Vi nemt men di amulike yurn? / Where Can One Get the Years Past? Sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman [LSW], recorded by Leybk Kahn, NYC 1954
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
Why are they staring at her in the river? What is her shame? That her lover left her? Is the unmarried singer pregnant? Though rare, there are Yiddish songs about mothers abandoning their newborn children (see the very first Yiddish Song of the Week post “Fintster, glitshik’) or drowning them (see “Tsvishn di berg, di grine” sung by Mariam Nirenberg). I could find no variants of the song but there is a completely different Yiddish vaudeville song with a similar title “Vu nemt men amolike yor” by David Meyerowitz. Jane Peppler includes it in her collection Yiddish Penny Songs.
What follows are the transliteration in LSW’s dialect, a translation and the lyrics in Yiddish.
Transliteration
Vi nemt men di amulike yurn? Oy, ver iz geveyn tsi mir glaykh? Ven mir hot geshant mayn glik, mit a yeydn mentshn tsi glaykh.
Ikh hob gemeygt denstmul zugn, az di bist maner geveyn. Oy, haynt ti ikh veynen in klugn, far vus iz mir aza brokh gesheyn?
Ekh bud ‘ekh mikh in a takhl. Oy, mentshn tien kikn mit di oygn. Vi iz mayn gelibte atsind? Oy vayt fin mir avekgefloygn.
Avek iz er fin mir in a fremd land. Dertseyln, dertseyl ikh nit far keynem, vayl ikh vil nit me zol visn mayn shand.
TRANSLATION
How does one get back the past years? O, who was equal to me? When my good fortune was shining equal to everyone’s.
I could have said then that you were mine. O, today I only cry and lament. Why did such a tragedy happen to me?
I bathe in the river O, people stare at me. Where is my love now? O, far from me he has flown.
He has left me to a foreign land. I’m not telling anyone, because I doמ’t want them to know my shame.
Mir zenen zikh klezmorimlekh / We are little musicans Sung by Zvika Blusztejn, submitted by Eddy Portnoy
Zvika Blusztejn
Mir zenen zikh klezmoremlekh mit hertselekh vos filn. Khotsh navenad un oremlekh Nor halt men in eyn shpiln
We are little klezmorim with hearts that feel. Though homeless and poor we keep on playing
Un ven der soyne, akh un akh Tif in hartsn tut a shtokh A zemerl vos darf men nokh der veytok undz tsu shtiln?
And when the enemy, woe and woe, stabs us in our hearts what more do you need than a tune to quiet the pain?
Ven arum undz brent a fayer un di faynt undz tuen vey, ersht dos lebn, s’iz un tayer shpilt men oyf tsu lokhes zey.
When around us a fire burns and the enemy hurts us, Then our life which we hold dear. we play to spite them.
A zemerl, a lidele, Fun trern un fun freyd. Oyf tats un bas un fidele Oyf paykele, oyf fleyt.
A tune, a melody of tears and of joy. On cymbal, on bass and fiddle. Oy, tshiribiri, tshiribiri bim bom….
Ay, ay, ay, ay
Commentary by Eddy Portnoy, Academic advisor and director of exhibitions at the YIVO Institute
The singer of this song, Zvika Blusztejn, was born in Brussels in the early 1930s to migrants from Poland. During World War II, he was given a false identity and hidden in a school in the Belgian countryside, where he survived the war. His parents, however, were both sent to Auschwitz in 1942, where they were murdered. He returned to Brussels after the war and discovered he had an uncle who survived. His uncle wanted him to be able to read and write Yiddish, so he sent him to a secular “Sunday School” and also arranged for private Yiddish lessons at home given by a teacher from the Sunday School. He learned this song as part of his lessons. Because Belgium did not have citizenship by birth, Zvika was not permitted to remain there. He became involved with the Borokhov section of the Left Labor Zionists in Brussels and left for Israel in 1950 where he lives today.
Special thanks for this post to Zvika Blusztstejn, Eddy Portnoy and Eliezer Niborski
PS – AUTHOR AND ORIGINAL TEXT FOUND! In the poetry book for children put together by Yeshaye Zandberg titled “Hant-in-hant”, Brussels, 1945, we have found the author of the song – “P. Blank” and the complete text. Attached are the pages from the book that contain the original text and the pages just of the song. Thanks to Zvika Blusztejn we now have the melody.
Yosef, Yosef iz a voyler ying / Joseph, Joseph is a Swell Guy A fragment of a Purim play sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman, recorded by Leybl Kahn, NY 1954
Purim shpil, United Orthodox Synagogues, Houston, TX
Yosef, Yosef iz a voyler ying. Er meyg dokh trugn dem keysers ring. Yosef, Yosef iz voyler parshoyn. Se kimt im untsitin di kroyn.
Joseph, Joseph is a swell guy He should wear the emperor’s ring. Joseph, Joseph is a swell fellow. He deserves to wear the crown.
.יוסף, יוסף איז אַ וווילער יונג .ער מעג דאָך טראָגן דעם קייסערס רינג ,יוסף, יוסף איז אַ וווילער פּאַרשוין .קומט אים אָנצוטון די קרוין
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
In her small town of Zvinyetshke in the Bukovina region, Purim “shpiler” would go from house to house performing a short skit – either about the story of Purim, or about David and Goliath among others. But the most popular theme of the Purim play was the Biblical story of the selling of Joseph known as “Mekhires yoysef” מכירת יוסף In this blog we have earlier printed a longer song from the same play, sung by Lifshe at this link:
Purim plays were full of anachronisms, often to comic effect. Itzik Manger’s “Purim shpil” would be a more recent well-known example. In “Yosef, Yosef” calling the Pharaoh an “emperor”, a “keyser”, might have been a touch of humor.
איך וואָלט מיך גערן ערקונדיקט / Ekh volt mekh gern erkindikt / I would like to find out A lament of a childless woman sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman [LSW]
photo: LSW with her son Mordkhe Schaechter, Chernovitz, 1930s.
To be a childless Jewish woman – an עקרה (akore) – in the shtetl was a tragedy. In this moving song we hear her lament, comparing herself to a tree that cannot bear fruit and therefore withers away. Very few Yiddish akore songs have been collected. LSW was recorded by Leybl Kahn in 1954, NY. This recording first appeared on the cassette “Az di furst avek: A Yiddish Folksinger from the Bukovina”, Global Village Music, 1986.
Ekh volt mekh gern erkindikt Vus ikh ho azoyne groyse zind. Vus ikh hob mekh azoy farzindikt. Ekh bin farsholtn fin a kind.
I would like to know what great sins have I? How have I so sinned, to be cursed with no children?
Der numen “mame” iz a groys vinder, Voyl iz der mame ven zi azoyns hert. Ekh bin farsholtn fin kinder. “Mame” tsi hern bin ikh gur nisht vert.
The name “mother” is a great wonder. Blessed is the other who hears this word, I am cursed with no children. I am not worthy to hear “mother”.
Vus far a vert hot der boym un peyres in un tsvagn. Er ligt ba dr’erd d in vert getsert Im iz nebekh tsi baklugn.
What good is a tree with no fruit and with no branches? It lays on the ground and withers away. It is only to be pitied.
איך וואָלט מיך גערן ערקינדיקט איך וואָלט מיך גערן ערקינדיקט .וואָס איך האָב אַזוינע גרויסע זינד .וואָס איך האָב מיך אַזוי פֿאַרזינדיקט .איך בין פֿאַרשאָלטן פֿון אַ קינד
.דער נאָמען „מאַמע” איז אַ גרויס וווּנדער .ווויל איז דער מאַמע, וואָס זי אַזוינס הערט .איך בין פֿאַרשאָלטן פֿון קינדער .מאַמע” צו הערן בין איך גאָר נישט ווערט¨
אַז דו פֿאָרסט אַוועק / Az di furst avek / When You Leave Sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman, recorded by Leybl Kahn, NYC 1954.
photo: “Morning Train (Soldier’s Farewell) by Thomas Hart Benson, 1943
Az di furst avek, oy, az di furst avek. Af veymen zhe lozti meykh iber. Az di furst avek. Az di furst avek Ven zhe mir zikh nokh a mol zeyn vider.
Loz mir dayn bild, oy, loz mir dayn bild. Efsher vel ikh mekh kenen treystn. Az ekh vel es unkikn, vel ikh meynen az di shteyst far mir. Efsher vel ekh on dir kenen fargesn.
Oy, veyn nisht lyubitshku. Oy, veyn nisht dushenyu. Mit keyn geveyn, zolsti tse mir nit reydn. Vayl s’iz dokh shoyn gekimen, di imgliklekhe shtunde, Az mir beyde miz me zikh tsesheydn.
Oy, az di ban, oy, hot gegibn deym ershtn faf Mit trern zenen farlofn mayne oygn. Ersht bisti geveyn. Ersht hob ikh dekh gezeyn. In eyne, tsvey minitn bisti farfloygn. Ersht bisti geveyn. Ersht hob ikh dekh gezeyn. In eyne, tsvey minitn bisti farfloygn.
In az di ban, oy, iz avekgegan, geblibn bin ikh aleyn shteyn. Oy gevald, ikh khalesh. Oy gevald, ikh shtarb. Oy gevald, ekh bin elnt vi a shteyn.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
When you leave, oh, when you leave with whom are you leaving me? When you leave, oh, when you leave, When will we see each other again?
Leave me your picture, oh, leave me your picture. Maybe it will comfort me. When I will look at it, I’ll think you’re standing before me. Maybe I will be able to forget you.
Oh, don’t cry my love, oh don’t cry my sweetheart. You should not speak to me with tears. For the unhappy hour has arrived, when we must depart.
Oh, when the train blew the first whistle, my eyes filled up with tears. You were just here, I just saw you. And in one, two minutes, you flew away.
An when the train departed, I was left standing alone. Woe is me, I’m fainting. Woe is me, I’m dying. Woe is me – I’m as lonely as a stone.
אַז דו פֿאָרסט אַוועק געזונגען פֿון ליפֿשע שעכטער־ווידמאַן
אַז די פֿאָרסט אַוועק, אוי, אַז דו פֿאָרסט אַוועק ?אויף וועמען לאָזסטו מיך איבער .אַז דו פֿאָרסט אַוועק. אַז דו פֿאָרסט אַוועק ?ווען וועלן מיר זיך נאָך אַ מאָל זען ווידער
.לאָז מיר דײַן בילד, אוי, לאָז מיר דײַן בילד .אפֿשר וועל איך מיך קענען טרייסטן .אַז איך וועל עס אָנקוקן, וועל איך מיינען, אַז דו שטייסט פֿאַר מיר .אפֿשר וועל איך אָן דיר קענען פֿאַרגעסן
.געבליבן בין איך אַליין שטיין .אוי גוואַלד! איך חלש.אוי גוואַלֹד איך ! איך שטאַרב .אוי גוואַלֹד איך בין עלנט ווי אַ שטיין
COMMENTARY BY ITZIK GOTTESMAN
As before, I have transliterated Lifshe Schaechter-Widman’s (LSW’s) Yiddish into English letters adhering as best as I could to her Bukovina dialect. To see the song written in standard Yiddish, please look at the Yiddish text in Yiddish letters, below.
This song by LSW was included in the casette “Az di furst avek” (Global Village,1986). A similar melody and motif to “Az di furst avek” cassette can be heard in the song “Oy, forn forstu fun mir avek”. Though in that version the lover is leaving for Tsarist conscription. Dora Wasserman’s performance of the song can be heard at this link in the Ruth Rubin Archive at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research’s website:
LSW’s powerful and emotional rendering of the song is heartbreaking. The lyrical folk poetry paints the tragic farewell scene dramatically, culminating in the killer last line, “Oy gevald ikh bin elnt vi a shteyn” – “Woe is me, I am left as lonely as a stone”.
When LSW’s daughter Beyle Gottesman sang the song, she sang שעה “sho” instead of the German, “shtunde” meaning “hour”.
Simkhe mit zayn yidene (Simkhe and His Wife), words by Yosel Cutler, music by M.M. Warshawsky. Sung by Tillie Fishman, recorded by Gertrude Nitzberg 1979, Baltimore. This recording is found in the Gertrude Nitzberg Collection at the Jewish Museum of Maryland.
“Self-portrait” Yosl Cutler.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
Artist and Yiddish writer Yosl Cutler (1896 – 1930) included this poem in his book Muntergang (1934). The text is sung to the melody of M.M. Warshavsky’s Passover song Tayere Malke (Dear Malke), which is well-known due to its inclusion in the annual Worker’s Circle Third Seder. Fishman sings a 7-verse version. In Cutler’s original text (attached) there are 10 verses. Though the song was very popular among the Yiddish left, the only recordings I could find are in a 1930s short film of the NY-based Yiddish puppet theater Modicut, created by Zuni Maud and Yosl Cutler, and in a more recent production by Jenny Romaine and the Great Small Works theater, Muntergang and Other Cheerful Downfalls (2016) – you can see Great Small Works performance of the song in the below excerpt starting at 9:23:
Tillie Fishman says that she changed some words which she found inappropriate. This includes a line about the strikers beating up the landlord. The charm and humor of the song is the repetition of the rhyme “farshidene” (various) and “yidene” (old fashioned woman, wife). The text’s tragic tale is given an ironic twist by Warshawsky’s sing-song melody.
Thanks this week to Lorin Sklamberg and the YIVO sound archive, Eddy Portnoy and Jenny Romaine.
Oy, Simkhe hot gearbet bay shleser farshidene. hot er hot gehat a sakh arbet hot im geholfn zayn yidene.
Oy, Simkhe labored on various locks. When he had a lot of work, he was helped by his wife. Bim-bom…
Oysgelozt di shleser. Nishtu mer keyn shleser hot er gekrogn a plats un iz gevorn a preser.
The work on locks ended; no more locks. So he got a place and became a presser.
Hot er geprest un gebiglt af kleyder farshidene. Az er hot gehat a sakh presn hot geprest di yidene. Bim-bam…
So he ironed and pressed various clothes. When he had much to iron his wife ironed too.
Oysgelozt dus presn nishtu mer keyn presn iz er gezesn leydik un hot nisht gehat vus tsu esn.
The ironing came to an end. No more ironing. So he sat empty and had nothing to eat.
Hot er gekrekhst un gezifst mit krektsn farshidene. Hot gehat a sakh krekhtsn, hot gekrekhtset di yidene.
So he moaned and groaned various moans. When he had many moans, his wife also groaned.
Iz ungekimen shlekhte tsaytn mit frest farshidene Hot der “landlord” aroysgevorfn Simkhe mit der yidene.
Bad times arrived with various freezes. So the landlord threw out Simkhe and his wife.
Iz ongekimen skheynim mit ‘straykers’ farshidene un hot tsurik arayngeshtelt Simkhe mit zayn yidene Bim-bam…
So neighbors arrived with various strikers and put back in his place Simkhe and his wife.
Song as printed in Yosl Cutler’s book Muntergang (1934), p. 19:
Vi zent ir geveyn? / Where were you? / ?וווּ ביסטו געווען A Holocaust adaptation of a popular Yiddish song. Sung by Rose (Roza/Reyzl) Jaffe. Recorded by Itzik Gottesman at the Worker’s Circle’s “Circle Lodge”, Sylvan Lake, Hopewell Junction, NY, approx. 1987.
Rose Jaffe
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman:
I met Rose Jaffe on the way to the dining hall in the Worker’s Circle retreat at Circle Lodge, approximately in 1986. She was from the town of Khotyn in Bessarabia, today Ukraine.
This song is a Holocaust adaptation of the popular ironic Zionist Yiddish folksong “Avu bistu geven?” which referred humorously to the building of the state of Israel and more specifically to life on the kibbutz. The text and music can be found in Yiddish Folksongs from the Ruth Rubin Archive, p. 235. You can hear Rubin’s field recording of singer Bess Kleinman at this link.
The text of another version can be found in the journal מאסף. M’asef, 3-4, August 1972 from the collection of Menashe Gefen, pages 88 – 89.
In the song Jaffe refers to Fred Sharaga, a representative of the Joint Jewish Distribution Committee who took Jewish orphan children of Romania to safety.
Rose Jaffe has a significant presence on social media. For the Yiddish Forward newspaper she demonstrates how to make kashe varnishkes and has a ten-part autobiography on YouTube. Here is a short interview with her:
Spoken by Jaffe:
“Ikh ken zikh nisht dermonen funem onheyb.” I can’t remember the beginning
Vi zent ir geveyn? Vi zent ir geveyn? Tokhterl mayn getraye. Tokhter mayn getrayer Geveyzn in Kapay Gearbet vi far dray Mame s’iz geveyzn a mekhaye.
Vi zent ir geshlufn ? Vi zent ir geshlufn? Kinderlekh mayne getraye. Kinderlekh mayne getraye. Geshlufn af der brik. Gevorn shir dershtikt. Mame s’iz geveyzn a mekhaye
Vus hot ir gegesn Vus hot ir gegesn? Kinderlekh mayne getraye Kinderlekh mayne getraye. Gegesn kartofle־yukh [yoykh], gegrimt hot es indz in bukh [boykh]. Mame, s’iz geveyzn a mekhaye.
Vus’et [vet] zayn der sof? Vus ‘et zayn der sof? Kinderlekh mayne getraye. Kinderlekh mayne getraye. Sharaga vet kimen Un vet indz farnemen Un in Romanye vet zayn a mekhaye
Jaffee speaks: Sharaga iz geveyn a yid vos er hot aroysgenimen ole kinder vus zenen geblibn nukh der milkhume, un eltern, di yesoymem. Men iz gekimen un m’hot indz genemen, ole genemen keyn Rumeynye in Sharaga iz geveyn eyner fin deym. Sharaga was a Jew who took all the children that were left after the war, without parents, orphans. The came and took all of us to Romania, and Sharaga was one of them.
(spoken) Itzik Gottesman: Ven hot ir dus lid gehert? When did you hear this?
Jaffee: Dus iz geveyn…dus iz a lid fin, arim, dray un fertsik, fir un fertsik. This was around 1943, 1944.
Gottesman: Ir zent geveyn in lager ven ir hot dus gehert? You were in the camp when you heard it?
Jaffee: Ikh bin geveyn in Transnistria. I was in Transnistria
Gottesman: Which ones? Where?
Jaffe: Ikh bin geveyn in Popovits, Shargarod, Kapaygorod; in a sakh pletser. Ober dakht zikh in Popovits hot men indz genemen keyn Berlat. I was in Popovits, Shargarod, Kapaygorod; in many places. But I think in Popovits they took us to Berlat.
Gottesman: Ir zent geveyn a kind? You were a child?
Translation
Where were you? Where were you? My faithful daughter. My faithful daughter. We were in Kapay and labored for three. Mother, it was a pleasure.
Where did you sleep? Where did you sleep? My faithful children. We slept on the floor, we were almost smothered. Mother is was a pleasure.
What did you eat? What did you eat? My faithful children. We ate potato broth It gave us stomach cramps Mother it was a pleasure.
How will this all end? How will this all end? My faithful children. Sharaga will come and take us all away, and in Romania it will be a pleasure.
:דזשאַפֿע איך בין געווען אין פּאָפּאָוויץ, קראָפּאָוויץ, שאַרגעראָד, קאַפּײַגאָראָדץ. אין אַ סך פּלעצער. אַבער דאַכט זיך אין פּאָפּאָוויץ .האָט מען אונדז גענעמען קיין בערלאַט
“Dire-gelt” A lid fun a shlekhtn balebus דירה־געלט: א ליד פֿון א שלעכטן באַלעבאָס Rent-Money, A Song of a Wicked Landlord, an alternate version of “Dire-gelt” sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman. Recorded by Leybl Kahn, NYC 1954
Photo of collector Leybl Kahn, Bronx 1980s, by Itzik Gottesman
Lifshe speaks: “Fin a shlekhtn bal’bus [balebus], a lid”…
Kimt aran der balabus mitn grobn shtekn: “Tsult ir nisht keyn dire-gelt, varf ikh aroys di betn.”
The landlord enters with a big stick: “If you don’t pay the rent I’ll throw out the beds”
Refrain: Dire-gelt, oy, oy, oy. The rent-money – oy, oy, oy Dire-gelt azoy, azoy. The rent-money – so it is. Dire-gelt dem balabus. Rent-money for the landlord Dire-gelt, far vus iz dus? Rent-money , why is this?
Far vus zol ikh aykh tsuln dire-gelt az di kekh iz mir tsebrokhn. Far vus zol ikh aykh tsuln dire-gelt, di kekh zi vil nisht kokhn?
Why should I pay you rent-money if the stove is broken. Why should I pay you rent-money if the stove doesn’t want to cook?
Refrain:
Dire-gelt, oy, oy, oy The rent-money, oy, oy, oy Dire-gelt dem balabus Rent for the landlord. Dire-gelt azoy, azoy. Rent-money, so it is. Dire-gelt far vus i’ dus? Rent-money, why is this?
“Az ir vet nisht tsuln keyn dire-gelt varf aykh aroys di betn. Az ir vet nit tsuln keyn dire-gelt vet ir zikh farnemen .”
If you don’t pay the rent money I will throw out the beds I you don’t pay the rent money you can scram.
Dire-gelt, oy, oy, oy Dire-gelt azoy, azoy. Dire-gelt dem balabus Dire-gelt, far vus iz dus?
LSW’s version was transcribed, music and text in the YIVO journal Yidisher folklor, March 1962, vol. 1, no. 3, page 54. In that printed text, the second verse is “Di tep iz mir tsebrokhn” (The pots are broken). Perhaps this change was done after consulting with Lifshe.
In the Mlotek song book collection Mir trogn a gezang (p. 76-77), now on line, the more popular version is found. There are several commercial recordings of this version. In the Ruth Rubin Archive there are two recordings of the song. Teddi Schwartz sings the song quite differently and Ruth Rubin sings the more well-known version. Both versions can be heard by clicking here.
?צי ווייסט איר, פֿרײנד, וואָס איז הײנט / Tsi veyst ir, fraynd, vos iz haynt? / Do you know, friend, what is today? A song for Rosh-khoydesh Elul sung by Zev Engel
Zev EngelZev Engel’s Grandparents
Tsu [Tsi] veyst ir fraynd, vos iz haynt vemen hobn mir far a gast? Vos hayntike nakht hot undz gebrakht Rosh-khoydesh Elul af der velt.
Rosh-khoydesh Elul aleyn iz gekumen tsu geyn mit zayn favyestke [povyestke] hot er gebrakht. Er ruft oys umetum, az men zol vern frum. Ay, ay, ay, ay….
Do you know my friend, what is today? Whom we have for a guest? What tonight has brought us? Rosh-khoydesh Elul all over the world.
The eve of Elul has come to us, summoning us. He calls everywhere: we should become pious. Ay, ay, ay ay, ay
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
Rosh-khoydesh Elul is the first day of the Jewish month of Elul, traditionally a month of repentence and reflection. Zev Engel the singer, writes “My grandmother used to sing this song to us as children. She learned this song from her mother.” He believes his grandmother came from the Ukraine, and then settled in the Hasidic Williamsburg neighborhood. His grandmother was close to the Stoliner rebbe and his followers. The Hasidic songwriter Yom Tov Ehrlich, also a follower of Stolin, played clarinet at his mother’s wedding.
The one word that gave us trouble was “פּאָוויעסטקע/povyestke” which he sings as “favyestke/פֿאַוויעסטקע”. Perhaps it is a regional dialect or he misremembered.
Thanks this week to Michael Lukin, Jeanette Lewicki, Eliezer Niborski and Zev Engel, Yelena Shmulenson.
אוי, דער הייסער טאָג פֿאַרגייט / Oy, der heyser tog fargeyt / O, the hot day sets A Tisha-b’ov song from Camp Boiberik, NY sung by Marsha Gildin Words by Mani Leib, music by Meyer Posner Recorded by Marsha Gildin, NYC, June 2023.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
This song was only sung in Camp Boiberik, and only sung once a summer at the annual evening Tisha b’ov ceremony at camp. It was composed by Meyer Posner (1890 – 1931) who in the 1920s was a music counselor/teacher at Boiberik, a Yiddish cultural camp near Rhinebeck, New York. The camp was part of the Sholem Aleichem Folk Institute which had established many Yiddish schools across the country.
For more on Posner’s life and extensive work see the Milken Archive post on Posner at this link.
The lyrics of the song were written by the poet Mani Leib (1883 – 1953), pen name for Mani-Leib Brahinski . He was the leading poet of the American Yiddish literary movement called “Di yunge” (the young ones) emphasizing mood and mystery.
Though the song “Oy, der heyser tog fargeyt” is not specifically about Tisha b’ov, it sets a somber mood appropriate for the Jewish fast day. At Boiberik, the Tisha b’ov ceremony included a memorial to the Holocaust.
The singer Marsha Gildin was a camper at Boiberik from 1961 – 1966, and a CIT (counselor in training) in 1968. Earlier generations of the Gildin family had been coming to Boiberik for many years.
The Yiddish text below is from the 1963 “Camp Boiberik Songbook” (you can see the entire book at this link).
Thanks this week to Marsha Gildin and Emily Socolov.
TRANSLITERATION
Oy, der heyser tog fargeyt. Un der kiler ovnt veyt. Un dos kind farmatert shteyt noent bay mayn tir.
Kum mayn kind tsu mir. Kum may kind tsu mir. Shteyt dayn tish mit milkh un broyt ongegreyt far dir.
Di levone shvimt aroys. Kalt un umetik un groys. Est dos kind un groys un heys falt arop zayn trer.
Kum mayn kind aher, Kum mayn kind aher. Leyg dayn kop bay mir in shoys un antshlofn ver.
TRANSLATION
O, the hot day sets And the cool evening blows. And the exhausted child stands Near to my door.
Come my child to me. Come my child to me. Your table stands ready with bread and milk, already prepared for you.
The moon swims out. Cold and sad and large. The child eats, and large and hot drops down his tear.
Come my child here, Come my child here. Put your head in my lap And fall asleep.
Yiddish Song of the Week 