Kale lebn, kale lebn A badkhn parody sung by Dora Libson Recorded by Lionel Libson, 1977
Transcribed by Eliezer Niborski, English translation by Itzik Gottesman.
Kale-lebמ, kale-lebn Kale-lebn, kale-lebn, Meyn darfsti veynen un shrayen. Az zolst hobn aza velt azoy zis vi borsht fun klayen. Un zolst darfn geyn borgn un layen. Un zolst keyn mol nit aroys funem rov un funem dayen.
Dear bride, dear bride, You should cry and scream some more. You should have a world so sweet as borsht made with bran. You should rely on borrowing and lending. And may you never get out from the rabbi and his assistant.
Oy, a ber un a shver un a shlimazelnitse zenen dokh oykhet darbay. A ber hot a langn veydl un a shver hot lib a sheyn meydl. Un az a shlimezalnitse geyt in mark – fardripet zi dus kleydl.
Oy, a bear and a father-in-law and an unlucky woman are also present. A bear has a long tail, and a father-in-law loves a pretty girl. And when an unlucky woman goes to market she spatters her dress
Oy, a bukher un a meydl un a shlimezalnitse zenen dokh oykhet darbay. A bukher az er geyt avek heyst men zikh im nit (h)aylen. un a meydl, az zi geyt avek heyst men zikh ir nit zamen. Un az me shikt a shlimezalnitse nokh fleysh brengt zi plyamen.
Oy, a young man and girl and an unlucky woman are present as well. A young men when he leaves is told not to hurry and a girl, when she leaves is told not to wait. And when you send an unlucky woman to buy meat she comes back with stains.
In the spirit of Purim this week, we present a parody of a badkhn’s bazetsns. Before the ceremony of veiling the bride, the wedding entertainer, the badkhn, used to address the bride, reminding her of the youth that she leaves behind and how to lead an observant Jewish life with her husband. Sometimes the rhymes would be a stretch, almost non-sensical and that is at the heart of the parodies.
I believe the repeated lines in our parody “…are also present” are mocking the lines of the badkhn when he reminds the bride that although her parents or grandparents may have died, they are with her today at this happy occassion.
The badkhn parodies are usually of the bazetsns, the seating, and the badekns, the veiling; two emotional moments before the marriage under the khupe/canopy. The bazetsns is strickly a women’s ceremony, except for the badkhn, and a time of much weeping. I have added below two pages from Hayyim Schauss’s work The Lifetime of a Jew (1976) in which he discusses these moments at the wedding. Schauss was a Litvak from Lithuania so much of what he describes is particularly true of his region. It is worth reading.
This is a link to a “real” badekns, not a parody, as sung by Majer Bogdanski, born 1912 in Piotrkow-Tribunalsky, Poland, from the CD Yiddish songs / Yiddishe liders:
One can also see the badkhn perform in such Yiddish films “Yidl mitn fidl” “Uncle Moses” and “The Dybbuk”. The badkhn tradition has made a comeback in today’s Hasidic world and many examples can be found on YouTube. As far as I can tell, they have become mainly comics, and do not paricipate in other wedding ceremonies.
To get a feel for the type of music that might be played at the bazetsn, here is violinist Jutta Bogen playing an example (from Pete- this one has the structue of a Romanian doina):
Many such bazetsn/ badekn parodies were recorded on 78 RPMs in the 1910s- 1930s, and even later. Here is Henri Gerro’s Kolomeyer badchn. The badkhones parody begins at 1:00.
Further reading on the badkhn:
1) Article by Joel Rosenberg “Badkhones in Life and Cinema” on the website In geveb 2) “Badkhonim” in the YIVO Encyclopedia by Jean Baumgarten. 3) Book: הבדחן (in Hebrew) by Ariela Krasney
Special thanks this week to Eliezer Niborski who transcribed the recording.
Excerpt from Hayyim Schauss’s work The Lifetime of a Jew (1976):
Badkhn Toyvye Birnbaum’s Improvisation of “Yidish redt zikh azoy sheyn” Recorded in Brooklyn circa 1982 by Itzik Gottesman
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
Birnbaum sings the refrain of the popular song “Yidish iz dokh azoy sheyn” and then improvises the verses in the tradition of a badkhn, the Jewish wedding entertainer. Birnbaum referred to these improvisations as “shtey gramen“, rhymes created at the moment, while standing.
Toyvye (Tobias) Birnbaum was born in Nowy Sacz, Poland, (Yiddish = Tsanz) in 1916. I met him in 1981 in Brighton Beach, NYC in the street. I was was walking with Yiddish actor Zvi Scooler, and Birnbaum recognized Scooler and came over. When he told us that he was a badkhn in Eastern Europe, I took his phone number and we became friends.
Toyvye Birnbaum, Collection of the Museum at Eldridge Street
The song “Yiddish redt zikh azoy sheyn” was written by Isidore Lillian and the music composed by Maurice Rauch. The original text and music were printed in the Mlotek collection Songs of Generations and we are attaching those scans. But it seems that just about no one sings the words as originally written. This is also reflected in this performance during which the guests sing along with different words.
Among those who have recorded this song are Ben-Zion Witler, Henri Gerro, Johnny Grey, and more recently Myriam Fuks, the Klezical Tradition, Clarita Paskin, Harold Goldfarb and Mirele Rozen. The texts of their versions vary, especially in the verses. Witler’s and Gerro’s versions were particularly popular and Birnbaum’s way of singing owes quite a bit to them. His punctuation of the word “Yiddish” in the refrain is a nice touch.
Here is a link to Gerro’s version:
This song was recorded at a “fraytik-tsu-nakhts” (friday night, sabbath eve) at my apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn, approximately 1982. Among the people at this event that I recall or can be hear are Michael Alpert, Joshua Waletzky, Zwi Kanar. One of Birnbaum’s rhymes refers to two Germans in attendance that evening who had come to study Yiddish (at YIVO/Columbia). I do not remember who that was.
The Yiddish scholar Vera Szabo interviewed Birnbaum, and her papers and recordings are at YIVO. Klezmer musican and researchers Joshua Horowitz and Michael Alpert have also worked or interviewed with Birnbaum.
Thanks this week to Joshua Horowitz and Vera Szabo.
Yidish redt zikh azoy sheyn
Ikh gedenk di kinder-yurn, sheyninke kinder-yurn. In hartsn ayngekritst zenen zey bay mir. Di yinge zikhroynes, di sheyne khaloymes leygn in hartsn bay mir.
I remember my childhood wonderful childhood. They are inscribed in my heart. The memories of youth, the sweet dreams lay deep in my heart.
Freyg ikh aykh tsi besers iz den farhan? Ven di khaveyrim fun Itziklen kimen zikh tsuzam? Men est, me trinkt, keyad hameylekh, der oylem fraylekh. Vil ikh aykh, zayt zeh azoy git, Lernt aykh os dus lidele un zingt zhe mit mir mit. Vus?
So I ask you, is there anything better? When friends come together to Itzik’s place? We eat, we drink, as if we were kings. The people are happy. So I ask you please, learn this song and sing along with me. What?
REFRAIN Yidish redt zikh azoy gring. Yidish leygt zikh oyf der tsing Yidish redn ales Zaydes, tates mames Oy, adarebe, zug oyf goyish “Git shabes”. Yidish iz dekh azoy sheyn Yidish hot a toyznt kheyn. Vus toygn mir leshoynes, fun fremde zikhroynes. Az yidish redt zikh azoy sheyn.
Speaking Yiddish is so easy. Yiddish is easy to pronounce. Yiddish is spoken by everyone Grandfathers, fathers, mothers. Just try to say in any foreign tongue – “gut shabes” [good sabbath] Yiddish is so beautiful Yiddish has a thousand charms. What do I need languages from other memories When Yiddish sounds so sweet.
Tsi iz den epes besers farhan, ikh miz aykh zugn nokh a mol ven me kimt zikh tsizam, Durkh deym vil ikh aykh nisht dertserenen un ikh vel aykh a lidele oyslernen zayt zhet ale azoy git, lern akykh oys dus lidele zingt zhe mit mir mit.
Is there anything better, may I repeat, when we all get together? With this I don’t want to make you angry and I will teach you a song. So please learn the song and sing along.
Yidish iz dokh azoy sheyn. Yidish hot a toyznt kheyn. Yidish redn ales” Zaydes, tates, mames Oy, adarebe zug af goyish: “Git shabes” Yidish iz dokh azoy gring. Yidish leygt zikh oyf der tsing. Vus toygn mir leshoynes fun andere mikoymes. Az Yidish redt zikh azoy sheyn.
Yiddish sounds so sweet. Yiddish has a thousand charms. Yiddish spoken by all, grandfathers, fathers and mothers. Just try to say “Gut shabes” in another language. It’s so easy to speak Yiddish. It’s so easy to pronounce Yiddish. What do I need languages from far other places. Yiddish sounds so sweet.
Yidish redt zikh azoy sheyn yidish hot a toyznt kheyn. yidish redn ales zaydes, tates, mames Oy, adarebe zugt af goyish: “Git shabes” Yidish iz dokh azoy gring. Yidish leygt zikh oyf der tsing. vus toygn mir leshoynes fun andere mikoymes. Az yidish redt zikh azoy gring.
Yiddish sounds so sweet. Yiddish has a thousand charms. Yiddish is spoken by all, grandfathers, fathers and mothers. Just try to say “Gut shabes” in a foreign tongue. It’s so easy to speak Yiddish. It’s so easy to pronounce Yiddish. What do I need languages from far other places. When Yiddish sounds so sweet.
Oy az yidn redn yidish, vus iz den du der khidesh? yidish vet azoy sheyn klingen, say bam redn, un shener bam zingen. Duz iz klur vi der tug. Duz beyt’ ekh der batkhn un hert zhe vus ikh zug.
Oy, that Jews speak Yiddish, what’s the big deal? Yiddish will sound wonderful both when you speak it, and evern more so when you sing it. This is clear as day. So the badkhn asks you and hear what I say.
Yidish redt zikh azoy sheyn. Yidish hot a toyznt kheyn. Yidish redn ales, Zaydes, tates, mames Oy, adarebe zugt af goyish: “Git shabes”. Yidish iz dokh azoy gring. Yidish leygt zikh oyf der tsing. Vus toygn mir leshoynes fin andere mikoymes? Az yidish redt zikh azoy gring.
Yiddish sounds so sweet. Yiddish has a thousand charms. Yiddish is spoken by all, grandfathers, fathers and mothers. Just try to say “Gut shabes” in a foreign tongue. It’s so easy to speak Yiddish. It’s so easy to pronounce Yiddish. What do I need languages from far other places, when Yiddish sounds so sweet.
Di gantse velt zugt az yidish hot azoy fil kheyn. Ven yidish i’ nisht geveyn git, volt yidish nisht gekimen tsu Itziklen tsi geyn. Un nokh deym vil ikh aykh nisht dertserenen. Ir mizt dokh hobn a fink fin yidish, vus ir vilt zikh yidish oyslernen. S’iz nisht keyn kharpe, s’iz nisht keyn shand. Tsvay mentshn zenen gekimen zikh lernen yidish azsh fin Daytshland. Nokh deym vintsh ikh aykh ale du, hatslukhe un a shir. Dus letste zug ikh zingt zhe mit mit mir.
The whole world says that Yiddish has so much charm. If Yiddish weren’t good, then Yiddish would not come to Itzik. And after all I don’t want to enrage you. You must have a spark of Yiddish to want to learn it. There’s no shame, no disgrace. Two people came to study Yiddish all the way from Germany. So after all, I wish you all success without end. For the last time, sing along with me.
Yidish iz dokh azoy sheyn. Yidish hot a toyznt kheyn. Yidish redn ales Zaydes, tates, mames Oy, adarebe zugt af goyish: “Git shabes” Yidish iz dokh azoy gring. Yidish leygt zikh oyf der tsing. Vus toygn mir leshoynes fin andere mikoymes? Az yidish redt zikh azoy gring.
Yiddish sounds so sweet. Yiddish has a thousand charms. Yiddish is spoken by all, grandfathers, fathers and mothers. Just try to say “Gut shabes” in a foreign tongue. It’s so easy to speak Yiddish. It’s so easy to pronounce Yiddish. What do I need languages from far other places, when Yiddish sounds so sweet.
Az ikh hob aykh du gezugt gramen s’hot aykh afile farshaft a bisele tamen. Her zhe Itzikl tsi zikh tsi mayn shmis der mentsh iz shoyn geveyn in der gantser velt un oykhet in Pariz. Lomir nor zan gezint in shtark. Men iz gekimen hern a yidishe drushele keyn Prospekt Park. Mit deym vil ale zugn aykhץ Un zayt aykh matriekh un dus lidele lernt zikh oys vus gikh. Dus hob ikh ale simunim ven ir zingt yidish keyn-hore laytish shaynt af ayer punim. Atsindert vil ikh aykh tsvingen Dus letste mul, beyt ikh aykh, nokh a mol mit mir mittsuzingen.
And so I have said some rhymes here. It even gave you some pleasure. So listen Itzik to my converstion. He has gone all over the world, and also Paris. Let us all be healthy and strong. People came to hear my talk to Prospect Park. And with this I say to you. Please try to learn this song quickly. For this I have all the signs: when you sing Yiddish right, no evil eye, your face shines. So now I demand of you all to sing for the last time, I ask you, to sing along with me.
דער בדחן טובֿיה בירנבוים זינגט „ייִדיש רעדט זיך אַזוי שיין” רעקאָרדירט פֿון איציק גאָטעסמאַן אין ברוקלין, אַן ערך 1982
.איך געדענק די קינדעריאָרן, שיינינקע קינדעריאָרן .אין האַרצן אײַנגעקריצט זענען זיי בײַ מיר די יונגע זכרונות, די שיינע חלומות .לייגן [ליגן] אין האַרצן בײַ מיר ?פֿרעג איך אײַך, צי בעסערס איז דען פֿאַרהאַן ?ווען די חבֿרים פֿון איציקלען קומען זיך צוזאַם ,מען עסט, מע טרינקט, כּיד־המלך .דער עולם פֿריילעך ,וויל איך אײַך, זײַט אַזוי גוט לערנט אײַך אויס דאָס לידעלע און זינגט זשע ?מיט מיר מיט. וואָס
Der shpigl mitn zeyger / The Mirror and the Clock
Sung by Avi Fuhrman
Recorded by Itzik Gottesman, at Circle Lodge Camp, NY, Summer 1984.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman.
The text to this song was written by the classic 19th century Yiddish writer and satirist Yoel Linetski (1839 -1915) and can be found in his poetry collection Der beyzer marshelik (The Cruel Jester), 1869. The original has 12 verses, a dialogue between a mirror and a clock (scans are attached). Fuhrman remembers only one verse plus the “tra-la-la” refrain but thanks to him, as far as I know, we now have the melody.
Title page of Linetski’s Der beyzer marshelik (1869)
We have previously posted another of Linetski’s songs “Di mode”. Yet another of his songs “Dos redele iz di gore velt” can be heard on Ruth Rubin’s fieldwork album Jewish Life: The Old Country (Smithsonian Folkways) and more recently on Jake Shulman-Ment’s recording A redele(Oriente Musik, 2015) sung by Benjy Fox-Rosen.
The text to the song (nine verses) also appears in the Yiddish song collection Der badkhn (“The Wedding Jester”, Warsaw, 1929) by Eliezer Bergman and we have attached those scanned pages. The version there is closer to Fuhrman’s and like his, and unlike the original, begins with the mirror speaking, not the clock.
The dialogue centers on the vain snobbishness of the mirror; an object that at that time was found in only the homes of wealthy families, as opposed to the clock who served all classes.
Avi (Avrom) Fuhrman was born in Chernovitz, then Romania, in 1922. He says that all of his songs were learned from his father who often sang. Fuhrman was active in Yiddish theater in Chernovitz from a very young age.
Both parents had tailoring workshops where singing was often heard. Fuhrman was a fine singer at a young age and was a soloist with Cantor Pinye Spector (Pinye Khazn) of the Boyaner Hasidim in Chernovitz. He attended an ORT school. During the war he was in Baku in Azerbaijan and participated in the Yiddish theater there , particularly in the “Kharkover Ensemble”. He returned to Romania, then Poland then Salzburg, Austria. He and his wife and in-laws were on an (illegal) aliya to Israel but the path forced them to hike over a mountain and his in-laws could not manage it so they eventually came to the US in 1951.
The last line of this verse is a pun since “shpiglen zikh” can mean both “to see oneself in the mirror” as well as “delight in”
TRANSLITERATION
Batrakht nor dayn vert di narisher zeyger
Mit deym khitrerer mine firsti deym shteyger.
Di shrayst un du klopst un beyts dikh bay laytn.
Me varft dikh, me shmitst dikh in ale zaytn.
Vi shteyt mir gur un tsi reydn mit dir?
Aza nogid vi ikh bin, az me shpiglt zikh in mir.
Tra-la-la-la…..
TRANSLATION
Consider your worth you foolish clock,
With a sleazy face you lead your way of life.
You yell and you beat and plead with people.
You get thrown, beaten in all sides.
It’s beneath my dignity to talk to you.
Such a wealthy one as I whom all delight in me. Tra-la-la-la
A badekns/Veiling the Bride
Sung and composed by M.M. Shaffir, recorded in the Bronx, 1974
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
In his Yiddish poetry collections, the Montreal poet M. M. Shaffir occasionally included folksongs, rhymes and jokes that he remembered from his home town in Romania, Suceava (“Shots” in Yiddish). This original badekns, words and music, was printed in his collection of Yiddish poetry Ikh kum aheym, and follows very closely the traditional badekns that the badkhn (wedding entertainer) would deliver at the veiling of the bride. The printed pages with the Yiddish words and music are attached as pdfs.
M.M. Shaffir, photo by Itzik Gottesman
Shaffir did not clearly indicate that the music is his composition and not a traditional tune remembered from Suceava, but since he did compose other melodies for his poetry, I am leaning toward crediting him as composer the music as original.
Shaffir’s badekns, as is typical of the genre, addresses mainly the bride, then al the women, telling her of her wonderful future and how a pious religious Jewish life will assure her a place in heaven.
Listening to Shaffir sing this song in the Bronx are Beyle and Jonas Gottesman, the Yiddish writer Vera Hacken and her husband, the composer Emanuel Hacken.
Because the song is longer than usual, we are alternating transliteration with translation.
TRANSLITERATION/TRANSLATION
Kalenyu, tsat tsi der khipe geyn –
bam khusn hosti deym zibetn kheyn.
Gefin azoy kheyn oykh ba Got un ba lat.
Az dan shem zol zikh trugn noent un vat.
Dear bride, time to go to the khupe. The groom is enamored of you. May God and all people see this charm, so your reputation, will be heard near and far.
A shem-tov iz beser fun gutn eyl,
vi s’vert in di heylike sfurim dertseylt.
Far vur, er iz shener fin alerley tsir,
un er hit fin shlekhts deym erlekhns tir.
A good name is better than good oil, as it is written in the holy books. Indeed, it is more beautiful than all kinds of ornaments. and protects from evil the honest one’s door
Nushim tsidkuniyes, beydns tsad –
aykh kimt hant der ershter vivat.
kalenyu, kik tsa di babes aher –
zey, vi zey shmeykhlen un lozn a trer.
Pious women on both sides – you deserve the first praise. Bride, look over to the grandmothers – see how they smile and drop a tear.
Shtel zikh, kale, ba zey in rey,
un her mayne shloyshe dvurim tsvey –
az dort, vi mitsves hobn an ort,
iz shulem-bayes oykh do dort.
Bride, stand with them in row, and hear my few words – – there where mitsves find a place, there is also peace at home.
Mitsves brengen di brukhe in hoyz,
in trabn fin dort deym dales aroys.
Zey bentshn mit gite doyres dus pur
in mit khayim- arikhim, gezinte yur.
Mitsves (good deeds/fulfillment of God’s commandments) bring blessings to the home, and drive out poverty from there. They bless the pair with good generations and with a long and healthy life.
Fin mitsves hot men i du deym skhar,
un i s’iz af yener velt git derfar.
Vayl mitsves un maynsim toyvim nor
nemt mit der mentsh iber hindert yur.
From mitsves you receive both here a reward, and in the word to come it will be good. Because mitsves and good deeds lasts for someone a hundred years.
Fin intern kisey-hakuved afir,
fin hinter a zilberner lekhtiker tir,
kimt di neshume arup of der erd,
aran inem gif, val azoy iz bashert.
From under God’s throne, from behind a silver, illuminated door, comes the soul down to earth, and into the body for which he is destined.
Zi darf zikh du mitshen a lebn vist
un nisht vern farzindikt, nisht vern farrist,
un kimen tsirik far Got tsi geyn –
azoy vi geboyrn, tsikhtik un reyn.
It [the soul] must suffer here a life long and not sin, not be torn away. and return to God the way it was born – pure and clean.
In gan-eydn shteyen shtiln gegreyt
in shan fin der shkhine, mit vasn geshpreyt,
batsirt un bahungen mit gildene tsikh –
in rifn di reyne neshumes tse zikh.
In paradise two chairs are prepared, in the light of the shekhine, covered with white, decorated and hung with a golden cover. and call for the pure souls to come.
Un der vus hot af der zindiker erd
mitsves getin un gits geklert –
der zitst in gan-eydn oybn un
in bigdey-sheynkeyt ungetun.
And he who on this sinful earth did mitsves and good deeds, he sits in heaven at the head of the table, and dressed in beautiful clothes.
In zkhis fin dan tsitkis, kalenyu kroyn,
zol zikh ekn der gulus bald un shoyn –
me zol zoykhe zan take gor in gikh
tsu hern dem shoyfer shel moshiakh.
Because of your piousness, dear bride, may the exile soon end. May we deserve right away to hear the Messiah’s shofar.
Melukhim un surim zoln varfn fin shrek
tsin indzere tsures zol nemen an ek.
in Got zol mit zan rekhter hant
indz firn tsirik in heylikn land.
Let angels and seraphim shutter from fear, our troubles should come to an end. and God should with his right hand, lead us back to the Holy Land.
Ikh heyb of mit a tfile dem bekher mit van
az halevay zol es nokh beyomeyni zan.
in ir, khusn-kale, in ir groys un kleyn –
zugt mir nokh af a kol un in eynem: “omeyn”
With a prayer I raise the goblet of wine, that this should happen even in our own time. And you, bride and groom, and you big and small, say with me out aloud and together – “amen”
“An ayznban” was sung by David Shear of New York City and recorded by me in his apartment in 1989. Shear was born in Luboml (Libivne in Yiddish), Poland. He studied in Ostrovitz, near Keltz in a Navaradok Yeshiva in the 1930s. This was a musar yeshiva and if you are not familiar with that term, I recommend you read Chaim Grade’s novel The Yeshiva as well as other works by him. This kind of yeshiva emphasized ethics in an extreme way. That the yeshiva students there would sing “An ayznban” which is an adaptation of Elyokum Zunzer’s (1836-1913) song “Lid fun ayznban” (not to be confused with his song/poem “Der ayznban”) is not that surprising, since Zunser’s poetry often mixed parable and Jewish ethics (for more on Zunser, see the previous song in this blog “A bayshpil” which is also by him).
Elyokum Zunser
You can find the original yiddish text in The Works of Elyokum Zunser, Volume One, edited by Mordkhe Schaechter, YIVO, 1964, pages 255-258. Shear obviously forgot a rhyme in the third verse. In the original the third verse reads:
Yetveder reltse iz a sekunde
Yetveder statsye, a yor.
Yeder kasarke iz glaykh tsu a shtunde.
A poyezd iz in gantsn a dor.
Every rail is a second.
Every station is a year.
Every kasarke (?) is like an hour.
A train is like a whole generation.
The only recording I know of the song is on “Selected Songs of Eliakum Zunser” sung by Nathanial Entin, Folkways 1963.
An ayznban a naye, iz di tsayt gevorn
velkhe firt pasazhirn, say orem, say raykh.
Loyft zen dem vinder, nor alts dos bizikurn.
Vayl dus iz a mushl antkegn aykh.
A railroad train a new one, has become the time, which carries passengers, both poor and rich. Run see this wonder, but all this in your mind. Because this is a parable regarding you.
Mir zitsn do in di vagonen.
Der lokomotiv iz di tsayt.
Er firt mit zikh mentshn milyonen.
Un er loyft vi mit koyln un shtrayt.
We sit her in the traincars, the locomotive is the time. He carries millions of people, And he runs as with coals, and struggles.
Yeder poyazd iz a sekunde
Yede statyse iz a dor
yede psheshatke iz a shtunde
Yeder poyezd iz a yor.
Every train is a second. Every station is a generation. Every platform is an hour. Every train is a year.
Deym bilet vus di haltst in tash
dus iz dayn mazl, dayn rayze-plan.
Vi tsi furn, un vus far a klas.
Dus iz bashtimt fun Got – der direktor fun ban.
The ticket that you hold in your bag/wallet; this is your fate, your travel-plan. Your destination, and in which class, This is determined by God – The Train Director.
Bay di vokzaln klingt men mit a glekl.
Di konduktorn shpringen arup.
Es loyfn pasazhirn yeder mit zayn pekl.
Fil kumen tsu, un fil kumen up.
At the train stations, they ring a bell. The conductors jump off. Passengers run, each with his baggage, Many come aboard, many get off.
Un az men heyst arupgeyn, to ding zikh nisht.
Khotsh di bist nisht zeyer keyn alter man.
Dayn bilet iz oys, un di veynst imzist.
Azoy iz bashtimt fun Got – der direktor fun ban.
And if they tell you to get off, don’t negotiate, Even though you are not a very old man. Your ticket has expired, and your crying is for naught. So has determined God – The Train Director.
M.M. Shaffir, photo by Itzik Gottesman
Yiddish Song of the Week 