apple App Store

This release has a number of minor bug fixes (primarily text-related issues).

Limmud Vancouver 2014

I attended Limmud Vancouver (the first-ever Limmud conference in Vancouver!) yesterday. Quite an interesting and enjoyable learning experience. I was one of the presenters - my presentation was "Jewish Texts in the Digital Age". Here's a link to a PDF copy of the presentation along with my speaker notes for each slide: Jewish Texts in the Digital Age Any feedback/comments will be appreciated.

HebrewBible Version 7.2 now available on the Apple App Store

I've released an update with just a minor fix:

1. Changed "Translate" search to use Google Translate rather than Bing Translate (there was a problem with the Bing API).

The new version of the app is now available on the Apple App Store and I recommend that all current users who have iOS 7 on their device download the upgrade (it is a free upgrade for existing users of the app).

YiddishBible Version 2.3 now available on the Apple App Store

I've released an update that now provides compatibility with iOS 7. The update is iOS 7 only so can only be downloaded to devices that have been updated with iOS 7. However, in addition to the iOS 7 support, there are a number of additional enhancements and fixes in this update:

1. Updated look and feel of app to conform to iOS 7 standards.
2. Fixed issue which sometimes caused the word definition popups to not appear.
3. Increased the size of the "X" used to close the word definition popup.
4. Some miscellaneous fixes/updates.

The new version of the app is now available on the Apple App Store and I recommend that all current users who have iOS 7 on their device download the upgrade (it is a free upgrade for existing users of the app).

HebrewBible Version 7.1 now available on the Apple App Store

I've released an update that now provides compatibility with iOS 7. The update is iOS 7 only so can only be downloaded to devices that have been updated with iOS 7. However, in addition to the iOS 7 support, there are a fair number of additional enhancements and fixes in this update:

1. Updated look and feel of app to conform to iOS 7 standards.
2. Added new "on-device" Bible versions that all support the "touch Hebrew word for definition" functionality. They are:
   
   • Hebrew (cantillation)
   • Hebrew (vowels)
   • Hebrew (no vowels)
   • Hebrew/English (cantillation)
   • Hebrew/English (vowels)
   • Hebrew/English (no vowels)
3. Fixed issue which sometimes caused the word definition popups to not appear.
4. Fixed issue where Hebrew and English texts were not in-synch in Deuteronomy 5.
5. Fixed broken word link in Genesis 14.5.
6. Fixed numbering of verses in Psalm 70.
7. Increased the size of the "X" used to close the word definition popup.
8. On the iPhone version of the app, the "gear" icon has been eliminated. Now, you can temporarily switch Bible versions or change the app settings using an icon on the main Bible toolbar.
9. Some miscellaneous fixes/updates.

The new version of the app is now available on the Apple App Store and I recommend that all current users who have iOS 7 on their device download the upgrade (it is a free upgrade for existing users of the app).

Support Michael Wex's translation of a Classic Yiddish Novel into English

Here is the official flyer:



And, here are the details (copied from the indiegogo campaign page with some links and formatting added by me) about this - please support it if you can:

Short Summary
Help bestselling Yiddishist Michael Wex pioneer a new model for literary translation while rescuing a seminal work of modern Yiddish literature from undeserved neglect.

THE BOOK
If you can read Yiddish literature only in English translation, Joseph Opatoshu's 1921 novel, In Poylishe Velder (In The Forests of Poland), is one of the most important works of world literature with which you're probably unfamiliar. A vast panorama of Jewish life in Poland during the 1850s, Opatoshu's novel concentrates on backwoods Jews who live among gentile peasants rather than in Jewish communities in cities or shtetlekh. Touching as it does on hasidism, heresy, pre-Christian Polish folk customs, wife-swapping, messianism, and Polish nationalism, this book will change the way you think about Jewish life in Poland. Those parts not set in the forests or on the road take place in the court of the Rebbe of Kotzk, the last of the classical hasidic leaders. The Rebbe and his court are portrayed so convincingly that even members of the book's original audience often forgot that they were reading a novel and not an intimate history of hasidism in Kotzk. It's the price that Opatoshu had to pay for writing some of the best prose ever published in Yiddish.

THE AUTHOR
Sholem Asch and Isaac Bashevis Singer might be better known, but Joseph Opatoshu (1886-1954) was far and away the most important and influential Yiddish novelist of the twentieth century: even Singer, especially in such books as Satan in Goray and The Slave, owes him a considerable debt. Opatoshu is to Yiddish fiction as Hemingway is to American.

He hasn't been well–treated in English, though. Only three of Opatoshu's books have been translated, the most recent, a volume of short stories, in 1968. The 1938 English version of In Poylishe Velder was no more successful as English than it was as Opatoshu. If it's to be properly replaced, a new translation needs to be done immediately: the last native speakers to have learned their Yiddish from people who grew up in pre-WW II Europe, Yiddish-speaking baby-boomers with enough general education to be able to render a sophisticated, allusive and multi-lingual text into an English that doesn't read like a translation, are already beginning to be moved into assisted living facilities.

THE TRANSLATION
This urgency was one of the factors that prompted Eric Klein to suggest a crowd-sourcing model as the best way to allow a translator to devote a year of his working life to Opatoshu and nothing else. Translations of literary fiction by long-dead writers who are virtually unknown in English are usually undertaken by academics who receive salaries from their universities; the university presses that publish most such work tend to give only minimal advances on press-runs so small as almost to guarantee tiny royalties. The patronage model that Eric suggested and that I'm proposing–which can be applied to translations from any language–will allow me to spend the next twelve months working on In Poylishe Velder as if it were a book of my own for which I'd received an advance, but with one major difference: I'm going to post the translation on line, where it will be freely available under a creative commons licence so that no one need do anything but type a web address in order to read the book on line or else download a free PDF or e-book once the web version has celebrated its first anniversary. The text will feature tooltip notes (slide the cursor over a Yiddish or Hebrew word to find out what it means) and links to specially made sound files for help with the pronunciation of some of these words. There will be a comprehensive introduction to help acquaint readers with Opatoshu and his work, as well as an afterword (to avoid spoilers that might cut down on the fun of reading the book) to explain some of the issues with which the book is concerned and some aspects of the milieu in which it takes place.

WHY SO MUCH?
$75,000 might seem like a lot of money for something without a very elaborate production process, but this project is all about time. Basic expenses–publicity,administration fees, website and recording costs, premiums (including preparation of the e-book and recording the audio) and shipping costs, which we cover–will come to about $23,000. The remaining $52000 (less the Government of Canada's 22%) will allow me a year to give Opatoshu's book the attention it deserves without forcing my family to suffer unreasonably. Because the book will be free, this will be the only money I ever see from it.

The book will never go out of print; it will always be free. Donors will be benefactors subsidizing the spread of Yiddish culture rather than investors or advance purchasers. Dan Opatoshu, Joseph's grandson, has very generously granted me permission to translate his grandfather's work, which is still under copyright: if 3000 people are willing to donate the cover price of a hardcover book, Joseph Opatoshu will be in a position to crack the modernist canon by May 2014. Every contributor's name will appear in a list of donors that will be part of the book. Those so inclined can contribute in honour or in memory of someone else, or even request complete anonymity.

There is nothing to lose. This is a fixed funding project; if the amount of money raised falls short of the $75,000 goal, the project will be cancelled and your contribution automatically refunded (go to http://support.indiegogo.com/entries/21081743-r... for information on Indiegogo's refund mechanism). If more is earned, the surplus will be applied to a translation of 1863, the sequel to In Poylishe Velder.

THE TRANSLATOR
I'm the author of Born to Kvetch, a New York Times bestseller, which is also the bestselling book about Yiddish ever published. Two of my other books–How to be a Mentsh (and not a Shmuck) and The Frumkiss Family Business– were national bestsellers in Canada (where I live). I have been a columnist for The Jewish Week, published two novels besides Frumkiss and another book on Yiddish, Just Say Nu. My Yiddish to English translations range from testimony for possible war crimes trials to lyrics for such performers as The Klezmatics and Chava Alberstein to stories in the standard anthology, Classic Yiddish Stories (of which I was also a co-editor), and The Wishing-Ring, the classic novel by S.Y. Abramovitsh (Mendele Moykher Sforim). I have also translated extensively from English to Yiddish–though uncredited, I did much of the translation for Mandy Patinkin's Yiddish project–and have also done the only authorized translation of Weill and Brecht's Threepenny Opera from German into Yiddish.

iOS 6.0 and iPhone 5 (4" screen) updates for Hebrew Bible, Yiddish Bible, and Biblical Hebrew apps now in App Store

Over the past 2 weeks, Apple has approved updates for my apps. The latest updates to these apps provide support for iOS 6.0 and the larger (4 inch) screen of the iPhone 5. There were also some minor bug fixes. Here are the links:

• Hebrew Bible Version 6.1
• Yiddish Bible Version 2.2
• Biblical Hebrew Version 1.6

The new version of the app is now available on the Apple App Store and I recommend that all current users download the upgrade (it is a free upgrade for existing users of the app).

My Yiddish Bible app has been reviewed in The Forward!

This is Super Cool! My Yiddish Bible app has been reviewed in The Forward (Forverts)!

Here's a screenshot capture of the article:

iOS 5.1 updates for Hebrew Bible, Yiddish Bible, and Biblical Hebrew apps now in App Store

The following updates address the database compatibility issue in iOS 5.1 that affected my apps:

• Hebrew Bible Version 5.3
• Yiddish Bible Version 2.1
• Biblical Hebrew Version 1.5

After installing the update, you should make certain that the app isn't running in the background. If the app was running in the background when you downloaded the update, the "old" database location will still be the one that is being used. If the app is running in the background, you should do one of the following:

1. Close the background app (double-press the home button, press and hold the icon of the app until it starts to "wiggle", press the red "-" to remove it from the background).
2. Do a full power off and power on of the device (hold down home button and power button and slide the slider and the power back on again).
3. Delete the app from your device and re-install it from iTunes.

Options #1 and #2 are faster and easier to do but may not work in all cases (depending on when you took the iOS 5.1 update and a number of other factors). The solution that will work in every case is #3. So, it's best to delete the app from your device and reinstall it from iTunes (after you've downloaded the latest update with iTunes). Here are step by step instructions for doing this (in these instructions, I talk about the HebrewBible app but the same approach works for the BiblicalHebrew and YiddishBible apps as well):

1. Attach your device to the USB sync cable and start up iTunes.
2. Click on the "Apps" icon (in the left-hand sidebar) and then click on the "Check for Updates" link (in the bottom-right of the right-hand pane of the iTunes window). Download the HebrewBible app update to your Mac/PC.
3. Click on your device icon (in the left-hand sidebar) and then click on the "Apps" tab (at the top of the right-hand pane of the iTunes window).
4. Scroll down through the list of apps on your device until you see the HebrewBible app. It will have a check mark next to it (showing that it is installed on the device). Remove the checkmark and click the "Sync" button (at the bottom-right of the iTunes window). This will remove the HebrewBible app from your device but will keep it in your iTunes repository.
5. Once you have verified that the app is no longer on your device, you will reinstall it from iTunes. To do this, you repeat the above steps except, this time, you add the check mark to the HebrewBible app in iTunes. After the "Sync", the HebrewBible app will be reinstalled.
6. Disconnect the device from iTunes and the USB sync cable.
7. Startup the HebrewBible app. The first time it starts, there will be a delay while the startup "splash" screen is being displayed. During this first startup, the app copies some files and does some initial setup. This will only occur the first time you start the app. Don't cancel the startup - just wait until it completes.

The new versions of the apps are now available on the Apple App Store and I recommend that all current users download the upgrades (they are free upgrades for existing users of the apps). Once again, my apologies for any inconvenience this has caused.

Compatibility issues with new iOS 5.1 release

I've just found out that a change in the way Apple stores databases in iOS 5.1 (the version of iOS that was released this week) causes a problem in my apps (the words/dictionary functionality won't work). Therefore, if you use my Hebrew Bible, Biblical Hebrew, or Yiddish Bible apps, you should hold off upgrading to iOS 5.1 until Apple has approved my next version of these apps. I've submitted the fix to Apple and hope that the new versions will be available early next week.

My apologies for the inconvenience.

HebrewBible Version 5.2 now available on the Apple App Store

I've released a version 5.2 update. This update changes the default font from Times to Ezra Sil SR in order to provide better display of cantillation. There are many alternative fonts provided (change them via the Settings app) but many users never change the default font so this change provides an improved "out-of-the-box" experience.

The new version of the app is now available on the Apple App Store and I recommend that all current users download the upgrade (it is a free upgrade for existing users of the app).

YiddishBible Version 2.0 now available on the App Store

Normally, when I provide incremental upgrades, I just increment the version number by ".1". However, this second version of the Yiddish Bible application has so many enhancements, I have made it a "2.0" release. I'm quite excited about the new functionality and hope current users will be too. The new version of the app is now available on the Apple App Store and I recommend that all current users download the upgrade (it is a free upgrade for existing users of the app). The following changes were made in this version:

• In the Bible display, touching any Yiddish word will bring up a pop-up window with the English definition of that word. For people who are not fluent in Yiddish, this is an extremely useful function!
• In the 2-letter word search, the app will first bring up a list of ranges of word matches which, when one is touched, will display the individual words and their definitions. This greatly speeds up word searches.
• A different font has been chosen for the display of Yiddish words. With this font, "pasekh tsvey yudn" and "khirik yud" character combinations are displayed with "raised" vowels (as is customary in Yiddish).
• Improved access to an Internet copy of the 1910 edition of "Harkavy's Yiddish/English, English/Yiddish Dictionary" is included as part of the app.
• The font size has been increased in the word search displays to improve readability.
• Some minor bug fixes and cosmetic changes were made.

Yiddish/Hebrew font display differences

Sometimes the little things take the longest time to get right. After release #1 of my Yiddish Bible iPhone/iPad app, I started to get some feedback on things people liked and things they thought could be improved. Refoyl Finkel pointed out that the Ezra font that I was using for the Yiddish text didn't "raise" the vowels in the traditional Yiddish manner. Both the Hebrew and Yiddish languages use the same Hebrew Unicode character set (the range x0590 - x05ff). However, in Yiddish, for the "pasekh tsvey yudn" and "khirik yud" character combinations, the convention is to "raise" the vowel. This is done for Yiddish only, not Hebrew (which displays the pasekh and khirik in the same "lowered" position all the time), and these 2 character combinations are the only ones that are traditionally displayed differently in Hebrew and Yiddish. The following illustrates the correct positioning for Hebrew and for Yiddish:



However, getting this right wasn't simply a matter of changing fonts! In order to display the vowels in a "raised" manner for Yiddish text in a standards-compliant manner, the following should be done:

1. When you want to display the characters in the Hebrew (lowered) manner, you need to specify 'lang="he"' for the text that is being displayed. When you want to display the characters in the Yiddish (raised) manner, you need to specify 'lang="yi"' for the text that is being displayed.
2. The font that you are using needs to support different glyphs for Hebrew and Yiddish, differentiated by language.
3. The browser that you're using needs to be able to display the correct glyphs from the font based on the lang attribute that is specified.

So, #1 was just a simple matter of programming; however, #2 and #3 were a bigger issue. The problem is that very few fonts support different glyphs for the "pasekh tsvey yudn" and "khirik yud" character combinations. Also, until recently, no browser correctly displayed the different glyphs even if they were supported in the font.

Refoyl and I experimented with a number of different fonts. The GNU FreeFont fonts were one of the few fonts that actually had different glyphs to support display of both raised and lowered pasekh/khirik vowels. I chose the FreeSans font that is part of that package. However, although the FreeSans font did raise the pasekh in the "pasekh tsvey yudn" character combination, it didn't raise the khirik in the "khirik yud" character combination. I did some hacking on the font and came up with a fix that always raised the vowels for the "pasekh tsvey yudn" and "khirik yud" character combinations. This worked ok for me because I was only going to display Yiddish text with the font. However, it wasn't suitable as a general-purpose fix because the font (with my fix) would display the "pasekh tsvey yudn" and "khirik yud" character combinations with raised vowels all the time (regardless of whether the language was Yiddish or Hebrew). I therefore submitted my problem along with my hack as a bug report on the FreeFont bug list (see here for the details). After some exchanges with Steve White (the primary FreeFont developer), Steve came up with a fix. So, I now had solutions for #1 & #2. The browser issues still had to be resolved though as no current browser would correctly differentiate between Hebrew and Yiddish based on the 'lang' attribute.

Steve had previously submitted a bug report for Firefox for this issue (his bug report related to the use of different glyphs for Cyrillic text with Serbian/Macedonian instead of the usual Russian ones; however, the issue was the same as the Hebrew/Yiddish issue). So, he added my comments to his bug report (see the comments at the end of the Firefox bug report here) and I'm please to be able to report that this issue is now fixed in Firefox 10.0! However, in order to use Steve's latest font mods in my Yiddish Bible app, I needed the fix to be done in Mobile Safari as well since I was using a UIWebView control in my app to display the Yiddish text. Since Safari is Webkit-based, Steve suggested that I submit a bug report to Webkit and he would back up my bug report. Therefore, I submitted the bug report and Steve submitted his related Cyrillic example and we are hoping that the Webkit fix will be forthcoming soon (the Webkit bug report is here).

So, although I now had a fix for the font and a fix for Firefox, I still didn't have a fix for Webkit (which I would need if I wanted to use Steve's latest font in my app). So, in the end, I decided to use my original hack of his font in my app as it would allow me to display Yiddish character combinations correctly and I wasn't going to use the font for Hebrew. I've made the necessary changes and Version 2.0 of the app (which contains a number of other enhancements that I'm quite excited about) has been submitted to Apple for approval. When it gets into the App Store, I'll post about the new features.

Since I've modified the font, I've posted my mods along with the original source code here: GNU FreeFont mods. You can see my mods by diff'ing the "FreeSans.sfd" file with the original "FreeSans.sfd~" file. The mods are also documented in my FreeFont bug report. So, if you're looking for a nice font for Yiddish and you need it now, feel free to grab my modified FreeSans font. If you can wait until Steve's next release of the FreeFont fonts comes out and browser support catches up as well, then that's going to be better long-term as I eventually hope to switch over to the standard font once Webkit is patched.

NEW: Yiddish Bible App for iPhone/iPad/iPodTouch

If you do a search on the Apple iTunes App Store for "Bible", you will see the (literally) hundreds of Bible applications that are available. If you narrow your search to "Hebrew Bible" or "Jewish Bible", you will still get dozens of results. However, if last week you had searched for "Yiddish Bible", you would not have seen a single Yiddish Bible application. Now, that is no longer the case - my Yiddish Bible app is available on the app store. With the ability to toggle between Yiddish-only and Yiddish/English, Yiddish/Transcription, Yiddish/Hebrew parallel formats and with a built-in Yiddish/English dictionary, it is also a very useful app for people who are either learning Yiddish or who are trying to improve their knowledge of Yiddish.

• More details (with a short demo movie): Yiddish Bible Web Site
• iTunes Store app information: iTunes Link
• Background: Open Siddur Project blog

Verse Index for Chanting the Hebrew Bible book

Joshua Jacobson's book Chanting the Hebrew Bible: The Complete Guide to the Art of Cantillation (Amazon link) is a fantastic and wonderful resource for anyone who has an interest in either Hebrew chanting or cantillation. However, one issue that I have with the book is that there is no index. The book is about 1,000 pages long and, although it does have a very good Table of Contents, it would really benefit from having an index. I've exchanged emails with the author and he has indicated that any future update (if there is one) will have an index. I googled around a bit to see if anyone else had any supplementary material that would be useful. On Len Fellman's site, I found an index that he had compiled listing all of the scripture references in the book along with page numbers and chapter subheadings. Although the verse index that I found on Len Fellman's site was good to print out, it was not very useful for interactive searching. So, I spent some time converting it into an Excel spreadsheet (I also had to "rationalize" some of the section names that Len used as he wasn't entirely consistent). Now it can be used interactively (you can sort by page#, verse, etc or use any of the other data functions that are available in Excel). You can download the spreadsheet from here.

HebrewBible Version 5.1 now available on the Apple App Store

Hot on the heels of the Version 5.0 update to my HebrewBible App, I've released a version 5.1 update. This update adds support for local audio files (previous versions would stream audio over the Internet - this version allows the user to either stream audio or store it on their device and access it without an Internet connection). I had expected that this enhancement would take a lot longer to do (which is why it wasn't included in the 5.0 release); however, it's amazing what a few late-night development sessions will do! This enhancement will allow users to store and access on their devices either the standard audio (that is currently streamed over the Internet) or their own audio files. This could be useful for use with Bar/Bat Mitzvah audio training files or if you simply prefer a different set of audio readings of the Tanach or if you simply want to have the audio files on your device so that you can use them when you don't have Internet connectivity. Be aware that there are certain standards that you must conform to if you use your own audio files. Also, be aware that storing the audio files on your device could consume a significant amount of storage space. Full setup instructions are located here.

The new version of the app is now available on the Apple App Store and I recommend that all current users download the upgrade (it is a free upgrade for existing users of the app).

HebrewBible Version 5.0 now available on the Apple App Store

This is a fairly major release since I've added an additional "Hebrew/English (reader)" Bible version to the app. This version is based on the Leningrad Codex Hebrew text and the JPS 1917 English text. As with the "Hebrew (reader)" version, it provides word-lookup functionality when Hebrew words are touched and the Hebrew text has full vowels and cantillation. The new version of the app is now available on the Apple App Store and I recommend that all current users download the upgrade (it is a free upgrade for existing users of the app). The following changes are in the HebrewBible App update:

1. Enhancement: Added "Hebrew/English (reader)" Bible version which provides a parallel Hebrew/English version of the Tanach with support for Hebrew word lookups (by touching on a Hebrew word, the definition is displayed with buttons to display verses or relevant page from BDB).
2. Enhancement: Changed word translate functionality from Google Translate to Microsoft Bing Translate.
3. Enhancement: Built with iOS SDK 5.0 but will run on any iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch with at least iOS 3.0.
4. Enhancement: Changed cache functionality so that cached Bible data is not backed up to iCloud (better performance, doesn't impact user iCloud storage limits, and is in keeping with Apple's iCloud guidelines).
5. Fix: Audio was sometimes not terminating properly on iPad.
6. Fix: Minor cosmetic fixes.

Here is a screenshot of the new "Hebrew/English (reader)" Bible version (shown after touching the Hebrew word for "serpent" and displaying the word-lookup definition information):