Ekh in mayn lyubitshke/I and My Darling Sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman [LSW], Recorded by Leybl Kahn, NYC 1954
Painting by Yosl Bergner (1920-2017) “The Wedding”
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
This song has the same melody as the folksong “Hot zikh mir di zip tsezipt” recorded by Ruth Rubin and can be heard as a field recording sung by her in the Ruth Rubin Archive at YIVO.
The melody and text of “Hot zikh mir di zip tsezipt” is printed on p. 94, in the collection Yiddish Folksongs from the Ruth Rubin Archive. Scans of those pages are attached.
The melody also begins the “Rumshinsky Bulgar” recorded by a number of klezmer groups including Marilyn Lerner on her recording “Romanian Fantasy”
LSW’s daughter Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman who heard the song from LSW many times, typed out the words in the 1970s and moved the first fragmented verse of LSW to the last verse. I suggest any singer of this song follow this change which makes sense logically: the couple are married at the end
Thanks to Ruth Rubin Archive at YIVO, Christina Crowder, Josh Horowitz, Joel Rubin, Martin Schwartz and many others who pointed out similar variants.
Ekh in mayn lyubitshke/My Darling and I [Ikh vel zayn dayn ]…tabele. [This should be the last verse not the first] Gliklekh veln mir beyde zan. Az ekh vel zayn dayn vabele un di vest zayn mayn tayerer man
[I will be your dear] dove. How happy we will be, When I am you dear wife And you will be my dear husband.
Ikh un mayn lyubitshke; mayn mame in der mit. Ikh vil mayn lyubitstshke. Mayn mame vil zi nit.
I and my sweetheart; my mother in the middle. I want my sweetheart My mother does not.
Her ikh nisht oys mayn mames reyd Un nem mir mayn lyubitshke Vi’zoy zi shteyt un geyt.
I do not heed what my mother says. And I take my sweetheart Just as she is.
Vayl gelt iz dokh kaylekhik Un gelt geyt avek. Nem ikh mir mayn lyubitshke Un kh’fur mit ir avek.
Because money is round And money rolls away. So I take my sweetheart And go away with her.
Ekh fur mit ir avek biz keyn odes. Shtel mit ir a khipe s’gedoyert a mis-les
I go away with her All the way to Odessa. I stand under the khupe [wedding canopy] with her in less than a day.
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:
The third line of this short children’s song was difficult to understand, but thanks to Yiddish teacher and researcher Eliezer Niborski, I believe we have the complete correct version.
A ben-zokher (“zukher” in LSW’s dialect) is a ritual on the Friday night following the birth of a boy. At the home of the new born, the parents serve guests and relatives wine and fruit. The phrase “ben zokher” is from Jeremiah 20:15. See Hayyim Schauss’ description of the tradition in his work The Lifetime of a Jew.
“Wedding” by Issachar Ber Ryback, c. 1930
Niborski also found the ben-zokher – bokher rhyme in two other sources. One in a children’s song that Ruth Rubin sings, “Tate, tate, gey afn ben-zukher”, as heard at YIVO’s Ruth Rubin Archive. The second he found in the essay by I. L. Peretz “Dos yidishe lebn loytn yidishn folkslid” (“Jewish Life as Depicted in Yiddish Folksong”)
Special thanks to Eliezer Niborski and the Ruth Rubin Archive at the YIVO Sound Archive.
Zay zhe mir gezint, zay zhe mir gezint / Fare thee well, fare thee well. A version of “Di goldene pave”, sung by Lifshe Schaecter-Widman (LSW), recorded by Leybl Kahn, NYC 1954
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
This is LSW’s version of the old and popular song more commonly called “Di gildene/goldene pave”, the “Golden Peacock”. It seems that the song gave rise to the golden peacock as a symbol referring to Yiddish folksong and Yiddish artistic creativity in general.
Illustration by Shirley Knoring
The peacock, needless to say, has been a cross-cultural symbol for millenia. On her blog “Jewish Folk Songs” Batya Fonda discusses the various interpretations of the golden peacock and has transcribed and translated into English a couple of versions of the Yiddish folksong.
In YIVO’s Ruth Rubin Archive collection, Mary Michaels sings a version, recorded in 1956. Click here to listen.
More recently, Ruth Levin, accompanied by Alexei Belousov on guitar sings it on her recording Atlandish (2019):
LSW’s version makes no mention of the gildene pave, but a bird does remain as the central character along with the unhappy daughter/daughter-in-law. The line about having one hand appears in no other versions, and seems to me to be improvised at the moment of performance. The verses about “shver un shviger’s kest” and “a shlekhtn man” appear in all versions.
Interestingly, Moshe Beregovski pointed out the similarity of the melody of the song’s first line to a Ukrainian song (Old Jewish Folk Music, Slobin, p. 514) But LSW starts off the song with a different melody than other versions.
The song is included in many collections: to name a few with musical notation: Yidishe folks-lider, Beregovski and Fefer, 276-77; Die Schonsten Lieder Der OstJuden, Kaufmann, 80-81; Thesaurus of Hebrew Oriental Melodies, vol. 9, Idelsohn, #33, page 12; Jewish Folksongs from the Baltics, Karnes, p. 20-21; Mir trogn a gezang, Mlotek, 106-107.Yiddish Folksongs from the Ruth Rubin Archive, Mlotek and Slobin, p. 45-46.; just text – Yidishe folkslider in rusland, Ginzburg and Marek, #264-265, p. 215 – 217
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Zay zhe mir gezint Sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman
Zay zhe mir gezint, zay zhe mir gezint mayn tayere mame, Ekh fur fin dir avek Say es vet mir git zayn, say es vet mir shlekht zayn Kimen vel ekh mer nisht tsirik. Say es vet mir git zayn, say es vet mir shlekht zayn Kimen vel ekh mer nisht tsirik.
Farewell, farewell, my dear mother. I am going away. Whether it will be good, whether it will be bad I will not be coming back.
Azoy vi s’iz biter mayn mame, miter A feygele oyf deym yam. A feygele oyf deym yam. Azoy i’ dekh biter, mayn mame, miter, az me hot a shlekhtn man.
Just as it is bitter mother dear, for a bird over the sea, so it is bitter mother dear to have a cruel husband.
Azoy vi s’iz biter, mayn tayere miter, a feygele in a fremd land. a feygele in a fremd land. Azoy iz biter mayn mame, miter az m’ot nor eyn hant. Azoy iz biter mayn mame, miter az men hot nor eyn hant.
Just as it’s bitter dear mother for a bird in a strange land, so it is bitter mother dear, when you have just one hand.
Azoy vi s’iz biter mayn tayere miter a feygele un a neyst. a feygele un a neyst. Azoy iz biter mayn mame, miter shver un shvigers kest. Azoy iz biter mayn mame, miter shver un shvigers kest.
Just as it’s bitter my dear mother a bird without a nest, so it is bitter my dear mother to live with my in-laws.
Zay mir gezint mayn tayere mame, ikh fur fun dir avek. Say es vet mir git zayn, say es vet mir shlekht zayn. ikh vel nit kimen tsirik. Say es vet mir git zayn, say es vet mir shlekht zayn. Ikh kim nit mer tsurik.
Farewell, farewell my dear mother, I am going away. Whether it will go well for me, or go poorly, I will not be coming back.
A scene from Simkhe Shvartz’ Kamelyon theater in Chernovitz, Romania early 1930s. As remembered and sung by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman [BSG], recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Bronx 1990s.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman.
From right: Simkhe Shvarts, Itzik Manger, Helios Hecht, Rose Auslander, Chernovitz, 1934. Photo from Efrat Gal-Ed Niemandssprache
BSG spoken:
Dus iz a sene vus Simkhe Shvarts hot ofgefirt in Chernovitz mit der amatorn-trupe Kamelyon. “A kheyder” hot dus geheysn.
This is a scene that Simkhe Shvarts put on in Chernovitz with the amateur troupe “Chameleon”. It was called “A kheyder”. [traditional elementary school]
Tsigele, migele, kotenak Royte pomerantsn. Az der rebe’z nishtu in kheyder, Geyen khevre tanstn.
Nem zhe Tshaykl dem rebns kantshik Un varf im aran in hribe. Ikh’n helfn dos kind talepen [telepen] Der rebetsin Teme-Libe.
Avek di mamzer, di pachuk Moykhl dir dus vign Bald vet der rebe kimen. Vesti dans shoyn krign
Kinder der rebe’z in shil. Kimt zhe tsi aher in lernt dus naye shpil Shpiln zikh iz git, oy git. ernen zikh, oy nit oy nit. Shpiln zikh iz tayer Der kantshik ligt in fayer.
A gitn-uvnt Libe! A gitn yingnmantshik. Freyg im nor deym takhsit. Vi es ligt der kantshik.
“Az s’i nishtu keyn kantshik iz du a rimen mit a shprontshik. Arinter, lernen!¨
Little goat, little kitten Red oranges When the teacher is not in school The gang starts to dance.
So Tshaykl take the teacher’s s whip and throw it into the heating stove. I will help the teacher’s wife, Teme-Libe knock around the child
Get away you scoundrel, you rat I don’t need your rocking. Soon the teacher will come and you will get yours.
Children, the teacher is in the synagogue so come over here and learn the new game. Playing is good, oy good. Learning is not, oy not. Playing is precious The whip is in the fire.
“Good evening Libe” “Good evening, my young man. Just ask this brat where he put the whip”.
“Teacher, I know nothing” ¨I know nothing, teacher.¨ “Teacher, I too know nothing” “I too know not, teacher”
¨Well if there’s no whip There is the leather strap with a buckle. Sit down and learn!¨
BSG added later, spoken: Everyone then sat down around the long table and started to rock back and forth and learn. Meanwhile the teacher fell asleep, so they took his leather strap and threw it into the fire. Then they sang again the first verse again:
Tsigele, migele, kotinak….
The Kamelyon [Chameleon] theater in Chernovitz was founded in 1929 and directed by Simkhe Schvartz (aka Simcha Schwartz – September 1, 1900 – August 14, 1974), a leader of Yiddish culture between the world wars in the Romanian city Chernovitz (today in the Ukraine – Cernivtsi). He was a sculptor, dramaturge, director, and songwriter. He is perhaps most known for his Parisian Yiddish puppet theater Hakl-bakl (1949 – 52) in which Marc Chagall and Itsik Manger participated. Simkhe Shvartz had two younger brothers, Julian Shvartz and Itzik Shvarts (aka I. Kara), also writers and important figures in the Yiddish cultural world in Romania.
The skits of Kamelyon , created by Shvarts, often were comprised of adapted Yiddish folksongs strung together to form a plot. “A kheyder” uses folky elements: the opening rhyme is adapted from the children’s rhyme “Tsigele, migele kotinke” (two examples in Ginzburg/Marek, 1901 and two more in I. L Cahan, 1952). Ruth Rubin sings two versions that can be listened to in YIVO’s Ruth Rubin Archive. https://ruthrubin.yivo.org/categories/browse/Dublin+Core/Title/Tsigele%2C+migele%2C+kotinke?site=site-r
More recently, Israeli singer Ruth Levin sings a song that begins with Tsigele-migele, words by J. Joffe, music by N. Zaslavsky on her CD of children’s songs Tsigele-migele
Another folk element in “A kheyder” – the melody of the Yiddish folksong, “Dire-gelt” is used (can be found in the Mlotek songbook Mir trogn a gezang.) starting with the line “Shpiln zikh iz git.”
Please note that the teacher in the traditional elementary school, the kheyder, is addressed as “rebe” and is not to be confused with a Hasidic leader also called “rebe”.
“שיכעלעך/Shikhelekh/Shoes” – An early American Yiddish theater song that crossed the Atlantic and came back.First version sung by Gertrude Singer, recorded by Gertrude Nitzberg, Baltimore 1979 from the archive of the Jewish Museum of Maryland. Second version sung by Manya Bender, recorded by Ruth Rubin 1950, NYC, found at the Ruth Rubin Archive, YIVO.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
“Shikhelekh” a song about a boy in an immigrant family desperate to get a new pair of shoes, is interesting because there are two versions: one with a sad ending and one with a happy ending.
The older version, 5 verses long, with the sadder ending was first printed in the 1897 compilation Di yidishe bine, ed. J. Katzenelenbogen, NY. (A scan is attached). In this version the boy complains he cannot go to school barefoot and asks his father to buy a pair of shoes in the store next to his school. The song concludes with the father, “powerless”, crying together with the boy. This version was reprinted with the title “Papa mit dem shikhele” no date, in American Yiddish Penny Songs edited by Jane Peppler, 2015. (scan attached). We have not yet found recordings of this older version.
The newer version ( approx. 1916) with a “happy ending” concludes with a verse that relates how that young barefoot boy is now a lawyer and the girl he is with, playing “fortepian”, is his bride. The final refrain is:
Nu, Papa do you remember how eight years ago, when I cried and begged you to buy me a pair of shoes. Now I am a lawyer, and will make you happy for all of your years.
The singer, Gertrude Singer (1900 – 1979), recounts how she sang it often on the ship coming to America from Warsaw. In the Ruth Rubin Archive at YIVO, Manye Bender who learned the song in Bessarabia “on the way to America.” also sings the new version. Click here for her performance, beginning with the line “In droysn iz fintster”.
The transcription, translation and Yiddish of both versions follows below.
It is not clear who the composer is of the older “unhappy” version. The Mloteks point out in their Forverts newspaper column that in the collection “Di yidishe bine” it is placed right after Morris Rosenfeld poems but it does not appear in his collected works. In the column on June 20, 1976, the music as remembered by a reader is also printed.
The later-adapted revision with the happy ending was the work of the singer Josef/Joseph Feldman around 1916. On a song sheet for “Shichalach” as sung by Moishe Oisher (no date), the words are credited to singer Joseph (Josef) Feldman (scans attached). But on page two, it is written “Version by Jos Feldman”, acknowledging his text as a revision of an earlier song. On a 78 rpm record (1916) Josef Feldman recorded it and one can hear it at the Florida Atlantic University “Recorded Sound Archives”
The happy vs. sad ending of “Shikhelekh” brings up an interesting point: could the generation after the original 1890s version no longer accept such a sad ending, and thus inspire the happy, nostalgic song conclusion of 1916?
Thanks this week to Jane Peppler, Steven Lasky and his Museum of the Yiddish Theater, the YIVO Sound Archives and the Judaica Sound Archives at Florida Atlantic University.
TRANSLITERATION, TRANSLATION and YIDDISH
Shikhelekh sung by Gertrude Singer, recorded in 1979.
1 ) In droysn is fintster, in droysn iz nas, un du gey ikh borves, ikh ken nisht geyn in gas. Papa, ikh beyt mir far dir azoy fil mul. koyf mir a pur shikhelekh. Ikh ken nisht geyn in “skul.” Oy papa, di zolst dir oysbeytn a git yur. Koyf mir, papele, shikhelekh a pur. Oy, koyf mir, papele, shikhelekh a pur.
2) Der papa blaybt shteyn mit a troyern [troyerik] geveyn biz zayne trern faln afn kind aleyn. “Kind mayns, du veyst vi azey ikh hob dikh lib. Tsulib dayne shikhelekh vel ikh farpanen a kishn fun shtib. Oy kind mayns, mir zoln shoyn nisht hobn mer keyn noyt. Tsulib dayne shikhelekh hob [iz nishto] ikh nishto keyn broyt. Orem mayn kind iz nokh erger vi der toyt.”
3) In di tsayt flit avek un es iz shoyn akht yur Kik on [?] dem boychik, er vert shoyn a “loyer.” Dort zitst a meydele vos zi shpilt pian. Me zugt az dos meydele vet dem loyer’s kale zayn. Nu, papa, gedenkstu tsurik mit akht yur ven ikh hob dikh gebeytn far shikhelekh a pur. Yetst bin ikh loyer un ikh makh dikh glikekh af ale dayne yor.
1) Outside it’s dark; outside it’s wet, and I am walking barefoot; I can’t go in the street. Papa, I’ve asked you so many times to buy me a pair of shoes. I can’t go to school. Oy papa, may you succeed in praying for a good year. Buy me, papa, a pair of shoes Oy, buy me, dear papa, a pair of shoes
2) Papa remains standing with a sad weeping, until his tears drop on his child. “My child, you know how much I love you: because of your shoes, there is no bread. To be poor is worse than death.”
3) Time flies and it’s eight years later. Look at the boy [?] – he is soon to be a lawyer. There sits a girl who plays grand piano. They say that she will be the lawyer’s bride. So, papa, remember eight years ago when I begged you for a pair of shoes? Now I am a lawyer and I will make you happy all of your years.
שיכעלעך געזונגען פֿון גערטרוד זינגער רעקאָרדירט פֿון גערטרוד ניצבערג .אין דרויסן איז פֿינצטער, אין דרויסן אין נאַס
.און דאָ גיי איך באָרוועס, איך קען נישט גיין אין גאַס ,פּאַפּאַ, איך בעט מיר פֿאַר דיר אַזוי פֿיל מאָל .קויף מיר אַ פּאָר שיכעלעך. איך קען נישט קיין אין סקול .אוי, פּאַפּאַ, דו זאָלסט דיר אויסבעטן אַ גוט יאָר .קויף מיר, פּאַפּעלע, שיכעלעך אַ פּאָר “.אוי, קויף מיר, פּאַפּעלע, שיכעלעך אַ פּאָר
1) In droysn iz fintster, in droysn iz nas. “ikh hob nit kayn shikhelekh tsu geyn oyf der gas. Papa, ikh bet dir, azoy fil mol. Koyf zhe mir shoyn, koyf zhe mir shoyn shikhelekh a por. Koyf zhe mir shoyn, koyf zhe mir shoyn shikhelekh a por.”
2) S’iz avek gegangen a lange tsayt, Dos kind iz gevorn a groyser advokat. Er zitst mit zayn meydl, zey shpiln beyde pian. di meydl zogt, zi vil zayn kale zayn. “Papa, gedenkstu mit azoy fil yor tsurik. Ikh hob dir gebeytn shikhelekh a por? Un itst makh ikh dir gilklekh af ale dayne yor.”
TRANSLATION of BENDER
1) Outside it’s dark, outside it’s wet “I don’t have a shoes to go out in the street. Papa, I’ve asked you so many times Buy me, buy me a pair of shoes.”
2) A long time had passed. The child became a big-time lawyer. He sits with his girlfriend; they both are playing piano. The girl says she wants to be his bride. Papa, do you remember many years ago? I asked you to get me a pair of shoes. And now I will make you happy the rest of your days.
Senderl (Ayzikl) mayn man / Sender (or Ayzikl) My Husband Two versions Sung by Rose Serbin and Bella Cutler Ruth Serbin recorded by Ruth Rubin in Patterson, New Jersey, 1956, from Ruth Rubin Archive at the YIVO Sound Archives. Bella Cutler recorded by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, 1988, in Daughters of Jacob Nursing Home, Bronx
Research into the one verse remembered by Bella Cutler (from Bolokhov, Galicia, today Bolekhiv, Ukraine) led me to a printed version of the song with music entitled “Senderle [sic] mein Man” in the collection Jewish Folk Songs from the Baltics: Selections from the Melngailis Collection edited by Kevin C. Karnes, 2014. (Scans attached – Karnes 1,2). According to Karnes, Melngailis possibly heard the song in Keidan (today Lithuania, Kedainei) in 1899.
The innkeeper and his wife in Suchestaw, Eastern Galicia. (YIVO)
In the Ginsburg and Marek (GM) collection of 1901, Yidishe folkslider fun rusland, there are two versions, # 305, #306, one with 8 verses from Kaunas; one with 4 verses from Minsk.
In Der pinkes, ed. Shmuel Niger, Vilna, 1913, there is a version in the collection “Folklsider” of L. B-N [Leyvi Berman].
Rose Serbin (1890 – 1974) was born in Bohopolye, Podolia, Ukraine. In the Ruth Rubin Archive this song is entitled “Vi vel ikh nemen”.
All evidence indicates that it originates in Lithuania or other countries “up north”. Of the six versions of the song (all from the 19th century), three were written down in Lithuania, one in Belarus, one in Galicia, one in Ukraine. The important rhyme at the end of each verse “kroyn” and “aleyn” only rhymes in the “Litvish dialect” where “kroyn” is pronounced as “kreyn”.
The textual differences are also intriguing. Is the husband leaving? Is he dying? The question “Where should the wife get bread for the children?” is answered in four ways. In GM #306 and Serbin – “from the lord of the estate”, in GM #307 “at the stall”, in Karnes “at the store”, in Berman ” from the baker”.
Serbin’s version is the most satisfying, not only because she is such a wonderful singer, but also because it ends with a wedding which is where many folk narratives conclude.
Thanks for help with this week’s blog to: Paul Glasser, David Braun, Arun Viswanath, Philip Schwartz, Michael Alpert, Sergio Lerer and YIVO Sound Archives.
RUTH SERBIN: Transliteration and Translation
Oy, vi vel ikh nemen mayne kinderlekh oyf broyt, Senderl mayn man? Vi vel ikh nemen mayne kinderlekh oyf broyt, Senderl mayn man?
Baym purits mayn tayer vaybele, Baym purits mayn tayer taybele, Baym purits, mayn tayere kroyn. Di blabst do shoyn aleyn.
Where will I get bread for my children, Senderl my husband? Where will I get bread for my children Senderl my husband?
From the lord of the estate, my dear wife. From the lord of the estate, my dear dove. From the lord of the estate, my dear love [crown] You will remain here all alone.
Bam purits iz du hintelekh, Senderl mayn man? Bam purits iz du hintelkeh, Senderl mayn man?
Mit a shtekele, mayn tayer vaybele, Mit a shtekele, mayn tayer taybele, Mit a shtekele, mayn tayere kroyn. Di blabst do shoyn aleyn.
On the lord’s estate there are dogs, Senderl my husband. On the Lord’s estate there are dogs Senderl my husband.
With a stick, my dear wife. with a stick, my dear dove. with a stick, my dear love [crown] You will remain here all alone.
Mit veymen vel ikh firn mayne kinderlekh tsi der khipe, Senderl mayn man? Mit veymen vel ikh firn mayne kinderlekh tsi der khipe Senderl mayn man?
Aleyn, mayn tayer vaybele Aleyn, mayn tayer taybele Aleyn mayn tayere kroyn. Di blabst do shoyn aleyn.
With whom shall I lead my children to the marriage canopy, Senderl my husband? With whom will I lead my children to the marriage canopy Senderl my husband?
Alone, my dear wife. Alone, my dear dove. Alone, my dear love [crown] You will remain here all alone.
Bella Cutler’s version: translation and transliteration.
Vos veln mir geybn di kinder esn, Ayzikl mayn man? Vos veln mir geybn di kinder esn, Ayzikl mayn man?
Broytenyu mayn vaybele Broytenyu mayn taybele Broytenyu mayn kroyn Du veyst dos shoyn aleyn.
Erev-yon-kiper far der nakht / The Eve of Yom Kippur A Yiddish murder ballad sung by Yetta Seidman, recorded by Gertrude Nitzberg for the Jewish Museum of Maryland, 1979.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
Jews praying in the synagogue on Yom-kippur, painting by Maurycy Gottlieb
This is another variant of this once popular 19th century Yiddish murder ballad about a rejected lover shooting his beloved. We have previously posted a version “Erev yonkiper nokh halbn tog” sung by Yankov Goldman, from the YIVO Institute’s Ruth Rubin Archive.
Seidman’s melody is basically the same, as is the plot, but the words differ in interesting ways. In all the versions the boyfriend takes out a revolver and shoots her, but it is unusual for the ballad to end at that point in the story as it does here. There is usually a different concluding verse or two. Also in this version we learn the name of the woman, Dvoyre, (the same name as in Goldman’s version) but not the name of the shooter.
This ballad often begins with the line “Tsvelef a zeyger shpet bay nakht” and has no connection to Yom Kippur. We will post additional versions of this ballad in the future.
Seidman said that she learned this song from her mother in Russia. Her Yiddish has features of both southern and northern Yiddish dialects. She immigrated to the United States in 1910.
TRANLITERATION/TRANSLATION
Erev-yon-kiper far der nakht, ven ale mentshn tien esn geyn, ven ale mentshn tien esn geyn. Geyt a fraylen fin der arbet in der gelibter antkegn ir.
The eve of yom-kippur, before nightfall when all the people are going to eat. when all the people are going to eat. Walks a young woman from work and her lover meets her from the other direction.
Vi er hot ir derzeyn azoy iz der o geblibn shteyn. “Atsind, atsind mayn tayer zis leybn. Di zolst mir zugn ye tsi neyn.”
As soon as he saw her he stopped. “Now, now my dear love you must tell me yes or no”
“Ye tsi neyn vel ikh dir zugn Az mayne eltern shtern mir. Mayne eltern shtern mir. Mayne eltern, oy, tien mir shtern, az ikh zol far dir kayn kale nit vern.”
“Yes or no, I will tell you: My parents prevent me. My parents prevent me. O, my parents prevent me from becoming your bride.”
Vi er hot dus derhert azoy hot es im fardrosn. Aroysgenemen hot er ayn revolver un er hot Dvoyrelen geshosn.
As soon as he heard this, he was peeved. He took out his revolver and shot Dvoyrele.
Vi er hot ir geshosn, azoy hot er zikh dershrokn. Oysgedreyt hot er deym revolver un hot zikh aleyn geshosn.
Right after he shot her he became frightened. He turned the revolver around and shot himself.
Ziser Got, vi dank ikh dir? / Sweet God, How Can I Thank You? Sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman (LSW), recorded by Leybl Kahn 1954, with another version, Reboyne-shel-oylem vi dank ik dir? / Master of the Universe How Can I Thank You?sung by Freda Lobell, and recorded by Ruth Rubin 1948
This song, in which a mother gives thanks for the marriage of her mezinke (youngest daughter), is not the first time and not the last time that these two singers will be paired together. And it is not surprising: Freda Lobell came from Chernovitz, Bukovina (today Ukraine) and LSW came from a small town in the same Bukovina region and later lived in Chernovitz. In the song “Vus a mul brent dos fayer greser” previously posted on this blog, one can also hear their two versions of the same song.
A Wedding in Cuba
In addition to Lobell’s recordings in the Ruth Rubin Archive at YIVO, she can also be heard on Rubin’s Folkways record “The Old Country”. The printed collection “Yiddish Folksongs from the Ruth Rubin Archive” includes three of her songs, words and music, but not this one.
The melody of this song is used by the Breslover/Broslover/Bratslover Hasidim with the words “Mitsve gedola lehiyot besimkhe tomid” (מיצווה גדולה להיות בשׂימחה תּמיד).
Here is a version with a Middle Eastern beat:
In LSW’s joyous version I believe that part of the fun is trying to intentionally squeeze in too many words into one line. The line beginning with “Shnirelekh….” As you hear she does not succeed but laughs at the attempt.
The klezmer fiddler Ilana Cravitz found the nigun in Moshe Beregovski’s writings, No. 187 (Skotshne) in Jewish Folk Music Vol. 4 Tish-Nigunim. It is to be found in Part II – the section with dances (see attached). She adds, “Definitely pre-WWI. The background note in Beregovski about the source is: No. 187. Sound recording No. 268/1 from Sh. Kulish in the town of Lyudmir [Ukraine] on July 17, 1913. Alternative version: auditory record K-888 from A.-I. Berdichevsky in the town of Bogopol [Ukraine] in 1913. The performer reported that he had borrowed this tune from the clarinetist, who performed it like a skotshne.”
Thanks this week to Ilana Cravitz, Jordan Hirsch, Hankus Netsky, Yelena Shmulenson and the YIVO Sound Archive.
TRANSLITERATION – LSW’s “Ziser Got”
Ziser Got vi dank ikh dir vus di host geholfn mir; aza gedile tse derleybn. Di host mekh tse shtand gebrakht haynt hob ekh khasene gemakht. Kh’ob shoyn mayn mezinke oysgegeybn. Ikh o’ dekh mir ayngehandlt skhoyre: Shnirelekh, blit in milekh, eydem fil mit toyre. Mayn harts iz fil mit freyd Di eyniklekh shlepn mikh baym kleyd. in eykh tsishn zey in der mit. Ekh bin dekh vi der keyser rakh. Mir iz haynt keyner glakh. Lomir tantsn ale drit.
TRANSLATION – “Ziser Got”
Sweet God how do I thank you for helping me; to live to see such a big event. You brought this about: today to marry off my youngest daughter. I have obtained my wares: Youthful daughters-in-law and sons-in-law full of Torah. My heart is full of joy. My grandchildren pull at my dress, and I in the middle of them. I am as rich as the emperor. Today no one equals me. Let’s dance us three.
זיסער גאָט ווי דאַנק איך דור וואָס דו האָסט געהאָלפֿן מיר .אַזא גדולה צו דערלעבן ,דו האָסט מיך צו שטאַנד געבראַכט הײַנט האָב איך חתונה געמאַכט .כ’האָב שוין מײַן מיזינקע אויסגעגעבן .איך האָב דאָך מיר אײַנגעהאַנדלט סחורה .שנירעלעך, בלוט און מילעך, איידעם פֿול מיט תּורה ,מײַן האַרץ איז פֿול מיט פֿרייד .די אייניקלעך שלעפּן מיך בײַם קלייד .און איך צישן [צווישן] זיי אין דער מיט איך בין דאָך ווי דער קייסער רײַך ,מיר איז הײַנט קיינער גלײַך .לאָמיר טאַנצן אַלע דריט
Reboyne shel-oylem vi dank ekh dir vu’ di ‘ost geholfn mir aza gdile tse derleybn. Az ikh ‘ob dus tsi shtand gebrakht der [di] mezinke khasene gemakht. nagidemlekh mit zey’r farmeyg. ikh lakh shoyn fin der gantser velt. ikh ‘ob mane kinderlekh tsufridn geshtelt; negidimlekh mit zeyer farmeygn. Bin ikh mir a shviger ‘ob ikh mir an eydem. tants ikh mir in intershtibl [hintershtibl] shoklt zikh der boydem.
TRANSLATION– Freda Lobell’s Reboyne-shel-oylem
Master of the universe how I thank you for helping me to live to see such a big event. I made this happen: married off my youngest daughter with Jews of wealthy means. I can laugh at the whole world. I have made my children happy. Rich men with their possessions. And so I am a mother-in-law and have a son-in-law. So when I dance in the backroom the attic shakes.
רבונו-של-עולם ווי דאַנק איך דיר וואָס דו האָסט געהאָלפֿן מיר .אַזאַ גדולה צו דערלעבן אַז איך האָב דאָס צו שטאַנד געבראַכט ,די מיזינקע חתונה געמאַכט .ייִדעלעך מיט זייער פֿאַרמעג .איך לאַך שוין פֿון דער גאַנצער וועלט איך האָב מײַנע קינדערלעך צופֿרידן געשטעלט נגידעלעך מיט זייער פֿאַרמעגן ,בין איך מיר אַ שוויגער ,האָב איך מיר אַן איידעם טאַנץ איך מיר אין הינטערשטיב .שאָקלט זיך דער בוידעם
No. 187 (Skotshne) in Jewish Folk Music Vol. 4 Tish-Nigunim, by Moshe Beregovski:
Shluf mayn kind, mayn treyst/Sleep my child, my comfort An otherwise unknown alternate melody for Sholem Aleichemś lullaby from Chernovitz, Romania sung by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
There are several melodies for this song known commonly as “Sholem Aleichem’s lullaby”, words by the writer Sholem Aleichem (Solomon Rabinovitch, 1859 – 1916).
Sholem Aleichem
There are two popular tunes to this poem but Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (BSG) sings an otherwise unknown third melody that she remembers from her home town of Cernauti/Chernovitz, Romania.
BSG sings only two verses of a longer song. Sholem Aleichem first printed the poem in 1892 but only a few years later it was already published as a “folksong” in the Ginsburg and Marek collection of 1901.
The most commonly sung melody was composed by Dovid Kovanovsky. You can hear Ruth Rubin sing the Kavonovsky melody at this link. (from YIVO’s Ruth Rubin Archive). Also posted at the link is Feigl Yudin’s performance of the second most popular melody. Below is a version of the Yudin melody performed by vocalist Rebecca Kaplan Muranaka, accompanied by tsimblist Pete Rushefsky from their 2003 CD, Oyf di vegelekh – On the Paths (Yiddishland Music):
Both melodies plus transcribed words and translation have been printed in Ruth Rubin’s Jewish Folksongs in Yiddish and English (Oak Publications, 1965) (scans attached).
In Emil Seculetz’s Romanian Yiddish collection Yidishe folkslider, (Bucharest 1959) the compiler collected 5 versions of Shlof mayn kind, with music. Two of them (#21 and #22) are related to BSGs version. (scans are attached))
In BSG’s repertory she knows a completely different song to this second popular melody sung by Yudin: a lullaby about armed resistance which can be heard on her CD “Bay mayn mames shtibele” (2004).
There is much more to say about the history and transformations of Sholem Aleichem’s lullaby. See the article “America in East European Yiddish Folk Song” in The Field of Yiddish, 1954 by Eleanor Gordon Mlotek and the chapter on Sholem Aleichem in Perl fun der yidisher poezye, ed. Yoysef and Khane Mlotek, 1974.
Fans of Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman – be sure to watch this amazing online concert commemorating BSG’s 100th Birthday!
Shluf man kind as sung by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman
Shluf man kind, man treyst, may sheyner Shluf man zinonyu.
Shluf man kind, man kadish eyner Hayda-liu-lku
Shluf man kind, man kadish eyner Hayda-liu-lku-liu
In amerike der tate, dayner zinonyu.
Bist a kind nokh shluf lis-ate shluf zhe, shluf liu-liu
Bist a kind nokh shluf lis-ate shluf zhe, shluf liu-liu
From Emil Seculetz’s Yidishe folkslider, (Bucharest 1959), #21 and #22:
From Ruth Rubin’s Jewish Folksongs in Yiddish and English (Oak Publications, 1965):
Yiddish Song of the Week 