MENAKHEM-MENDL
ZEGEL
He was born in Lemberg,
Galicia. He studied in Brod (Brody) and
other Galician cities. He translated
into a folksy Galician Yiddish, Mishnayes
af yidish (kav venaki) (The Mishna
in Yiddish, small in size but trustworthy), proceeding alphabetically: “The
Mishna states: Ner neshama (Light of
the soul [Yahrzeit candle]), each person should have from all manner of names
to study at an anniversary of a death and letters of the soul…” The text also has some prayers in Yiddish
that one would say at the side of a sick person when he sends forth “the soul”
(Lemberg, 1896), 80 pp. In its day it
was an important text for the simple everyday Jew who was able through
commentaries in Yiddish to study the Mishna to the memory of those close to him
on their death anniversaries. We offer
here a short extract from his translation from Mishna Yoma, chapter 4: “Every other day the priests would ascend the
altar by the stairs on the east side and return on the west side, and today, Yom
Kippur, the High Priest goes up and down in the steps in the middle. Rabbi Yehuda says: The High Priest always washes
his hands and feet with the laver, and today [he uses] the golden flask. Rabbi Yehuda says: The High Priest always
uses the golden flask to wash his hands and feet.”
Khayim Leyb Fuks
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