Shteyt of lavoydes-haboyre!: The Shulklaper’s Call to Prayer

Shteyt of lavoydes-haboyre! / Wake up to pray! 
Five versions of the call to prayer of the shulklaper in Eastern Europe.

Painting of a shulklaper by Mayer Kirshenblatt from the book “They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland before the Holocaust” (University of California Press, 2007)

COMMENTARY BY ITZIK GOTTESMAN

This week we present five different recordings of the call of the shulklaper or shammes [synagogue sexton] to the congregants to prayer. In the towns of Eastern Europe the shulklaper went door to door, knocking on the window shutters. This was done before the Sabbath, for the Selihot/slikhes prayers in the month of Elul and for the midnight service “khtsos” חצות. 

We have transcribed and translated the words to three of the versions after the mp3s.

The five recordings are:

1) “Am kodoysh” A Galician version by Berish Katz from the Ruth Rubin Archive at YIVO. It can also be heard on Ruth Rubin’s LP “The Jewish Life: The Old Country”.

2) “Shteyt of” from the Stonehill Collection. Singer unidentified (1948).

3) Leah Israelit from her LP record “Songs That I Remember: Melodies from Eretz Yisroel and Bessarabia” (Tikva T-79). A Bessarabian version.

4) A field recording made by Moshe Beregovski, entitled “Khtsos” sung by Eli Spivak, Kiev, 1929, from Volume 6 “Historical Collection of Jewish Musical Folklore 1912 – 1947”. Clearly related to Israelit’s version.

5) A contemporary Hasidic version that we found on Youtube, sung by Belzer khosid, Yermiah Damen (2009)

6)  In addition, at the bottom of this post, we have added a scan of this “call” from Marcy Nulman’s Concise Encyclopedia of Jewish Music (1975). We include his entire entry for “schulklapper” which he learned from a Vilna cantor. He also presents the melody and text of a selikhot call in the Sephardic tradition. 

I have written a more extensive article on the “shulklaper” in the Yiddish Forverts newspaper, Sept. 23, 2019.

TRANSLITERATION / TRANSLATION OF TEXTS

1) The Beresh Katz version (from Galicia): 

Spoken: 

All the Jews woke up for “khtsos” [midnight prayers] almost every day. By knocking with a hammer the shammus [sexton] called.

Friday night, when Jews cannot carry a hammer and cannot knock, he sang a melody with all his heart with these words:

עם קדוש! שטייט אויף און גייט לעבֿודת-הבורא
כּי לכּך נוצרתּי
עצל עד מתי תּשכּבֿ

Am kodoysh!
Shteyt of un geyt lavoydes-haboyre.
Ki lekekh notsarti.
Eytsl ladmusay tishkov

Holy people!
Wake up to serve the creator!
For this we were born.
Hurry! How late will you sleep?

2)  Unidentified female singer from the Ben Stonehill Collection:

!שטייט אויף! שטייט אויף!   שטייט אויף! שטייט שוין אַלע אויף
צו עבֿודת־הבורא
אָן פּחד און אָן מורא
שטייט אויף צו עבֿודת־הבורא
שלאָף שוין ניט יידעלע,  שפּיל אויף דיין פֿידעלע
.אין ירושלים
!שטייט אויף

Shteyt of! Shteyt of! Shteyt of!
Shteyt shoyn ale of!
Tsi avoydes-haboyre.
Un pakhad in un moyre.
Shteyt of tsi avoydes-haboyre.
Shluf shoyn nit yidele.
Shpil of dayn fidele
in Yerushelayim. 
Shteyt of!

Awaken! Awaken! Awaken!
Wake up for everyone
to serve the creator [to pray].
Sleep no longer dear Jew.
Play on your fiddle
in Jerusalem.
Awaken!

3)  Singer Leah Israelit from Markulesht, Bessarabia (Mărculeşti, Moldova): 
Israelit learned it from “Shmuel the sexton.”

!שטייט אויף, שטייט אויף
לעבֿודת־הבורא
—עצל עצל למה תּשכּבֿ
קום לעבודת־הבורא
אדם דואג לאבוד דמיו
ואינו דואג לאבוד ימיו
!אוי, שטייט אויף

דמיו, דימיו אינם עוזרים
ימיו, ימיו אינם חוזרים
!אוי, שטייט אויף

.אויף דרײַ זאַכן וועק איך אײַך יידעלעך
אויף חורבן־בית־המיקדש
און אויף גלות־השכינה
.אוי, און אויף צרות־ישראל
שטייט אויף, שטייט אויף
!לעבֿודת־הבורא

Shteyt of! shteyt of!
Lavoydas-haboyre.
Eytsl, eytsl lama tishkov.
Kum lavoydat [lavoydes] haboyre.
Udem doyeg al ibed yumov
veeynu doyeg al ibed yumov
Oy, shteyt of!
Dumov, dumov eynom ozrim.
Yumov, yumov eynem khozrim.

Oy, shteyt of! Lavodas-haboyre
af khurbn beys-hamikdesh
un af gules-haskhine
Oy! un af tsores-yisrol.
Shteyt of! shteyt of!
Lavodas-haboyre!

For three things do I awaken you dear Jews:
for the destruction of the Temple
Oy! and for the exile of the Shekhinah [=Divine Presence] and for the troubles of the Jewish people.
Wake up!  Wake up to pray!

Wake up! Wake up!
To serve the creator. [ = to prayer]
Hurry, hurry, why do you sleep?
Awaken for prayer.
Man worries about losing his money
and man worries about losing his days.
His days do not return.

Below: entry on “Schulklopfer” from Marcy Nulman’s Concise Encyclopedia of Jewish Music (1975):

• 

• 

• 

“Khanike-gelt (mume, mume, mume gite)” Performed by Dora Libson

Khanike-gelt (mume, mume, mume gite) – Hanukkah Money (Aunt, Aunt, Aunt So Good)
A Hanukkah song sung by Dora Libson. Recorded by Lionel Libson, 1977 

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

There seems to be a connection between this song and the Yiddish schools of Argentina. Avrom Lichtenbaum, director of the Argentina YIVO, remembers singing it in kindergarten in a Yiddish school in Buenos-Aires. The only printed version I have found was in the children’s song collection Heym un mishpokhe, yomim-toyvim, edited by Sara Fischer, Buenos-Aires, 1948. A scan of the song from that volume is attached (Fischer). 

In Heym un mishpokhe, yomim-toyvim it is called “Khanike gelt” and includes only the first two verses which I also transliterate since the rhymes are better in those verses than the ones in Libson’s version.  It also states that the poem was “From the Hebrew” translated by the Argentinian Yiddish children’s writer Shemuel (Shmuel) Tsesler (1904 – 1955).  

Sure enough, in the Israeli Zemereshet website we find the song in Hebrew in several versions, with more and different stanzas but the composer and writer of the Hebrew original song remains unknown.

Libson’s third and fourth verse, however, are not included in these Hebrew versions. Click here to see the Hebrew versions.

Libson’s pronuncation of the holiday as “Khaniko” instead of the usual “Khanike” in Yiddish, or “khanuka” in modern Hebrew,  reflects an Ashkenazic Hebrew pronunciation.

Thanks this week to Avrom Lichtenbaum, Gila Flam and Dina Pozniak.

Khanike-gelt as sung by Dora Libson

1) Mume, mume, mume, gute,
vi ikh hob dikh lib.
Bist a gite, bist a zise,
khanike-gelt zhe gib.
Bist a gite, bist a zise,
khanike-gelt zhe gib.
Khaniko iz haynt! Khaniko iz haynt!

Aunt, aunt, aunt, so good,
how I love you.
You’re so good, you’re so sweet.
So give me Hanukkah-gelt!
Hanukkah is today! Hanukkah is today!

2) Un az di mume hot gegebn
loz ikh mikh tsurik.
Un ikh gey mir glaykh tsum feter
feter gib zhe di!
un ikh gey mir glaykh tsum feter
feter gib zhe di!
Khaniko iz haynt!   Khaniko iz haynt!

And after Auntie gave me,
I returned back
and go straight to my uncle.
Uncle give me!
Hanukkah is today! Hanukkah is today!

3) Dem [Di] badaytung fun dem yontif
veys ikh dokh gants git.
Antiyoykhes iz [hot] fargosn
fil yidish blit.
Antiyoykhes hot fargosn
fil yidish blit.
Khaniko iz haynt!  Khaniko iz haynt!

The significance of this holiday
I know so well.
Antioches spilled 
much Jewish blood.
Antioches spilled 
much Jewish blood.
Hanukkah is today! Hanukkah is today!

4) In beys-hamigdesh fremde geter
hot men ungeshtelt. 
Un du ayl zikh nisht mayn dreydl
zay zhe mir a held.
un du ayl zikh nisht mayn dreydl
zay zhe mir a held.
Khaniko iz haynt!  Khaniko iz haynt!

In the Temple, foreign gods
were erected.
And don’t hurry my dreydl
be my hero. 
Khanike is today!  Khanike is today!

חנוכּה איז הײַנט
געזונגען פֿון דאָרע לאַבסון

מומע, מומע, מומע גוטע
.ווי איך האָב דיך ליב
ביסט אַ גוטע, ביסט אַ זיסע
.חנוכּה־געלט זשע גיב”
!חנוכּה איז הײַנט! חנוכּה איז הײַנט

,און אַז די מומע האָט געגעבן
.לאָז איך מיך צוריק
,און איך גיי מיר גלײַך צום פֿעטער
„פֿעטער, גיב זשע דו !”
!חנוכּה איז הײַנט! חנוכּה איז הײַנט

די באַדײַטונג פֿונעם יום־טובֿ
.ווייס איך דאָך גאַנץ גוט
אַנטיוכות האָט פֿאַרגאָסן
.פֿיל ייִדיש בלוט
!חנוכּה איז הײַנט! חנוכּה איז הײַנט

אין בית־המיקדש פֿרעמדע געטער
.האָט מען אָנגעשטעלט
,און דו אײַך זיך נישט מײַן דריידל
.זײַ זשע מיר אַ העלד
!חנוכּה איז הײַנט! חנוכּה איז הײַנט

The two verses in the Shemuel (Shmuel) Tsesler collection Heym un Mishpokhe Yomim-Toyvim:

Tsu der mumen, tsu der guter
makh ikh a shpatsir.
“Khanike-gelt, gute mume,
Gib zhe gikher mir!”

Git di mume mir a groshn
“Kh’dank dir!” Zog ikh hoykh.
Itster gey ikh tsu mayn feter:
“Feter gib mir oykh!”
Khanike iz haynt! Khanike iz haynt! 

“Ven di zun iz mir fargangen” Performed by Avi Fuhrman

Ven di zun iz mir fargangen / When the sun has set
A Chanukah Song sung by Avi Fuhrman
Recorded at Circle Lodge, NY, 1984 by Itzik Gottesman

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

Avi Fuhrman (aka Avrom, Avraham, Abraham) learned this Chanukah song from his father in the 1930s in Chernovitz (then Romania, today – Ukraine). We have yet not been able to identify the writer or composer.

Avi Fuhrman

“Maoz tsur” is usually translated as “Rock of Ages” but literally – “Stronghold of Rock”. The rock is usually interpreted as God.  

In Fuhrman’s native Bukovina Yiddish dialect “maoz tsur” is pronounced “muez tsir”. But in this performance Fuhrman sings “Muez tsur” which does not rhyme with the intended rhyming words: “shir” “mir” “frier”.

Special thanks this week to Eliezer Niborski who helped with the transcription. 

TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION

Ven di zin iz mir fargangen,
kalt in fintster iz di nakht.
Un di shterndlekh fun deym himl
hobn zeyere eygelekh farmakht.

When the sun has set for me,
cold and dark is the night
And the stars of sky
have closed their eyes.

Ikh ken keyn veyg shoyn nit gefinen.
Ikh blondzhe, blondzhe un a shir.
Hob ikh mir a lekhtele ungetsindn,
dos lekhtele heyst dokh muez tsur.

I cannot find any path;
I wander, lost without stop.
So I lit a candle
and the candle is called maoz tsur. 

Un ikh lern mir bay dem lekhtele
bleter groyse, mit oysyes fil.
Un dervarem mir derbay dem kerper,
vayl es vert mir shreklekh kil.

And I study at my candle
large pages full of letters.
And it warms my body,
because I feel so terribly cool.

Bald farges ikh mayne tsores
vos ikh trug arim oyf mir.
Un ikh zing mir in mayn goles,
zey, vus shvaygstu muez tsur?

Soon I forget my troubles
that I carry around with me.
And I sing in my exile:
See, why silent maoz tsur?

Grekn zenen mir bafaln,
mit zeyere tume hent.
Farumreynikt undzer templ
undzer leybn hobn zey geshendt.

Greeks attacked me
with their polluting hands.
They made filthy our Temple;
our life they defiled.

Zey hobn toyte shtume gotn
ahin arayngeshtelt tsu mir.
Ikh hob far veytik oysgeshrign:
“Zey, vos shvaygstu muez tsur?”

They placed dead, silent gods
in there for me.
From pain I shouted out:
Look! Why are you silent maoz tsur. 

Der barimter Makabeyer
Khashmonoyim mit zayne zin.

[Fuhrman speaks – “Vayter gedenk ikh nisht di verter”]

The famous Maccabee
of the Hasmoneum, and his sons.

Zey hobn dem soyne bald fartribn,
dem templ reyn gemakht vi frier.
Ikh hob far freyd oysgeshrien,
Zey, vos shvaygstu muez tsur?

They drove the enemies away.
The Temple they restored.
For joy I shouted out:
See, why are you silent maoz tsur?

Fuhrman: [spoken] Vus se feylt darfsti aleyn zikhn.

Whatever is missing, you have to find yourself.

“Rokhl mevako al boneho” Performed by Esther Korshin

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman.

In this week’s blogpost, Esther Korshin sings a version of Rokhl mevako al boneho [Rachel Weeps for Her Children] by Elyokem Zunser, first published in 1871.  It was contributed by her granddaughter Jennifer E. Herring. Herring’s neighbor – cantor, singer and musicologist Janet Leuchter – heard about the recording and contacted us. The recording was made in 1946. Herring writes the following about the singer:

“Esther Yampolsky Korshin was born on 12/28/1886 in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipropetrovsk), Ukraine.  Her father was a cantor, as was her brother Israel. She idolized her father. Her husband was Louis (Lev) Korsinsky, a cobbler. Esther left Russia in 1903 with her one-year-old daughter Etta. She left illegally because Louis was escaping the draft for the Sino-Russian War. Her name was changed to Korshin at Ellis Island. Children Jack, Nathan and Sylvia were born in the US. She knew Russian, Yiddish, English; read in Russian & English. Always bettering herself. No formal education. She spent six months auditing the tutoring of a Russian child in whose home she was a domestic. To earn money she did piecework sewing at home. Neighbors would gather to hear her sing. “

Esther Yampolsky Korshin, 1930, courtesy of Jennifer Herring

Zunser’s song is inspired by the Prophet Jeremiah’s words (Jeremiah 31:14) “Rachel weeps for her chidren” רחל מבכה על בניה  which has been understood as the biblical matriarch Rachel lamenting over the tragic fate of the the Jews throughout history. Zunser applies this view to his own times, and the troubles that Jews were facing at the end of the 19th century.

Korshin sings all five verses of the original text, 16 lines each. We have transcribed and translated the text of the singer’s version. We included the original line of text from Zunser’s printed version in brackets when it differed significantly. Korshin stays remarkably true to Zunser’s words. It is a remarkable performance.

Since Esther Korshin’s father and brother were cantors, it seems reasonable to assume that they had learned this moving song for performances and she learned it from them.

There are not many Zunser songs on popular recordings. The only record dedicated to his songs, a 1963 Folkways recording “Selected Songs of Eliakum Zunser” by Nathaniel Entin, which includes this song, does not capture the spirit of a folk performance. This is the third Zunzer field recording on the blog Yiddish Song of the Week.

In addition to the transcription, translation and yiddish transcription of Korshin’s version we are attaching scans of the original music, and words as found in  Eliakum Tsunzers verk: Kritishe oysgabe  2 volumes  (YIVO, NY 1964) Mordkhe Schaechter, editor.

1)
Di zin hot ungevizn in mayrev-zayt
mit ir royte shtraln, zi nemt opsheyd.
In di nakht mit ir fintserkayt
hot ungetun di erd in ayn shvarts kleyd.
Di velt mit ire layt shvaygn shtim
Es shvaygn shtim, say berg, say tol.
In di levune geyt zikh gants shtil arim
Fin di shtern hert men oykh kayn kol.
Nor a shtime di shtilkayt tseshlugt.
A kol fun a fru veynt un klugt.
In ir yumer un fil geveyn
kenen di kreftn oysgeyn.
Mit ir fidele shpil ikh zikh tsi.
A troyerike melodi
Zi shrayt nebekh fun ir getselt.
“Farvuglt bin ikh fin der velt.”

2)
Ayn kirtse tsayt hob ikh nakhes gehat.
Ven Got hot aykh in ayer land geshtitst.
Der mizbeyekh iz geveyn mit karbunes zat.
Di kruvim mit di fliglen hobn aykh bashitst.
Duvids kinder in der kroyn gekleydt.
Der koyen-godl in zayn kostyum.
In di sanhedrin vi ayn geflantser beyt,
in der beys-hamikdosh vi a frilingsblum.
Dray mol a yur in der tsayt.
Gekimen fin nuvnt, fin vayt.
Der brengt karbunes fun shlakht.
Un der hot bikurim gebrakht.
Di Leviyim hobn geshpilt.
Der yid hot zikh heylik gefilt.
Di gasn mit freylekhkayt zat
Oy dan hob ikh nakhes gehat.

3)
Ober tsiyon hot ongevoyrn ir fargenign.
Ir mayontik farshpilt in kon.
Dos ort beys-lekhim vi mayne beyner lign,
geyt in aveyles ungetun.
Di barg levunen, di giter-fraynd,
Oy, vos far a fis treytn oyf dir haynt?
Di barg Moriyo, di heylik ort
A Makhmedaner metshet shteyt yetst dort!
Di gasn zaynen shoyn pist.
Di veygn zaynen farvist.
In Karmel kayn blumen blit.
Di turems zey glantsn shoyn nit.
Di kohanim vos hobn geshtitst.
Di leviyim vi zaynen zey itst?
Vi’z ayer kroyn ayer rakh?
In vus iz gevorn fin aykh?

4)
Ikh kik of yerushelayim fin mayrev-zayt
Dortn ze ikh mayne kinder vi koyln shvarts.
Zey shparn on dem kop af der darer hant
In veynen az ez farklemt dos harts.
Es iz nishtu in yerushelayim kayn beyn, kayn shteyn
Vos iz nit geveyn nas fin mayn kinds geveyn,
Mayn kind tsi drikn iz a kindershpil
vi me treft im un – dort iz der tsil.
Fin Moldaviye her ikh ayn geshrey
Mayn kind shrayt dort “oy vey”
Fin Rumenyen shrayt er “nit git”
nor fargist men vi vaser zayn blit.
Fin daytshland shrayt er “S’iz shlekht”
Vayl dortn bakimt er kayn rekht.
Fin oystralyen baveynt er di erd.
Dort kikt men af im vi oyf ayn ferd.

5)
In himl di toyznter shtern
baveynen oykh mayn kinds geveyn.
un di boymer, zey gisn trern
di feygelekh zey entfern mit ayn geveyn.
Ober dos harts fun dem faynd iz farshteynt.
Dos umglik hot im zayn harts farshpart.
Der shlekhter akhzer zeyt vi men veynt
[original – der krokodel, der akhzer, treft oykh er veynt]
in zayn harts iz im vi ayzn hart…
A! Got entfer shoyn mir!
zug di vi lang nokh iz der shir
tsu laydn, a dor nokh a dor?
Tsures bay tsvey toyznt yor.
Ir shtern, zogt mir, oyb ir veyst.
tsi di host shoyn farlorn mayn treyst?
oy, neyn, ikh shpir shoyn, ikh shpir!
Az mayn Got vet nokh helfn mir.
[original – “Akh Got entfer shoyn mir.]

Spoken in English at the end of the recording: “Recorded by Esther Korshin, on April 10, 1946 at the age of 59”

1)
The sun appeared in the west
with her red rays, she bids farewell.
And the night and her darkness
dressed the earth in a black dress.
The world and her people are silent.
Still are the mountains and the valleys,
and the moon quietly moves around
and no call from the stars is also heard.
But a voice breaks the silence
a voice of a woman who cries and laments.
In her sorrow and cries
you could lose all your strength.
With her fiddle she accompanies herself
with a sad melody.
She cried from her grave –
“The world has discarded me”.

2)
“For a brief time I had pleasure
when God aided you in your land.
The alter was full of sacrifices.
The cherubs with their wings protected you.
David’s children wore the crown.
The High Priest in his garments.
And the Sanhedrin was like a planted bed of flowers
and the Holy Temple was like a spring flower.
Three times a year at a certain time
They came from near and far.
This one brings sacrifices to battle
And that one brings the first fruits.
The Levites were playing,
the Jew felt the holiness
The streets overflowed with joy.
O, then did I have such pleasure!

3)
But Zion lost her joy.
Her treasure gambled away.
The place Bethlehem where my bones lie,
wear the clothes of mourning.
You moutain Lebanon, my dear friend,
whose feet tread on you today?
You mountain Moriah, you holy place,
A Moslem mosque now stands there!
The streets are abandoned
The paths are all destroyed
On Carmel no flowers bloom.
The towers no longer shine.
The Kohamim who were a support,
The Levites – where are they now?
Where is your crown, your kingdom?
What has become of you?

4)
I look at Jerusalem from the western wall
There I see my children, black as coal.
They rest their heads on their emaciated hands
and cry till it pains your heart.
In Jersusalem there’s no bone, no stone
that did not get wet from my child’s tears.
It’s become like a children’s game to oppress my child –
Wherever you find him – that is the goal.
From Moldova I hear a scream
My child there yells out  “oy vey!”
From Romania he yells “no good”
and his blood is spilled like water.
From Germany he yells “It’s bad!”
For there he has no righs.
In Australia he laments the earth
He is looked down upon as if he were a horse.

5)
In heaven the thousand stars
also lament my child’s cries.
And the trees they pour with tears
and the birds answer with weeping.
But the heart of the enemy has turned to stone
This tragedy has caged in his heart.
The evil monster sees how we cry
[Original – the crocodile, the monster, also cries]
In his heart it is as hard as iron.
Oh God answer me now!
Say how long can this go on?
To suffer generation after generation,
Sorrows for two thousand years!
You stars, tell me if you know.
Has my comfort been lost among you?
Oh, no, I feel it now, I feel it –
That my God will yet help me
[original – O God answer me now]

Spoken in English after the song:
“Recorded by Esther Korshin, on April 10, 1946 at the age of 59”