The Yiddish Mate Tea Song / דאָס ייִדישע מאַטע־טייליד Sung by Clara Bitman, recorded by Itzik Gottesman 1980s.
Clara Bitman learned this song in the 1950s in the Zhitlovsky-shul in Buenos-Aires; a school that was part of the leftist Yidishe kultur-farband organization in Argentina. She sang it at a Yugntruf “shraybkrayz” [writing circle] in NYC in the 1980s. Thanks this week to Janina Wurbs and Emily Socolov.
The Yiddish Mate Tea Song
Mume Zlate trinkt a mate un farbayst a kikhl. Nokh a mate gist on Zlate farn feter Mikhl.
Aunt Zlate drinks mate and snacks on a cookie. Another mate Zlate pours for her uncle Mikhl.
Feter Mikhl neyt a shikhl mit der rekhter hant. Mit der linker, mate trinkt er, trinken zey banand.
Uncle Mikhl sews a shoe with his right hand. WIth his left he drinks mate. So all three drink together.
Kumt fun shul der kleyner Shmulik, hungerik farbayst. Gist im Zlate on a mate; trinken ale dray.
Little Shmulik comes home from school hungry, so he snacks. Zlate pours for him a mate, So all three drink.
Fun a tetsl nasht dos ketsl milekh mitn hintl. Do a lek, do a shmek sara lib gezindl.
The kitten snacks from a saucer some milk with the puppy. Here a lick, there a whiff – what a loving family.
Kinderland, du tsoyberland / Kinderland, You Magical Land A Yiddish summer camp hymn Music: Albert Bitter, Words: M.A. Suhl (Yuri Suhl, 1908 – 1986) Sung & Recorded by Gerry Tenney, May 2021
Gerry Tenney
(Spoken) Eyns, tsvey, dray, fir One, two, three, four
Kinderland, du tsoyberland. Kinderland, you magical land Unter himlen fraye. Under the open skies Mir kumen zikh do opruen, We come here to rest, Shtarkn un banayen. To be strengthened and renewed. Oy, kinder, kinder, kinderland. Oy, children, children, children –land Far kinder a gan-eydn For children it’s a paradise. Mir shpiln zikh, mir lernen zikh. We play, we learn Mir lebn do in freydn. We live here peacefully Oy, kinder, kinder, kinderland Oy, children, children, children-land Far kinder a gan-eydn For children, it’s a paradise. Mir shpil zikh, mir lernen zikh. We play, we learn. Mir lebn do in freydn. We live here peacefully
There is second verse to this song, which according to Tenney was rarely sung.
Mit zun un feld un fraye nakht. With sun and field and free nights Du bist undz azoy tayer You are so dear to us. Freylekh munter zingt dos lid Happy, boldy sing this song, An arbets lid a nayer a labor song, a new one.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
Camp Kinderland is a summer camp, today in Tolland, Massachusets. It was founded in 1923 in New York by leftist unions. Several generations of Jewish children from NY and surrounding regions were raised there with a love for Yiddish song and culture. Kinderland has evolved since then and here is the current link to the camp.
A link to the songbook of Kinderland, 1954, which includes the Yiddish and English transcription of this and many other songs can be found here. We hope to present more recordings from this songbook.
Gerry Tenney is a leading figure in the Yiddish cultural world in the Bay area. He writes about himself:
I was born in a Yinglish speaking family in the Bronx. Yiddishwas all around me as we lived in the same building as mybubi and zeydi. Although I was not raised in linke krayzn [leftist circles], Ifound my way there in the late fifties and early sixties. Igraduated from the Hekherer Kursn [high school level] and taught in theelementar shuln in Queens. From 1963 -1968 I was acounsellor and group leader at Camp Kinderland. I haveremained active in camp activities and went back there toteach music many times. My son Noah also attended camp.In California I was the co-founder of East Bay Kindershul,leader of California Klezmer, and the President ofKlezCalifornia. I am currently working on the Beregovskitranslation project.
We would add to this short bio, that Tenney together with Betty Albert-Shreck produced a popular Yiddish recording for children “Let’s Sing a Yiddish Song/Lomir zingen a yidish lid.”
This is one of three Camp Kinderland hymns according to Tenney, and though there is at least one recording with a second verse, Tenney remembers only singing one. Bitter and Suhl also together composed the humorous children’s song “Poyzn ayvi” [ Poison Ivy] which can be heard on the recording “Let’s Sing a Yiddish Song”
You can hear other Kinderland alumni sing the song at this link.
We invite readers of the blog to send in recordings of songs from their Yiddish camps. There are many that have never been recorded and are unknown to the larger Yiddish world.
Lomir ale in eynem marshirn / Let’s All March Together
Sung by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (BSG), recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Bronx, 2010.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman on a picnic outside of Chernovitz with friends, mid 1930s. Probably from the group leftist Zionist group Hashomer Hatzair.
A Yiddish school song that Beyle Schaechter Gottesman learned in Chernovitz, Romania, later 1920s, early 1930s either in the Bundist Morgnroyt school or the more leftist Der yidisher shul-fareyn.
TRANSLITERATION
Lomir ale in eynem marshirn
Af di felder shpatsirn azoy — eyns, tsvey.
Lomir ale in eynem zikh rirn
Af di veygn zikh rirn azoy – eyns, tsvey
Purlekh, purlekh geshlosene reyen;
in der mit zol keyner nisht zan.
Lomir geyn in geshlosene reyen,
Lomir geyn, lomir geyn, lomir geyn.
TRANSLATION
Let’s all march together
In the fields, let’s go this way – one, two.
Let’s all move together;
on the roads let’s move – one, two.
As couples let us close ranks,
no one should remain in the middle.
Let’s close ranks,
Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.
It was very sad and shocking news to hear that Chana Yachness passed away on September 29th, 2013. She grew up in the leftist (“linke”) Yiddish circles of New York, loved Yiddish culture and was a wonderful link to that world. She was beloved by all and this week‘s contribution to the Yiddish Song of the Week is in her memory.
Chana Yachness and her husband, Ted Haendel. Photograph by Emily Socolov.
Her mother Rukhele Barak Yachness was a fine Yiddish singer and actress and in this recording (which I recorded in the Bronx, 1999) they sing together a revolutionary folksong In dem vaytn land Sibir that can be found in the volume of Moshe Beregovski’s writings and transcriptions edited by Mark Slobin, Old Jewish Folk Music (1982, see below). It‘s obviously not a perfect recording with bantering and joking – Chana sings the name of Yiddish actor “Maurice Schwartz‟ instead of “khmares shvarts‟, but it is the only recording I can find of the song. Their spirited interpretation gives one the sense of how a Yiddish revolutionary song used to be performed, especially by Jewish choruses. Note that in the Beregovski volume there is a second verse; Chana and Rukhele sing the first and third.
Many of the Yiddish songs that are sung by di linke today, including In dem vaytn, were learned from the folk operetta A bunt mit a statshke (A Revolt and a Strike) assembled from songs printed in Beregovski‘s song collection of 1934 by the choral leader and conductor Jacob Schaefer and critic Nathaniel Buchwald. This operetta was not only performed by the choruses of the time, 1930s, but in the Yiddish leftist camp Kinderland (at Sylvan Lake, Dutchess County, NY) where Chana no doubt learned it in the late 1940s and 1950s. See the recent documentary on Kinderland – Commie Camp
In the distant land Siberia Where the sky is always covered by clouds, I was banished there, for one word – for freedom. I was beaten with the whip, so I would no longer say
“Let there be freedom – to hell with Nicholas‟
Soon will come the happy time, Soon we will know from near and far, that Russia is bright, that Russia is free. “Let there be freedom – to hell with Nicholas‟
Yiddish Song of the Week 