“Shabes nukh dem kigel” Performed by Malka Lubelski

Shabes nukh dem kigel /Sabbath, after the kugel  [potato pudding]
Sung by Malka/Molly Lubelski, recorded by Abraham Lubelski, Bronx 1967

Malka Lubelski with son Abraham in Post-WWII Germany

COMMENTARY BY ITZIK GOTTESMAN
A love song from the 19th century apparently in the repertoire of the Broder zingers, itinerant singers and actors who often performed in taverns and wine cellars. A different version of this song can be found in the collection Broder zinger (1960) by Shlomo Pryzament (scan attached), with text and music. The singer Masha Benya recorded this Pryzament version which is sung from the man’s point of view. Here is the link to Benya’s recording from her LP record Jewish Song Treasury, Volume 2.

Molly Lubelski’s version differs significantly textually and is sung from the girl’s point of view. Her referring to her “Madam” implies that the singer works for her in some capacity or the Madam is her landlady, or perhaps it’s an ironic way to refer to her mother. There is another song from the Yiddish theater entitled “Shabes nokhn kugl” , which is a completely different song and has been recorded several times. The words and music to that theater song can be found in Jane Peppler’s Yiddish Songs from Warsaw 1929-193: The Itzik Zhelonek Collection.     

For biographical information on Malka Lubelski see the previous post “Vi iz dus gesele”. 

Shabes nukh dem kigl
sung by Molly Lubelski

Shabes nukh dem kigl
geyt mayn madam tsu gest.
Es kumt tsu mir mayn khusn
un drikt un kisht mikh fest.

Sabbath after the kugel,
my madam goes out to visit.
So my future husband then comes to me
and squeezes and kisses me strongly.

Tsvay upgeglantste shtivl,
dus hitl in a zayt
er iz an oysgedinter,
fardint un iz a layt.

With two shiny boots
and his cap worn to the side,
he has served in the military,
and earns a reasonable living.

Bald nokh dem esn
geyen mir paze taykh. 
Es zenen undz mekane
say urem un say raykh. 

Right after eating,
we walk along the river.
Everyone envies us,
the poor and the rich.

Ikh trug a nay klaydl,
tsvay oysgekemte tsep. 
Ikh bin a shayn maydl 
un ikh fardray di kep.

I’m wearing a new dress,
and have combed my braids.
I am a pretty girl
and heads turn when I pass. 

Nor im lib ikh
un er hot dus der vert.
Er iz der shenster bukher
der shenster oyf der erd.

But he is the one I love,
and he is worth it.
He is the handsomest man,
the best looking in the world

Er zugt er vet mikh nemen
un shteln a khupe oykh. 
O, klezmer veln shpiln,
oy, az s’vet geyn a roykh.

He says he will take me
and marry me.
O, klezmers will play so well
oy, that smoke will rise.

Un mayn madam vet shenken
tsvey kishn un a klayd.
Oy, vet zayn a simkhe,
oy, vet zayn a frayd.

And my madam will give as gifts –
two pillows and a dress.
Oy, there will be a celebration
oy, there will be joy.

un mashke vet men trinken
vifl s’vet arayn,
un shabes nukh deym kigl
kumt mayn madam tsu geyn.

We’ll drink whiskey
as much as we can.
Sabbath after the kugel
my madam goes out to visit.

שבת נאָך דעם קוגל
געזונגען פֿון מלכּה (מאַלע) לובעלסקי

שבת נאָך דעם קוגל
.גייט מײַן מאַדאַם צו געסט
עס קומט צו מיר מײַן חתן
.און דריקט און קושט מיך פֿעסט

,צוויי אָפּגעגלאַנצטע שטיוול
,דאָס היטל אין אַ זײַט
,ער איז אַן אויסגעדינטער
.פֿאַרדינט און איז אַ לײַט

באַלד נאָך דעם עסן
.גייען מיר פּאַזע טײַך
עס זענען אונדז מקנא
.סײַ אָרעם און סײַ רײַך

,איך טראָג אַ נײַ קליידל,
.צוויי אויסגעקעמטע צעפּ
איך בין אַ שיין מיידל
.און איך פֿאַרדריי די קעפּ

 נאָר אים ליב איך
.און ער האָט דאָס ווערט
,ער איז דער שענסטער בחור
.דער שענסטער אויף דער ערד

ער זאָגט ער וועט מיך נעמען
.און שטעלן אַ חופּה אויך
,אָ, קלעזמער וועלן שפּילן
.אוי, אַז ס’וועט גיין אַ רויך

און מײַן מאַדאַם וועט שענקען
.צוויי קישן און אַ קלייד
אוי, וועט זײַן אַ שׂימחה
.אוי, וועט זײַן אַ פֿרייד

מאַשקע וועט מען טרינקען
.וויפֿל ס’וועט אַרײַן
און שבת נאָך דעם קוגל
.קומט מײַן מאַדאַם צו גיין

From Broder zinger (1960) by Shlomo Pryzament, p. 86-87:

• 

• 

“Vu iz dus gesele?” Performed by Malka and Josef Lubelski

Vi iz dus gesele? / Where is the street?
A Holocaust adaptation written and sung by Malka and Josef Lubelsksi recorded by Abraham Lubelski, Bronx 1967

On the Lubelski family by  Abraham Lubelski

Malka (Male, Molly, Minska) Lubelski (1920 – 1996) was born in Lodz, Poland. She and her husband, Laibish Holcman, left Lodz in 1939, as the Nazis were invading, and headed East to the Soviet Union. With them was Malka’s sister, Chana, and her brother, Yasha. They were attempting to find Malka’s uncle in Ukraine.

They were diverted by Soviet authorities to Siberia, ending up in the town of Magnitogorsk. Here their son, Abram [Abraham], was born. They were finally given permission in 1941 to travel to their uncle’s home in Ukraine, arriving in Kharkov just as the Nazis invaded. They never reached their uncle and he was never heard from again. Laibish Holcman disappeared in 1941, soon after joining to fight with the defending Soviet Army.

They left behind their mother, a younger sister Ruth (Rivka) and three younger brothers, Motel, Laibel and Avrom. Malka, Chana, Yasha and Rivka survived the Holocaust. Their mother, Nacha, was taken from the Lodz ghetto and never heard from again. The three younger brothers also did not survive; one died in the ghetto and the other two died after being transported to Auschwitz. The four surviving siblings were reunited in 1946 in the Displaced Persons camp. All emigrated with their new families to the US in ’49-’50.

From Siberia, Malka and her son traveled on to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where Malka met Josef Lubelski (1906 – 1972) originally from Kalisz, Poland. Malka’s siblings, Chana and Yasha, also were able to travel to Tashkent. From there they returned west at the war’s end, searching for surviving family, Malka, Josef and Abram eventually making their way to the DP camp in Berlin. They transferred and were reunited with Rivka in the Leipheim, Germany DP camp. In the camp, Josef established a troupe and directed an ensemble of friends and actors. Josef and Malka sang duets and performed Yiddish monologues and Shakespeare. They were legally married in the DP camp in 1948.

As their son (Abram) I remember sitting in the front row of the theater watching their vaudeville performances and dramas with awe. Josef did classic “retsitatsyes” [recitations] often dressed like Charlie Chaplin or as a Jewish peddler making the audience laugh as he magically pulled things out from his long black overcoat and tried to sell a chicken here, pots and pans there or a “valgerholts” [rolling pin] with which to beat husbands.  They traveled to DP camps performing on week-ends and I cried if they left me behind so eventually they had me come along as the child actor in one or two Yiddish plays.

In 1950 they emigrated to the US. and performed their songs occassionaly at Workmen’s Circle gatherings. In 1967 I recorded Josef’s monologues and Molly and Josef singing duets. I remembered my mom sitting alone on the stage dressed in black mourning singing “Vu iz dos gesele,” “Tsen brider” and “Akhtszik er un zibetsik zi”, …. Never forgetting the warming spirit trying to revive the people around them.

More on the Lubelski family can be read in the two memoirs The Cage (1980) and To Life (2000) by Ruth Minsky Sender. 

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

Today’s post is the first of three songs performed by Molly and Josef Lubelski that we will post. We thought it particularly appropriate to post “Vi iz dus gesele” to mark Kristallnacht on Nov. 9th. Though these songs were recorded in 1967, two decades after the war, they still convey the emotional performance of the artists.

The Lubelskis sing a Holocaust themed adaptation of a popular song “Vu iz dos gesele”. Their son Abraham believes they created the text. I have not found it in collections of Holocaust Yiddish songs. The words and music to the original song can be found in the Mlotek collection Songs of Generations. There are also Ukrainian, Russian and Hebrew versions of the older song. 

Here is a link to an orchestrated version of the original song “Vu iz dos gesele” sung by Jan Peerce:

TRANSLITERATION, TRANSLATION & TRANSCRIPTION 
Folksong with new words by Malka and Josef Lubelski

Vi iz dus gesele? Vi iz di shtib?
Vi iz mayn mishpokhe, vus ikh hob azoy lib?
Nishtu shoyn dus gesl, tsebrokhn di shtib
farbrent mayn mishpokhe vus ikh hob azoy lib.
Nishtu shoyn dus gesl, tsebrokhn di shtib,
farbrent mayn mishpokhe vus ikh hob azoy lib.

Where is my street? Where is my house?
Where is my family that I onced loved?
The street is no more.The house is broken.
Burned up is the family that I loved so much.

Vi zenen di zingendike, tantsndike kinder?
Vi zenen zey ale atsinder?
Tserisn, tseshtokn, tsetsoygn.
Der mamen, der mamen, der mamen in di oygn. 
Tserisn, tseshtokn, tsetsoygn.
Der mamen, der mamen, der mamen in di oygn.

Where are the singing, dancing children?
Where are they now?
Torn, stabbed and pulled apart 
in their mothers’, their mother’s eyes.

Vi iz di shil? mitn gildenem orn-koydesh?
Der shabes, der yontif? rosh-khoydesh?
Farbrent iz di shil, farbrent oykh di sforim;
fun gantsn shtetl, geblibn iz bloyz kvorim. 
farbrent iz di shil, farbrent oykh di sforim,
fun gantsn shtetl, geblibn iz bloyz kvorim. 

Where is the synagogue with the golden Holy Ark?
The sabbath? The holiday? The beginning of each month?
The synagogue is burned down, as well as the holy books.
Of the whole town, only graves remain. 

Gekumen iz der tug far nekume far dem blut
far yedern gesl, far yederer shtub. 
Ot iz der tug – azoy zet er oys.
Ober der khezbn, der khesbn iz tsu groys.
Ot iz der tug – azoy zet er oys.
ober der khezhbn, der khesbn iz tsu groys.

The day for revenge has come for this blood,
for every street, for every house.
The day has come – this is how it looks.
But the reckoning, the reckoning is too great.

געזונגען און באַאַרבעט פֿון מלכּה און יוסף לובעלסקי

רעקאָרדירט פֿון אַבֿרהם לובעלסקי, בראָנקס 1967

?וווּ איז דאָס געסעלע? וווּ איז די שטוב
?וווּ איז מײַן משפּחה, וואָס איך האָב אַזוי ליב
,נישטאָ שוין דאָס געסל, צעבראָכן די שטוב
.פֿאַרברענט מײַן משפּחה וואָס איך האָב אַזוי ליב
,נישטאָ שוין דאָס געסל, צעבראָכן די שטוב
.פֿאַרברענט מײַן משפּחה וואָס איך האָב אַזוי ליב

?וווּ זענען די זינגענדיקע, טאַנצנדיקע קינדער
?וווּ זענען זיי אַצינדער
,צעריסן, צעשטאָכן און צעצויגן
.דער מאַמען, דער מאַמען, דער מאַמען אין די אויגן
,צעריסן, צעשטאָכן און צעצויגן
.דער מאַמען, דער מאַמען, דער מאַמען אין די אויגן

?וווּ איז די שיל מיטן גילדענעם אָרון־קודש
?דער שבת? דער יום־טובֿ? ראש־חודש
.פֿאַרברענט איז די שיל, פֿאַרברענט אויך די ספֿרים
.פֿון גאַנצן שטעטל געבליבן בלויז קבֿרים

,געקומען איז דער טאָג פֿאַר נקמה פֿאַר דעם בלוט
.פֿאַר יעדערן געסל, פֿאַר יעדערער שטוב
.אָט איז דער טאָג ־ אַזוי זעט ער אויס
.אָבער דער חשבון, דער חשבון איז צו גרויס