Tort un vayn / Cake and wine
A Yiddish version of Joe Hill’s “Pie in the Sky” sung by Tillie Fishman, recorded by Gertrude Nitzberg , Baltimore, 1979
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
This is a Yiddish version of Joe Hill’s song “Pie in the Sky” originally called “The Preacher and the Slave”. Here is Cisco Houston’s version of the Joe Hill song.
Joe Hill
Joe Hill (1879 – 1915) was a labor activist , songwriter and member of the IWW – Industrial Workers of the World. He was executed for the murder of a grocer and his son in Utah, despite international protests and appeals for clemency. His memory has been preserved in the song “Joe Hill” which was recorded by Paul Robeson, Joan Baez, among others.
Hill’s song was itself a parody of the Christian hymn “Sweet Bye and Bye” written in 1868. Here is country singer, Loretta Lynn with her version of the original hymn.
This Yiddish version of Joe Hill’s “Pie in the Sky” appeared in the songbook Mit gezang tsum kamf, songs composed and arranged by Jacob Schaeffer, 1932. Fishman sings two verses, but the songbook has five.It does not say who translated or adapted the songs. We are attaching the music, the Yiddish text from that book, and including below a transcription of the longer version found in Schaeffer’s book. In Schaeffer’s collection the song is called “Der prister un der nar” (“The Priest and the Fool”).
Did you know that Ethel Raim, Yiddish singer and teacher, founder and artistic director emeritus of CTMD,composed a melody to “Joe Hill’s Last Will”? You can find it in the magazine “Sing Out!”, volume 11, #3, p. 29.
Special thanks with help for this week’s post to Emily Socolov.
TRANSLITERATION (Tillie Fishman’s version)
“Prist” un “preacher” haltn droshes umetum.
Vus me zugt undz, heyst men indz zayn frum. Es mont der galakh un es shtroft der rov.
Zol shoyn nemen tsi di tsores a sof.
Refrain
Me redt undz ayn es vet zayn. Es vet zayn.
In gan-eydn frishe broyt un vayn. Broyt un vayn. Un dervayl shteyt in “line”. Es vet zayn
in gan-eyden tort un vayn; tort un vayn!
Fun dem eltstn biz dem klenstn kind,
vus me zogt im, zogt men as s’iz zind.
Es shtruft der galakh un es munt der rov.
Zol shoyn nemen tsu di tsores a sof.
Refrain
Me redt undz ayn es vet zayn. Es vet zayn
In gan-eydn frishe broyt un vayn. Broyt un vayn. Un dervayl shteyt in “line”. Es vet zayn
in gan-eyden tort un vayn; tort un vayn!
TRANSLATION
Priest and preacher give speeches everywhere.
They are always saying that we should be religious.
The priest demands, the rabbi punishes. May an end to our troubles come soon.
Refrain
They assure us that there will be, in heaven fresh bread and wine. Bread and wine.
In the meantime get in line. There will be
in heaven cake and wine. Cake and wine.
From the oldest to the smallest child,
They are told that everything is a sin. The priest punishes and the rabbi demands.
May an end to our troubles come soon.
Refrain
They assure us that there will be, there will be, in heaven fresh bread and wine. Bread and wine.
In the meantime get in line. There will be
in heaven cake and wine. Cake and wine.
TRANSLITERATION OF SCHAEFFER VERSION
Pristers haltn droshes umetum
In Gots nomen heyst men undz zayn frum.
Laydn mir hunger, laydn mir noyt. Viln mir esn, monen mir broyt.
Refrain:
Redt men undz ayn es vet zayn in gan-eydn frishe broyt un vayn un dervayl shteyt in “layn”, Es vet zayn in gan-eydn tort un vayn.
Eyder mir derzen a por sent
rayst men es oys fun undzere hent. Prist un pritsher, yeder shvindler nemt
biz men tut undz oys dos letste hemd.
REFRAIN: Redt men undz ayn…
Shafn far raykhe un nit far zikh.
Shteyt men in “layn” far der tir bay der kikh.
Fresn di raykhe, s’platst zey der boykh. Volt men darlangt khotsh a bisl undz oykh.
REFRAIN: Redt men undz ayn…
Fun dem grestn biz dem klentstn kind
vos mir tuen af der erd iz zind.
Shtroft der galakh un es mont der rov.
un beshas mir tsoln undzer shtrof.
REFRAIN: Redt men undz ayn…
Joe Hill’s “Pie in the Sky” in the songbook Mit gezang tsum kamf, songs composed and arranged by Jacob Schaeffer, 1932
In this posting, we examine three Yiddish Songs set to the tune of the Italian pop classic Return to Sorrento:
1) Fil gelitn hob ikh miter sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman, recorded in 1954 by
Leybl Kahn
2) Sheyn iz Reyzele dem sheykhets sung by Reyzl Stalnicovitz, and recorded by Itzik Gottesman in Mexico City, 1988.
3) Sore-Yente a song found in Meyer Noy’s collection at the National Library in Jerusalem, and performed by Sharon Bernstein, piano and vocal, and Willy Schwarz on accordion, Florence, Italy 2001.
This week we highlight three Yiddish songs that use the melody of an Italian pop classic Torna a Surriento (Return to Sorrento) music by Ernesto De Curtis (1875 – 1937), copyright 1905. The original lyrics were by his cousin Giambattista De Curtis. Here is a Dean Martin recording of the Italian song which we chose because it has a translation of the Italian lyrics (click here to listen).
There are even more Yiddish songs that use this melody, among them: in 1933 after the murder of Haim Arlosoroff in Tel-Aviv, a song was composed to this melody and a song sheet was published (A tragisher mord in Tel-Aviv/A Tragic Death in Tel Aviv). A song about the Polish Jewish strongman Zishe Breitbard (1883 – 1925) also uses a version of the melody (see Mlotek, Songs of the Generations, page 147-148 ).
Thanks this week to Aida Stalnicovitz Vda Fridman and Sharon Bernstein.
1) Fil gelitn hob ikh miter (I Have Suffered Much Mother)
Performance by Lifshe Schaechter Widman, recorded in 1954 by Leybl Kahn in NYC.
Lifshe introduces the song by saying “S’iz a lidl vus me hot gezingen in der ershter milkhume (It’s a song that was sung in the First World War).” The four verses are entirely in the mother’s voice, apparently addressed to her mother, as indicated in the first line.
TRANSLITERATION
Fil gelitn hob ikh miter
bay der as[ent]irung fun mayn kind.
Gearbet hob ikh shver in biter
Far vus lad ikh nokh atsind.?
Iz mayn zin nokh mayn nekhome
Vi iz er fin mir avek?
Afarshundn iz er in der milkhume.
Un a seykhl in un a tsvek.
Ziser Got ikh beyt ba dir
loz mikh nokh a nes gesheyn.
Eyder eykh vel shtarbn
Vil eykh mayn kind nokh eyn mol zeyn.
Dentsmult vel ikh riyik shtarbn.
Got tsi dir keyn tanes hubn.
Loz mayn kind khotsh eyn mul mir
nokh, “mamenyu” zugn.
TRANSLATION
Much have I suffered mother,
from the drafting of my child.
I worked hard and bitter.
Why do I still suffer?
My son is still my comfort
Where did he go and leave me?
Disappeared into the war,
for no logic, for no reason,
Dear God I pray to you
May another miracle take place.
Before I die,
I want to see my son once more.
Then I would calmly die
God, have no complaints to you..
Let my child say to me –
just once more “my mother dear”.
2) Sheyn iz Reyzele dem sheykhets (Beautiful is Reyzele, the Shokhet’s Daughter)
Performance by Reyzl Stalnicovitz, recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Mexico City, 1988.
Reyzl Stalnicovitz, photo by Itzik Gottesman
Reyzl Stalnicovitz was born in 1935 in Xalapa, district of Vera Cruz, Mexico. She was a teacher at the I. L. Peretz shul (“Di naye yidishe shul”) in Mexico City, and passed away in 1996.
Of the three songs presented in this post, this song was by far the most popular and has been printed in several collections and can be found in the field recordings of Ben Stonehill, Sarah Benjamin and at the National Library in Israel. As for commercial recordings: Lea Szlanger sings it on her CD Lea Szlanger In Song.
The text was originally a thirteen verse poem by Zusman Segalovitch (1884 – 1949) that first appeared in the periodical Der shtrahl, Volume one, #2 Warsaw, 1910 (see below). There it was titled Dem shoykhets tokhter: balade (The shoykhet’s daughter: ballad) followed by the inscription – Dos hobn kinder in shtetl dertseylt (This Was Told by Children in Town).
The plot – Reyzl wants to marry Motl but the father, a shoykhet (kosher slaughterer) boils with anger as she combs her hair because she refuses the match he made. He then cuts her golden locks. Then it gets “weird”: she swims into the Vistula (Yiddish = Vaysl) river and builds a little shelter for herself along the bank until her hair locks grow again.
Stalnicovch sings four verses. This ballad was almost always shortened when sung. For example in the Arbeter Ring’s extremely popular songbook Lomir zingen (1939, NY), only five verses are printed (that scanned version, words and music, are attached below).
TRANSCRIPTION
Sheyn iz Reyzele dem sheykhets.
Zi hot a yunge harts on zorgn.
Zi tants un freyt zikh mit ir lebn.
Vi a shvalb mitn frimorgn.
Es bakheynen ir di oygn
Es bakreynen ir di lokn.
Un a shtoltse iz zi shtendik.
Zi vet far keynem zikh nit beygn.
Un ir tate iz a frumer
un dertsu a groyser kaysn.
Ven di tokhter kemt di lokn
Heybt er on di lipn baysn .
Un der tate veyst nokh gornisht
Vos in shtetl veysn ale:
Az Reyzl hot shoyn a khosn.
Un me ruft ir Motls kale.
TRANSLATION
Beautiful is the shoykhet’s daughter Reyzl
She has a young heart with no worries.
She dances and is joyful with her life
as a swallow is with the morning.
Her eyes make her pretty
Her locks are a crown on her;
And she is always proud.
She will bow for no one.
Her father is religious
and also quick to anger.
When he combs her locks,
he starts to bite his lips.
And her father doesn’t know anything
what everyone knows in town:
that Reyzl has a groom,
and they call her Motl’s bride.
Spoken (transliteration):
Dos iz vos ikh gedenk. Ober di mame flegt mir dertseyln az s’iz geven epes a gantse tragedye, vayl der tate hot nisht gevolt az zi zol khasene hobn. Vayl er iz geven a sotsyalist, a yingl, un er iz geven a frumer yid. Er hot gevolt zi zol khasene hobn mit a yeshiva bokher. Un zi’s antlofn mitn bokher.
Spoken (translation): That’s what I remember. But the mother used to tell me that it was a whole tragedy because the father did not want her to get married. Because he (the groom) was a socialist boy and he (the father) wanted him to marry a Yeshiva student. And she ran away with the boy.
3) Sore-Yente
Performance by Cantor Sharon Bernstein, Florence, 2001 (accompanied by Willy Schwarz on accordion)
The third song that uses the melody of Sorrienta is Sore-Yente – a word play on the original Italian title. This was collected by Meir Noy in Israel in 1962 from Shmuel Ben-Zorekh, who learned it from an immigrant from Minsk. A scan of Meir Noy’s original notation, words and music are attached below.
TRANSLITERATION
Mit a nign fun akdomes
shteyt baym fentster Yosl-Monish,
Far der sheyner Sore-Yente
Zingt er dort tsu ir a lid:
Kum tsu mir mayn sheynes benken,
Eybik vel ikh dikh gedenken.
Kh’vel mayn lebn far dir shenken.
Vayl ikh bin in dir farlibt.
Azoy lang iz er geshtanen
vi der groyser pipernoter
un zi hert im vi der koter
un geyt derbay af gikh avek.
TRANSLATION With a melody from Akdometh stands at the window Yosl-Monish
For the beautiful Sore-Yente
there, he sings this song:
Come to me my longed for beauty
I will long for you eternally.
I will give you my life
For I am in love with you.
He stood there for so long
like a giant dragon.
She totally ignores him
And walks quickly by him.
Sheyn iz Reyzele dem sheykhets (Beautiful is Reyzele, the Shokhet’s Daughter) by Zusman Segalovitch (1884 – 1949) in the periodical Der shtrahl, Volume one, #2 Warsaw, 1910:
Sheyn iz Reyzele dem sheykhets (Beautiful is Reyzele, the Shokhet’s Daughter) from the Arbeter Ring’s songbook Lomir zingen (1939, NY):
Rabbi Eli Silberstein (first name pronounced to rhyme with “deli”) has been the charismatic leader of the Roitman Chabad Center at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York for over twenty-five years. Silberstein comes from a long line of Hasidic scholars from Russia and can also trace his lineage to the Vilna Gaon, one of the foremost rabbis and scholars of the 18th century. He possesses a large repertoire of nigunim that he had learned as a child in Antwerp, Belgium, where he grew up in a community comprising Hasidim from a number of different dynasties, as a Yeshiva student in Israel and France, and in Crown Heights in Brooklyn, New York, the headquarters of the Lubavitcher Hasidim.
Photograph of Rabbi Eli Silberstein by Anastasia Chernyavsky
A noted Talmudic scholar, Silberstein is renowned for his vast knowledge of Jewish law, philosophy and kabbalah. He lectures and publishes extensively, and has developed many courses for the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute. Silberstein is also a ba’al menagen, a masterful singer and an acknowledged expert on Hasidic nigunim and storytelling.
Vos vet zayn? (What Will Happen?) is a cumulative folk song that Silberstein learned from an old recording of Yossele Rosenblatt (1882-1933). Silberstein grew up with the old recordings of the great cantors, especially those of Rosenblatt and Zavel Kwartin (1874-1952).
Rabbi Eli Silberstein is the featured vocalist on the new Joel Rubin Ensemble CD, The Nign of Reb Mendl: Hasidic Songs in Yiddish (Traditional Crossroads, 2010). For more information about the CD, click here.
Field recording of Silberstein made by Rubin in Ithaca (the field recording leaves out the last verse which is included in the transcription below):
Excerpt from the Joel Rubin Ensemble CD The Nign of Reb Mendl: Hasidic Songs in Yiddish:
Zog zhe rebenyu
vos vet zayn
ven meshiakh vet kumen?
Ven meshiakh vet kumen?
veln mir makhn a sudenyu.
Tell us, rebbe,
what will happen,
when the Messiah comes?
When the Messiah comes,
we’ll make a big feast.
Vos veln mir esn oyf dem sudenyu?
Dem shoyr ha-bor, leviyasan veln mir esn
oyf dem sudenyu.
What will we eat at the feast?
The Wild Ox and Leviathan we will eat
at the feast.
Vos veln mir trinken oyf dem sudenyu?
Dem yayin ha-meshumor veln mir trinkn…
oyf dem sudenyu.
What will we drink at the feast?
Preserved wine (from the time of creation) we will drink…
at the feast.
Un ver vet uns toyre zogn oyf dem sudenyu?
Moyshe rabenyu vet uns toyre zogn…
oyf dem sudenyu.
Who will teach us Torah at the feast?
Moses the teacher will teach us Torah…
at the feast.
Un ver vet uns shpiln oyf dem sudenyu?
Dovid ha-melekh vet uns shpiln…
oyf dem sudenyu.
Who will play for us at the feast?
King David will play for us…
at the feast.
Un ver vet uns khokhme zogn oyf dem sudenyu?
Shloymoy ha-melekh vet uns khokhme zogn…
oyf dem sudenyu.
Who will tell us things of wisdom at the feast?
King Solomon will tell us things of wisdom…
at the feast.
Un ver vet tantsn oyf dem sudeynu?
Miryam ha-naviya vet uns tantsn…
oyf dem sudenyu.
Who will dance for us at the feast?
Miriam the Prophetess will dance for us…
at the feast.
Got fun Avrom is a woman’s prayer/song which is read as the Sabbath concludes Saturday night. It is attributed to the Hasidic rebbe
Levi-Yitskhok Barditshever (1740-1810), who also, according to tradition, wrote several Yiddish songs.
There was a debate among Yiddish folklorists whether this prayer constituted a folksong. Noyekh Prilutski maintained it did and published 23 versions in his first volume of collected Yiddish folksongs – “Religious and Holiday Songs” Warsaw 1911. S. An-sky did not agree (I have written about the various points of view: see pp. 41-42 in Defining the Yiddish Nation, Gottesman, 2003 and in Yiddish, “Tsi iz Got fun Avrom a folkslid?” in the Forverts newspaper, Feb. 12-18, 2010, p. 4). Prilutski was correct, “Got fun Avrom” is a folksong with a text and melody that passes from generation to generation, forming variants in various locations.
On the Ari Davidow’s listserve “World Music from a Jewish Slant” I had once written that based on Prilutski’s work on Got fun Avrom, we can conclude that the popular folksong, “Shnirele Perele” made famous by the Klezmatics, evolved from versions of Got fun Avrom. As you can see, Bella Bryks-Klein’s version provides furthur evidence for this connection.
I recorded Bella Bryks-Klein in my office at the Yiddish Forward in April, 2010 in New York City. She is the representative in Israel of our newspaper and is also active in a number of other Yiddish activities there. Her father, the Yiddish writer Rachmil Bryks, was known for his powerful works on the Holocaust, especially on the Lodz ghetto. He included a version of Got fun Avrom in “Der keyser in geto” NY, 1961 [The Emperor in the Ghetto] on page 234 which is clearly based on the one here. A scan of that page is included in this commentary.
Since Bryks-Klein learned her version from her Transylvanian mother, who learned it from her mother, we can assume that Rachmil Bryks based his text on his wife’s, not a local Lodzer variant. I hope to include other versions of Got fun Avrom in future blog-postings. I have a much simpler version done from a cousin; and an interesting longer version-recording of a older Lubavitch woman who grew up, however, in a Satmar family. These prayers/songs were said/sung so fast sometimes, that if you asked the person what a certain line is, they cannot always tell you!
As part of the “Yiddish Atlas Project” conducted at Columbia University, I believe that several versions were also recorded and could perhaps be posted here once that material is made available. Today in any Hasidic bookstore you can purchase the “classic” text of Got fun Avrom (often laminated), but it is much simpler than the one discussed this week.
Mayn numen iz Bella Bryks-Klein, ikh bin di tokhter fun a yidishn shrayber Yerakhmil Bryks, un mayn mame, Hinde Eta Volf, fun der heym, Irene Bryks, hot yeder moytse-shabes mit undz gezingen “Got fin avrum” vi zi hot mit ir mame dus gezingen in Transylvania. Ikh gedenk zi hot a vays tikhl af ir kop, dos heyst, tsigedekt, un mayn shvester un mikh tsigetsoygn tsi ir, un azoy tsugetulyet, shtayendik, in tinkl nokh, hot men gezingen azoy:
My name is Bella Bryks-Klein, I am the daughter of a Yiddish writer, Yerakhmil Bryks, and my mother Hinde Eta Volf, (her maiden name), Irene Bryks sang with us every Saturday night at the end of Shabes “God of Abraham”, as she had sung with her mother in Transylvania. I remember her with her white shawl on her head, covered, and she drew close to her my sister and me and standing, still in darkness, she sang it like this:
Got fun Avrom fun Yitskhok un Yankev,
bahit un bashirem dayn lib folk yisrol
vegn daynem loyb.
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
Protect and shield us, your dear people of Israel
Who praise you.
Az der liber shabes koydesh geyt avek,
az di zise libe vokh zol undz kimen:
tsu gezint, tsu leybn, tsu shulem,
tsi parnuse, tsu gite bsires toyves.
Now that the dear holy Sabbath is leaving,
may the sweet, dear week now come to us
and bring us good health, life, peace
livlihood, good news.
Umeyn Veumeyn! S’zol vern vur
Meylekh hamoshiekh ben duvid zol kimen dus yur.
Kimen zol er tsufurn,
in zayne sheyne yurn.
Kimen zol er tsi raytn
in zayne sheyne tsaytn.
Amen and amen! May it come true
Messiah the King son of David should come this year.
May he come traveling,
and bring with him beautiful years.
May he come riding,
and bring wonderful times.
Eliyahu hanuvi kimt in der hoz arayn,
brengt er aldus gits arayn,
Eliyahu hanuvi geyt fin undzer hoz aros,
trugt er aldus beyzs aros,
Eliyahu hanuvi kimt in undzer hoz aran,
nemt a bekher in der rekhter hant,
Makht a brukhe ibern gantsn land.
Elijah the prophet comes into our house,
and brings all good things inside.
Elijah the prophet leaves our house,
and takes all the bad things out.
Elijah the prophet comes into our house,
and takes a goblet in his right hand,
and makes a blessing over the entire land.
Di brukhe zol hoykh zan,
zol iber undz ale zan.
Tir un toyer shteyt dokh ofn
tsu dir futer, al rakhmim shaday,
in zibetn himl tien mir ale hofn.
The blessing should be loud,
and be over all of us,
Door and Gate are thus open
for you father, god of mercy,
into the seventh heaven we all hope for this.
A gite vokh! a gezinte vokh!
A gebentshte vokh! A zise vokh!
A sheyne vokh!
A good week! A healthy week!
A blessed week! A sweet week!
A wonderful week!
A frequently overlooked and still under-researched genre of Yiddish folksong and folksinging is the significant body of songs with Jewish religious themes and spiritual intent. Such songs are most frequently found today among Hasidic Jews throughout the world. They fulfill both a spiritual and didactic function, affirming traditional Ashkenazic religious practice and spirituality as well as serving as a guide and exhortation to younger generations.
It can be said that older songs of this genre like Dos Shabes Lid (“The Sabbath Song”), whose lyrics are in a Yiddish heavily interlaced with Hebrew and Aramaic quotations from Torah/Tanakh, Talmud, Jewish liturgy and other religious texts, are imbued with much of the spiritual significance associated with nigunim (paraliturgical Hasidic spiritual melodies sung to fragments of Hebrew and Aramaic religious text and/or wordless syllables). They are a kind of Ashkenazic gospel song or spiritual, summoning forth and embodying an atmosphere of deep contemplation and mystical transcendence.
Dos Shabes Lid, popular to this day in many Hasidic communities of Hungarian and Carpathian descent, is a classic and majestic example of a religious Yiddish folksong. Its many verses describe an idealized ambience of the Friday night home and family celebration marking the arrival of Shabes – the Jewish Sabbath. It is in many respects a quasi-balladic paean to the intricacies and pleasures of traditional Shabes observance and the interweaving of spiritual exaltation, mystical devotion, traditional cuisine, home and family, sacred time and the repose from the cares of the week it can bring. All of which are bound together and expressed through the complex interweaving of quotations from and allusions to Jewish religious texts for Friday night or referring to Shabes and conjuring up its atmosphere. The song is both nostalgic – it’s about Shabes, not for it – and deeply reflective of its ambience. It is simultaneously outside of Shabes, looking in, yet entirely embedded within it.
Similar religious folksongs in Yiddish continue to be created in today’s thriving Hasidic communities, particularly in the New York area and Israel. Frequently they are didactic songs for children and young people– a sub-genre representing to a sort of Hasidic “Sesame Street,” though many are appreciated by older youth and in some cases all generations. They are disseminated today through the vibrant Hasidic recording industry, as well as in religious school, shtibl / synagogue and family contexts. In recent years, Yiddish scholar and songwriter Asya Vaisman has pioneered the systematic study of Yiddish song among women and children in Hasidic communities in Brooklyn, and wrote her Harvard Ph.D. dissertation on this subject.
The Transcarpathian region of Ukraine, known in Yiddish as “di Karpatn” (the Carpathians), is located at the meeting point of Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. It encompasses the eastern tip of the Hungarian plain and climbs the southern slopes of the Carpathian Mountains. Historically known as Ruthenia, it is home to a plethora of ethnic groups including Ukrainians, Hungarians, Roma, Romanians, Slovaks, Poles and Jews fluent in their distinctive regional dialect of Yiddish in addition to Hungarian, Ukrainian, German, and other local languages.
In Soviet times Transcarpathia was the most traditional Ashkenazic Jewish area of the USSR. The Yiddish language was almost universally spoken by the region’s Jews, even children born in the late 1980s. Traditional religious practice and education – usually secret but quite successful education – continued there to a degree unparalleled among Ashkenazim in other parts of the USSR.
Since 1972, the vast majority of Jews from Transcarpathia have emigrated to North America, Israel or Hungary. Time-honored Jewish communities that continued to thrive even in Soviet times now remain nearly devoid of Jewish life, though their legacy is maintained in immigrant communities in New York and throughout the world. A significant number of today’s Hasidic dynasties have their roots in the Transcarpathian area or adjacent regions.
Avrum Yitskhok “Izu” Moskovitz, a extraordinary traditional Yiddish singer and Ashkenazic bal-tfile (lay prayer leader), was born in 1934 in the Ruthenian town of Svaljava, Czechoslovakia (now Svaliava in the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine). Raised in a traditional Jewish family who were adherents to the Hasidic tradition of Sasov, he learned the art of davenen (leading prayer) and Torah cantillation from his father.
Photo by Martin Koenig, Center for Traditional Music and Dance Archive
During the Second World War, after first Hungary and then Nazi Germany occupied the Carpathian region of Czechoslovakia, Moskovitz was interned in Hungarian labor and concentration camps and later escaped, surviving by hiding in the forest. After the war, his fingers damaged by cold and deprivation, he worked as an accountant in Svaliava and became the leading bal-tfile (lay prayer leader) and khazn (cantor) in the Transcarpathian SSR from the 1950s-early 1970s. He would sing at weddings and other Jewish occasions as well as in synagogues in the region. Typically he would daven the yontoyvim — officiate at High Holiday services — one year in Minkatsh (Mukacheve / Munkács), the next in Beregsas (Berehove / Beregszász), then Ingvar (Uzhhorod / Ungvár), and so on.
In 1972, at the very beginning of the mass emigration of Jews from the USSR, Moskovitz left with his family for the US. He and his wife, children, and grandchildren live in Brooklyn, where they continue to speak Yiddish at home in addition to Russian, Hungarian and English, and lead an Orthodox Jewish life. Like many Jews from Transcarpathia, they inhabit the Orthodox and Hasidic worlds as well as the Former Soviet Jewish sphere. Moskovitz is proud of having learned English well and reading the US press for years. His wife Sure (Sarina) is a virtuosic traditional Jewish cook and has worked as such in several yeshivas in Brooklyn.
A word on the singing style heard in Dos Shabes Lid: it is classic folk khazones, a wonderful example of the musical art of the bal-tfile. It features much of the rich, melismatic ornamentation typical of men’s singing in the Orthodox Ashkenazic religious context, yet is also straightforward and powerful in relatively unornamented phrases. Like much Yiddish traditional singing in a variety of genres, it features the occasional insertion of extra, interstitial syllables in vowel sounds, e.g. “meli-ye-khu” for melikhu (His reign), and some of the same tendency between consonants, but less of the latter in comparison to many Yiddish folksingers from further east in Ukraine.
Regarding the pronunciation of Yiddish and Hebrew/Aramaic here: it is largely but not entirely characteristic of Carpathian Yiddish, which is also the predominant dialect in today’s Hasidic communities. However, Izu’s hometown Svalyave is not far from the dialect border between Hungarian and Galician Yiddish. Like the majority of 20th century Yiddish speakers and singers – even native and lifelong speakers – Izu is not 100% consistent in his dialect or pronunciation in this or any performance of this song. Though he primarily uses his own Carpathian pronunciation, especially in the Hebrew and Aramaic portions of the song, he occasionally utilizes forms more typical of northeastern (“Lithuanian”) Yiddish, which in the course of the 20th century became the pronunciation basis for klal-yidish, the largely standardized literary language now learned by almost all students of the language outside of the Hasidic world. The vast majority of native Yiddish speakers today are Hasidic and – other than Lubavitcher Hasidim and a few smaller groups — do not use Lithuanian or standard Yiddish, nor the pronunciation of Hebrew and Aramaic that accompanies it. Izu’s pronunciation may be influenced slightly by the encroachment of a literary or performance standard – unusual in the religious Jewish world but common in official Yiddish films, theater and recordings in the USSR, even after 1948. In addition, the influence of modern German characteristic of much 19th- and early 20th-century Yiddish, especially from former Austro-Hungarian areas like the Carpathian region, is evident in usages like “a portsyon mit fish” – a portion of fish (Ger. “Portion” rather than the more Yiddish “portsye”). Itzik Gottesman very correctly adds that in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the northern (Litvish) pronounciation increasingly infuenced cantorial singing, becoming both a status symbol and eventually a virtual standard among khazonim, even many folk khazonim / baaley-tfile like Izu Moskovitz.
As with most Yiddish singers, Izu’s pronunciation varies even within this performance of the song. E.g.: tsi/tsu “to”; tsvey/tsvay “two”; kavone/kavune “intention, fervor, spirit,” etc.
Musically, Dos Shabes Lid employs the freygish mode in the verses, shifting to a minor refrain based on the fourth degree of the freygish – a classic device in many Yiddish musical genres. The song is likely of a more modern Yiddish melodic type, probably dating from the later 19th and early 20th centuries. The verse melody, typical of the Greco-Ottoman influenced dance and song melodies of that era, has variants in klezmer tunes – the A section of the playoff bulgar in violinist Abe Schwartz’s 1920 National Hora, Part II; secular Yiddish folksong – Shimke Khazer, Beregovski/Slobin 1982, Nos. 107 and 108, and the Lodz Ghetto song S’iz Kaydankes, Kaytn by street-singer Yankekle Herszkowicz; as well as the popular Yiddish theater song Vi nemt man parnose.
Recorded by Tom Van Buren for the Center for Traditional Music and Dance at the final concert for Nashi Traditsii (Our Traditions) Soviet Jewish Community Cultural Initiative, May 2002, The Danny Kaye Theater, Manhattan, New York.
Dos yidele kimt zikh fraytik tsi nakhts fun der shil ahaym.
Baglaytn im tsvey malukhim in zayn shtib arayn.
Der malekh hatoyv vintsht im un: “Leshabes habu keyn”
In der malekh haray [sic: haro] miz zugn bal korkhoy: “Umeyn”.
The Jew comes Friday night from the shul to his home
Two angels escort him into his house
The good angel wishes him: ”Shabes is here!”
And the evil angel must unwillingly say “Omeyn.”
Dos yidele nemt zikh tsi zugn, azoy vi men broukht,
Fayerdik un haylik: “Shabes shuloym imvoyrokh‟
Tsvay malukhim baglaytn im in zugn dem pusek fur:
”Vesar avoynekhu vekhatusokh tekhipor” [sic].
The Jew pronounces, as one is required.
With fire and with holiness: “A peaceful and blessed Sabbath!‟
Two angels escort him and quote the verse:
”Your sins will be forgiven‟
Er fargest fin ale zorgn, fin der gantser vokh.
Fin gesheftn shmist er gurnisht, er geyt nukh zey nisht nokh
Azoy vi in pusek shtayt geshribn: “’Uveyoym hashvii ’
Yehi beeynekhu kilu kol melakhtekhu asim’”.
He forgets all the worries of the week.
Of business matters he says nothing, they don‘t bother him now.
As is written: “’On the seventh day’ –
You should feel that all your labors will have been completed‟ ______________________________
REFREN / REFRAIN
Aha-a-y!
Dem shabes ver es haylikt, der vert geraynikt fun a yeyder aveyre.
Ver es farshteyt di kavune, (bay) deym i’ dus a matune
Der bakimt a neshume yeseyre.
Aha-hay…..
Der shabes iz tayer, er brent vi a fayer
S’iz mamesh min ([me’eyn] oylem habu
Ober nor der ken dus shpirn, ver es tit zikh yidish firn
Voyl iz eym bezey ivabu.
Whoever makes the Shabes holy will be purified of every sin.
It is a gift for whoever understands the inner meaning
He receives the additional, holy Shabes soul.
The Shabes is holy, it burns like a fire
Truly like the world to come.
But the only person who can feel it is the one who conducts himself in a Jewish way
He will be fortunate in this world and the world to come. ______________________________
Kidush tsi makhn mit groys kavone, nemt er zikh dertsi.
Er zugt „Vayhi erev, vayhi voyker, yoym hashishi
Vaykhili hashomayim vehuoretz vekhol tsevuom.”
”Vehi yoytsrom, vehi boyrom.”
Making Kiddush with great fervor, he begins.
He says: “And it was evening, it was morning – the sixth day.”
“The heaven and earth were completed with all their hosts.”
”He is their Creator, He is their Maker.”
Di kedishe hersht in shtibl, es laykhtn di lekht.
Ofn tish ligt lekhem mishne mit a shayn geflekht.
Tsvay malukhim baglaytn im in zugn deym pusek fur:
“Vesar avoynekhu vekhatusokh tekhipor.”
Holiness reigns at home,
The candles shine,
On the table lie the two khales,
Beautifully braided.
Two angels escort him and quote the verse:
”Your sins will be forgiven.”
[REFRAIN]
Er vasht zikh tsi der [sic] lekhem mishne, zetst zikh tsi tsim tish.
Di balebuste shtelt im tsi a portsiyon mit fish.
Er zugt: “Azamayr beshvukhin…” ”Vehey ravu…” dernokh.
In me shtelt im tsi a frishn teler youkh.
He washes for the two khales and sits down at the table.
The woman of the house gives him a portion of fish.
He recites „Let us sing praises…‟ and then „May it be his will…‟
And he gets a fresh bowl of chicken soup.
Flaysh in tsimes feylt dokh oukh nisht, s‘iz fin alem du.
Afile payres brengt men eym t si der shabes-sidu.
Bay an ureman iz oukhet ungegrayt fin “bakoyl mikoyl koyl.”
Vi der pusek zugt: “Loy niker shio bifney dol.”
[sic: Veloy niker shoya lifney dol]
Meat and tsimes are also not lacking, there’s a bit of everything.
Even fruits are brought to him for the Shabes feast.
For the poor man too, ”the best of everything” is prepared
[From bentshn (Birkas Hamozon), the grace said after meals].
As it is written: „He does not favor the rich over the poor‟
[Job 34:19]
[REFRAIN]
Reboynoy shel oylom, vi lang veln mir nokh in gules shrayen:
Leshono habo beyerishulayim.
Helf zey shoyn bezekhus der tfile
Vos dos yidisher eylem [oylem] beyt zikh of der geile.
Master of the universe, how long will we still cry out in exile:
”Next year in Jerusalem‟?
Help us soon, on account of this prayer,
That we Jews may be redeemed.
Er shrayt mit a yimerlekh kol: “Tate ziser!‟
“Eylohu di ley yekar [yikor] ir visu
Proyk yas unokh mipim aryevuso
Veapeyk yas ameykh megoy guliso.”
He exclaims with a woeful voice:
“Sweet Father! Almighty to whom honor and greatness belongs,
Redeem your sheep from the mouths of lions,
And bring your people out of exile.”
[from the Shabes zmires (spiritual table song) “Yo Riboyn Olam” (God, Lord of the World)
Shoymeya tsakas dal umaazin tekhinu.
Helf zey shoyn gikh in bald mit (de’) gules hashkhinu.
Se zol shoyn kimen hoysu lashem hamelikhu
Tankhileynu leyo(y)m shekiloy shabos umenikhu.
The one who listens to the cry of the poor man, and the one who listens to prayer.
Help us soon to liberate the Shekhinah.
May the reign of God soon come.
May we live to see “The day that is entirely Shabes and peace.” [another quote from the grace after meals].
[REFRAIN]
Transcribed and translated by Itzik Gottesman and Michael Alpert, with generous assistance from Yoel Matveyev and Sruli Dresdner. Below text is a version of Dos Shabes Lid in an undated songbook “השיר והשבח” (Hashir Vehashevakh), printed in Bnei-Brak (ca. 1970?).
Reyzl Stalnicovitz, photo by Itzik Gottesman
Yiddish Song of the Week 