Gur in eyn fintsterer nakht / In a Dark Night Performed by Goldie Rosenbaum-Miller

Gur in eyn fintsterer nakht / In a dark night
Sung by Goldie Rosenbaum-Miller, Recorded by Michael Kroopkin, Chicago 1965.

photo: “Goldie (left) and sister Hyala Rosenbaum

COMMENTARY BY ITZIK GOTTESMAN

For biographical information on the singer Goldie Rosenbaum-Miller, see the previous post at this link.

Most Yiddish love songs are three, four, maybe five verses long, but here we have a ten verse lyrical love song. Some of the Yiddish lines do not make sense to me (“God, show us your nap”?)  We welcome suggestions for other interpretations. Eliezer Niborski helped clarify some lines and suggested corrections in brackets. 

Though some of the verses are confusing, Rosenbaum-Miller sings with much self-assuredness in an old, slow Yiddish folksong style.  

The two word spoken conclusion “Ende libe”, (“the end of the romance”) implies a ballad-like plot was at play during the performance of this song, but many verses can be found in other Yiddish lyrical love songs.

Thanks again to Rosenbaum-Miller’s great granddaughter Debbie Kroopkin for bringing the home recordings of Goldie Rosenbaum-Miller to the attention of Binyumin Schaechter, longtime conductor of the NYC based Yiddish Philharmonic Chorus.

Gur in eyn fintsterer nakht
Sung by Goldie Rosenbaum-Miller

1) Gur in eyn fintsterer nakht.
Badekt iz gevorn der himl. 
In ikh shtey mir in ayn vinkele fartrakht. 
Got, oy, bavayz shoyn dayn driml.

In a dark night,
the sky became covered, 
and I stand in a corner and think – 
Oh God, reveal your nap/rest. [?]

2) Lyubtshenyu, dushunyu, leybn,
efn mir oyf di tir. 
Ikh shtey eyne aleyn;
hob shoyn rakhmones oyf mir.

My darling, dear one, my love, 
Open the door for me.
I am standing alone – 
Have pity on me.

3) Ikh hob mir nisht mit veymenen tsu baheftn.
Mit keynemen kayn vort tsu reydn.
Es geyt mir oys mayne koykhes un kreftn.
Dem toyt iz mir optsubeygn [?]
[Or – “dem toyt oyf zikh betn”]

I don’t have anyone to connect with.
With no one do I have a single word to say.
My strength and power are fading.
Death is for me to bend [?]
[Or perhaps – I wish death upon me.]

4) Nisht meyn vayl di bist eyner,
kenst dekh shoyn visn mayn harts.
Nisht meyn vayl di bist eyner
kenst dekh shoyn visn mayn shmerts.

Don’t think that because you are the one,
you can know what is in my heart.
Don’t think that because you are the one,
you can know my pain. 

5) Mayne eltern tien mir freygn:
“Tokhternyu, vus geyst azoy fartribt?”
“Muter, kh’en dir nisht fartseyln. 
Kh’ob mir in eynem ayngelibt.”

My parents ask me:
“Daughter, why do you go around so sad?”
“Mother, I can’t tell you.
I have fallen in love with someone.”

6) Farlibt hob ikh mir in eynem.
Vayter, oy, lib ikh nisht keynem
Fartseyln ken ikh nisht far keynem,
Minhastame, [min-hastam] dekh, i’ mir azoy bashert.

I have fallen in love with someone;
none other do I love. 
I can speak of this to no one.
Probably it was so fated.

7) Ikh trink mir un in eyn taykh.
Ale mentshn zeyen mit di oygn.
Vus toyg mir mayn gelt in mayn raykh?
Mayn lyubtshe iz fin mir farfloygn.

I drink much [am drowning?] in a river.
All the people watch me with their eyes.
What need do I have of my money and my wealth?
My darling has flown away. .

8) Er iz fin mir farfloygn
durkh eyn ayn vaytn land.
Ikh sheym mir oystsuzugn. 
S’iz mir ayn groyser shand.

He flew away from me,
to a distant land.
I am ashamed to talk about it.
I am so humiliated. 

9) Kh’ob nisht gekikt af kayn blote un af kayn reygn.
Ikh bin shtendik tsu dir gekimen. 
Hayntike vokh [Haynt iz gevorn] hobn farvaksn indzere veygn,
fin indzern troyerdikn shpatsir.

Neither mud, nor rain prevented me.
I still always came to you.
This week  [today our paths grew together?]
our two paths crossed
during our sad walk. 

10) Kh’o shoyn dir, oy, lang gevolt oyszugn.
Farblayb shoyn, oy, mayner af gevis. 
Haynt ti ikh veynen in klugn.
Mayn hofening iz geveyn imzist. [imer zis]

I have wanted to tell you for a long time.
Stay mine for sure.
Today I cry and moan.
My hope was for naught. [was always sweet]

(Spoken) Ende libe…The end of the romance

גאָר אין אַ פֿינצטערער נאַכט
געזונגען פֿון גאָלדי ראָזענבאַום־מילער

גאָר אין אײַן [=אַ] פֿינצטערער נאַכט
.באַדעקט איז געוואָרן דער הימל
.און איך שטיי מיר אין אײַן [=אַ] ווינקעלע פֿאַרטראַכט
.גאָט, אוי, באַווײַז שוין דײַן דרימל

,ליובטשעניו, דושעניו, לעבן111
.עפֿן מיר אויף די טיר
,איך שטיי איינער אַליין
.האָב שוין רחמנות אויף מיר

,איך האָב מיר נישט מיט וועמענען צו באַהעפֿטן
,מיט קיינעמען קיין וואָרט צו ריידן
,ס’גייט מיר אויס מײַנע כּוחות און קרעפֿטן
דעם טויט איז מיר אָפּצובייגן   [דעם טויט אויף זיך בעטן ?]

,נישט מיין ווײַל דו ביסט איינער
,קענסט דאָך שוין וויסן מײַן האַרץ
,נישט מיין ווײַל דו ביסט איינער
.קענסט דאָך שוין וויסן מײַן שמערץ

:מײַנע עלטערן טוען מיך פֿרעגן
– ?טאָכטערניו, וואָס גייסט אַזוי פֿאַרטריבט
– .מוטער, כ’קען דיר נישט פֿאַרציילן
.כ’האָב מיר אין איינעם אײַנגעליבט

.פֿאַרליבט האָב איך מיר אין איינעם
,ווײַטער, אוי, ליב איך נישט קיינעם
,פֿאַרציילן קען איך נישט פֿאַר קיינעם
.מן־הסתּמען [מן־הסתּם איז] דאָך מיר אַזוי באַשערט

,איך טרינק מיר אָן אין טײַך,
,אַלע מענטשן זעען מיט די אויגן
?וואָס טויג מיר מײַן געלט און מײַן רײַך
.מײַן ליובטשע איז פֿון מיר פֿאַרפֿלויגן

ער איז פֿון מיר פֿאַרפֿלויגן
.דורך אײַן [=אַ] ווײַטן לאַנד
.איך שעם מיר אויסצוזאָגן
.ס’איז מיר אײַן [=אַ] גרויסער שאַנד

.כ’האָב נישט געקוקט אויף קיין בלאָטע און אויף קיין רעגן
.איך בין שטענדיק צו דיר געקומען
הײַנטיקע וואָך [=הײַנט איז געוואָרן] האָבן פֿאַרוואַקסן אונדזערע וועגן
.פֿון אונדזערן טרויערדיקן שפּאַציר

,כ’האָב שוין דיר, אוי, לאַנג געוואָלט אויסזאָגן
.פֿאַרבלײַב שוין, אוי, מײַנער אויף געוויס
– הײַנט טו איך וויינען און קלאָגן
.מײַן האָפֿענונג איז געווען אימער זיס [אימזיסט?]

 …‏ענדע ליבע

“Lozt Mikh Arayn!” Performed by Clara Crasner

Lozt Mikh Arayn! / Let Me In!
A street cry: a plea for a job, sung by Clara Crasner, recorded by Robert Freedman, Philadelphia, 1972.

 TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION

Lozt mikh arayn! Ikh vel aykh nitslekh zayn.
Feyikaytn tsin altsding
Tsim lernen a moyekh un tse dem arbetn a koyekh.
Un tse dem handlen:  a gants fayner ying!

Let me in! I can be of use to you.
I am capable of all things:
To teach a mind, To use my strength for work.
As for business/commerce, I’m a fine young man. 

לאָזט מיך אַרײַן, איך וועל אײַך ניצלעך זײַן
פֿעיִקייטן צון אַלצדינג
צום לערנען אַ מוח און צו דעם אַרבעטן אַ כּוח
און צו דעם האַנדלען: אַ גאַנץ פֿײַנער יונג. 

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

This is the fourth song we have posted by Clara Crasner. See the earlier posts for biographical details of her life.

In the discussion with Bob Freedman after she sings, Crasner suggests that such a song would be performed by someone to be allowed into a courtyard. For other street cries in Yiddish see under “genre” in YIVO’s Ruth Rubin Archive.

Photo by Roman Vishniac

Those interested in this genre can also read M. Gromb’s article “Gasn un hoyf-reklame” (street and courtyard cries) in volume three of YIVO’s “Filologishe shriftn” 1929 (pp. 283 – 296) to see many examples of Warsaw street cries (just texts).

The melody of “Lozt mikh arayn” is close to Avrom Goldfaden’s song “Faryomert, farklogt” from his play “Doktor Almasada” (1880s) about Jewish persecution and wandering. How appropriate for this peripatetic young man searching for work.  Here is a performance of “Faryomert, farklogt” by Richard Tucker. 

The only Yiddish street cry that I have heard was on the streets of Israel, when an Arab junk dealer was passing through the streets with his horse and wagon yelling in Yiddish “Alti zakhi” (“Alte zakhn” = old things). 

My mother remembered that in Chernovitz the junk dealer yelled “Handeles!” (accent on the first syllable) – a contraction of “Handl alles!”= “I deal with everything.” I have also seen a list of local street cries in at least one Yiddish yizkor bukh (many landsmanshaftn– Jewish immigrant societies– wrote and published yizkor books to remember and memorialize their hometowns).

“Zishe Breitbart” Performed by Yitzchak Milstein

Zishe Breitbart Sung by Yitzchak Milstein
Recorded by Toby Blum-Dobkin, 2/19/1977, Brooklyn NY. 

Commentary by Toby Blum-Dobkin. Song lyrics and transcription appear at the end of the post, including Milstein’s opening and closing spoken remarks. 

About the Singer Yitzchak Milstein

I first recorded Yitzchak Milstein singing the ballad of Zishe Breitbart in 1973, when I interviewed Mr. Milstein for the YIVO Yiddish Folksong Project, directed by Dr. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. The project team aimed to define and document Yiddish musical specialists and to compose portraits of such individuals [Blum-Dobkin 1975]. I again recorded the song in 1977, when I wrote an article about Zishe as a folk hero. I translated the song into English, and also transliterated it to reflect features of Milstein’s Yiddish pronunciation [Blum-Dobkin 1978].  

Yitzchak Milstein

I conducted ten interviews with Yitzchak Milstein for the Yiddish Folksong Project, between 2/27/1973 and 9/18/1974.  Each interview lasted approximately 90 minutes. All the interviews were conducted in Yiddish, with some songs and narrative in other languages. I translated portions of the interviews and songs into English, directly from the recordings. Bella Gottesman transcribed all the interviews and songs in Yiddish, also directly from the recordings. 

Mr. Milstein was born in Shidlovtse (Szidlowiec), Poland, in 1914. His mother Rokhl had a booth of ‘galenterye’ at the shtetl market. His father Motek (Mordkhe) was a ‘holts tokazh’ – a wood turner. Yitzchak worked as a tailor in Shidlovtse and seasonally in Warsaw. His childhood home was filled with music. He remarked, “In our home, almost everyone sang. . . were there better entertainments?. . . I remember that my father had a ‘liderbikhl’ – a Yiddish song book..  [with songs about] city girls and farmers’ girls…When my father was young he also acted in the drama circle, in [Goldfaden’s] Di Kishefmakherin – The Sorceress.” Even when Yitzchak’s father became more religious, he did not forbid Yitzchak from attending performances and acting in amateur dramatics. Yitzchak remembered that his father “said it was ‘b’yerushe’ – part of my legacy.”  The family had a mandolin, and Yitzchak learned by observing others.

In 1942 Yitzchak Milstein was forced into labor at the Skarszysko Hasag camp, and was subsequently incarcerated in several other Nazi camps. He was liberated in April 1945 and housed in the Displaced Persons camp in Feldafing, Germany. He emigrated to the the US in 1950 and settled in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, resuming work in his trade of tailoring.  He also resumed his avocation, singing. Mr. Milstein’s other avocation was keeping the memory of his shtetl Shidlovtse alive. He was active in the effort to publish Shidlovtse’s ‘yizker bukh’ – memorial book – for which he created artwork and essays  [Milstein 1974]. For Yitzchak Milstein, it was a matter of pride to reproduce a performance or song ‘genoy’ – as correctly and faithfully as possible. “I am a tape recorder,” he explained to me.

The Song ‘Zishe Breitbart’ 

Yitzchak Milstein had heard the ballad of Zishe Breitbart in the 1920’s from a ‘hoyfzinger’ – a street singer in Shidlovtse. The text of the ballad along with pictures of Zishe Breitbart were sold by street singers in broadside form. I am indebted to Chana Gordon Mlotek for directing me to other versions of the Breitbart song, and for pointing out the elements that the Breitbart ballad had in common with traditional ballads [Mlotek 1974].

Zishe (Sigemund) Breitbart

Zishe (Siegmund) Breitbart, son of a blacksmith, was born in Lodz, Poland, in 1883. His fame was based both on his physical strength and his unique personality. He toured widely, and in 1923 performed for the Keith vaudeville theaters in New York. The New York Times reported on Breitbart’s 1923 arrival in the United States:

“Among other feats of strength he claims to be able to lift ten or twelve persons with his hands, twist bars of iron like scraps of paper, crack Brazil nuts between his fingers, and haul a wagon with ten persons along the road by his teeth.” The article notes that Breitbart “says he is so sensitive that he would walk into the roadway to avoid trading upon a worm. . . he likes music and writes poems, but doesn’t like prize fighting. He declined an offer received by telegram at the pier to go to Saratoga Springs and have a tryout with Jack Dempsey, the heavyweight champion. ‘For me it is not,’ the strong man of Poland said.” [New York Times 1923].  

Breitbart’s death at the age of forty-two apparently resulted from blood poisoning initially contracted during a performance in Radom, Poland, when he scratched or punctured his leg with a nail.  He died in Berlin in 1925.

Zishe Breitbart’s crowd-pleasing persona and sense of mission as a Jewish hero made a lasting impression [Blum-Dobkin 1978; Bart 2014; Gillerman 2010].  He appeared in the silent film [Der Eisenkoenig 1923] and is the subject of a feature film [Invincible 2001].  It has even been posited that Zishe Breitbart was an inspiration for the character of Superman [Gordon 2011]. 

From Khane & Yosl Mlotek’s Song of Generations: New Pearls of Yiddish Song (Workmens Circle, 2004):

Selected Sources:

Bart, Gary.  Interviewed by Christina Whitney,  Wexler Oral History Project, National Yiddish Book Center, Amherst MA, November 21, 2014.

Blum-Dobkin, Toby.  “Case Study of a Traditional Yiddish Folksinger.” Unpublished paper, 1975.

Blum-Dobkin, Toby.  “Zishe, the Yiddish Samson.”  The Parade of Heroes: Legendary Figures in American Lore.” edited by  Tristram Potter Coffin and Hennig Cohen, Anchor Press, Garden City NY, 1978: 206-213, 557-558.

Der Eisenkönig.  Film directed by Max Neufeld, 1923. 

Gillerman, Sharon.  “The Strongest Man in the World.” YIVO Encyclopedia, 2010.

Gordon, Mel.  “Step Right Up and Meet the World’s Mightiest Human: A Jewish Strongman from Poland who Some Say Inspired the Creation of Superman.”  Reform Judaism, Summer 2011.  

Invincible.  Film directed by Werner Herzog, 2001.

Milstein, Yitzchak.  “Khronik fun khurbn in Shidlovtse.”  Shidlovtser Yizker Bukh/Yizkor Book Szydlowiec, edited by Berl Kagan  Shidlovtser Benevolent Association, NY (1974): 344-368.

Mlotek, Chana Gordon.  “Perl fun der yidisher poezye.” Forverts 1973.The New York Times August 27, 1923.