Es dremlt in geto / The ghetto is sleeping A Holocaust song sung by Sara Rosen, recorded by Itzik Gottesman, 1989 NYC.
………[Es dremlt in geto]
Mir zenen farriglt mit drut un mit krad. Ikh hob a shtetele, s’iż azoy sheyn. Ven ikh derman mekh, es benkt zikh aheym.
…….[The ghetto is sleeping.]
We are locked in with wire and with chalk. I have a small town, it’s so beautiful. When I think of it, I long to go home.
Levune, levune, vus kiksti mekh un? Az ikh bin hingerik, dus geyt dikh nisht un. Ikh hob a shtetele, s’iz azoy sheyn. Ven ikh derman mekh, es benkt zikh aheym.
Moon, moon, why are you looking at me? That I am hungry: you don’t care. I have a small town, it’s so beautiful. When I think of it, I long to go home.
Az m’et kimen fin arbet, hingerik in mid, Ervart indz dus esn, kartofl mit gris. Ikh hob a shtetele, s’iż azoy sheyn Ven ikh derman zikh, es benkt zikh aheym.
When we’ll come from work, hungry and tired, Food awaits us: potato and grits I have a small town, it’s so beautiful. When I think of it, I long to go home.
Biography of the Singer Sara Rosen by Mickey Rosen:
Sara Landerer Rosen was born in Krakow, Poland in 1925 into a Chasidic family. She experienced an idyllic childhood until September 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland, initiating World War II. The war truncated Sara’s formal education at the end of eighth grade but it didn’t stop her thirst for learning. Sara took advantage of every opportunity available; in the ghetto, in British Mandate Palestine and later, in the State of Israel and finally in the USA. In 1977, Sara graduated from Fordham University with a BA in Philosophy.
Sara Rosen
Sara was a prolific write, publishing her memoir My Lost World in 1993. In 2008, she published Prisoner of Memory, the life story of Itka Greenberg. Itka saved about 50 Jews during World War II, with Sara and her mother being two of the fortunate survivors. In between these two books, Sara translated the songs of Mordechai Gebirtig from Yiddish to English. Sara loved speaking and singing in Yiddish and remembered many of poems and songs from her youth.
Sara emigrated to the USA in 1956 with her husband, Joseph and two sons. Her family grew in the USA with the birth of a daughter.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman:
Es dremlt in shtetl
This song is a Holocaust adaptation of the popular 1920s-30s song “Ven es dremlt in shtetl” (also known as “Es dremlt/drimlt dos shtetl” or “Es dremlt dos shtetl”); text written by Yoysef Heftman (1888 – 1955), music by Gershon Eskman. There are several recordings of this song, among them by Sarah Gorby, Michele Tauber, Willi Brill, Violette Szmajer, Sheh-Sheh, Zahava Seewald. Here is a link to a recording by the singer Rebecca Kaplan and tsimbler Pete Rushefsky from their CD On The Paths: Yiddish Songs with Tsimbl.
Ruth Rubin recorded a version from a “Mrs. Hirshberg” in 1947. It is called “Es dremlt a shtetele” and here is the link to the song in the Ruth Rubin Legacy: Archive of Yiddish Folksongs at the YIVO Institute.
Es dremlt in turme
Before the war, there already was a “parody” version of this song about languishing in prison. “Es dremlt in turme” [The prison is sleeping]. The words and music are printed in the “Anthology of Yiddish Folksongs” edited by Sinai Leichter, scans of this song are attached.
Sara Rosen learned this song in Bucharest after she escaped from the Bochnia ghetto near Krakow. Though she forgets the first two lines, it is cleary an adaptation of “Es dremlt in shtetl”. There are several versions of this song using the same melody, but they all differ so significantly from each other, that to call them versions of the same song is a stretch. Meir Noy wrote down a version “Shtil is in geto” in his notebooks that can be found in the National Library in Jerusalem. Another version can be found in the collection “Dos lid fun geto: zamlung” edited by Ruta Pups, Warsaw, 1962. A scan of this version is attached. A third version was printed in the collection “We Are Here: Songs of the Holocaust”, edited by Eleanor G. Mlotek et al, 1983.
Special thanks for this post to Mickey Rosen, Rachel Rosen, Michael Alpert, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, her grandchildren the musicians Benjy Fox-Rosen, Avi Fox-Rosen.
I was introduced to Sara Rosen in 1989 by the Yiddish/Hebrew singer Tova Ronni z”l (d. 2006) who lived in the same Upper West Side apartment building in NYC. That same day she introduced me to another singer in the building, David Shear, who sings “An ayznban a naye” on this blog.
From Anthology of Yiddish Folksongs” edited by Sinai Leichter:
From Dos lid fun geto: zamlung, edited by Ruta Pups, Warsaw, 1962:
Der internatsyonal / The International Sung by Martin Horowitz, recorded by Gertrude Nitzberg, August 4, 1973, Baltimore, Maryland. From the collection of the Jewish Museum of Maryland
Der internatsyonal as sung by Martin Horowitz
Shteyt oyf ir ale ver nor shklafn vos hunger laydn muz un noyt. Der gayst er kokht un ruft tsum vafn in shlakht undz firn iz er greyt.
Awaken you all who are slaves who must suffer hunger and poverty. The spirit boils and calls to arms into battle it is ready to lead us.
Di velt fun gvaldtatn un laydn tseshtern veln mir un dan. Fun frayhayt, glakhheyt a gan-eydn, bashafn vet der arbetsman.
This world of violence and suffering will we destroy and then – from freedom and equality will we create a paradise.
Dos vet zayn shoyn der letster un antshaydener shtrayt; mit dem internatsyonal shteyt oyf ir arbetslayt!
This will be the last and decisive struggle, with the International, awake, all you workers!
A couple of weeks late, but to commemorate May Day we present the Yiddish version of the song The International; words originally written in French by Eugene Pottier. The music by Pierre De Geyter was first performed in 1888. The “International” refers to the “First International”, an organization of workers that held a congress in 1864.
Judging by Martin Horowitz’s repertory as recorded by Gertrude Nitzberg, he attended a Yiddish folkshul, probably a Workmen’s Circle socialist school where he learned many of his songs including this one.
Horowitz sings the International almost exactly as it appears in the collection Yidishe folks-lider, by Moshe Beregovski and Itzik Feffer. (Kiev, 1938, p. 3 – 5 and in Albert Biter’s collection Zing-a-lid: 60 arbeter un folks lider, (NY 1940, p. 5). Scans of both, words and music, are attached.
A different version of The International by the poet H. Leivick appears in 1938-39, in the Workmen Circle songbook Lomir zingen appeared, edited by Mikhl Gelbart. Michael Alpert sings another version as translated by S. Ansky on the CD The Upword Flight: The musical world of S. Ansky.
Horowitz sings only the first third of the song and that is how it was mainly sung in Yiddish. The German Yiddish singer Karsten Troyke recorded the entire Yiddish version of the International as it appeared in Beregovski/Feffer:
Below are versions published in Albert Biter’s collection Zing-a-lid: 60 arbeter un folks lider (NY, 1940) and Moshe Beregovski and Itzik Feffer’s Yidishe folks-lider (Kiev, 1938):
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
The Center for Traditional Music and Dance (the Yiddish Song of the Week’s sponsor) is pleased to announce a new website dedicated to research and pedagogy for the Yiddish folksong tradition. The websiteInside the Yiddish Folksong has been created by CTMD in partnership with a project team led by ethnomusicologist Mark Slobin, and includes Michael Alpert, Walter Zev Feldman, Ethel Raim, Josh Waletzky and the Yiddish Song of the Week’s editor, Itzik Gottesman.
And join us at the end of December for Yiddish New York, the USA’s largest festival of Yiddish music, language and culture! Click here for more details.
Me geyt shoyn tsi der khipe / They’re Already Walking to the Khupe!
Sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman, recorded by Leybl Kahn 1954 NYC.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
Though Lifshe Schaechter Widman (LSW) introduces the song by saying it used to be sung on the way to the khupe (wedding canopy), it is a song mocking the wedding, not a part of the ceremony by any means.
Image of a Wedding Procession by Isaak Ashknaziy, 1893
The melody to this song was probably inspired by the klezmer tune known as the “Odesser Bulgar” found in Kammen collection “Dance Folio No.1 #18. (Thanks to Michael Alpert for pointing this out). Here is a link to the Alexandria Kleztet from the D.C. area and their version of the Odesser Bulgar:
In addition to LSW’s, two other texts to this song can be found in the Shmuel Zanvel Pipe song collection Folklore Research Centre Studies, Volume 2, Jerusalem, 1971, (edited by Meir and Dov Noy). They have been scanned and attached. The first version is in the body of the text and includes the melody. The second is in the end notes and includes different words and a second section of the melody as Meir Noy, also a Galitsyaner from Kolomyia (Yid = Kolomey) remembered it. LSW’s melody also has a second section or the begining of one.
The image of the fiddle “speaking” at the wedding (in essence warning the young couple) reminds one of the Itzik Manger poem “Der badkhn”, music by Henekh Kon.
Nor vos zogt der fidl, zog fidele zog!
¨Di sheynkayt iz sheyn, nor sheynkeyt fargeyt.¨
Azoy zogt der fidl un vos zogt di fleyt?
What does the fiddle say, tell us fiddle!”
“Beauty is nice, but beauty fades.”
So says the fiddle and what says the flute?
The only word in LSW’s version that is still not clear is “sekl” or “seke”; a word not found in the Yiddish dictionaries but “seke” does also appear in the second version in the notes of the Pipe collection. Michael Alpert suggests it could be a klezmer term for the sekund; the rhythmic and harmonic fiddle in klezmer music.
The word “opgeklogt”, pronounced by LSW as “u’geklugt” is open to interpretation, but I believe she means “good riddance, the parents have suffered enough”. In Pipe’s versions the line is “A yingl hot a meydl ongeklogt” which has a completely different meaning, but also open to interpretation.
Special thanks for helping with the blog post this week: Eliezer Niborski who transcribed LSW’s version, Michael Alpert, Josh Waletzky, Mark Slobin, Pete Rushefsky.
TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
LSW speaks: “A lid vus me fleyg zingen az me geyt tsi der khipe in Galitsye, in Bukovina.”
A song that used to be sung on the way to the khupe [marriage canopy] in Galicia and Bukovina.
[Un] Me geyt shoyn tsi der khipe, me geyt!
Me trasket un me fliasket, s’iz a freyd!
Herts nor vus der fidl zugt:
“A bukher mit a moyd u’geklugt” [opgeklugt]
[And] They’s already walking to the khupe!
People are banging and celebrating, what a joy!
Listen to what the fiddle says:
“Good riddance to the bride and groom”
Un dort der bas mit der sekl (seke?):
Niech będzie na długo i na wieki’ [Polish]
And there the bass and the sekund (fiddle)
[Polish]: May it be for long and forever.
Un aykh makhuteyniste – git-morgn!
Ir hot shoyn frishe zorgn:
Me bayt di rayneshlekh af kronen.
Me zikht a voynung vi tse voynen.
And you my mother-in-law – good morning!
You have fresh worries:
You have to exchange the Rhenish for Kronen [currency]
and find a place to live.
REPEAT FIRST VERSE
Instrumental klezmer version of the melody found in J. & J. Kammenś collection Dance Folio No.1, #18:
Version found in Shmuel Zanvel Pipeś song collection Folklore Research Centre Studies, Volme 2, Jerusalem, 1971, (edited by Meir and Dov Noy):
Shteyt in tol an alte mil / An Old Mill Stands in the Valley Words by M. M. Shaffir, Music -“adapted from a Romanian folk melody”
Recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Bronx
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
The poet M. M. Shaffir (1909 -1988) was born in Suchava/Suceava (in Yiddish – “Shots”), Bukovina, Austria-Hungary; today – Romania. He immigrated to Montreal in 1939 and published 18 books of poetry. He was known for his love of Jewish folklore and his expert knowledge of the Yiddish language.
M.M. Shaffir, Screen Shot from Cindy Marshall’s Film “A Life of Song: a Portrait of Ruth Rubin”
He was a close friend of the linguist, writer and editor Mordkhe Schaechter, and visited him in the Bronx several times. At one of these occasions in 1974, the Sholem-Aleichem Cultural Center organized an event honoring his visit and afterward he sang three songs that he had composed at the Gottesman home across the street.
In this post we look at the first of those three songs, a doina-style melody Shteyt in tul an alte mil. He included the words and music in his collection Bay der kholem multer (Montreal, 1983) which are attached.
Several lines in his performance differ from the printed poem. On top of the musical notation, Shaffir wrote “loyt a Romeynishn folksmotiv” – “adapted from a Romanian folk melody.” To compare a Romanian traditional song to Shaffir’s composition Romanian music researcher Shaun Williams suggested listening to this Romanian doina sung by Maria Tanase:
Singer and scholar Michael Alpert also suggested listening to this Romanian “epic ballad”:
In Cindy Marshall’s film “A Life of Song: A Portrait of Ruth Rubin”, Shaffir can be seen in the episode where Rubin records singers in Montreal. The photo of him in this blog is taken from that scene. The entire film can be seen at YIVO’s Ruth Rubin Legacy website.
TRANSCRIPTION
1) Shteyt in tul an alte mil.
Veyn ikh dortn in der shtil.
Shteyen dortn verbes tsvey
Veyn ikh oys mayn harts far zey.
2) Ergets vayt in kelt un shney
iz gefaln mayn Andrei.
Ergets af a vistn feld.
Hot zayn harts zikh opgeshtelt.
3)Deym boyars tsvey sheyne zin
zenen nisht avek ahin.
Nor Andrei hot men opgeshikt
hot a koyl zayn harts fartsikt.
4) Hot zayn harts zikh opgeshtelt.
Ergets oyf a vistn feld.
Ergets vayt in kelt un shney
S’iz mir vind un s’iz mir vey.
TRANSLATION
An old mill stands in the field
where I cry there quietly.
Two willows are there
and I cry my heart out for them.
Somewhere distant in cold and snow
my Andrei has fallen.
Somewhere on a barren field
his heart stopped beating.
The boyar’s two handsome sons
did not go there.
Only Andrei was sent
and a bullet devoured his heart.
His heart stopped beating
somewhere on a barren field.
Somewhere far in cold and snow,
Woe is me, how it hurts!
From Bay der kholem multer by M.M. Shaffir (Montreal, 1983) pp. 72-73:
Reb Tsudek Sung by Itzik Gottesman, recorded Nov 2018, Austin TX
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
I was asked to post the song “Reb Tsudek” as sung by the Yiddish poet Martin Birnbaum. He sang it to Michael Alpert and me in 1984-85 in NYC. But, alas, I cannot find the original recording so I have recorded it myself.
Birnbaum was born in 1905 in Horodenke when it was Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Now it is in the Ukraine – Horodenka. According to a NY Times obituary he came to the US in 1923 and died in 1986. In the YIVO Institute’s Ruth Rubin Legacy Archive, Birnbaum sings four songs but not this one. Those recordings were done in 1964.
I believe there is more Yiddish folklore to be discovered about this shlimazel (bad luck) character Reb Tsudek. When I asked the Yiddish poet Yermye Hescheles about him he affirmed that there was such a comic figure in Galicia, where both he and Birnbaum were from.
The song mocks the Hasidic lifestyle – absurd devotion to the rebbe, irresponsibility, staying poor. The word “hiltay” – defined by the dictionaries as “libertine” “skirt-chaser” “scoundrel” – is really a cue that this is a 19th century maskilic, anti-Hasidic, song. The word is often used in such songs. The humor also hinges on the double meaning of tsimbl both as a musical instrument (a hammered dulcimer) and as a verb – “to thrash or scold someone”.
A tsimblist, about to be thrashed by his wife.
(courtesy Josh Horowitz)
In the song two towns are mentioned: Nay Zavalek remains a mystery but Grudek, west of Lviv, is Grodek in Polish and Horodok in Ukrainian.
Here is a clip of Michael Alpert singing the song, with Pete Rushefsky on tsimbl, Jake Shulman-Ment on violin and Ethel Raim singing at the Smithsonian Folkife Festival in Washington D.C., 2013:
TRANSLITERATION
Fort a yid keyn Nay-zavalek,
direkt bizn in Grudek.
Fort a yid tsu zayn rebn – Reb Tsudek.
Tsudek iz a yid, a lamden.
Er hot a boykh a tsentn,
Un s’iz bakant, az er ken shpiln
of ale instrumentn.
Shpilt er zikh derbay (2x)
Fort a yid keyn Nay-zavalek
direkt bizn in Grudek.
Oy vey z’mir tatenyu!
Fort a yid keyn Nay-Zavalek
direkt bizn in Grudek.
Oy vey z’mir tatenyu!
Un Reb Tsudek, er zol lebn,
hot gehat a gutn shabes.
Tsudek hot gekhapt shirayem,
mit beyde labes.
Aheymgebrakht hot er zayn vaybl
a zhmenye meyern-tsimes.
Un dertsu, oy vey iz mir,
a tsimbl un strines.
“Hiltay vus iz dus!” (2x)
Oy hot zi getsimblt Tsudek
fun Zavalek bizn in Grudek.
Oy vey z’mir tatenyu!
Oy hot zi getsimblt Tsudek
fun Zavalek bizn in Grudek.
Oy vey z’mir tatenyu!
TRANSLATION
A man travels to Nay-Zavalek,
directly until Grudek.
The man is traveling to his rabbi,
Mister Tsudek.
Tsudek is a learned man,
and has a belly that weighs ten tons.
And everyone knows that he can play
on all the instruments.
So he plays as he travels –
A man travels to Nay-Zavalek
directly until Grudek,
Oh my, dear God!
A man travels to Nay-Zavalek
directly until Grudek,
Oh my, dear God!
And Reb Tsudek, may he be well,
had a good Sabbath.
Tsudek caught the Rebbe’s holy leftovers
with both paws [large, rough hands].
For his wife he brought home
a handful of carrot – tsimmes,
and in addition – oh no! –
a tsimbl with no strings.
Scoundrel! what is this? (2x)
Boy did she thrash Tsudek
from Zavalek until Grudek
Oh my, dear God.
Boy did she thrash Tsudek
from Zavalek unti Grudek
Oh my, dear God
Mame, a kholem (Mother, A Dream)
Performed by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman
recorded by Leybl Kahn, NY 1954
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
The motif of the lover who returns as a beggar is as old as Homer’s Odyssey and is found in ballads throughout the world. In this Yiddish ballad version, the former lover is not disguised as a beggar but has indeed become one because of his “character”.
“Jewish Beggar” by Rembrandt
I consider this ballad to be one of Lifshe Schaechter-Widman’s [LSW] masterpieces. Not only because it is certainly among the older songs in her repertoire, but because of the deeply emotional way she performs it, concluding with the dramatic last verse in which the woman reveals to her mother who is at the door.
In typical old ballad style, the dialogue prevails: first between mother and daughter, then between daughter and beggar (former lover) and finally, again, between daughter and mother. There is a break in the narrative after the third verse when the dialogue changes and at this point Leybl Kahn, who is recording the song, feels compelled to ask LSW to continue.
This transition from third to fourth verse is noteworthy. A new plot/scene develops at this point. It leads me to believe that originally there might have been two ballads that were combined to form one.
Supporting this idea are the awkward transitions between the two scenes in all the versions. We also have examples of separate ballads. Singer/researcher Michael Alpert recorded Fanya Moshinskaya, (born 1915 in Babyi Yar, Kiev), singing a ballad of the first scene – ‘Oy a kholem’. And he has recorded Bronya Sakina (1910 – 1988) from Olvanisk (Holovanivsk/Golovanevsk, Ukraine) singing a ballad – “Derbaremt aykh”- depicting the beggar/lover scene. Alpert currently sings both of them and sometimes combines them.
In addition, there are two other versions of just the beggar/lover ballad with no first “kholem” part in the Soviet Folklor-lider volume 2 1936, page 202-204,. Song #62 – “Shoyn dray yor az ikh shpil a libe” and #63 – “Vi azoy ikh her a lirnik shpiln”. The singer for #62 was Rive Diner from Bila Tserkva, Ukraine, 1926. The singer for #63 was Yekhil Matekhin from Sobolivke, Ukraine, recorded in 1925.
A nine-verse Odessa variant without music of the LSW combined ballad – “Oj, a xolem hot zix mir gexolemt” – can be found in Folklor-lider volume 2 1936, page 201-202 song# 61. This was republished by Moyshe Beregovski with music in his Jewish Folk Songs (1962) #34 pp. 75-77, reprinted in Mark Slobin’s Beregovski compendium Old Jewish Folk Music 1982, p. 353 – 355. The singer was Dine Leshner from Odessa, 1930.
In Leshner’s ballad, the transition verse between the two scenes, verse four, is presented in first person from the beggar’s viewpoint, not in dialogue. It would be quite confusing for the listener to figure out who is speaking, and I imagine the singer would almost be required to stop singing and indicate who is speaking (as LSW does at this transition point!).
Another variant of the combined version was collected by Sofia Magid in 1934 in a Belarus kolkhoz “Sitnya”, from the singer Bronya Vinokur (PON 103, full text on page 580, “Unser Rebbe, unser Stalin” edited by Elvira Grozinger and Susi Hudak-Lazic, 2008. The audio recording can be heard on the accompanying DVD). The initial dialogue is between a man and his mother. He then travels to the rebbe, and comes to her as a beggar. She curses him in the last verse.
Oyb du host a froy mit a kleyn kind, Zolstu zikh muttsen [mutshn] ale dayne yor. Oyb du host mir frier nit genumen, Konstu sheyn nit zayn mayn por.
If you have a wife and child, May you suffer all your years. If you did not take me before, Then you can no longer be my match.
Hardly the romantic ending we find in the LSW version.
I would like to take the liberty of suggesting some word changes in LSW’s version for any singers out there thinking of performing the song. These suggestions are based on the other versions and on the way LSW’s daughter, Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman [BSG] sang the song.
1) Clearly the last line in the first verse of LSW’s ballad, which doesn’t rhyme with “gedakht”, is a mistake. BSG sang instead the rhymed line –
“Az mayn gelibter shteyt baym bet bay nakht” [“That my lover is standing at my bed at night”]
But in Magid’s version and in the Alpert/ Moshinskaya’s version this line reads – “un fun mir hot er zikh oysgelakht” (and he laughed at me”) And in the Folklor-lider version the line reads “un fun mir hot er khoyzek gemakht” (“and he mocked me”) So the mocking of the girl is the “character” flaw that results in his becoming a beggar.
2) Instead of “futerland” Bronya Sakina sang “geboyrn-land” which strikes me as folkier and more appropriate, though in one of the Folklor-lider versions, the daughter does use “foterland” as well.
3) Instead of LSW’s “derkh mayn kharakter”, – “because of my character”, – others sing “durkh a libe” and “durkh a gelibter– “because of a love”, “because of beloved”. This also strikes me as the older concept and more in line with the whole song.
4) Instead of LSW’s “untershtitsung” – “nedove” is more traditional. Both mean “alms”, “donation”.
5) LSW sings “iftsishteln di hant” – “to raise up the hand”. Usually that would be “oystsushtrekn di hant” – “to reach out your hand”.
6) For the last line she sings “vayl dos iz der velkher iz mayn gelibter geveyn.” (“because this is the one who was my lover”) but shorter and to the point is “vayl dos iz mayn gelibter geveyn” (because he was my lover”). BSG sang it this way.
TRANSLITERATION
1) Mame, a khulem hot zikh mir gekhulemt,
Oy, mame, a khulem hot zikh mir gedakht.
Oy, a khulem hot zikh mir gekhulemt,
az man gelibter shteyt leybn mayn bet.
2) Oy a khulem tokhter tur men nit gleybn
Vayl a khulem makht dem mentshn tsim nar.
Morgn veln mir tsi dem rebe furn.
A pidyen veln mir im geybn derfar.
3) Vus ken mir den der rebe helfn?
Tsi ken er mir geybn deym vus eykh hob lib?
In mayn hartsn vet er mame blaybn
Biz in mayn fintsern grib.
In mayn hartsn vet er mame blaybn.
Biz in mayn fintsern grib.
Spoken: Leylb Kahn says “Dos gantse lid”
LSW: “Es geyt nokh vater.”
Leybl: “Lomir hern vayter.”
Spoken: LSW – “Es dakht zikh ir, az der khusn
kimt aran..”
4) Hots rakhmunes af mir libe mentshn
hots rakhmunes af mir in a noyt.
mit alem gitn zol nor Gotenyu bentshn.
Hots rakhmones un shenkts a shtikl broyt.
5) “Far vus zhe geysti azoy upgerisn?
Shemst zikh nisht iftsishteln di hant?
Fin vanen di bist bin ikh naygerik tsi visn.
Rif mir un dayn futerland.
6) Geboyrn bin eykh in a groys hoz.
Dertsoygn bin eykh eydl un raykh,
derkh mayn kharakter bin eykh urem gevorn
in intershtitsing beyt eykh du fin aykh.
7) Tsi vilt ir mir epes shenkn?
Git zhet mir in lozts mekh du nisht shteyn.
Tits mikh nit azoy fil krenken,
Vayl dus hob eykh mir mitgenemen aleyn.
8) Oy, mamenyu gib im shoyn a neduve.
Gib im shoyn un loz im do nisht shteyn.
Gib im avek a halb fin indzer farmeygn,
vayl dos iz der velkher iz mayn gelibter geveyn.
Gib im shoyn a halb fin indzer farmeygn,
vayl dos iz der velkher iz mayn gelibter geveyn.
TRANSLATION
1) Mama, I dreamed a dream,
oh mame, a dream i had imagined.
Oh a dream i had dreamed,
That my love was near my bed.
[..stands near me at night]
2) O daughter, a dream should not be believed.
Because a dream can lead you astray.
Tomorrow we will travel to the Rebbe
and give him payment for this.
3) O, how can the Rebbe help me.
Can he give me the one I love?
In my heart he will always remain.
Till my dark grave.
SPOKEN:
Leylb Kahn: The whole song
LSW: There is more.
Leybl: Let’s hear more.
LSW: She thinks that her groom has entered…
4) “Take pity on me dear people.
Take people on me in my need.
May God bless you with all good things.
Take pity and give a piece of bread.”
5) “Why are you going around in rags?
Are you not ashamed to hold out your hand?
Where are you from? I would like to know.
Tell me your fatherland.”
6) “I was born in a big house,
Raised noble and wealthy.
Because of my character, I became poor,
and for a donation from you I now beg.”
7) “Do you want to give me some alms?
Then give me and don‘t leave me standing here.
Don‘t torture me so,
For I have already suffered enough.”
8) “O mother give alms right now,
Give him now, and don‘t let him stand there.
Give him away a half of our fortune,
For he was once my beloved.”
Folklor-lider Volume 2 1936, pp. 202-204,. Song #62 – “Shoyn dray yor az ikh shpil a libe”:
and #63 – “Vi azoy ikh her a lirnik shpiln”:
Jewish Folk Songs (1962) #34, ed. Moyshe Beregovski, pp. 75-77, reprinted in Mark Slobin’s Beregovski compendium Old Jewish Folk Music 1982, p. 353 – 355:
“Unser Rebbe, unser Stalin” edited by Elvira Grozinger and Susi Hudak-Lazic, 2008:
This week’s Yiddish Song of the Week is a submission from Steve Balkin – a 1958 recording he made in Detroit on a Webcor reel to reel tape recorder of his grandmother, a wonderful singer, Itka Factorovich Sol.
Itka Factorovich Sol (left), pictured with her younger sister Channa-Leya “Lizzie” Factorovich in the City of Chernigov, Ukraine, ca. 1910. Courtesy of Steve Balkin.
Balkin writes the following about her:
My bubbe Itka Factorovich Sol (shortened from Zolotnitsky) was from Chernigov, Ukraine (Ukrainian – Chernihiv, Yiddish – Tshernigov) but it might have been Russia then. She spoke Russian and Yiddish, and a little English. She and my zeyde Nathan Sol (Nauach Zolotnitsky), living in Neshin, migrated to Chicago in 1912 and owned and ran a fish store. Up above the fish store lived Menasha Skolnick’s sister. Later in 1955 she moved with us to Detroit. Since my mother worked, she spent a lot of time raising me. She kept a kosher house, sang a lot of lullabies, and was a great baker and cook. I still have the taste of her taiglach (small, knotted pastries boiled in honey) on my tongue.
Itka Factorovich Sol (center) with her sisters at a party in New York City, 1948. Courtesy of Steve Balkin.
This is yet another Yiddish song about a drunk who has a conversation with the moon and beats his wife. (See: “Ekh zits mir in shenkl” [“I sit in the tavern”] sung by Michael Alpert on the CD The Upward Flight: The Musical World of S. An-sky and the commentary there.) In fact the number of Yiddish songs about drunks is large enough to form its own section – “Shikurim-lider” – in Folklor-lider vol. 2, Moscow, 1936.
In this song the singer refers to the “monopol”. The liquor store in Russia under the Czar was referred to as the “monopol”, since the Czarist regime had full control over it.
I found two textual variants of this song, and screen shots of them are included at the end of the post. “Epes tut mir mayn harts zogn” is found in Skuditski/Viner Folklor-lider Moscow, 1933, page 141, #12. “Monopol, monopol” is in Skuditski/Viner Folklor-lider, vol. 2 , Moscow 1936, page 263-264, #5.
Thanks to David Braun for assistance with the Yiddish text.
Shtey ikh mir in ayn [=a] vinkele eyner aleyn. In mayne oygn iz mir fintster; ze nit vuhin tsu geyn.
Shiker iz di gantse velt. S’zet zikh (?) dokh aleyn un di veg iz mir farshtelt. Ikh ze nit vuhin ikh gey.
Ot ersht, ot ersht hot di levone geshaynt. Zi hot azey likhtik geshaynt. Mit a mol hot zi ir ponim farshtelt Azey vi unter [=hinter] a vant.
Di levone vil a bisele bronfn, A make hot zi gelt. Hot zi zikh far mir farshemt un hot ir ponim farshtelt.
Levone, levone, kum aher, ikh vel dir epes zogn. Di velt lozt zikh nokh nit oys; Ikh ken dir an eytse gebn.
Ikh hob far dir ayn [=a] gutn plan. Du zolst mikh nor oyshern. Kum mit mir in monopol, Farzetsn a por shtern.
Epes tut mir haynt mayn harts zogn gor a naye zakh. Ikh vil haynt mayn vayb shlogn. Es vet zayn zeyer glaykh.
Di letste fleshl fun tsu kopnl nemt zi bay mir aroys un trinkt oyset biz ayn [=eyn] tropn un lozt mir gor nit oys.
Just standing in a corner all alone. My eyes see darkness, I don’t see where to go.
The whole world is drunk. That everyone can see. And the road is hidden. I cannot see where to go.
Just now, just now the moon was shining, She shone so brightly. Suddenly she covered her face, as if behind a wall.
The moon wants a little whiskey. But money she has none. So she was shamed before me, and covered up her face.
“Moon, moon come over here I want to tell you something. The world is not coming to an end; So let me give you some advice.
I have for you a good plan Please hear me out. Come with me to the “monopol” [=liquor store] We’ll pawn a few stars.”
Something told my heart today something brand new. I want to beat my wife; that will be well deserved.
The last bottle that’s by my head She takes away from me. She drinks it down to the last drop and leaves me none.
“Epes tut mir mayn harts zogn” is found in Skuditski/Viner Folklor-lider Moscow, 1933, page 141 #12:
“Monopol, monopol” is in Skuditski/Viner Folklor-lider, vol. 2 , Moscow 1936, page 263-264, #5:
This year’s Passover is now complete, so please save this song for next year’s festival!
Mentshn getraye:a matse-podriad lid is the second matse-baking song we have posted on Yiddish Song of the Week. The first was “Mir nemen veytslekh”, sung by Dora Libson. Mentshn getraye was recorded from Jacob Gorelik by Michael Alpert and me in New York City in 1984, and Alpert later recorded his own performance of the song on the Lori Cahan-Simon Ensemble’s CD Songs My Bubbe Should Have Taught Me: Volume One: Passover.
Pre-war matse baking [from the Yad-Vasham Photo Archives]
In this posting we present original field recording of that song. The tradition of Matse-podriad continues in religious Jewish circles today and one can see samples of it on the internet. The spirit has remained jovial, often musical, over the years. Here is a current example with the Mishkoltz Rebbe:
Jacob Gorelik introduces the song with these words: “…the second song I heard in my town. My mother and other mothers sang it. It was called the “Matse-podriad-lid”. In town there was a custom, that once a year when Passover came, money was collected especially for poor people who could not buy matse, could not buy wine. Help! No way to celebrate Passover. It [custom] was called moes-khitin. That was one thing.
The second thing was – the matse was the primary thing. So the whole town got together and there was complete unity – the orthodox, the “modern” ones, the Zionists, Bundists, socialists. They used to rent a house with an oven, and buy wood, buy flour and hire people to bake the matse. And this was called a community “matea bakery” by the entire Jewish community.
And as someone once asked – when you sing, or you do something good – do you do it for youself or for the other person? It was a combination. One had it mind that you were doing it for the poor. You were baking matse for them. But at the same time, at that time it was a joy in town becasue it was a boring life. It was also an opportunity for girls and boys to get together. And we used to sing and this is one of those songs that were sung. Who composed the song…This song is light verse. It’s not ‘pure’ poetry; but it’s humorously colored. According to what Mendel Elkin once told me the writer was Tunkel – or “The Tunkeler” [The dark one] his pseudonym.
The melody, I learned later when I was living in America, comes from a Ukrainian song “Nutshe Khloptse”. And now the song:
Mentshn getraye, farnumene un fraye,
Bay vemen es iz nor tsayt faran.
Git aher ayer pratse, un helft bakn matse,
dem noyt-baderftikn man.
Hentelekh ir kleyne, eydele un sheyne,
bikhelekh nor trogn ir kent.
Pruvt nor visn, eyn mol in Nisan
dem tam fun mazolyes af di hent.
Ir gvirishe meydlekh, helft kneytn teyglekh
mit ayere vaysinke hent.
Teygelekh geknotn vi Got hot gebotn,
Kosher un erlekh un fayn.
Spoken: A freylekhn Peysekh! Flegt men zogn alemen.
TRANSLATION
Dear people, those who are busy, and those who are free.
Whoever has some time to spare.
Donate your labor to help bake matse
for the man in need.
Little hands, delicate and beautiful,
who only could carry books.
Get to know at least once during the month of Nisan,
the taste of calluses on your hands.
You well-off girls, help knead the dough
with your white hands.
Flour all kneaded, as God has commanded,
Kosher, and honest and fine
Spoken: “Happy Passover!” Is what we wished everyone.
Though Gorelick was from Byelorussia, the song text is also found in the writings of Galician writer Soma Morgenstern, who quotes it in his book “The Third Pillar” (1955), page 59, translated from the German [see below]. I have yet to find this poem in Der Tunkeler’s writings.
Image of a Wedding Procession by Isaak Ashknaziy, 1893
A tsimblist, about to be thrashed by his wife.
“Jewish Beggar” by Rembrandt
Yiddish Song of the Week 