Monday 29 August 2016

MENAKHEM-MENDL ZEGEL

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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