Two Children’s Dance Songs from Eastern Galicia Sung by Mordkhe Schaechter
Recorded by Leybl Kahn 1954, New York
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
In memory of my uncle, the Yiddish scholar Dr. Mordkhe Schaechter (1927 – 2007), whose yortsayt was last week, we present two short children’s dance songs from Eastern Galicia, from the town known in Yiddish as “Yigolnitse” and today in Ukrainian as “Yahilnytsya” (also written at one time as “Jagielnica, Yagielnitse”), 6 miles from Chortkov.
In earlier posts on YSW of Schaechter’s songs, we told of his collecting folklore in the displaced persons camp in Vienna 1947 – 1950. This post is also part of that project done for YIVO.
Schaechter Family in the DP Camp, 1950
A couple of words are unclear: “oltazhe” and “ketse” and David Braun and Janina Wurbs offered suggestions on these words and others. Some are footnoted at the end of the song. Any further clarification from our readers would be appreciated.
In the second song, Schaechter uses the girl’s name “Beyltsye”, his sister’s name, but one is supposed to insert any name at that point in the song.
About this second song one can honestly say – you lose much in the translation. It incorporates German words (Galicia was Austra-Hungary after all) perhaps for comic effect.
Leybl Kahn informs us in the recording that it was printed in an issue of the Seminarist (in the early 1950s) so once that is found, more information on the song might come to light.
Schaechter: This is a dance song from Yigolnitse.
[The boy sings] Hindele, hindele,
vus zhe klobsti blumen?
az der her vet zen
vet er dekh shlugn.
Hindele, Hindele
why do you gather flowers?
If the gentleman [herr] sees you,
he will beat you.
[The girls answers] Az der her vet zen, vel ikh mikh bahaltn, oyf der sheyner oltazhe* vel ikh mikh shteln knien.
If the gentleman sees me, I will hide. On the beautiful church altar, will I kneel down.
Kahn: Dos zingt dos meydele? The girl sings this [the second verse]?
Schaechter: Yo. (Yes.)
Kahn: Dos iz fun Yigolnitse, mizrekh-Galitsye? This is from Yigolnitse, Eastern Galicia?
Schaechter: Yo… dos iz nisht vikhtik…a Yigolitser mizrekh-Galitsyaner tantslid. Yes… whatever…..an Eastern Galician dance song from Yigolnitse.
Kahn: Dos lidl iz gedrukt inem “Seminarist”, aroysgegebn funem Yidishn lerer-seminar. This song was published in the “Seminarist”, published by the “Jewish Teacher’s Seminary”.
Dreyts mer of der ketse**, vayl di ketse klingt. Klingt shoyn “ya” vi a nar, Opgelebt zibtsik yar, Di zibtsik yar [h]erum, Beyltsye dreyt zikh um.
Turn [crank up] the ketse more, for the ketse rings/makes a sound It rings now “ja” [yes] like a fool. 70 years of life gone by, 70 years later Beyltsye turns around.
Di sheyne Beyltsye hot zikh umgekert, der keyser hot dem grestn vert. Dreyts mer of der ketse, vayl di ketse klingt. Kling shoyn “ya” vi a nar, Opgelebt zibtsik yar, Di zibtsik yar [h]erum”…
The pretty Beyltsye turned around. The emperor has the greatest worth. Turn [on] the “ketse” For the “ketse” rings/resounds. Now it rings with a “ja” like a fool,*** 70 years of life gone by, The 70 years …
Schaechter: Un azoy vayter, un azoy vayter. And so on and so forth.)
*Probably an altar in a Polish church [suggested by David Braun]
** Perhaps a basket from the German “Kötze” [suggested by Janina Wurbs]. If a basket, then perhaps “ketse” means a gramophone or music box? It makes sense in this context. [suggested by David Braun]
When ballads have been presented on the Yiddish Song of the Week we have sometimes emphasized the parallels with other international ballads. This week we present a ballad type that is not to be found internationally, certainly not in the Anglo-British-American tradition – a ballad that describes the conversion of a child to the Christian faith; a shmad-ballad. The verb shmadn in Yiddish means to convert to Christianity.
This week’s entry has two versions of the same shmad-ballad. There are a number of others and judging by the geographic spread of the singers, we could conclude that it is at least as old as the 19th century.
1) The first version Zitst di mome (As Mother is Sitting) comes to us courtesy of the AHEYM (Archives of Historical and Ethnographic Yiddish Memoirs) project at the University of Indiana in Bloomington. This project has been directed by professors Dov-Ber Kerler and Jeff Weidlinger. Special thanks to AHEYM project manager Anya Quilitzch who prepared the video clip.
The singer Zelda Roif of Kishinev (Chișinău), Moldova, sings in her Bessarabian dialect, marked especially by her toto-mome-loshn. Tate (father) in her dialect becomes tote, mame becomes mome and geshmadt becomes geshmodt (converted). Her version has a distinctly Romanian flavor since the daughter Sonyele falls in love with a shepherd (cioban).
In classic ballad form, the first few verses set the action then turn into a dialogue between mother and daughter, in which the mother tries to convince her daughter not to convert. The mother fails and the last two lines spoken by the daughter – “I can’t stand the Jewish faith” is quite a powerful (unhappy) ending.
2) The second ballad Bentsik der shoykhet (Bentsik the Ritual Slaughterer) is sung by Lillian Manuel of Suchowola in northeast Poland, and the recording and comments were provided by her grandson, the Yiddish linguist Dovid Braun.
By comparing the two ballads we see the similar dialogue structure though in different settings. The ending of Bentsik der shoykhet is also quite shocking.
The Yiddish shmad-ballad song type deserves a longer analysis than is possible here. Among other versions collected is one in Sofia Magid’s work printed in “Unser Rebbe, unser Stalin” edited by Elvira Grozinger and Susi Hudak-Lazic (Harrasowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2008) – “Rokhele” (pages 288-289) recorded in Volyn, 1928. The Magid version is a variant of the two presented today and recounts how Rokhele ran away with the priest’s son. In the longer text provided (page 555) a similar dialogue between parent and daughter can be found. A recording of the song is included in the DVD that comes with the volume.
Please find Yiddish texts at the end of this posting.
ZITST DI MAME (Performed by Zelda Roif, Kishinev, Moldova)
Zitst di mame un
arbet a zok.
Kimt men ir zogn,
az ir tokhter Sonyele hot zikh geshmodt.
Mother is sitting and
mending a sock,
when they come to tell her
that her Sonyele has converted.
Loyft zi zi zikhn,
tsvishn ole shkheynim.
In ir tokhter Sonyele
iz nishtu bay keynem.
So she runs to search her among all the neighbors. And her daughter Sonyele is not found by anyone.
Loyft zi zi zikhn tsi tshubanes tir. In ir tokhter Sonyele shteynt akeygn ir.
So she runs to look for her at the door of the shepherd. And her daughter Sonyele is standing across from her.
Sonyele, Sonyele kim tsu mir aheym. Ikh vel dir gibn vus di vi’st aleyn.
Sonyele, Sonyele Come home to me. I will give you whatever you want.
Ikh vel dir gibn kleyder un dan.. in a yidish yingele far ayn man.
I will give you clothes and then.. and a Jewish boy for a husband.
Bay mir bisti ‘gan mit shikh un kaloshn. Vest khasene hobm far tshuban (In Romanian= cioban) vesti oysgeyn far a groshn.
At my place you wore shoes and boots. If you marry the shepherd you will die for a penny.
Bay mir bisti ‘gan mit a vas, zadn kleyd. Vest khasene hobn far Tshuban vesti vashn yidish greyt.
With me, you wore a white, silk dress. If you marry the shepherd you will wash Jewish laundry.
[Spoken] Hot zi geentfert der miter: She answered her mother:
Trabt avek man miter ikh ken zi nisht ladn. Di yidishe nemune Ikh ken zi nisht farladn.
Drive away my mother, I can’t stand her. The Jewish faith I can’t stand it.
BENTSIK DER SHOYKHET (sung by Lillian Manuel, known in her shtetl Suchowola, NE Poland, as “Libe Yankl dem shvartsns”, to her grandson David / Dovid Braun, in the Workmen’s Circle Home for the Aged, Bronx, NY, ca. 1988) *see comments by David/Dovid Braun at the end of this translation.
Bentsik der shoykhet mitn zaydenem khalat;
Feygele zayn tokhter hot zikh opgeshmadt.
Bentsik the [kosher] slaughterer with his silken robe; Feygele his daughter has converted to Christianity.
Bentsik der shoykhet shpant ayn ferd-un-vogn kedey er zol kenen zayn Feygelen deryogn.
Bentsik the slaughterer hitched up his horse and wagon, So that he could catch up to his Feygele.
Bentsik der shoykhet geyt arayn in a kvartir. Gefunen hot er Feygelen bam kloyster fun tir [in kloyster bam tir].
Bentsik the slaughterer goes into an inn. What he’s found is Feygele in church by the door.
“Kum aher mayn tokhter, kum tsu mir aheym. Ikh vel dir gebn vos du vilst aleyn.”
“Come here my daughter, come home to me. I will give you whatever you want.
Ikh vel dir gebn gelt un nadan un tsu dertsu a sheynem yungn-man.”
I will give you money and dowry and on top of that a handsome young man.”
Bentsik der shoykhet, er falt tsu di fis un im af tselokhes dem sheygets a kish.
Bentsik the slaughterer, he falls to their feet and to spite him, [she gives] the gentile boy a kiss.
Bentsik der shoykhet, er falt tsu di tishn [griber] un im af tselokhes tseylemt zi zikh iber.
Bentsik the slaughterer falls to the tables [graves, pits], and to spite him she crosses herself.
Feygele iz gegangen in zaydene zokn. Az zi vet peygern vet klingen di glokn.
Feygele was wearing silken socks/stockings. When she croaks, the [church] bells will ring.
Af morgn bay tog: a yomer, a klog! Bentsik der shoykhet iz geshtorbn in mitn tog.
The next afternoon: alas and alack! Bentsik the slaughterer died in the middle of the day.
Notes by David Braun:
In the Yiddish original, I have placed in square brackets [ ] a few words Mrs. Manuel sang on an occasion a few years earlier when in better health and with a yet crisper memory. It is clear how those words make better sense and/or form a more satisfactory rhyme. Also, the final two stanzas were reversed in that earlier rendition, which makes more sense: walking neither with shoes nor barefoot but in socks or stockings is a sign of mourning. So first her father Bentsik has died, then she has donned traditional Jewish mourning garb, and finally we are warned that when the end comes for her, the apostate, mourning will be signaled by church bells.
After first becoming acquainted with this song in her repertoire, I compared her version to others in the folkloristic literature and discovered that in some, the gentile youth who is the object of Feygele’s romantic interest is named. With that information, I jogged her memory and ended up eliciting this additional stanza that she doesn’t sing on the recording – it clearly belongs after the stanza following Bentsik’s promise of dowry and all other good things. Feygele insists:
Kh’vil nit kayne kleyder, kh’vil nit kayn nadan. Aleksandern hob ikh lib un er vet zayn mayn man.
‘I don’t want any clothes, I don’t want any dowry. Alexander is who I love and he will be my husband.’
With this stanza, we’re enlightened as to what’s behind Feygele’s conversion from yiddishkayt, and religious philosophy doesn’t seem to be the motivating factor.
Schaechter Family in the DP Camp, 1950
Yiddish Song of the Week 