Eliakum Zunser’s “Der aristokrat”, Sung by Nathan Singer Recorded in 1948.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman.
Eliakum Zunser by Jacob Epstein, 1902
“Der aristokrat” was one of the most popular songs by the Vilna badkhn and composer Eliakum Zunser(1836-1913). It is the fifth Zunser song that we have posted on the blog.
The song is taken from a recording of the Singer and Nitzberg families which was done on a wire recorder in 1948 probably in Baltimore. Gertrude Singer Nitzberg transferred the recordings to tape in the 1970s and donated them to the Jewish Museum of Maryland.
Nathan Singer sings Zunser’s song in a “Litvish” dialect (“leyb” instead of “loyb”, “siml” instead of “shiml” for example). His version is remarkably close to Zunser’s printed orginal. The full text is 224 lines and was first printed in Eliakum Zunser’s collectionTsen yidishe folkslider, Vilna, 1888. Singer sings only one verse – 16 lines.
Zunser’s 1888 collection Tsen yidishe folkslider
There are two recordings of this song and both are by professional singers, so this home performance with a simplified melody contrasts with theirs, and most likely reflects how it was sung among the folk.One recording is on a Folkways album Selected Songs of Eliakum Zunser featuring the singer Nathaniel A. Entin. The other recording is found on a 78 rpm record by Marcus Eisenberg called “Der aristokrat”, 1919.
The complete poem “Der aristokrat” tells of the trials and tribulations of a wealthy man who leaves the Jewish world to live among Christians but he is not wanted there. He ends up a happy man working the land in Petah-Tikvah, Palestine.
We are attaching the complete Yiddish text from volume one of The Works of Elyokum Zunser: A Critical Edition by Mordkhe Schaechter, YIVO, 1964 and the music from volume two of the same work.
TRANSCRIPTION and TRANSLATIONOF NATHAN SINGER’S VERSION OF “DER ARISTOKRAT”
Fil dank ikh un leyb Gotes nomen,
er hot mir di eygn eyfgemakht. Hot geshikt eyf mayn shtetl pogromen
Dos hot mir fun kholem ervakht…
Many thanks and praises of God’s name, for he had opened my eyes. He sent pogroms to attack my town which woke me up from my dream.
Ikh hob opgelebt a lebn in tuml, fardorbn mayn kerper mayn zel. Af mayn hartsn iz ongevaksn siml [shiml]
un mayn yidishkayt iz avek in der velt.
I have a life of unrest. Ruined my body and soul. Mold was growing on my heart and my Jewishness got lost.
Geveynt haynt mit fremde natsyonen,
mayne brider ferhast un ferakht;
Am ende hot men mir nit gevolt konen,
in di eygn var ikh oysgelakht!
I live today among foreign nations, my brothers hated and despised. Finally, no one wanted to know me, I was mocked to my eyes.
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
A badekns/Veiling the Bride
Sung and composed by M.M. Shaffir, recorded in the Bronx, 1974
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
In his Yiddish poetry collections, the Montreal poet M. M. Shaffir occasionally included folksongs, rhymes and jokes that he remembered from his home town in Romania, Suceava (“Shots” in Yiddish). This original badekns, words and music, was printed in his collection of Yiddish poetry Ikh kum aheym, and follows very closely the traditional badekns that the badkhn (wedding entertainer) would deliver at the veiling of the bride. The printed pages with the Yiddish words and music are attached as pdfs.
M.M. Shaffir, photo by Itzik Gottesman
Shaffir did not clearly indicate that the music is his composition and not a traditional tune remembered from Suceava, but since he did compose other melodies for his poetry, I am leaning toward crediting him as composer the music as original.
Shaffir’s badekns, as is typical of the genre, addresses mainly the bride, then al the women, telling her of her wonderful future and how a pious religious Jewish life will assure her a place in heaven.
Listening to Shaffir sing this song in the Bronx are Beyle and Jonas Gottesman, the Yiddish writer Vera Hacken and her husband, the composer Emanuel Hacken.
Because the song is longer than usual, we are alternating transliteration with translation.
TRANSLITERATION/TRANSLATION
Kalenyu, tsat tsi der khipe geyn –
bam khusn hosti deym zibetn kheyn.
Gefin azoy kheyn oykh ba Got un ba lat.
Az dan shem zol zikh trugn noent un vat.
Dear bride, time to go to the khupe. The groom is enamored of you. May God and all people see this charm, so your reputation, will be heard near and far.
A shem-tov iz beser fun gutn eyl,
vi s’vert in di heylike sfurim dertseylt.
Far vur, er iz shener fin alerley tsir,
un er hit fin shlekhts deym erlekhns tir.
A good name is better than good oil, as it is written in the holy books. Indeed, it is more beautiful than all kinds of ornaments. and protects from evil the honest one’s door
Nushim tsidkuniyes, beydns tsad –
aykh kimt hant der ershter vivat.
kalenyu, kik tsa di babes aher –
zey, vi zey shmeykhlen un lozn a trer.
Pious women on both sides – you deserve the first praise. Bride, look over to the grandmothers – see how they smile and drop a tear.
Shtel zikh, kale, ba zey in rey,
un her mayne shloyshe dvurim tsvey –
az dort, vi mitsves hobn an ort,
iz shulem-bayes oykh do dort.
Bride, stand with them in row, and hear my few words – – there where mitsves find a place, there is also peace at home.
Mitsves brengen di brukhe in hoyz,
in trabn fin dort deym dales aroys.
Zey bentshn mit gite doyres dus pur
in mit khayim- arikhim, gezinte yur.
Mitsves (good deeds/fulfillment of God’s commandments) bring blessings to the home, and drive out poverty from there. They bless the pair with good generations and with a long and healthy life.
Fin mitsves hot men i du deym skhar,
un i s’iz af yener velt git derfar.
Vayl mitsves un maynsim toyvim nor
nemt mit der mentsh iber hindert yur.
From mitsves you receive both here a reward, and in the word to come it will be good. Because mitsves and good deeds lasts for someone a hundred years.
Fin intern kisey-hakuved afir,
fin hinter a zilberner lekhtiker tir,
kimt di neshume arup of der erd,
aran inem gif, val azoy iz bashert.
From under God’s throne, from behind a silver, illuminated door, comes the soul down to earth, and into the body for which he is destined.
Zi darf zikh du mitshen a lebn vist
un nisht vern farzindikt, nisht vern farrist,
un kimen tsirik far Got tsi geyn –
azoy vi geboyrn, tsikhtik un reyn.
It [the soul] must suffer here a life long and not sin, not be torn away. and return to God the way it was born – pure and clean.
In gan-eydn shteyen shtiln gegreyt
in shan fin der shkhine, mit vasn geshpreyt,
batsirt un bahungen mit gildene tsikh –
in rifn di reyne neshumes tse zikh.
In paradise two chairs are prepared, in the light of the shekhine, covered with white, decorated and hung with a golden cover. and call for the pure souls to come.
Un der vus hot af der zindiker erd
mitsves getin un gits geklert –
der zitst in gan-eydn oybn un
in bigdey-sheynkeyt ungetun.
And he who on this sinful earth did mitsves and good deeds, he sits in heaven at the head of the table, and dressed in beautiful clothes.
In zkhis fin dan tsitkis, kalenyu kroyn,
zol zikh ekn der gulus bald un shoyn –
me zol zoykhe zan take gor in gikh
tsu hern dem shoyfer shel moshiakh.
Because of your piousness, dear bride, may the exile soon end. May we deserve right away to hear the Messiah’s shofar.
Melukhim un surim zoln varfn fin shrek
tsin indzere tsures zol nemen an ek.
in Got zol mit zan rekhter hant
indz firn tsirik in heylikn land.
Let angels and seraphim shutter from fear, our troubles should come to an end. and God should with his right hand, lead us back to the Holy Land.
Ikh heyb of mit a tfile dem bekher mit van
az halevay zol es nokh beyomeyni zan.
in ir, khusn-kale, in ir groys un kleyn –
zugt mir nokh af a kol un in eynem: “omeyn”
With a prayer I raise the goblet of wine, that this should happen even in our own time. And you, bride and groom, and you big and small, say with me out aloud and together – “amen”
Since we start reading the book of Breyshis (Genesis) this week of Sukes, I thought it would be appropriate to post this recording of Ita (Eda) Taub singing a song about Adam and Eve and the snake. I recorded it from her in 1984 at the Circle Lodge Workmen’s Circle camp in Hopewell Junction, NY.
The words and music appear in Yiddish Folksongs from the Ruth Rubin Archive edited by Chana Mlotek and Mark Slobin. Wayne State University Press, 2007. Rubin recorded this song [tape 26] in 1962, and I recorded it again 20 years later at Circle Lodge, a camp for adults in upstate New York.The two versions are the same except for one or two words.
In the Rubin book she translates “Hot Got tsigenimen di reyd fun zayn layb” as “God perceived the needs of Adam’s body”. Literally, one should translate this line as “So God took away the speech from his body.” But I would think that the line once was “Hot Got tsigenimen di rip fun zayn layb” (God took out the rib from his body). This is supported by the version in Yiddisher folklor, ed. Y. L. Cahan (YIVO, Vilna, 1938), song #199 that is attached at the end (we’ve also included #200, for a similar melody).
The song, I believe, is very old and includes midrashim (interpretations or extensions) of the Biblical telling of Adam and Eve and the snake. Similar motifs can be found in the so-called “Women’s Bible”(the Tsene Rene) and the classic midrashic collections. The line “Eve, Eve what have you done? An entire world you did destroy” reflects the midrash that Eve had all the animals take a bit of the apple (except the immortal Phoenix bird) and therefore mortality was introduced into the world (see also Louis Ginzburg’s Legends of the Jews, Volume One).
Given the simplicity of the melody, almost a recitative, and the subject matter, my feeling is that the song evolved from a Yiddish woman’s prayer, a tkhine.
After the song Taub talks about the impression this song and her other song,Oy vey mame (also on the Yiddish Song of the Week Blog) left on her friend, the historian Raphael Mahler (who also recorded songs and nigunim for Ruth Rubin). She then tells us where she learned the songs.
The footnote in the printed Rubin version adds that the last verse refers to biting the umbilical cord, but this is not clear to the listener I believe.
Additionally, Michael Alpert and Julian Kytasty have recorded the song on their wonderful album Night Songs From a Neighboring Village (Oriente, 2014). You can hear it at the beginning of this video:
LYRICS TO TAUB’S VERSION:
1) Az got hot bashofn mentshn af der velt
oy, mentshn af der velt.
Oy, udem harishen tsum ershtn geshtelt.
2) Udem harishen iz shpatsirn gegangen in vayngurtn aran.
Oy iz im a vab in zin aran.
3) Hot Got tsigenimen di reyd fin zan lab,
Un hot im gegegeybn Khoven far a vab.
4) Oy Khove mit Udem zenen shpatsirn gegangen in vangurtn aran.
Iz Khoven an epl in der rekhter hont aran.
5) Iz tsigekimen di beyze shlong “Khove, Khove,
gib a bis dem epl, vesti zen vi zis er iz.”
6) Oy hot zi genimen un gegebn a bis deym epl.
Oy hot zi gezen vi zindik zi iz.
7) Hot zi genemen a blot kegn der levone,
un hot zikh tsigedekt dos zindike punim.
8) Hot zi genimen a blot kegn mist,
un hot zikh tsigedekt di zindike brist.
9) Khove, Khove vus hosti getrakht?
A velt mit mentshn imgebrakht.
10) “Nisht ekh hob es getun, nisht ekh hob es getun
di beyze shlong hot es tsigetrakht.”
11) “Zibn yur zolsti trugn, shver un biter zolsti hubn.
Af di skoles zolst dikh rasn, un ven di vest es hubn, zolst es tsebasn.”
Dialogue After the Song:
Dus iz take epes zeyer, zeyer originel. Vu’ zhe iz – hot er [Raphael Mahler] gevolt nemen di tsvey lider, un nokh tsvey lider, ikh gedenk shoyn nisht vus. Ober di zenen geveyn di ershte. Az er vil nemen un mekh arimfirn iber di kibutzim. Zol er zey vazn vus se meynt originele ekhtkayt. Un az zey farshteyn nisht di shkutsim, vel ikh zey shoyn derklern. Ikh vel shoyn derklern vus dus iz. Zey veln dus zeyer shtark upshatsn, zugt er. ___kibutz.]
Gottesman: Fin vanen kent ir dus lid?
Taub: Fin vanen dus lid? Dus lid gedenk ikh fin der heym ___ Dortn vi me hot geneyt. Es fleygn zan a pur meydlekh un zey fleygn zingen. Dus ershte lid [Oy mame ikh shpil a libe] hot gezingen man miters a shvester. Zi iz geveyn farlibt, hot zi demlt gezingen dus lid.
Gottesman: Vi hot ir dus gezingen?
Taub: In Skedinits, mayn shteytl.
Gottesman: Ven hot ir dus gehert, ven zi hot gearbet?
Taub: Zi hot gemakht di breyte kleydlekh vus di poyertes trugn. Fleyg zi neyen far zey. Iz zi gezesn bay a mashin un hot geneyt un ikh hob es zikh oysgelernt.
Gottesman: Tsi hot zi gezingen andere lider?
Taub: Ir veyst vifl yurn di ale zikhroynes…dus iz tsulib aykh vus ikh grub aroys ikh zol zikh dermanen. Ober ikh ken nisht gedenken.
TRANSLATION:
When God created people in this world
O, people in this world,
O, Adam was the first one he made.
Adam went walking into the vineyard,
O, then a wife came into his head.
So God took out his speech from his body,
and gave him Eve for a wife.
O, Adam and Eve went walking in the vineyard
And a red apple came into Eve’s hand.
Then the evil snake came over – “Eve, Eve, Eve
Take a bite out of the apple,
So you will see how sweet it is.”
O, then she took a bite out of the apple,
and realized how sinful she is.
Then she took a leaf against the moon,
and covered up her sinful face.
Then she took a leaf against her waste,[?]
and covered up her sinful breast.
Eve, Eve what were you thinking?
A whole world full of people you’ve condemned to death.
“It was not I who did it, it was not I who did it –
the evil snake thought it up.
” Seven years you should be pregnant,
hard and bitter should your birth be, on the cliffs may you climb,
and when you give bith, you should bite it to death”.
Dialogue after the song:
Gottesman: Where do you know this song from ?
Taub: Where do I know this song from? This song I remember from home. ____ The place where we sewed. There used to be a few girls who used to sing.
The first song [Oy mame ikh shpil a libe] was sung by my mother’s sister. She was in love so she sang that song.
Gottesman: Where did you sing it?
Taub: In Skedinits (Stidenitse, Ukraine), my shtetl.
Gottesman: When did you hear it, when she worked?
Taub: She made the broad dresses that the peasant women used to wear.. She used to sew for them. So she sat at the [sewing] machine and sang.
Gottesman: Did she sing other songs?
Taub: Do you know how old these memories are?…For your sake I am digging them out and remembering them. But I can’t remember them.
As published in Yiddish Folksongs from the Ruth Rubin Archive edited by Chana Mlotek and Mark Slobin (Wayne State University Press, 2007):
As published in Yidisher folklor, ed. Y. L. Cahan (YIVO, Vilna, 1938):
The last day of Passover 1903 coincided with Easter that year, and the tragic Kishinev pogrom began on that date. Kishinev, aftermath of the pogrom (YIVO Archives)
Lifshe Schaechter-Widman (LSW) sang this version of a song about the pogrom which was adapted for other pogroms, or perhaps was itself already an adaptation of an earlier pogrom song. In this post we note two other pogroms with versions of the song.
A version of the same pogrom song is sung by the actress/singer Miriam Kressyn about Bialystok on the LP record Dos Goldene Land. Kressyn was from Bialystok, and the Bialystoker pogroms took place in 1905 – 1906. (Thanks to Lorin Sklamberg and the YIVO Sound Archives for providing this recording)
The third pogrom where this song was used was in Volodarka, Ukraine. This pogrom took place in July 1919 amidst the Russian Civil War. The lyrics (as collected by S. Kupershmid) appears in the Tsaytshrift far yidisher geshikhte, demografye un ekonomik literatur-forshung, shprakh-visnshaft un etnografye 2-3 (Minsk, 1928) page 803. It too contains the lines of walking through feathers as through snow in winter, and this emerged as one of the primary pogrom images, as we see in our Kishinev pogrom examples and others.
On the Workmen Circle’s LP “Amol iz geven a mayse”, Sidor Belarsky sings two verses of an abbreviated version of The Kishiniev Pogrom song. The song begins at this link – double click on “Amol iz geven a mayse (cont.)” and go to 12:30 minutes.
In the chapter “The Pogrom As Poem” in David G. Roskies’ work Against the Apocalypse: Responses to Catastrophe in Modern Jewish Culture (1984) the author examines how the same pogrom song was adapted for different pogroms. He remarks “even when the singer invoked historical facts, the relics of the violence were organized into public symbols and thematic formulas, so that the details were applicable anywhere and only the place-name would have to be changed.”
Transliteration/Translation of LSW’s version:
Lifshe Schaechter-Widman “Lid funem Keshenever Pogrom”, recorded by Leybl Kahn, Bronx, 1954
Akhron Shel Peysekh af der nakht
iz aroys a nayer “rozkaz.”
Az yidn zoln lign bahaltn.
Zey torn zikh nisht dreyen in gas.
Oy, ziser got in himl,
kuk shoyn arop af dr’erd.
Ze nor dem rash un getuml.
Vos hobn di yidn far a vert?
A hoyz fun dray gorn
hot men geleygt biz tsu dem grint.
Betgevant hot men gerisn,
di federn gelozt of dem vint.
In di federn iz men gegangen
azoy vi vinter in shney.
Vayber hot men geshlogn;
mener gerisn of tsvey.
Vayber hot men geshlogn;
Di mener tserisn of tsvey.
Ziser got in himl
kik shoyn arup af dr’erd
Vuz zenen di yidn azoy zindik
Vus zey hobn gur keyn vert?
The last day of Passover
a new regulation was issued.
That Jews should lie hidden;
they aren’t allowed in the street.
Oy sweet God in heaven,
Look already down on the earth.
See the tumult and chaos.
Are the Jews worth anything?
A house three stories high
was destroyed down to the ground.
Bedding was torn apart;
the feathers blew in the wind.
In the feathers they walked
as in winter in snow.
Women were beaten;
men torn in two.
Sweet God in heaven
Look already down to the Earth.
Have the Jews so sinned
that they are of no worth.
A short ballad or a fragment? In just one verse it tells quite a story and I rather think it is a dramatic one verse song in classic ballad form (first a description of the scene, then a dialogue) about a problem we usually think of as a Jewish immigrant’s dilemma. It clearly was an issue in the old country as well. This recording of Lifshe Schaechter-Widman, (b. Zvinyetchke, Bukovina, 1893 – d. New York, 1973) was recorded by Leybl Kahn in the Bronx in 1954.
Erev yoym-kiper af der nakht iz geshtanen a gevelb afgemakht. Hot men gefregt vus tisti rushe Im yon-kiper aza groyse zind? S’i nishkushe, s’i nishkushe Ikh darf farnern vayb un kind.
Yom Kippur evening a store stood open. So they asked – “What are you doing wicked one? Such a sin on Yom Kippur!” “It’s not so bad, not so bad – I have a wife and child I must feed!’
M.M. Shaffir, photo by Itzik Gottesman
Yiddish Song of the Week 