Dremlender yingele / Dozing Boy Sung by Ita Taub. Recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Circle Lodge, Hopewell Junction, NY, 1987. Words by H. Leivick, music by Mikhl Gelbart.
Mikhl Gelbart (left) and H. Leivick (right)
Dremlinder yingele, yingele mayn, kukt nit tsu mir in di oygn arayn. Tifer in tifer in shlof grob zikh ayn. Dremlinder yingele, yingele mayn, Dremlinder yingele, yingele mayn.
Dozing boy, my boy, Don’t look me in the eyes. Deeper and deeper fall into your sleep, Dozing boy, my boy. Dozing boy, my boy.
Ikh bin geshtorbn un zey durkhn toyt vi du, gor mayn ershter, der letster fargeyt. Iz dir bashert gur der letster tsu zayn? Dremlinder yingele, yingele mayn, Dremlinder yingele, yingele mayn.
I died and see through death how you, though my first, is the last to go down. Are you really fated to be the last? [ in original poem: “Have you been sentenced (farmishpet) to be the last”] Dozing boy, my boy. Dozing boy, my boy.
COMMENTARY BY ITZIK GOTTESMAN
Ita Taub sings the first four verses of a seven verse poem written by the poet H. Leivick (Leyvik Halpern, 1888 – 1962). The complete poem “Dremlender yingele“ can be found in Leivick’s third volume of collected poetry “In Keynems land” (Warsaw, 1923). A scan of the poem is attached below.
I am not aware of any recording of Taub’s version with this melody of the poem. A version composed by the cantor Pinchos Jassinowsky was recorded by Sidor Belarsky on a 78rpm record. Sima Miller and Leon Lishner also recorded the song with Jassinowsky’s melody.
Chana and Yosl Mlotek in their folksong column in the Forverts newspaper “Leyner dermonen zikh lider”, June 3, 1987, print the words to the song and write that Mikhl Gelbart was the composer, not mentioning Jassinowsky. So it is fair to assume that Taub’s melody is the one to which they are referring, though I have yet to find it in Gelbart’s numerous publications.
You can hear the poet H. Leivick reciting the poem here:
Special thanks this week to Lorin Sklamberg and the YIVO Sound Archives and to Cantor Sharon Bernstein.
דרעמלנדערייִנגעלע
ווערטער: ה. לייוויק. מוזיק: מיכל געלבאַרט געזונגען פֿון איטע טאַוב .דרעמלנדער ייִנגעלע, ייִנגעלע מײַן .קוק ניט צו מיר אין די אויגן אַרײַן .טיפֿער און טיפֿער אין שלאָף גראָב זיך אײַן .דרעמלנדער ייִנגעלע, ייִנגעלע מײַן .דרעמלנדער ייִנגעלע, ייִנגעלע מײַן
Vi iz dus gesele? / Where is the street? A Holocaust adaptation written and sung by Malka and Josef Lubelsksi recorded by Abraham Lubelski, Bronx 1967
On the Lubelski family by Abraham Lubelski
Malka (Male, Molly, Minska) Lubelski (1920 – 1996) was born in Lodz, Poland. She and her husband, Laibish Holcman, left Lodz in 1939, as the Nazis were invading, and headed East to the Soviet Union. With them was Malka’s sister, Chana, and her brother, Yasha. They were attempting to find Malka’s uncle in Ukraine.
They were diverted by Soviet authorities to Siberia, ending up in the town of Magnitogorsk. Here their son, Abram [Abraham], was born. They were finally given permission in 1941 to travel to their uncle’s home in Ukraine, arriving in Kharkov just as the Nazis invaded. They never reached their uncle and he was never heard from again. Laibish Holcman disappeared in 1941, soon after joining to fight with the defending Soviet Army.
They left behind their mother, a younger sister Ruth (Rivka) and three younger brothers, Motel, Laibel and Avrom. Malka, Chana, Yasha and Rivka survived the Holocaust. Their mother, Nacha, was taken from the Lodz ghetto and never heard from again. The three younger brothers also did not survive; one died in the ghetto and the other two died after being transported to Auschwitz. The four surviving siblings were reunited in 1946 in the Displaced Persons camp. All emigrated with their new families to the US in ’49-’50.
From Siberia, Malka and her son traveled on to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where Malka met Josef Lubelski (1906 – 1972) originally from Kalisz, Poland. Malka’s siblings, Chana and Yasha, also were able to travel to Tashkent. From there they returned west at the war’s end, searching for surviving family, Malka, Josef and Abram eventually making their way to the DP camp in Berlin. They transferred and were reunited with Rivka in the Leipheim, Germany DP camp. In the camp, Josef established a troupe and directed an ensemble of friends and actors. Josef and Malka sang duets and performed Yiddish monologues and Shakespeare. They were legally married in the DP camp in 1948.
As their son (Abram) I remember sitting in the front row of the theater watching their vaudeville performances and dramas with awe. Josef did classic “retsitatsyes” [recitations] often dressed like Charlie Chaplin or as a Jewish peddler making the audience laugh as he magically pulled things out from his long black overcoat and tried to sell a chicken here, pots and pans there or a “valgerholts” [rolling pin] with which to beat husbands. They traveled to DP camps performing on week-ends and I cried if they left me behind so eventually they had me come along as the child actor in one or two Yiddish plays.
In 1950 they emigrated to the US. and performed their songs occassionaly at Workmen’s Circle gatherings. In 1967 I recorded Josef’s monologues and Molly and Josef singing duets. I remembered my mom sitting alone on the stage dressed in black mourning singing “Vu iz dos gesele,” “Tsen brider” and “Akhtszik er un zibetsik zi”, …. Never forgetting the warming spirit trying to revive the people around them.
More on the Lubelski family can be read in the two memoirs The Cage (1980) and To Life (2000) by Ruth Minsky Sender.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
Today’s post is the first of three songs performed by Molly and Josef Lubelski that we will post. We thought it particularly appropriate to post “Vi iz dus gesele” to mark Kristallnacht on Nov. 9th. Though these songs were recorded in 1967, two decades after the war, they still convey the emotional performance of the artists.
The Lubelskis sing a Holocaust themed adaptation of a popular song “Vu iz dos gesele”. Their son Abraham believes they created the text. I have not found it in collections of Holocaust Yiddish songs. The words and music to the original song can be found in the Mlotek collection Songs of Generations. There are also Ukrainian, Russian and Hebrew versions of the older song.
Here is a link to an orchestrated version of the original song “Vu iz dos gesele” sung by Jan Peerce:
TRANSLITERATION, TRANSLATION & TRANSCRIPTION Folksong with new words by Malka and Josef Lubelski
Vi iz dus gesele? Vi iz di shtib? Vi iz mayn mishpokhe, vus ikh hob azoy lib? Nishtu shoyn dus gesl, tsebrokhn di shtib farbrent mayn mishpokhe vus ikh hob azoy lib. Nishtu shoyn dus gesl, tsebrokhn di shtib, farbrent mayn mishpokhe vus ikh hob azoy lib.
Where is my street? Where is my house? Where is my family that I onced loved? The street is no more.The house is broken. Burned up is the family that I loved so much.
Vi zenen di zingendike, tantsndike kinder? Vi zenen zey ale atsinder? Tserisn, tseshtokn, tsetsoygn. Der mamen, der mamen, der mamen in di oygn. Tserisn, tseshtokn, tsetsoygn. Der mamen, der mamen, der mamen in di oygn.
Where are the singing, dancing children? Where are they now? Torn, stabbed and pulled apart in their mothers’, their mother’s eyes.
Vi iz di shil? mitn gildenem orn-koydesh? Der shabes, der yontif? rosh-khoydesh? Farbrent iz di shil, farbrent oykh di sforim; fun gantsn shtetl, geblibn iz bloyz kvorim. farbrent iz di shil, farbrent oykh di sforim, fun gantsn shtetl, geblibn iz bloyz kvorim.
Where is the synagogue with the golden Holy Ark? The sabbath? The holiday? The beginning of each month? The synagogue is burned down, as well as the holy books. Of the whole town, only graves remain.
Gekumen iz der tug far nekume far dem blut far yedern gesl, far yederer shtub. Ot iz der tug – azoy zet er oys. Ober der khezbn, der khesbn iz tsu groys. Ot iz der tug – azoy zet er oys. ober der khezhbn, der khesbn iz tsu groys.
The day for revenge has come for this blood, for every street, for every house. The day has come – this is how it looks. But the reckoning, the reckoning is too great.
געזונגען און באַאַרבעט פֿון מלכּה און יוסף לובעלסקי
רעקאָרדירט פֿון אַבֿרהם לובעלסקי, בראָנקס 1967
?וווּ איז דאָס געסעלע? וווּ איז די שטוב ?וווּ איז מײַן משפּחה, וואָס איך האָב אַזוי ליב ,נישטאָ שוין דאָס געסל, צעבראָכן די שטוב .פֿאַרברענט מײַן משפּחה וואָס איך האָב אַזוי ליב ,נישטאָ שוין דאָס געסל, צעבראָכן די שטוב .פֿאַרברענט מײַן משפּחה וואָס איך האָב אַזוי ליב
?וווּ זענען די זינגענדיקע, טאַנצנדיקע קינדער ?וווּ זענען זיי אַצינדער ,צעריסן, צעשטאָכן און צעצויגן .דער מאַמען, דער מאַמען, דער מאַמען אין די אויגן ,צעריסן, צעשטאָכן און צעצויגן .דער מאַמען, דער מאַמען, דער מאַמען אין די אויגן
?וווּ איז די שיל מיטן גילדענעם אָרון־קודש ?דער שבת? דער יום־טובֿ? ראש־חודש .פֿאַרברענט איז די שיל, פֿאַרברענט אויך די ספֿרים .פֿון גאַנצן שטעטל געבליבן בלויז קבֿרים
“Kivele” by Mordkhe Gebirtig, Sung by Jacob (Kobi) Weitzner Recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Warsaw, 2017
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
This week we honor the memory of Yiddish writer, playwright, scholar and journalist Jacob (Kobi) Weitzner (March 24, 1951 – September 20, 2018). His second yortsayt will be Sept. 29. 2020
Jacob (Kobi) Weitzner
I had known Kobi since the early 1980s in NYC and worked together with him for years at the Yiddish Forverts newspaper. On the Forverts radio hour, his comic imitations of Ariel Sharon and other Israeli leaders attracted a large following, particularly among the Hasidim in NY.
We last met in Warsaw in August 2017 and at that time, he asked me to identify this song that his mother sang to him as a child. The one verse he sang for me was from “Kivele” by Mordkhe Gebirtig. Someone along Kobi’s chain of performance changed the name from “Kivele” to “Yankele” (the name of a different, more well-known Gebirtig lullaby) and reduced an eight-line verse to four.
“Kivele” is not among the better known songs by Gebirtig and has only been recorded by a few singers – “The Bashevis Singers” of Australia, Barbara Suie, Mariejan van Oort among them. I could find only a couple of recordings in the 20th century: Max Reichart and Mascha Benya. Benya’s, version can be heard at this link.
I have attached the original words in Yiddish and music from a 1942 edition of Gebirtig’s songs Mayne lider, published by Arbeter-ring. Gebirtig’s text transliterated with German translation can be found at the Virtual Klezmer link.
Kobi Weitzner sings this one verse:
Shluf zhe man neshumele, mayn kleyn yingele, Hay-liu-liu-liu, shluf zhe mir. S’iz finem tatenyu gekimen a brivele, toyznter zise kishn shikt er dir.
Sleep my dear soul, my little boy Hay-liu-liu go to sleep. From your father a letter has arrived thousands of sweet kisses he sends you.
Yiddish Song of the Week 