g't ptit iisW• The Faces, And Costumes, Of Purim By MARY KORETZ Each month in this space, L'Chayim will present a Yiddish lesson entitled, "Du Redst Yiddish? (Do You Speak Yiddish?)," whose aim is to encourage further study of Yiddish. The lesson will include a brief story utilizing the Yiddish words to be studied and a vocabulary list with English translations. Two books which may be helpful for beginning Yiddish students are Yiddish for Beginners by Dr. Joffen and Der Yiddisher Lerer by Goldin. Weinreich's English-Yiddish Dictionary also may be useful. The lessons were prepared by Mary Koretz of Oak Park. She has taught both children's and adult classes in Yiddish at the Workmen's Circle. Following is this month's lesson: Purim, in my childhood home, was two large wooden shislen (one normally used for chopping fish and one for chopping liver), filled with bawb and arbis. The chick peas were generously covered with fefer. The bowls were placed on the tish and could be eaten at will, like candy or nis. Hamantashen were the other customary edible. Special preparations for a festive onbeisn were made. Most of our holidays were marked by the overconsumption of food. We ingested our yidishkeit; it truly became a part of us. Very often we had relatives visit us or mir were invited to their homes. The holiday revived zikorns among the dervaksener, of der haym. They spoke of Purimshpilers, of carrying shalach mones of gragers and of hindlach swung around kep, in the synagogues, as a symbol of Haman. Zay spoke of these zachn as though they existed nor in Europe. Perhaps because they were secular Jews, they had dropped some of these practices. Shpeter, I was lerenen, that these customs still prevailed tsvishn a groise number of yidn in America, particularly religious ones. When I was alt genug to teach in a secular Sunday school, I found that they had their aygenir version of Purim observance. The meise of Esther was dertsaylt to the kinder before Purim. On the yom toy the children came costumed. They represented the characters in the megile. Various games were devised such as pin the bord on Mordecai. Prizes were awarded to geviners of L-8 FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 1990 mind of an American New Year's tsvish the games and for the best groise celebration. And so it appears, that costumes. yidn the observance of Purim wears In Israel, Purim is gepravet in alt different ways, both in the kibbutzim many ponimer as well as costumes. genug and in the shtet. According to aygenir people ver visited Israel during bowls meise shislen Purim, the following represent beans dertsaylt bawb etleche differences. peas kinder arbis In Kibbutz Gal-On, the pepper yom tov fefer yungvarg observe the holiday in table megile tish their special children's home. They nuts bord nis wore costumes of farshidene kinds, a three-cornered geviners hamantashen not necessarily relevant to the cookie gepravet meise of Esther. More like the dinner shtet onbeisn Halloween costumes of America. Jewishness ver yidishkeit The adults held a bazunderer party we etleche mir in the large dining hall. Most came memories yungvarg zikorns muzik, costumed. They were skits, adults farshidene dervaksener tants, vein, esnvarg and gragers. home bazunderer der haym The party lasted veit in the night. Purim players muzik Purimshpilers In Jerusalem, and other cities, goodies sent tants shalach mones mentshn send shalach mones and during Purim vein hold private parties. The nature of noisemakers esnvarg gragers the farzamln depend on the people chickens veit hindlach involved. head mentshn I have a picture of a Purim kep they farzamln partty, held at the haym of friends. zay things haym They live in Bat Yam, a senior adult zachn only bashtayt housing facility. The party bashtayt nor later trogn of a festive dinner with the guests shpeter taught ponimer trogn paper hats. It puts one in lerenen Vocabulary S among large Jews old enough own story told children holiday story of Purim bear winners observed cities who several youngsters various separate music dances wine food far people gathering home consists wearing faces ote` Pick Patronymic Root From Pinchus By BE I 1Y PROVIZER STARKMAN The family name WETZLAR, is of geographic origin and indicates residence in the Hessian city of Wetzlar. Paul Diamant discusses this family in Archiv For Judische Familien, a genealogical journal published in Vienna, 1912-1916. He also wrote about the other Jewish families living in Wetzlar from the twelfth century and the origins of their family names. PICK is a surname of patronymic root showing descent from an ancestor named Pinchus. The family LOUSADA claims ancestry from the Spanish Grandees. They are of Sephardic origin and lived in Jamaica for many generations. The JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA, 12 vols., (N.Y., 1901-1906) has a crest and family tree. The surname GLASS is of occupational root and was chosen by an ancestor to note his involvement in the sale of manufacture of glass. GLASSMAN and GLAZER come from the same source. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, 10 vols., (N.Y., 1939-1948) has an article about the English writer, Montague Glass (1877-1934.) SCHWAB as a surname is of Ashkenazic root and tells us that this family once resided in Swabia, Germany. The family later moved on to France and Moravia. The Leo Baeck Institute of New York has a Schwab family tree beginning in the year 1495. LIVERANT is an Ashkenazic name indicating occupation. In Yiddish liverant means "caterer." The family name SONNTAG, meaning "Sunday," in Yiddish/German, was considered one of the beautiful names. An official may have been bribed to assign this name. The name may have been requested because of an anniversary or birth date, that took place on Sunday. Some of our Jewish family names were adopted from neighborhood locations. A Dutch family chose VAN DAM (near the dike) as their name. CASTELNUOVO, is another name that falls into this category. This cognomen literally means, "new castle." It is of Sephardic origin and was adopted by a Spanish, Portuguese or Italian Jew to indicate that he lived near the new castle. ALGRANTI is also a Sephardic surname. It illustrates the eight centuries of Moorish influence upon Spain and its Jewish inhabitants. Algranti is from the Arabic, "a son of Granada." The Ashkenazic name TAMBOR is of occupational origin and in Yiddish means "drummer." Someone in your family played the drums. Some Yiddish/German names end in "stamm" which translates to "ancestry." KOHNSTAMM thus indicates priestly origins. Betty Provizer Starkman is the past president and founder of the genealogical branch of the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan.