“Tseyde-laderekh” Performed by Moti Friedman and Serl Birnholtz

Tseyde-laderekh / Provisions for the Journey (A Hasidic Song)
Commentary by Janet Leuchter and Itzik Gottesman

This week we bring two performances of a Hasidic song, Tseyde-laderekh (Provisions for the Journey). In Moti Friedman’s version we hear a representation of the Hasidic men’s singing tradition. In Serl Birnholtz’s version, the song becomes more “folky,” both textually and musically. The transcription and translation of both versions is found after the commentary. Birnholtz’s version is also presented in Yiddish, attached below. 

Version 1 sung by Moti Friedman, recorded by Janet Leuchter, New York City, 1985:

Version 2 sung by Serl Birnholtz, recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Bronx 1985

Cantor Janet Leuchter has written an extensive article on this song “Provisions for the Journey; a Rarity in the Lost Field of Yiddish Song” in the Journal of Synagogue Music, Volume 35, 2010, which can be read at by clicking here (see pages 120-144).

For this Yiddish Song of the Week post Leuchter has written the following summation:

Tseydo laderekh (or ladorekh) is a song that likely originated in religious circles in the 19th century.  It’s rarely heard and has never appeared in printed collections, but a few variants are known orally among some Hasidim and their descendants.  Tseydo laderekh (Hebrew) is a biblical expression that means “food for the road”—or more broadly, “provisions for the journey.” In medieval rabbinic writing, the expression often came to mean the type of mitzvot (religious commandments) defined as good deeds (rather than rituals). In the 19th century, tseydo laderekh was used in moralistic literature that had wide circulation among the Jewish masses as well as in Lithuanian yeshivot and Hasidic circles. 

The song could be categorized as a musar lid, a didactic song with text urging moral behavior. The song’s relatively complex structure suggests a folklorized sermon or poem. Its melody is suggestive of traditional talmudic study mode (lernen shteyger). The broad melodic form is typical of a Yiddish religious genre that alternates between non-metered verses (as in Ashkenazi study and prayer) and a metered chorus. In another variant, the melody and text are more extended, with the melody rising in pitch and dramatic intensity like a hasidic nign (wordless melody). But instead of returning to the initial melody, it descends to a third section, before returning to a one-line metered chorus.  

Tseydo Ladorekh – Moti Friedman’s version
Transcribed and Translated by Janet Leuchter with assistance from Sheva Zucker

TRANLITERATION (Friedman/Leuchter)

Tseydo-ladorekh nemt aykh,
brider, mit.

Ven ayner gayt uf a veyg,
upgetsaylte tsvay dray teg,
esn darf er zakh mitneymen meyr.
In es kimt fur zeyer oft,
shlekhte tsaytn umferhof,
az der ban ken nisht vayter geyn.

Tsi ist amul a vint in a shney,
di veg iz in gantsn ferveynt [farveyt?-IG],
der ban ken nisht vayter geyn.

Derum ven ayner furt uf a rayze
darf er zakh mitneymen meyr shpayze
hingerik vet er nit darfn zayn.

(Refrain): Tseydo, tseydo-ladorekh
aykh, brider, mit. 

Der ver es tit zikh furbraytn der laydet kayn
Tseydo nemt aykh, brider, mit ahin,
vayl oyfn veyg ken men shoyn gur nisht tin.
Tseydo ladorekh nemt aykh, brider, mit.

Aroys, der groyser gevir,
vus shoymrim shteyen bay dayn tir.
Efsher hosti a mentshlekh gefil?
In ven es kimt ayn uremen tsi dir,
efen im oyf brayt dayn tir,
im empfangen mitn gantsn harts.

Bevurn ikh dir, brider, du,
kdey di zolst hubn of yenem shu,
in efsher vet dir dort beser zayn.

Bevurn ikh dir, brider, mayn leben,
in efsher vet men ayn shvakh upgeyben.
In efsher vet dir dort beser zayn.

(Refrain…)

Tsi hosti aynem gringer gemakht?
Tsi hosti aynem nitsn tsebrakht?
Tsi hosti geholfn oy an uriman?

(Bevurn ikh… )

(Refrain)

TRANSLATION (Friedman/Leuchter)

Provisions for the journey,
brothers, take with you. 

When one goes on his way
for two, three days,
he must bring more food with him.

And very often (hopefully not)
bad times occur
When the train cannot go further.

Sometimes there are wind and snow,
the road is bleary
the train cannot go farther.

Therefore when one goes on a trip,
he must bring with him more food
so that he does not go hungry.            

(Refrain) Provisions for the journey, 

The one who prepares never suffers.
Provisions, brothers, take with you there,
for on the road nothing more can be done. 

Provisions for the way, brothers, take with you.

Come out, wealthy man,
whose guards stand by your gate!
Have you maybe a human feeling?
And when a poor man comes to you,
open wide your door
and receive him with all your heart.

I warn you here, brother,
so that you will not go lacking at that hour
and perhaps you’ll be better off.
I warn you, my dear brother,
and perhaps you will be praised
and perhaps your way will be better there. 

(Refrain…)

Have you eased someone’s path?
Have you been of use to someone?
Have you helped a poor man?
(I warn you here brother….)

(Refrain)

A Note About the Singer Serl Birnholtz by Itzik Gottesman:

My father’s younger sister, Aunt Serl (nee Gottesman) Birnholtz, was visiting us in the Bronx from Holon, Israel and sang this Hasidic song at our dining room table. She was born in Siret, Romania (Seret in Yiddish) in 1927 and she emigrated to Israel after the war. Siret was home to one of the Vishnitzer rebbes and also had many followers of the Sadagerer Rebbe.

Serl Birnholtz with Louis Birnholtz and Serl’s mother Gitl Gottesman in Israel, late 1940s

I have heard only one recorded version of this song; that is on the CD Gramen fun altn kheyder, produced by the Bobov Hasidim in Brooklyn. (Yiddish text attached). This recording features the singing of the Ziditshoyver Rebbe, who stems from a Galician Hasidic dynasty. The third and fourth verses of his version are completely different from Birnholtz’s and she sings it with a much faster tempo. Also changed to a folkier Yiddish language are a number of Germanisms that one hears in Moti Friedman’s version. 

 TRANSLITERATION of Serl Birnholtz’s version by Itzik Gottesman

Chorus:

Tseydu, tseydu tseydu-laderekh nem dir brider mit.
Vayl der vos nemt zikh tseydu mit,
hingert keym mul nisht.
Tseydu nem dir mit ahin,
vayl oyf dem veyg kenst gornisht tin.
Tseydu-laderekh nem dir brider mit. 

Az eyner furt afn veyg
af getseylte tsvey, dray teyg,
tseydu zol er zikh mitnemen oyf mer.
Vayl es treft zikh zeyer oft,
az der shlekhter veyg farkhapt im dort.
Ungreytn darf men zikh af mer. 

Tseydu, tseydu tseydu-laderekh nem dir brider mit.
Vayl ver es nemt tseydu mit,
hingert keyn mul nisht.
Tseydu nem dir mit ahin,
vayl oyf dem veyg kenst gornisht tin.
Tseydu-laderekh nem dir brider mit. 

Her oys du groyser gvir,
vos vekhter shteyen far dayn tir
un dayn froy of pyane shpilt.
Az eyner munt bay dir
efnt zolst far im di tir.
Helf im gikher, zay nisht opgekilt.

Di mitsves ba dan leybn
kedey me zol dir a gitn shvakh nukhgeybn.
Barekhn dir ven du bist in der noyt.
Di neshume zi geyt oys;
far keyn shim gelt koyft men zi oys.
Ungreytn darf men zikh af mer 

Tseydu, tseydu tseydu-laderekh nem zhe  brider mit.
Vayl ver es nemt zikh tseydu mit,
hingert keyn mul nisht.
Tseydu nem dir mit ahin,
vayl oyf dem veyg kenst gornisht tin.
Tseydu-laderekh nem dir brider mit. 

TRANSLATION (Birnholtz/Gottesman)

Chorus:

Provisions for the journey take along,
for he who takes these provisions along
will never hunger.
Provisions take with you there
Because on the way you can do nothing
Provisions for the journey take along.

When someone travels on the way
for just a couple of days.
He should take more provisions along.
Because it happens very often
that the journey could be bad,
Prepare to take extra!

Listen you very wealthy man,
for whom guards stand at your door,
and your wife plays on the piano.
If someone asks you for something,
open wide the door for him.
Help him faster, do not turn cold.

The good deeds you have done in your life
so that one can praise you.
Think about it when you are in need.
The soul is extinguished.
and no amount of money can help you out.
Prepare yourself with more!

(Refrain)

Below transcription of of Tseydu-laderekh as sung by Serl Birnholtz, 1985 (transcription by Itzik Gottesman)

Below transcription from the CD Gramen fun altn kheyder, produced by the Bobov Hasidim in Brooklyn:

“Oy, tsum ban vel ikh nit geyn” and “Ven ikh volt geven a foygele” – Two Songs Performed by Tsunye Rymer

Oy, tsum ban vel ikh nit geyn and Ven ikh volt geven a foygele
Two songs combined and sung by Tsunye Rymer 
Recorded by Itzik Gottesman, NYC 1985
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

In this performance, Isaac “Tsunye” Rymer combines two distinct lyrical Yiddish love songs. The first two verses are a song beginning with the line Tsum ban vil ikh nit geyn [I don’t want to go to the train] and the third and fourth verses are a different song that begins with the line – Ven ikh volt geven a foygele [If I were a bird]. Whether he learned the songs this way or combined them himself is unknown.

Rymer says he learned this in Bessarabia on the way to America. It took him and his wife 4 years to arrive in the US once they left their town in the Ukraine.

Tsunye Rymer at the Sholem Aleichem Cultural Center, Bronx, NYC, 1980s. From right:  Jacob Gorelik, Dr. Jonas Gottesman, Tsunye Rymer. 

Ven ikh volt geven a foygele has motifs found in other Yiddish folksongs among them a Hasidic Lubavitch song attributed to Reb Mendele from Horodok called The Outpouring of the Soul  השתפכות הנפש, number 25 in the Lubavitch nigunim collection Sefer HaNigunim. One can also find these motifs in songs in the Beregovski/Slobin collection Old Jewish Folk Music and the I. L. Cahan collection Yidishe folkslider mit melodyes (1952)

Recently singer Inna Barmash recorded a song, accompanied by violist Ljova (Lev Zhurbin) with these motifs from the Beregovski/Slobin collection on her CD Yiddish Love Songs and Lullabies (2013).

Why the combination of songs? The singer (if not Rymer, then the one he learned it from?) perhaps added the third and fourth verses to add a little hopefulness and not end the song on such a bleak note.

TRANSLITERATION

Oy tsim ban vel ikh nit geyn,
oy tsim ban vel ikh nit geyn.
Oy ikh ken dus shoyn mer nit zeyn:
Az du vest darfn in poyez zitsn
un ikh vel blaybn af der platforme shteyn.
Az du vest darfn in poyez zitsn
un ikh vel blaybn af der ploshchatke shteyn.

Tsum ershtn mul a kling un tsum tsveytn mul a fayf
un tsum dritn mul iz shoyn nishtu keyn mentsh.
Ikh hob nit pospeyet di hant im derlangen.
Di ban iz shoyn avek fin undz gants vayt.
Ikh hob nit pospeyet di hant im derlangen.
Di ban iz shoyn avek fun undz gants vayt.

Ven ikh volt geveyn a foygele [feygele],
volt ikh tsu dir gefloygn.
in efsher volstu rakhmones gehat
oyf mayne farveynte oygn – oyf mayne farveynte oygn.

Ven ikh volt geveyn a fishele
volt ikh tsu dir geshvumen.
in efsher volstu rakhmones gehat
un du volst tsu mir gekumen.
un du volst tsu mir gekumen.

TRANSLATION

Oy to the train I will not go.
To the train I will not go.
I can’t stand to see this anymore:
you will be sitting on the train
and I will remain standing on the platform.

First the bell rings once; then the whistles blows;
then no one remains.
I did not even manage to give him my hand.
The train had gone by then quite far.

If I were a little bird,
I would fly to you.
And perhaps you would have pity on me
on my weeping eyes.

If I were a fish,
I would swim to you.
And perhaps you would have pity on me
and you would then come to me.

“Mirtseshem af shabes” Performed by Khave Rosenblatt

Mirtseshem af shabes / God Willing, This Sabbath
Performance by Khave Rosenblatt
Recorded by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman
Jerusalem, 1970s
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

The most popular version of this 19th century mock-Hasidic song begins with the line “Ver hot dos gezen…” or “Tsi hot men azoyns gezen…” (“Who has seen this” or “Who has every seen anything like this”). In the Mlotek’s collection Mir trogn a gezang, pages 126-127.  the song is called “Dos lid fun ayznban” (“The Song About the Train”).  Theodore Bikel recorded that version on his LP “Theodore Bikel Sings Jewish Folksongs” 1959.

Khave Rosenblatt’s version however is closer in some respects to the variants found in the collections Yidishe folks-lider, ed. Itzik Fefer and Moyshe Beregovski, Kiev 1938. pp. 386-387  (see below) and in A.Z. Idelsohn’s The Folk Song of The East European Jews, volume 9 of his Thesaurus of Hebrew Oriental Melodies, song # 558, beginning with the line “Nokh shabes imirtseshem….”.   Idelsohn also includes the “Ver hot dos gezen..” version, #556, from the German journal Ost und West. A scan of that page is also attached (see below)

Only Rosenblatt’s theatrical version plays with the verbs “fayfn” (“fafn” in her dialect), which means “whistle” and  “onfayfen”  (“unfafn” in her dialect) meaning “to thumb one’s nose at.” One could easily imagine the wandering entertainers, the Broder Singers, performing this song in the wine cellars of the 19th century in Galicia.

TRANSLITERATION
Mirtseshem af shobes
vel ikh bam rebn zan.
Ikh vel tsiklugn di hiltayes, di drobes
vus zey nemen azoy fil gelt un zey leygn in dr’erd aran.

Rebe, hot er a fafer
mit a meshenem knop.
Er faft indz un hekher in hekher
in er vet gurnisht vern farshtopt.

Er faft un faft un faft un faft un faft
Er vil gurnisht oyfhern.
mit dem rebns koyekh
vet di ban tseshlugn vern.

TRANSLATION
God willing this Sabbath
I will spend with the Rebbe.
I will denounce the hedonists, the wastrels,
who take so much money and spend it wildy. [lit: bury it in the ground]

Rebbe, what a whistle it has!
with a brass knob.
He thumbs his nose at us louder and louder,
and nothing shuts him up.

He whistles and whistles and whistles and whistles and whistles
and doesn’t want to stop.
With the Rebbe’s power
the train will be trounced.

Khane and Joe Mlotek, Mir trogn a gezang, pages 126-127:

Yidishe folks-lider, ed. Itzik Fefer and Moyshe Beregovski, Kiev 1938. pp. 386-387:

A.Z. Idelsohn’s The Folk Song of The East European Jews, volume 9 of Thesaurus of Hebrew Oriental Melodies (#558 & #556)

“Leyg ikh mir in bet arayn” Performed by Janie Respitz

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

There has been much written about the once popular Yiddish song לייג איך מיר אין בעט אַרײַן (Leyg ikh mir in bet arayn / I Lay Me Down in My Bed) and its transformations, but I cannot find one LP/CD recording of the “original” Yiddish song and so I’m glad to have Montreal Yiddish singer Janie Respitz’s version (video recorded in October of 2017).

The Yiddish text, transliteration, translation and music to this song appears in Chana and Joseph Mlotek’s collection Pearls of Yiddish Song (see below) and there it is identified as a poem by Joseph Rolnick / Rolnik (1879 – 1955) and music written by the Yiddish poet Bertha Kling (1886 – 1979).

A translation of Rolnik’s autobiography זכרונות (Zikhrones / Memories) from Yiddish by Gerald Marcus is available in English entitled With Rake in Hand: Memoirs of a Yiddish Poet, 2016. There he writes that that this poem, adapted from a folksong, became very popular after Kling composed music for it; but he was ashamed of how the poem, which he considered unimportant, had become a hit. He walked out of a room if they greeted his entrance by singing it.

About the transformations of this Yiddish song… The Hebrew-language website Zemereshet  זמרשת presents a popular Hebrew version הרכבת (Harekevet / The Train), as well as the children’s song בין הרים ובין סלעים  (Beyn horim uveyn slaim / Between Mountains and Rocks). Historian David Assaf’s blog עונג שבת Oyneg Shabes presents additional versions and a more detailed history of the story of the song (in Hebrew). 

The Rolnik poem has inspired two new musical compositions. The first is by the Pulitzer prize and Grammy winning modernist minimalist composer David Lang (“Bang on a Can”) entitled I Lie.

The second has been composed by UK-based Yiddish singer Polina Shepherd, and is here sung by Yana Ovrutskay:

Shepherd currently performs this song with the group “Sklamberg and the Shepherds” (also featuring Lorin Sklamberg of The Klezmatics and clarinetist Merlin Shepherd). Both Shepherd’s and Lang’s compositions  include the fourth verse of the original poem which is included in the Mlotek booklet but not sung in the folklorized versions.

From Chana and Joseph Mlotek’s Pearls of Yiddish Song:

 

“An ayznban a naye” Performed by David Shear

Notes by Itzik Gottesman

“An ayznban” was sung by David Shear of New York City and recorded by me in his apartment in 1989. Shear was born in Luboml (Libivne in Yiddish), Poland. He studied in Ostrovitz, near Keltz in a Navaradok Yeshiva in the 1930s. This was a musar yeshiva and if you are not familiar with that term, I recommend you read Chaim Grade’s novel The Yeshiva as well as other works by him. This kind of yeshiva emphasized ethics in an extreme way. That the yeshiva students there would sing “An ayznban” which is an adaptation of Elyokum Zunzer’s (1836-1913) song “Lid fun ayznban” (not to be confused with his song/poem “Der ayznban”) is not that surprising, since  Zunser’s poetry often mixed parable and Jewish ethics (for more on Zunser, see the previous song in this blog “A bayshpil” which is also by him).

Elyokum Zunser

You can find the original yiddish text in The Works of Elyokum Zunser, Volume One, edited by Mordkhe Schaechter, YIVO, 1964, pages 255-258. Shear obviously forgot a rhyme in the third verse. In the original the third verse reads:

Yetveder reltse iz a sekunde

Yetveder statsye, a yor.

Yeder kasarke iz glaykh tsu a shtunde.

A poyezd iz in gantsn a dor.

Every rail is a second.

Every station is a year.

Every kasarke (?) is like an hour.

A train is like a whole generation.

The only recording I know of the song is on “Selected Songs of Eliakum Zunser” sung by Nathanial Entin, Folkways 1963.

An ayznban a naye, iz di tsayt gevorn
velkhe firt pasazhirn, say orem, say raykh.
Loyft zen dem vinder, nor alts dos bizikurn.
Vayl dus iz a mushl antkegn aykh.

A railroad train a new one, has become the time,
which carries passengers, both poor and rich.
Run see this wonder, but all this in your mind.
Because this is a parable regarding you.

Mir zitsn do in di vagonen.
Der lokomotiv iz di tsayt.
Er firt mit zikh mentshn milyonen.
Un er loyft vi mit koyln un shtrayt.

We sit her in the traincars,
the locomotive is the time.
He carries millions of people,
And he runs as with coals, and struggles.

Yeder poyazd iz a sekunde
Yede statyse iz a dor
yede psheshatke iz a shtunde
Yeder poyezd iz a yor.

Every train is a second.
Every station is a generation.
Every platform is an hour.
Every train is a year.

Deym bilet vus di haltst in tash
dus iz dayn mazl, dayn rayze-plan.
Vi tsi furn, un vus far a klas.
Dus iz bashtimt fun Got – der direktor fun ban.

The ticket that you hold in your bag/wallet;
this is your fate, your travel-plan.
Your destination, and in which class,
This is determined by God – The Train Director.

Bay di vokzaln klingt men mit a glekl.
Di konduktorn shpringen arup.
Es loyfn pasazhirn yeder mit zayn pekl.
Fil kumen tsu, un fil kumen up.

At the train stations, they ring a bell.
The conductors jump off.
Passengers run, each with his baggage,
Many come aboard, many get off.

Un az men heyst arupgeyn, to ding zikh nisht.
Khotsh di bist nisht zeyer keyn alter man.
Dayn bilet iz oys, un di veynst imzist.
Azoy iz bashtimt fun Got – der direktor fun ban.

And if they tell you to get off, don’t negotiate,
Even though you are not a very old man.
Your ticket has expired, and your crying is for naught.
So has determined God – The Train Director.