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I am currently working on a clarification of the document which is usually used by rabbis to sell chametz to a non-Jew. The version I am working with is that of Harav hagGaon Avraham Aharon Yudelewitz Zatzal, (author of Shu"t Bet Av), which is sprinkled with Yiddish phrases. I am having difficulty translating most of them, and I was hoping the community can help me translate them into Hebrew so that the document can be better understood by non-Yiddish readers. Here are the difficult phrases.

  • ומסרתי לו שטר הלז שיקנה את החדר הנ"ל בשלימות בשכירות גם בשטר הלז וגם בהאנדשלאג שעשיתי עמו (I think this one means a handshake)
  • (In a list of items being sold:) וכל מיני סארטין מנאליווקעס
  • וכל מיני יי"ג (I think its some form of wine)
  • או משקה של חומץ ושמרים ו*מאלץ*
  • וכל מיני גרויפין וקמחים של חמץ
  • ואפילו אם נעשו לרפואה כגון ארסיקלען שבדרוג משארס
  • תחלת דמי הפרעון הנקרא אופגאב (down payment?)
  • וגם עשיתי צושלאג עם הא''י הנ''ל על שכירת המקומות הנ''ל
  • ודמי זמן "הנאטיס" כפי הנהוג במדינה זו ישלם מכיסו (possibly a typo - original is hard to read here)

These are the phrases I am having difficulty with, and can at best guess based out of context, but I would feel much more comfortable revising the contract on solid footing.

Edit: Here is my current version of the whole contract. Very few changes have been made from the original. (FTR, this is not a finalized document.)

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asked with permission – Baal Shemot Tovot Mar 21 '12 at 18:20
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Welcome back I'. Great to see you. – Hacham Gabriel Mar 21 '12 at 18:32
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Which country was this used in? And could you post an image of the original? – Dave Mar 21 '12 at 18:40
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If you can post the original it would be easier to translate as some of these may be off by a letter or so. – Gershon Gold Mar 21 '12 at 18:43
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דרוג משארס = drug measurers (or mixers)? – Dave Mar 21 '12 at 18:47
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3 Answers

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או משקה של חומץ ושמרים ו*מאלץ* = Malt

וגם עשיתי צושלאג עם הא''י הנ''ל על שכירת המקומות הנ''ל = I also made a further agreement with the non Jew on the rental of the above listed locations.

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I think it's "a further agreement" or "an additional agreement", that's the "tzu" part; right? – Shalom Mar 21 '12 at 18:38
wow, was that really neccesary to have been written in Yiddish? you'd think Yiddish would be used for expressions which are hard to say in hebrew.... are there any connotations which that phrase carry?? – Baal Shemot Tovot Mar 21 '12 at 19:01
There is no reason all of it can not be written in Hebrew unless in those days there was no Hebrew words for these items. – Gershon Gold Mar 21 '12 at 19:08
@Shalom: not necessarily; "tzu" can also correspond to English "to" (as in צוריק, "to the back" or "backwards"). – Alex Mar 22 '12 at 0:10
up vote 3 down vote

סארטין מנאליווקעס seems to mean "sorts (types) of liqueur" - nalivka being the Russian word for a beverage of that type, some formulations of which, I guess, might contain chametz.

I think that Dave is correct that ארסיקלען שבדרוג משארס should be ארטיקלען שבדראג סטארס - articles (items) in drugstores.

הנאטיס, as I mentioned in a comment, I think simply means "the notice." (The context is that the non-Jewish buyer may hire other people to run the business during Pesach, so presumably he'd have to put up notices advertising the position.)

I think the rest of them are pretty well covered.

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Can you confirm that אופגאב is a down payment? It fits in context – Baal Shemot Tovot Mar 22 '12 at 16:33
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It is. See here, for example: בערבון, ר"ל דמי קדימה (אופגאב בלע"ז)... כמו סוחר הקונה סחורה בכמה אלפים ונותן מעות קדימה. – Alex Mar 22 '12 at 18:50
Ah, so there was an extra מ there! Google translates nalivka as liquor, brandy, or cordial (translate.google.com/…). – Dave Mar 23 '12 at 0:11
@Dave: the מ isn't really extra - it's the usual use of that prefix in Hebrew (hence my translation of it as "of"). – Alex Mar 23 '12 at 2:24
up vote 2 down vote

גרויפין usually means "gravel." In this context I'd assume "any grains or flours of chametz."

Any chance it's a typo and יי"ג should be יי"ש? That means liquor.

I agree that the first one is a handshake. (Funny as rabbinic Hebrew has a word for it: תקיעת כף)

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no, both יי"ש and יי"ג are in the document. i was told that יי"ש is יין שרף and im guessing that this is something similar. – Baal Shemot Tovot Mar 21 '12 at 19:00
יי"ג = יין גפן (grape wine, presumably that which might contain admixtures of chometz) – Dave Mar 21 '12 at 19:10
גרויפין actually means something like coarsely milled beans or grain. See Seder Birchos Hanehenin (by the Baal Hatanya), 7:22 and 24, and his Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 202:17. Could be that they were so called because they resembled gravel, though. – Alex Mar 22 '12 at 0:08
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@Alex sounds to me like someone knows Yiddish well enough for a comprehensive answer... – Baal Shemot Tovot Mar 22 '12 at 0:19
@l', so far Shalom and Dave and Gershon (and you, with your suggested translations) have done a pretty good job with most of it. I'm not sure about nos. 2 and 9 - it'll definitely help to see the original - although הנאטיס might be exactly what it sounds like, "the notice." – Alex Mar 22 '12 at 0:24
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