“Gib a brukhe tsu dayn kind” Performed by Sara Rosen

Gib a brukhe tsu dayn kind / Give a Blessing to Your Child
A Holocaust song learned in the Bochnia ghetto, Poland. Sung by Sara Rosen, recorded by Itzik Gottesman, 1989, NYC.

Photo: Children in Bochnia

COMMENTARY BY ITZIK GOTTESMAN

This is a Holocaust song from the Bochnia ghetto sung by Sara Rosen. The author and composer of the song are unknown. Rosen learned this song in the Bochnia ghetto. For her biography see the previous post “Es dremlt in geto”. 

“Es dremlt in geto” Performed by Sara Rosen

 A post-Holocaust recording of this song can be listened to on the album  Remember the Children, 1991. Sung by Adrienne Cooper, #18 on the recording produced by the United States Holocaust Museum. 

Printed versions of this song, words and music, can be found in We Are Here/Mir zenen do (1983) compiled by Eleonor Mlotek and Malke Gottlieb. (scans attached – “Rosen/Mlotek) and in Shmerke Kaczerginsky’s Lider fun di getos un lagern: text 208 – 209; no music. (scans attached “Rosen/Katsh”). Mlotek and Gottlieb write that “This song was sung by the deported Jews of Cracow in Miedzrych Podlaska and in the Bochnia ghetto in 1941.”

Much of the last verse in my recording of Rosen is missing due to technical issues [approx.5:50 min – 6.00Min   I would advise any singers of this song to make up the gap with Katsherginski’s version, which he recorded from Meyer Lamer. מאיר לאמער 

The music of this song was used in the first Bobov Purim Shpil after the Holocaust produced in the United States. In an article by Moyshe Aftergut (translated by Shifre Epstein in the website “In Geveb”), Aftergut writes:

“The music of one song, “Mame, gib dayn brukhe tsu dayn kind (“Mother, Give a Blessing to Your Child”), best illustrates the role of music in creating the setting for the play. The song was written by an unknown composer and was sung by mothers in the ghettos during World War II as farewell songs to their children before they were taken away.” 

Thanks this week to Eliezer Niborski who edited my Yiddish text.

Spoken introduction to song by Sara Rosen, translated by Itzik Gottesman:

 “This ws already the year 1943. There were almost no Jews left in Poland. There were a few towns where the last ones were left in labor camps. And there were already concentration camps. I remember there was a girl Fela Shtern. She said she knows a song that a young boy wrote it; she doesn’t know who wrote it. And this is how the song spread around. And it was sung a lot because we already knew this is the fate that awaited us. 

There [Bochnia ghetto] where we were, maybe five families remained together. They took away a sister, they killed, led her away. There were also refugees who escaped from here and there. The original people from Bochia, even from the Bochni ghetto were very few because they were already deported. For first raid they said that young people will be taken to work. The parents forced them, even pulled the children to go. ‘You will live but we are old already.’ So almost the whole youth of Bochnia was “liquidated”, that’s what they called it. Bochnia was the town I was in. It  was a small town. The parents always hoped, waited for letters from the children, but they soon knew what happened.

This was a then a popular song that I have never heard. First of all there were very few people who survived. I never heard any one sing it. I wanted to sing it because it’s such a great song; not from a poetical, musical viewpoint, but it illustrates the situation how it was.

I have a good voice but today it’s rusty, but it’s not about my voice.

VERSE 1 PLUS REFRAIN

Ikh vil nisht mer nemen gor in akht.
vus ikh hob letstns mitgemakht.
Zayt ikh bin fin der haym avek,
di tunkle gedanken vus nemen kayn ek.
Di tribne teyg, der shverer veyg
zey roybn bay mir dus letste gefil.
Nor amul banakht, az kayner vakht
tsu man mamen in khulem vayn ikh shtil.

I don’t want to consider anymore 
what I suffered yesterday,
Since I have left my home
I have dark thoughts that are endless.
The gloomy days, the difficult way,
they steal away my final feeling.
But sometimes at night, when no one is awake
I cry to my mother in my dreams.

REFRAIN:

Oy mame, mame nokh atsind
gib a brukhe tsu dayn kind.
Az Got vet geybn, gezint mit leybn,
veln mir zeyen zikh geshvind.
Oh mama, mama, even now
give a blessing to your child.
As God will give, health and life,
we will soon meet again.

VERSE 2 PLUS REFRAIN

Gedenk ikh nokh, es iz damolst geveyn;
Der tug der letster herlekh un sheyn. 
In mayn mame, bay der kokh farnumen,
iz di shvester di klayne arayngekumen.
Ikh hob gehert nas [nayes] af der gas.
Az morgn vet a registratsye zayn.
Di yugnt gur, biz finf un draysik yur.
zol morgn fri far “arbaytsamy” ofshtayn. 

I remember still how it once was;
That day the last onem beautiful and nice
and my mother, busy cooking
when my younger sister entered,
I heard news on the street
that tomorrow there will be a registration.
For all those younger than 35 years
they will tomorrow wake up for the workers’ office.

Oy mame, mame blayb gezint,
Avek fin dir miz ikh atsind.
Az Got vet geybn, gezint mit leybn,
Veln mir zeyen zikh geshvind . 

Oy, mother, mother stay healthy,
I must now leave you.
If God will give health and life
we will see each other soon. 

VERSE 3 PLUS REFRAIN

Kom iz adorekh di kurtse nakht,
der tog der letster nemt shoyn di makht,
un mayn mame git zikh di mi
dus frishtik dus letste, greyt zi mir tsi.
Mir gisn aroys trern yamen
ale kinder fin ayn mamen.
Me kisht zikh tsuzamen
Di mame vaynt: Vi vel ikh mikh kenen shaydn fin aykh?

Oceans of tears are pouring from me.
All children from one mother.
We kiss each other, and mother cries
How will I separate from you all?

Oy mame, mame blab gezint, 
Avek fin dir miz ikh atsind.
Az Got vet geybn, gezint mit leybn, 
vel mir zeyen zikh geshvind.

Oy, mother, mother stay well.
I must now leave you.
If God will give health and life,
we will see each other soon.

[Beginning of Verse 4 sung by Rosen]

A ray khadoshim avek shoyn fin mir,
fin mayn mamen, fin mayn tatn vays ikh kayn shpur..
Mayne libe eltern hot der tayerer Got
farviglt, farpakt in a groysn [sod?]

[RECORDING IS ERASED FOR 15 SECONDS. What follows in bold face are four similar lines  from Katcherginski’s Collection to conclude the fourth verse]

Un ikh ze nisht mer mayn mames gezikht
vos ikh lib mit harts un gefil…
Nor a mul ba nakht, ven keyner vakht,
tsi mayn mamen in khulem vayn ikh shtil.

Translation of last verse:

(Rosen) 
My dear parents, did the great God
hide in heaven, in his great orchard.
I no longer see my mother’s face
that I love with my heart and emotion.
(Katsherginski’s text at this point)
But sometimes at night,
when no one is awake,
I cry quietly in my dreams 
to my mother:

LAST REFRAIN FROM ROSEN

Oy mame, mame blab gezint, 
Avek fin dir miz ikh atsind.
Az got vet geybn, gezint mit laybn, 
vel mir zeyn zikh geshvind.

Oy, mother, mother stay healthy.
I must now leave you
If God will give, health and life,
will we see each other again soon.

גיב אַ ברכה צו דײַן קינד
,געזונגען פֿון שרה ראָזען
געהערט אין בוכניער לאַגער, פּוילן
 
איך וויל נישט מער נעמען גאָר אין אַכט
.וואָס איך האָב לעצטנס מיטגעמאַכט
זײַט איך בין פֿון דער היים אַוועק
.די טונק’לע געדאַנקען וואָס נעמען קיין עק
די טריבנע טעג, דער שווערער וועג
זיי רויבן בײַ מיר דאָס לעצטע געפֿיל 
נאָר אַמאָל בײַ נאַכט, אַז קיינער וואַכט
.צו מײַן מאַמען אין חלום וויין איך שטיל

אוי מאַמע, מאַמע נאָך אַצינד
.גיב אַ ברכה צו דײַן קינד
אַז גאָט וועט געבן, געזונט מיט לעבן
.ווע’מיר זעען זיך געשווינד

;געדענק איך נאָך,עס איז דעמאָלטס געווען
דער טאָג דער לעצטער הערלעך און שיין
,און מײַן מאַמע, בײַ די קאָך פֿאַרנומען
.איז די שוועסטער די קליינע אַרײַנגעקומען
איך האָב געהערט נאַס [נײַעס] אויף דער גאַס
.אַז מאָרגן וועט אַ רעגיסטראַציע זײַן
די יוגנט גאָר ביז פֿינף און דרײַסיק יאָר
.זאָל מאָרגן פֿרי, פֿאַרן “אַרבײַטסאַמט” שטיין

,אוי מאַמע, מאַמע בלײַב געזונט
.אַוועק פֿון דיר מוז יאך אַצינד
.אַז גאָט וועט געבן, געזונט ון לעבן
.וועלן מיר זען זיך געשווינד

,קוים איז אַדורך די קורצע נאַכט
,דער טאָג דער לעצטער נעמט שוין די מאַכט
און מײַן מאַמע גיט זיך די מי
.דאָס פֿרישטיק, דאָס לעצטע, גרייט זי מיר צו
,מיר גיסן אַרויס טרערן ימען
.אַלע קינדער פֿון איין מאַמען
מע קושט זיך צוזאַמען

?די מאַמע וויינט: ווי וועל איך מיך קענען שיידן פֿון אײַך

,אוי, מאַמע, מאַמע בלײַב געזונט
.אַוועק פֿון דיר מוז איך אַצינד
,אַז גאָט ווען געבן, געזזונט און לעבן
.וועלן מיר זען זיך געשווינד

[אָנהייב פֿון דער פֿערטער סטראָפֿע געזונגען פֿון ראָזען]

.אַ ריי חדשים אַוועק שוין פֿון מיר
.פֿון מײַן מאַמען, פֿון מײַן טאַטן ווייס איך קיין  שפּור
מײַנע ליבע עלטערן האָט דער טײַערער גאָט
?פֿאַרוויגלט, פֿאַרפּאַקט אין אַ גרויסן…[סאָד]

די רעקאָרדירונג איז פֿאַר פֿופֿצן סעקונדעס אויסגעמעקט געוואָרן. בײַ דער קאַטשערגינסקי־זאַמלונג שטייט וויטער אַזוי 

און איך זע נישט מער מײַן מאַמעס געזיכט
.וואָס איך ליב מיט האַרץ און געפֿיל
,נאָר אַ מאָל בײַ נאַכט, ווען קיינער וואַכט
.צו מײַן מאַמען אין חלום וויין איך שטיל

:ראָזענס טעקסט נאָך דעם 

,אוי, מאַמע, מאַמע בלײַב געזונט
.אַוועק פֿון דיר מוז איך אַצינד
,אַז גאָט ווען געבן, געזונט און לעבן
.וועלן מיר זען זיך געשווינד

From Shmerke Kaczerginsky’s Lider fun di getos un lagern (Songs from the Ghettos and Camps, New York, 1948), pp. 208-209:

• 

• 

From We Are Here/Mir zenen do, compiled by Eleonor Mlotek and Malke Gottlieb (Workmen’s Circle, New York, 1968), p. 18:

mlotekgibDownload

“Es dremlt in geto” Performed by Sara Rosen

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. 

………   [ עס דרעמלט אין געטאָ]

מיר זענען פֿאַרריגלט
.מיט דראָט און מיט קרײַד
,איך האָב אַ שטעטעלע
.ס’איז אַזוי שיין
,ווען איך דערמאַן זיך
.עס בענקט זיך אַהיים

,לבֿנה, לבֿנה
?וואָס קוקסטו מיך אָן
,אַז איך בין הונגעריק
.דאָס גייט דיך נישט אָן
,איך האָב אַ שטעטעלע
.ס’איז אַזוי שיין
,ווען איך דערמאַן זיך
.עס בענקט זיך אַהיים

,אַז מע’ט קומען פֿון דער אַרבעט
,הונגעריק און מיד
,ערוואַרט אונדז דאָס עסן
.קאַרטאָפֿל מיט גריס
,איך האָב אַ שטעטעלע
.ס’איז אַזוי שיין
,ווען איך דערמאַן זיך
.עס בענקט זיך אַהיים

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.

Ruth Rubin sings a version of this prison song in YIVO’s Ruth Rubin Archive.

Es dremlt in geto

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:

• 

• 

“Bay indz azoy fil kodres grine”, a Doina Performed by Anna Esther Steinbaum

Bay indz azoy fil kodres grine (“Doina”)
A Romanian poem adapted into a Yiddish song.
Sung by Anna Esther Steinbaum, recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Jerusalem 1997.

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

The singer, Anna Esther Steinbaum (also known as Anna Rauchwerger Steinbaum), was from Chernovitz, Romania, and was active in the Yiddish cultural life there before the war. After the war, in Israel, she remained close to the Chernovitz intellectuals and translated Itzik Manger’s ballads into German.

Romania’s Mureș River

What makes this week’s song extraordinary is that though the text was written by an anti-Semitic, ultra-nationalist Romanian poet, whose politics were well known, a Yiddish poet found his poetry moving enough to adapt into a Yiddish song.

I met with her several times in 1997-98 in her apartment in Jerusalem. At this particular meeting my mother Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman was also present and occasionally can be heard as Steinbaum sings. Steinbaum found this song in a written notebook she had kept where she wrote down the songs she remembered. 

In her notebook the song is entitled “Doina” but it is  an adaptation of a Romanian poem “Noi” [“We”]  by Octavian Goga (1881 – 1938), a virulent fascist Romanian nationalist and anti-Semite, who was briefly the Romanian Prime Minister in 1938, when he stripped the Jews of their Romanian citizenship  

The Yiddish reworking of the song was done, according to Steinbaum, by the Romanian Yiddish writer Herts Rivkin, the author of the song “Nakhtishe lider” previously posted on the Yiddish Song of the Week. 

Here is a link to the longer original poem by Goga recited in Romanian with an English translation. 

Bay indz azoy fil kodres grine 

A Romanian poem by Octavian Goga, adapted in Yiddish by Hertz Rivkin. 

Bay indz azoy fil kodres grine [kodres=codri ]וועלדער 
velder fil mit korn. 
Bay undz azoy fil blumen, lider,
in shtiblekh fil mit tsorn. 

We have so mayn green woods,
forests full of rye.
We have so many flowers, songs,
in homes that are full of rage.

Kimen feygelekh fin vaytn
indzer doina hern. 
Bay indz azoy fil shmeterlingen
in taykhn trern, trern.

Birds come to us from afar
to hear our doina.
We have so many butterflies
in rivers of tears, tears.

Umet flist in shtiln muresh [Murăşul = Romanian river]
troyer rint in ovnt.
Es dertseylt fin indzer benkshaft
yeyder boym in vald.

Sadness flows quietly into the Murasul river;
Sadness runs in the evening.
Our longing is told by
every tree in the forest.

Zitsn mames gantse nekht,
shpinen layvnt, veybn. 
Tates, mames in oykh zin 
baveynen dus zeyer leybn.

Mothers stay up all night
spinning linen, weaving. 
Fathers, mother and sons too
lament their lives. 

Benkt zikh indz azoy nukh freyd.
Der vald iz undzer eydes.
Oysgevaremt hot di benkshaft
zeydes, elter-zeydes.

We yearn so for joy;
the woods are our witness.
This yearing was hatched 
by our grandfathers and their fathers. 

Un biz haynt iz ot der khulem
mekiyem nisht gevorn:
felder oysgebet mit veyts
shtiblekh fil mit tsorn. 

And till today this dream has
not been realized:
fields covered with wheat,
homes full of rage.

בײַ אונדז אַזוי פֿיל קאָדרעס גרינע
אַ רומעניש ליד פֿון אָקטאַוויאַן גאָגאַ
באַאַרבעט אויף ייִדיש פֿון הערץ ריווקין
געזונגען פֿון אַנאַ אסתּר שטיינבאַום

,בײַ אונדז אַזוי פֿיל קאָדרעס גרינע
.וועלדער פֿיל מיט קאָרן
,בײַי אונדז אַזוי פֿיל בלומען, לידער
.אין שטיבלעך פֿיל מיט צאָרן

זיצן מאַמעס גאנצע נעכט
.שפּינען לײַוונט, וועבן
טאַטעס, מאַמעס און אויך זין
.באַוויינען דאָס זייער לעבן

קומען פֿייגעלעך פֿון ווײַטן
.אונדזער דוינע הערן
בײַ אונדז אַזוי פֿיל שמעטערלינגען
.אין טײַכן טרערן, טרערן

אומעט פֿליסט אין שטילן מורעש
טרויער רינט אין אָוונט
עס דערציילט פֿון אונדזער בענקשאַפֿט
יעדער בוים אין וואַלד

.בענקט זיך אונדז אַזוי נאָך פֿרייד
.דער וואַלד איז אונדזער עדות
אויסגעוואַרעמט האָט די בענקשאפֿט
.זיידעס, עלטער־זיידעס

און ביז הײַנט איז אָט דער חלום 
.מקוים נישט געוואָרן
,פֿעלדער, אויסגעבעט מיט ווייץ
.שטיבלעך פֿול מיט צאָרן

“Erev-yon-kiper far der nakht”: A Yiddish Murder Ballad Performed by Yetta Seidman

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.

TRANSCRIPTION

ערבֿ־יום־כּיפּור פֿאַר דער נאַכט
.ווען אַלע מענטשן טוען עסן גיין
.ווען אַלע מענטשן טוען עסן גיין
גייט אַ פֿרײַלין פֿון דער אַרבעט
.און דער געליבטער אַנטקעגן איר

,ווי ער האָט איר דעזען
.אַזוי איז דער אָ געבליבן שטיין
,אַצינד, אַצינד מײַן טײַער זיס לעבן„
“דו זאָלסט מיר זאָגן יאָ צי ניין

,יאָ צי ניין וועל איך דיר זאָגן„
.אַז מײַנע עלטערן שטערן מיר
.מײַנע עלטערן שטערן מיר
,מײַנע עטלערן טוען מיר שטערן
“.אַז איך זאָל פֿאַר דיר קיין כּלה ניט ווערן

,ווי ער האָט דאָס דערהערט
.אַזוי האָט עס אים פֿאַרדראָסן
אַרויסגענעמען האָט ער אײַן [אַ] רעוואָלווער 
.און האָט דבֿורהלען געשאָסן

ווי ער האָט איר געשאָסן
.אַזוי האָט ער זיך דערשראָקן
אויסגעדרייט האָט ער דעם רעוואָלווער
.און האָט זיך אַליין געשאָסן

“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).

Three Yiddish Songs to the tune of the Italian pop classic “Return to Sorrento”

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

In this posting, we examine three Yiddish Songs set to the tune of the Italian pop classic Return to Sorrento:

1) Fil gelitn hob ikh miter sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman, recorded in 1954 by
Leybl Kahn
2) Sheyn iz Reyzele dem sheykhets sung by Reyzl Stalnicovitz, and recorded by Itzik Gottesman in Mexico City, 1988.
3) Sore-Yente a song found in Meyer Noy’s collection at the National Library in Jerusalem, and performed by Sharon Bernstein, piano and vocal, and Willy Schwarz on accordion, Florence, Italy 2001.

This week we highlight three Yiddish songs that use the melody of an Italian pop classic Torna a Surriento (Return to Sorrento) music by Ernesto De Curtis (1875 – 1937), copyright 1905. The original lyrics were by his cousin Giambattista De Curtis. Here is a Dean Martin recording of the Italian song which we chose because it has a translation of the Italian lyrics (click here to listen).

There are even more Yiddish songs that use this melody, among them: in 1933 after the murder of Haim Arlosoroff in Tel-Aviv, a song was composed to this melody and a song sheet was published (A tragisher mord in Tel-Aviv/A Tragic Death in Tel Aviv). A song about the Polish Jewish strongman Zishe Breitbard (1883 – 1925) also uses a version of the melody (see Mlotek, Songs of the Generations, page 147-148 ).

Thanks this week to Aida Stalnicovitz Vda Fridman and Sharon Bernstein.

1) Fil gelitn hob ikh miter (I Have Suffered Much Mother) 
Performance by Lifshe Schaechter Widman, recorded in 1954 by Leybl Kahn in NYC.

Lifshe introduces the song by saying “S’iz a lidl vus me hot gezingen in der ershter milkhume (It’s a song that was sung in the First World War).” The four verses are entirely in the mother’s voice, apparently addressed to her mother, as indicated in the first line.

TRANSLITERATION
Fil gelitn hob ikh miter
bay der as[ent]irung fun mayn kind.
Gearbet hob ikh shver in biter
Far vus lad ikh nokh atsind.?

Iz mayn zin nokh mayn nekhome
Vi iz er fin mir avek?
Afarshundn iz er in der milkhume.
Un a seykhl in un a tsvek.

Ziser Got ikh beyt ba dir
loz mikh nokh a nes gesheyn.
Eyder eykh vel shtarbn
Vil eykh mayn kind nokh eyn mol zeyn.

Dentsmult vel ikh riyik shtarbn.
Got tsi dir keyn tanes hubn.
Loz mayn kind khotsh eyn mul mir
nokh, “mamenyu” zugn.

TRANSLATION
Much have I suffered mother,
from the drafting of my child.
I worked hard and bitter.
Why do I still suffer?

My son is still my comfort
Where did he go and leave me?
Disappeared into the war,
for no logic, for no reason,

Dear God I pray to you
May another miracle take place.
Before I die,
I want to see my son once more.

Then I would calmly die
God, have no complaints to you..
Let my child say to me –
just once more “my mother dear”.

2) Sheyn iz Reyzele dem sheykhets (Beautiful is Reyzele, the Shokhet’s Daughter)
Performance by Reyzl Stalnicovitz, recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Mexico City, 1988.

Reyzl Stalnicovitz, photo by Itzik Gottesman

Reyzl Stalnicovitz was born in 1935 in Xalapa, district of Vera Cruz, Mexico. She was a teacher at the I. L. Peretz shul (“Di naye yidishe shul”) in Mexico City, and passed away in  1996.

Of the three songs presented in this post, this song was by far the most popular and has been printed in several collections and can be found in the field recordings of Ben Stonehill, Sarah Benjamin and at the National Library in Israel. As for commercial recordings: Lea Szlanger sings it on her CD Lea Szlanger In Song.

The text was originally a thirteen verse poem by Zusman Segalovitch (1884 – 1949) that first appeared in the periodical Der shtrahl, Volume one, #2 Warsaw, 1910 (see below). There it was titled Dem shoykhets tokhter: balade (The shoykhet’s daughter: ballad) followed by the inscription – Dos hobn kinder in shtetl dertseylt (This Was Told by Children in Town).

The plot – Reyzl wants to marry Motl but the father, a shoykhet (kosher slaughterer) boils with anger as she combs her hair because she refuses the match he made. He then cuts her golden locks. Then it gets “weird”: she swims into the Vistula (Yiddish = Vaysl) river and builds a little shelter for herself along the bank until her hair locks grow again.
Stalnicovch sings four verses. This ballad was almost always shortened when sung. For example in the Arbeter Ring’s extremely popular songbook Lomir zingen (1939, NY), only five verses are printed (that scanned version, words and music, are attached below).

TRANSCRIPTION
Sheyn iz Reyzele dem sheykhets.
Zi hot a yunge harts on zorgn.
Zi tants un freyt zikh mit ir lebn.
Vi a shvalb mitn frimorgn.

Es bakheynen ir di oygn
Es bakreynen ir di lokn.
Un a shtoltse iz zi shtendik.
Zi vet far keynem zikh nit beygn.

Un ir tate iz a frumer
un dertsu a groyser kaysn.
Ven di tokhter kemt di lokn
Heybt er on di lipn baysn .

Un der tate veyst nokh gornisht
Vos in shtetl veysn ale:
Az Reyzl hot shoyn a khosn.
Un me ruft ir Motls kale.

TRANSLATION
Beautiful is the shoykhet’s daughter Reyzl
She has a young heart with no worries.
She dances and is joyful with her life
as a swallow is with the morning.

Her eyes make her pretty
Her locks are a crown on her;
And she is always proud.
She will bow for no one.

Her father is religious
and also quick to anger.
When he combs her locks,
he starts to bite his lips.

And her father doesn’t know anything
what everyone knows in town:
that Reyzl has a groom,
and they call her Motl’s bride.

Spoken (transliteration):
Dos iz vos ikh gedenk. Ober di mame flegt mir dertseyln az s’iz geven epes a gantse tragedye, vayl der tate hot nisht gevolt az zi zol khasene hobn. Vayl er iz geven a sotsyalist, a yingl, un er iz geven a frumer yid. Er hot gevolt zi zol khasene hobn mit a yeshiva bokher. Un zi’s antlofn mitn bokher.

Spoken (translation):
That’s what I remember. But the mother used to tell me that it was a whole tragedy because the father did not want her to get married. Because he (the groom) was a socialist boy and he (the father) wanted him to marry a Yeshiva student. And she ran away with the boy.

3) Sore-Yente
Performance by Cantor Sharon Bernstein, Florence, 2001 (accompanied by Willy Schwarz on accordion)

The third song that uses the melody of Sorrienta is Sore-Yente – a word play on the original Italian title. This was collected by Meir Noy in Israel in 1962 from Shmuel Ben-Zorekh, who learned it from an immigrant from Minsk. A scan of Meir Noy’s original notation, words and music are attached below.

TRANSLITERATION
Mit a nign fun akdomes
shteyt baym fentster Yosl-Monish,
Far der sheyner Sore-Yente
Zingt er dort tsu ir a lid:

Kum tsu mir mayn sheynes benken,
Eybik vel ikh dikh gedenken.
Kh’vel mayn lebn far dir shenken.
Vayl ikh bin in dir farlibt.

Azoy lang iz er geshtanen
vi der groyser pipernoter
un zi hert im vi der koter
un geyt derbay af gikh avek.

TRANSLATION
With a melody from Akdometh
stands at the window Yosl-Monish
For the beautiful Sore-Yente
there, he sings this song:

Come to me my longed for beauty
I will long for you eternally.
I will give you my life
For I am in love with you.

He stood there for so long
like a giant dragon.
She totally ignores him
And walks quickly by him.

Sheyn iz Reyzele dem sheykhets (Beautiful is Reyzele, the Shokhet’s Daughter) by Zusman Segalovitch (1884 – 1949) in the periodical Der shtrahl, Volume one, #2 Warsaw, 1910:

Sheyn iz Reyzele dem sheykhets (Beautiful is Reyzele, the Shokhet’s Daughter) from the Arbeter Ring’s songbook Lomir zingen (1939, NY):

Sore-Yente in Meir Noy’s Notebook:

“Ikh zits mir bay der arbet” Performed by Leah (Lillian) Kolko

“Ikh zits mir bay der arbet” / I Sit at My Work
Sung by Leah (Lillian) Kolko. Recorded at Camp Boiberik by Beyle Gottesman.

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman.

Leah (Lillian) Kolko was from Slonim, Belarus. Her maiden name was Zadikow. She was the wife of Fishl (Philip) Kolko who was for many years the Jewish culture teacher at Camp Boiberik, near Rhinebeck, NY. According to biographies of their son, the historian Gabriel Kolko, Leah was a teacher.

Leah Kolko at Camp Boiberik, 1975
(photo by Ed Kaufmann)

In this recording, summer 1974, Kolko says that all the songs she sang she had learned in America. She learned “Ikh zits mir bay der arbet un ikh arbet” from a friend in Detroit named Zemel. In the Ruth Rubin Archives at YIVO, the singer Harry Ary sings an almost identical version.

Thanks to Ed Kaufman for the photo.

TRANSLITERATION

Ikh zits mir bay der arbet un ikh arbet
un fun mayne tsores veyst dokh keyner nit.
Nor eyn padruge flegt mir shtendik zogn
Vos zhe geystu oys azoy vi a likht?

Kh’ob zikh ayngelibt in a yingele tsum shtarbn.
Di tshakhotke mame hot er mir gemakht.
Kh’ob zikh ayngelibt in a yingele tsum shtarbn.
Un tsum sof hot er zikh, mame, oysgelakht. 

TRANSLATION

I sit at my work and I work.
No one knows of my troubles.
But one girlfriend used to say to me:
“Why are you expiring like a candle?”

I have fallen in love with a boy, I would die for.
He has driven me wild. [Literally – he has given me consumption]
I have fallen in love with a boy, I would die for.
And it turns out he was making fun of me.

“Khanele mayn lebn” Performed by Norman Salsitz

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

This  week’s song was contributed by Bret Werb, Music Collection Curator at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Wurb interviewed and recorded Norman Salsitz singing in New Jersey in 2002 Khanele mayn lebn. The recording is provided courtesy of the USHMM Archives and used with permission.

As Mr. Salsitz explains in the introduction in English, the well-know songwriter Nokhem Shternheim, who was from the Polish Galician town of  Rzeszow ( Rayshe in Yiddish) often visited and stayed with them in Kolbuszowa (Kolbushov in Yiddish). Mr. Salsitz believed that Sternheim composed this song for Salsitz’s sister, but it turns out to be a Mordkhe Gebirtig song “Khanele un Nokheml” that has been recorded by Chava Alberstein and Mike Burstein. Thanks to singer/collector Leo Summergrad who follows this blog for pointing out the correct composer.

Mordkhe Gebertig

For more information on Shternheim – 1879    – 1942 – and a collection of his songs see “Hobn Mir a Nigundl: We have a little tune: The Songs of the Yiddish Troubadour Nokhem Shternheim” edited by Gila Flam and Dov Noy, Jerusalem 2000. In any case it is interesting that Sternheim, apparently, sang songs by Gebirtig.  There are added lines in Salsitz’s version that refer to her mother and father that do not appear in the printed Gebirtig version. Did Sternheim compose those?

Nokhem Shternheim

The part B of the melody is the same as the part B of the song “Moyd fun Gas” (Girl of the Streets)    written by Shloyme Prizament and can be found in his collection Broder zinger, Buenos-Aires, 1960.    Arkady Gendler and “The gonifs” (singer Jeanette Lewicky) both recorded a version of “Moyd fun gas”.

The English transcription and translation of the song follows the singer’s version and dialect. We are attaching Gebirtig’s words in Yiddish and music as they appear in the book “Mordkhe Gebirtig zingt”, IKUF, 1963

Khanele mayn lebn

Sung by Norman Salsitz, recorded in New Jersey, 2002, by Bret Werb.

Khanele mayn leybn, Khanele di man,
Ikh vil di zolst mir geybn
Dus reytsl tsu farshteyn (faryshtayn)

Ven di kimst af mayne zinen,
Meygn royshn di mashinen,
Un dus biglayzn vern kalt.

Hob ikh azoy lib in gern,
Shuen lang fin dir tsu klern.
Un tsu zen far mir dayn tayer lib geshtalt.

Numkheml mayn leybn,
Nukheml di mayn.
Ikh vil dir bald geybn dus reytsl tsu farshteyn.

Dos bavayst di host mikh gern.
Dokh _____[?} tsu klern.
Es vet kayn toyve zayn far mir.

Vayter nemen kh’vel dayne zinin.
Vest koym af broyt fardinen.
Un ikh vel hingern bay dir.

Khanele mayn leybn, khanele du mayn.
Vos iz dos far an entfer?
Ikh ken dikh nisht farshteyn.

Ikh red fun libe. In mitn drinen
kimste veygn broyt fardinen
Hot a libe shaykhes den mit broyt?

Ikh vays ven me libt a khusn
miz men af a mol zan entshlosn
tsi di greste oremkayt un noyt.

Nukheml, mayn leybn, Nukheml di mayn.
Aza hayse libe
ken ikh nisht farshteyn.

Ikh hob gehert fin mayn mamen ,
Mit di greste libeflamen
Hot der tate zi amol gelibt.

Dokh ven zay hobn noyt gelitn.
hobn zey zikh arimgeshlitn,
Tsi iz den aza libe nisht batribt?

Khanele mayn leybn, Khanele di mayn.
Vuz iz dus far an entfer?
Ikh ken dikh nisht farshteyn.

Tsi hosti libe shlekht farshtanen.
Dus hot kayn shaykhes mit dayn mamen.
Nor di host moyre far dem noyt.

Vil ikh koyfn tsvey mashinen,
Di vest helfn af broyt fardinen
Un farzikhert vet zan indzer broyt.

Nukheml mayn leybn, nukheml di mayn
Di host dikh yetst bakimen,
Ikh ken dikh shoyn farshteyn.

Di vest dort nisht bay mir oysfirn,
Ikh vel zikh nisht bay dir unrirn.
Shoyn genig geplugt zikh in genay.

Ikh vil fastriges mer nisht tsien,
Yungerhayt zikh nisht farblien,
Ikh vil lebn uin genisn fray.

Khanele mayn lebn, khanele di mayn.
Di host nokh azelkhe taynes,
Vus vet nokh shpeyter zayn?

Gelt, nukh gelt ,vesti bagern.
Mir dus leybn tsi fartsern
ven fardin ikh vel nisht azoy fil.

Du a het [?], un du af klayder,
In bin ikh dokh nor a shnayder.
Ikh zey s’vet zan a troyerike shpil.

Nukheml mayn leybn, Nukheml di mayn.
Di bist geveyn mayn khusn,
mayn man vesti nisht zan.

Khanele my dear, my Khanele
I want you to
explain this riddle for me.

When you come into my head
the machines may whirl,
and the pressing iron can get cold.

I so love and am so glad
to think about you for hours
and to see before me your dear, lovely self.

Nokheml my dear, my Nokheml,
I will soon
explain this riddle to you.

This shows how you are fond of me,
yet ___ to think of me.
It will not be doing me any favors.

If I further take your purpose –
you will barely earn enough for bread
and I will go hungry with you.

Khanele my dear, my Khanele,
what kind of answer is that?
I cannot understand you.

I speak of love and out of nowhere
you speak of earning enough for bread.
What does love have to do with bread?

I know that when you love a fiance
You must once and for all commit yourself in spite of
the greatest poverty and hardship.

Nokheml my dear, my Nokheml
such passionate love
I cannot understand.

I heard tell from my mom:
with the greatest flames of love
did my father once love her.

Yet when they suffered hardship
they went from place to place [literally: sledded around]
Is not such a love a troubled one?

Khanele my dear, my Khanele
What kind of answer is this?
I don’t understand you.

Perhaps you have misunderstood love?
This has no connection to your mother.
But you are fearful of such poverty.

So I want to buy two [sewing] machines
so you will help earn our bread,
and thus ensured will be our income.

Nokheml my dear, my Nokheml.
You have made yourself clear.
I now understand you.

You won’t get me to do what you want,
and I won’t be touched by you
I’ve suffered enough by sewing.

I won’t sew any more basting stitches
and wilt away in my youth.
I want to live and enjoy freely.

Khanele my love, my Khanele.
You have such complaints,
what will be later?

Money, and more money is what you crave,
and you’ll devour me
when I don’t earn so much.

Here for a hat [?] and here for clothes,
but I am only just a tailor.
I see this will be a sad game.

Nokheml my dear, my Nokheml
I was indeed engaged to you
but you will not be my husband.

“Khavele iz fun der arbet gegangen” performed by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman

Notes by Itzik Gottesman

Khavele iz fun der arbet gegangen is a folklorized version of the labor/worker‘s song Brider, mir hobn geshlosn by Khaim Alexandrov (1869 – 1909). Molly and Bob Freedman‘s on-line catalogue lists two recorded versions of this song; one can be found on the LP Yiddish Songs of Work and Struggle produced by the Jewish Students Bund (1970s) and on the two cassette field recording of the singer Sarah Benjamin that Dr. Sheldon Benjamin produced in 1984 (cassette two). This week I offer a third version, a field recording by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman, recorded by Leybl Kahn in New York in 1954.

Information on this song can be found in Joseph and Chana Mlotek‘s book Perl fun der yidisher poezye pp. 515-517. The original title, as it was published in the newspaper Arbeter [published in Vilna?] Oct. 8th, 1904, was Khaverim in kamf and consists of versions of the three verses that LSW sings. Sarah Benjamin prefaces her performance by saying that it was a Zionist song.

Clearly LSW‘s recollection that she heard this when she was 5 or 6 years old (she was born in 1893) does not jibe with the information we have on the song. However her memory that it had to do with a strike in Galicia does match up with the folklorist Shmuel-Zanvil Pipe‘s comment which we find in Pipe‘s letter (from Vilna) to his folklorist/mentor I. L. Cahan in NY, Dec. 1936. The version Pipe collected begins with „Khanele iz fun der arbet gegangen‟ and has 5 verses.

Pipe writes – „This song was created in Drohobych (Yiddish- Drubitsh, then Galicia, today Western Ukraine) during the bloody elections for the Austrian parliament, March 30th, 1911. Fayershtein, a leading figure in Drohobitsh, was campaigning for Levenshteyn to be elected. The authorities intentionally provided only a narrow voting space, and only 60 people received permission to vote. The place became packed and tense and an order was given to fire a salvo – 26 died and 55 were wounded. „ Pipe further writes that he is doubtful that the song is a folksong, and thinks it probably „has a father‟. Cahan, Shtudyes vegn yidisher folksshafung, YIVO, 1953 pp. 345-346.

So I surmise from this that a Galician/Bukovina variant developed from Alexandrov‘s earlier version, beginning with the line „Khanele/Khavele iz fun der arbet…‟  Sarah Benjamin‘s Litvish version is predictably closer related to the older version.

In lectures, I sometimes play LSW‘s performance of this song and contrast it with the LP version sung by the Youth Bund chorus. The chorus sings it with a marching rhythm, and I am sure that‘s it how it is sung, perhaps even today, at Jewish socialist gatherings. When LSW sings the same song, only a hint of the march remains, and she interprets the song more in the style of an old ballad, with an emotional build-up leading up to the last two lines.

Introduction spoken by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman (LSW);
interviewer Leyb Kahn (LK).

LSW: S’iz geven in Galitsye vi s’iz du naft
This happened in Galitsye, where there was oil.

LK: In voser shtot iz dos geven?
In what town did this happen?

LSW: Mistame Yaruslav, lebn Pshemesh.
Iz gegangen a meydl, imshildik, un zi iz geteyt gevorn. S’iz du a lid fin ir.
Probably Yaruslav, near Pshemesh, and she was killed. There’s a song about her.

LK: Ven hot ir dus gehert?
When did you hear this?

LSW: Ikh bin geveyn a kind, efsher 5 yor, si’z geven mit 50, 55 yur fleg me dus zingen.
I was a child, maybe 5 years old; this was 50, 55 years ago when it was sung.

Khavele iz fin der arbayt gegangen.
Zi hot dokh fun gurnisht gevisht.
Iz aroys a falsh komande
Un m’hot af Khavelen geshist.

Khavele went to work.
She was totally unaware.
A false command was given,
And they shot at Khavele.

Khavele iz geleygn a toyte,
di eygelekh tsigemakht.
M’hot zi tsigedekt mit der fun, der royter,
A korbn funem strayk hot zi gebrakht.

Khavele is lying dead,
her eyes closed.
She was covered with the red flag:
She became a victim of the strike.

Az se treft dikh a koyl mayn getraye,
Fin dem soyne, dem hint,
Dan trug ikh dikh af mayne hent fun dem fayer.
Un ikh heyl dir mit kish dayne vind.

If you are hit by a bullet, my dear one,
by the enemy, that dog.
Then I will carry you on my arms away from the fire,
and heal with my kisses your wounds.

חווהלע איז פֿון דער אַרבעט געגאַנגען,
זי האָט פֿון גאָרנישט געוווּסט.
איז אַרויס אַ פֿאַלש קאָמאַנדע,
און מ’האָט אויף חווהלען געשיסט

חווהלע איז געלעגן אַ טויטע,
די אייגעלעך צוגעמאַכט.
מ’האָט זי צוגעדעקט מיט דער פֿאָן דער רויטער;
אַ קרבן פֿונעם סטרײַק האָט זי געבראַכט

אַז סע טרעפֿט דיר אַ קויל, מײַן געטרײַע,
פֿון דעם שׂונה, דעם הונט,
דאַן טראָג איך דיך אויף מײַנע הענט פֿונעם פֿײַער,
און הייל דיר מיט קיש דײַנע וווּנד