There is no separate Torah reading for this week. Sections of the Torah that have previously been read or that will be read, that are appropriate to Peysekh are read. The Torah reading starts with Beshalakh and describes the Jews leaving Egypt. In the midst of all the chaos of the exodus Moyshe Rabeynu remembers that Joseph’s dying wish was that his bones be brought to rest in the land of his forefathers.
Exodus 13: 19And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying: ‘God will surely remember you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.’
י”ג 19 און משה האָט מיטגענומען מיט זיך די בײנער פֿון יוֹספן; װאָרום באַשװערן האָט ער באַשװאָרן די קינדער פֿון ישׂראל, אַזױ צו זאָגן: דערמאָנען װעט זיך גאָט דערמאָנען אָן אײַך; זאָלט איר אױפֿברענגען מײַנע בײנער פֿון דאַנען מיט אײַך.
For a biography of Avrom Sutzkever in English and Yiddish, see weeks 13 and 9.
די בײנער פֿון יוספֿן
„דורך דאַנען האָט משה געטראָגן די בײנער
פון יוספֿן — ביז צו די הײמשפּיצן בלאָע“.
צעװײנט זיך דאָס האַרץ: ניט באַװיזן אַלײן נאָר
מקײם צו זײַן האָט מײַן דור אַ צװאָה.
“Here is where Moses carried the bones
Of Joseph—to home’s blue ridge.”
My heart weeps: my generation did not
Fulfill a will, restore a bridge.*
The bones of Joseph, still warm embers,
Left behind in dead cities, abandoned layers.
And with them—the eternal light of the language.
Came here naked, without grandma’s prayers …
The bones of Joseph, here, under sand,
The bones of Joseph there, under Poland —
They don’t know each other, act like strangers,
And cut like knives, and glow like coals. Tr. Benjamin and Barbara Harshav, A. Sutzkever: Selected Poetry and Prose
*There is no “bridge” in the Yiddish. This might better be understood as “Fulfill a dying request.”
di beyner fun Yoysefn
"durkh danen hot Moyshe getrogn di beyner
fun Yoysefn --- biz tsu di heymshpitsn bloe''.
tseveynt zikh dos harts: nit bavizn aleyn nor
mekayem tsu zayn hot mayn dor a tsavoe.
di beyner fun Yoysefn, halb nit-derloshn,
gelozt hot er elnt in toyte kehiles.
tsuzamen mit zey --- dem neyr-tomed fun loshn,
gekumen a hoyler on bobeshe tfiles…
di beyner fun Yoysefn do, unter zemder,
di beyner fun Yoysefn dort, unter poyln ---
derkenen zikh vintsik un blaybn alts fremder,
un shnaydn vi mesers un glien vi koyln.
in fayer-vogn, Tel-Oviv: goldene kayt, 1952
THIS WEEK
Yankev Glatshteyn, רױך, Smoke
Gitl Shekhter-Vishvanat, ריר נישט אָן, Do Not Touch
Yankev Glatshteyn, Roykh
6 1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 2 Command Aaron and his sons, saying: 5 This is the law of the burnt-offering: And the fire upon the altar shall be kept burning thereby, it shall not go out; and the priest shall kindle wood on it every morning; and he shall lay the burnt-offering in order upon it, and shall make smoke thereon the fat of the peace-offerings. 6Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out.
און אױבן אין די הימלישע הױכן,
װײנען, בענקען הײליקע רױכן.
גאָט, דאָרט װוּ דו ביסט דאָ,
דאָרטן זײַנען מיר אַלע אױך נישטאָ. יעקבֿ גלאַטשטײן, שטראַלנדיקע ייִדן, 1946
SMOKE
From crematorium chimneys
a Jew curls up to God;
and in the vanishing smoke
curl up his wife and child.
In the great heights above
pious vapors weep and yearn.
There where you are God,
we too, as you, are not.
Tr. Yetta Blum, Jacob Glatstein: Poems, Tel Aviv, 1970
roykh
durkhn krematorye-koymen,
kroyzt aroyf a yid tsum atek-yoymin.
un vi nor der roykh farshvindt,
knoyln aroyf zayn vayb un kind.
un oybn in di himlishe hoykhn,
veynen, benken heylike roykhn.
got, dort vu du bist do,
dortn zaynen mir ale oykh nishto. Yankev glatshteyn, shtralndike yidn, 1946
Gitl Shekhter-Vishvanat, Rir nisht on
7 21 And when any one shall touch any unclean thing, whether it be the uncleanness of man, or an unclean beast, or any unclean detestable thing, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which pertain unto the LORD, that soul shall be cut off from his people.
The poet wrote this poem on her first visit to India. Although she was aware that among Hindus, as among Jews, there are days when a woman is tome (ritually impure), she was not prepared for the feeling of personal rejection she experienced when she was a nide, a woman during her monthly period of impurity. In India, Hindu women who have their period do not enter the kitchen and eat separately from the rest of the household.
בלאַס
צעחושט
באַלעקן זיך די וווּנדן
די פֿאַרלאָזטע קעץ.
און ס’וויינען מיט
די נישט־פֿאַרזייטע
זאָמען
אין זייער אַלעמענס
נאָמען. פּלוצעמדיקער רעגן: לידער, פֿאַרלאַג „ישׂראל־בוך”, תּל־אָבֿיבֿ, 2003
DO NOT TOUCH
Do not touch.
This is a day of mourning.
The time
when tomcats tread
off to one side,
always ready to laugh
because they were differently made.
Pale
distraught
licking their wounds—
their forlorn females.
And with them
weeps
their unsown seed
on behalf of
the entire breed.
Tr.by Jeffrey Shandler and Zackary Berger
Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Sudden Rain: Yiddish Poems, Tel Aviv, 2003
rir nisht on
rir nisht on.
s’iz haynt a troyertog.
di tsayt
ven s’tretn koters
in a zayt.
tomed greyt zikh oystsulakhn
vos zey zenen andersh
nisht bashafn.
blas
tse|khush|t
balekn zikh di vundn
di farlozte kets.
un s’veynen mit
di nisht-farzeyte
zomen
in zeyer alemens
nomen. gitl shekhter-vishvanat, plutsemdiker regn: lider, Tel-oviv, 2003
THIS WEEK
Meylekh Ravitsh, ויקראָ ― און ער האָט גערופֿן, Vayikro — And He Called B
Yankev Glatshteyn, טירטלטױבן, Turtledoves
Ravitsh, Vayikro — Un er hot gerufn Beys
1: 1 And THE LORD called unto Moses, and spoke unto him out of the tent of meeting, saying: 2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them:
1:1 און {dn גאָט} האָט גערופֿן צו משהן, און האָט צו אים גערעדט פֿון אוֹהל-מוֹעד, אַזױ צו זאָגן: /1:2 רעד צו די קינדער פֿון ישׂראל, און זאָלסט זאָגן צו זײ:
For a biography of Meylekh Ravitsh, see the previous week, Week 23.
The following story is a continuation of the story of the previous week. If you haven’t read it, go back to Week 23 P’kudei to read it.
אײן מינוט שפּעטער בין איך שױן געלעגן אין בעט און דער טאַטע איז נישט אָפּגעטראָטן פֿון מיר. ער האָט געהאַט אַ גוטן אױסרײד נישט מיטצוזײַן מער אױף דער סעודה. דער זײדע האָט זיך נאָך פֿרײלעך געמאַכט, נאָר ער האָט שױן געװוּסט, אַז ער האָט פֿאַרשפּילט און זײַן הױפּטצװעק װעט ער נישט דערגרײכן. אין חדר אַרײַן, צו לערנען חומש, װעט מען מיך נישט שיקן. חומש װעל איך לערנען מיטן ביאור [ביִער] פֿון משה מענדלסאָן ימח־שמו… און אין דער הײם.
אױף צו מאָרגנס איז דער טאַטע געפֿאָרן קײן קראָקע און געבראַכט פֿון דאָרט אַ “לעהרער” ― תּורה, סחורה און געפּוצטע שטיװל ― מיטן נאָמען יוסף הײלמאַן און ער האָט נישט אָנגעהױבן מיט ויקראָ און נאָר מיט בראשית― בראשית, אַם אַנפֿאַנגע, ברא, ערשוף, אלהים, גאָט ― את השמים, דען היממעל, ואת הארץ, אונד די ערדע. נאָר דאָס לערנען בײַ יוסף הײלמאַן איז אַ מעשׂה פֿאַר זיך. עס לױנט זי באַזונדער צו דערצײלן. מלך ראַוויטש, דאָס מעשׂה־בוך פֿון מײַן לעבן, באַנד 1
The following story is a continuation of the story of the previous week. If you haven’t read it, go back to Week 23 P’kudei to read it.
VAYIKRO — AND HE CALLED
And now the Shabes afternoon of the ceremony is here. All my uncles and family friends are around the table, that has been lengthened by the addition of many other tables. And this long table is shining with white tablecloths and sparkling with trays and bottles and with all sorts of good things in all colors and smells. This kind of table was called “a sweet table”—although it didn’t lack for beer and nuts. And my grandfather sat at the head of the table—my father looking glum – opposite him: a thick garland of men with fur shtraymls on their heads sitting at the table and a thick garland of aunts and guests, wives and cousins—standing around behind them. And now I’m being carried out from somewhere, and I’m standing in the middle of the table. My grandfather had bought a navy blue sailor suit for me, especially for the occasion of starting to learn Khumesh and on my head —was a sailor hat with ribbons, inscribed with “Trieste.” On my chest, the breastplate, and in each pocket a golden watch and around me a jumble of golden chains from the six watches—and in my mouth a jumble of words whose meaning I didn’t know. But I knew them very well by heart. And Moyshele the Asker begins to ask, “Tell me, little boy, little boy—what are you going to do now?”
“I’m going to start learning Khumesh, as God and Moses Our Teacher, have commanded us!”
“Little boy, little boy, what does Khumesh mean?”
“Khumesh means five.”
“Five what? Maybe you ate five bagels without washing your hands and making a blessing first?”
“No, there are five holy books in the holy toyre that God gave us at Mount Sinai!”
“Little boy, little boy—and which of the five books will you start learning?”
“I’ll start learning the holy book Vayikro,Leviticus!”
“Vayikro, Vayikro—what does Vayikro mean?”
“Vayikro—and he called!”
“Who called? Was it the rebbe’s helper calling to go to kheyder? Or was it the shames to go to synagogue?”
“No, Vayikro—and God called—eyl to—Moshe—God called to Moyshe”—and so on.
When that part was over I bent my head and Binyomen placed his hands on my sailor hat and blessed me. He was very frightened and ground out his blessing quickly, quickly and only the word “kale” in the blessing, meaning “bride” did he pronounce very loudly and with a shriek. And when I inclined my head I saw my father’s eyes on me and they were angry and sullen, although I knew that I was somehow an innocent victim here, because I was guiltless as a new-born babe. But when Binyomen repeated the word kale several times with a shriek, and when a lot of people around the table burst out laughing—and in any case I knew that it was not a nice word—and I was a little drunk, to boot, because my grandfather liked to tease children/have fun at the expense of children and give them wine to drink—I couldn’t control myself and burst out into spasmodic and hysterical crying. Right away my father snatched me from the table as if from a fire. With trembling hands he unpinned all the watches from me and angrily handed the breastplate and the tunic over to its owner, my grandfather. And I kept on crying and crying. The meal was not interrupted—a child is crying, oh well.
A minute later I was lying in bed and my father didn’t leave my side. He had a good excuse not to be present at the meal anymore. My grandfather was still making merry, but he already knew that he had lost and would not attain his main goal.I would not be sent to kheyder to learn Khumesh. I would learn Khumesh with Bier, the translation of Moses Mendelssohn, may his name be erased… and at home.
The next morning my father traveled to Krakow and brought from there a “lehrer,” a Herr Teacher—Torah, trade, and tiptop boots—by the name of Yoysef Heylman. He didn’t start with Vayikro but with Breyshes, Genesis, and we translated into German: Breyshes, in the beginning, boro, created, Elohim, God—es hashomayim, the heavens, ve’es hoarets, and the earth.
But studying with Yoysef Heylman is a story unto itself. It warrants a separate telling.
Tr. Sheva Zucker
Vayikro —Un er hot gerufn
B
un ot iz gekumen der shabes|-nokhmitik fun der tseremonye. ale feters un gute-fraynt arum tish, vos me hot farlengert mit nokh a sakh tishn. un der tish blankt mit di vayse tishtekher un glitsert mit tatsn un mit flashn un mit Kol-|tuv in ale farbn un in ale reykhes. men hot aza tish gerufn ,,a ziser tish” — khotsh oykh bir un nislekh hobn nisht gefelt. un der zeyde zitst oybnon — der tate an ongekhmureter — antkegn. a gedikhter krants yidn in shtraymlen arum tish un a gedikhter krants mumes un gest, balebostes un shvesterkinder — shteyendik arum. un ot trogt men mikh fun ergets aroys un ikh shtey shoyn in mitn tish. a granat-ontsug, vi di matrozn trogn, hot mir der zeyde spetsyel gekoyft tsum khumesh|-onheybn un oyfn kop — a matrozn-hitl mit bender un mit der oyfshrift ,,triest”. oyf der brust der tsits-|kley_koydesh un in yeder keshene a goldn zeygerl un fun di zeks zeygerlekh a plonter fun goldene keytn arum mir — un in moyl a plonter fun verter, vos ikh hob zeyer taytsh nisht gekent. nor zey gekent zeyer gut fun oysnveynik. un moyshele der freger heybt on tsu fregn:
— zog mir nor yingele, yingele — vos geystu itst ton? — ikh gey onheybn khumesh lernen, azoy vi got un Moyshe rbinu hobn undz gebotn!
—yingele, yingele — vos heyst khumesh?
— khumesh heyst finef.
— vos finef? efsher hostu gegesn finef beygl umgevashn?
— neyn, finef heylike sforem zaynen do in der heyliker toyre vos der reboyne shel-oylem hot undz gegebn oyf hr-sinay!
— yingele, yingele — un velkhn fun di finef khumoshem vestu onheybn lernen?
— dem khumesh vayikro vel ikh onheybn lernen! — vayikro, vayikro— vos heyst vayikro? — vayikro — un er hot gerufn! — ver hot gerufn? efsher der belfer in kheyder arayn? efsher der shames in shil arayn?
— neyn, vayikro — un got hot gerufn —el — tsu — Moshe — moyshen
— got hot gerufn tsu moyshen— un azoy vayter. az”v.
az der teyl hot zikh geendikt hob ikh ongeboygn dem kop un Binyomen hot aroyfgeleygt zayne hent oyf mayn matrozn-hitl un hot mikh gebentsht. er iz geven zeyer dershrokn un hot gemolnshnel*, shnel zayn bentshung un nor dos vort ,,kale” vos iz dort do in der bentshung, hot er aroysgeredt zeyer hoykh un mit a kvitsh. un az ikh hob ongeboygn dem kop, hob ikh gezen mayn tatns oygn oyf mir un zey zenen geven beyz un ongekhmuret, khotsh ikh hob gevust, az ikh bin do epes an umzister korbn, vayl ikh bin got di neshome shuldik. nor az Binyomen hot etlekhe mol ibe|rege|Hzrt dos vort kale, mit a kvitsh, un az a sakh baym tish un arum dem tish hobn zikh tselakht — un say vi hob oykh ikh gevust, az dos iz nisht keyn sheyn vort — un a bisl shiker bin ikh nokh dertsu oykh geven, vayl mayn zeyde hot lib gehat tsu makhn shpas mit kinder un zey tsu gebn vayn tsu trinken — hob ikh mikh shoyn nisht gekent bahershn un oysgebrokhn in a spazmatish un histerish geveyn. der tate hot mikh bald a khap geton fun tish vi fun a sreyfe aroys. ale zeygerlekh hot er mit tsiterdike hent opgeshpilyet fun mir un dem tsits-|kley_koydesh hot er mit kas ariberderlangt tsu zayn bazitser dem zeydn.un ikh hob nokh alts geveynt un geveynt. di sude hot men nisht ibergerisn
— meyle, a kind tseveynt zikh dort.
eyn minut shpeter bin ikh shoyn gelegn in bet un der tate iz nisht opgetrotn fun mir. er hot gehat a gutn oysreyd nisht mittsuzayn mer oyf der sude. der zeyde hot zikh nokh freylekh gemakht, nor er hot shoyn gevust, az er hot farshpilt un zayn hoypttsvek vet er nisht dergreykhn. in kheyder arayn, tsu lernen khumesh, vet men mikh nisht shikn. khumesh vel ikh lernen mitn bi#ur [bier] fun Moyshe mendlson yemakh|-shmoy … un in der heym.
oyf tsu morgns iz der tate geforn keyn kroke un gebrakht fun dort a “lehrer”
— toyre, skhoyre un geputste shtivl — mitn nomen Yoysef heylman un er hot nisht ongehoybn mit oykro un nor mit b|reyshes|— b|reyshes, am anfange, boro, ershuf, elohim, got — es hashomaim, den himmel, ve-es hoarets, und di erde. nor dos lernen bay Yoysef heylman iz a mayse far zikh. es loynt zi bazunder tsu dertseyln. meylekh ravitsh, dos mayse|-bukh fun mayn lebn, band 1
Yankev Glatshteyn, Tirtltoybn
14And if his offering to the LORD be a burnt-offering of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtle-doves, or of young pigeons. 15And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and pinch off its head, and make it smoke on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be drained out on the side of the altar.
The thrust of thought,
sunglare across
bare blade, flare
of memory.
Suddenly— cheder years and a word—
just one word:
Turtledoves.
It won’t go away:
Supple crinkle of turtle,
its caressing wrinkle.
Oh, turtledoves
turtledoves,
Turtle-turtle
turtledoves. Cheder years, childhood years.
And it sings.
And stalks.
And croons.
And haunts:
Turtledoves
turtle-turtle
turtledoves.
By permission of the translator
Richard Fein, Selected Poems of Yankev Glatshteyn, JPS, 1987
Tirtltoybn
impulsn fun gedank
blitsike un rashik—
blyask fun zun oyf mesersharf.
plutsem:—
kheyder-yorn un a vort,
mer nisht vi a vort:
tirtltoybn.
un s’lozt nit op,
mit dem veykhn kneytsh fun tirtl,
mit dem las|tshendikn kneytsh.
o, tirtltoybn
tirtltoybn.
tirtl-tirtl
tirtltoybn.
kheyder-yorn, kinder-yorn.
un es zingt.
un farfolgt.
un farvigt.
un dermont:
tirtltoybn tirtl-tirtl tirtltoybn. Yankev Glatshteyn, 1921
THIS WEEK
Kadye Molodovski, אין בלױען באַגינען, In bloyen baginen, IX
Meylekh Ravitsh, ויקראָ ― און ער האָט גערופֿן, Vayikro—And He Called, A
Kadye Molodovski, In bloyen baginen, IX
1And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made plaited garments, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the LORD commanded Moses.
ל”ט: 1 און פֿון דער בלאָער װאָל, און דעם פּורפּל, און דעם װערמילרױט, האָט מען געמאַכט די געשטריקטע קלײדער אױף צו דינען אין הײליקטום, און געמאַכט די הײליקע קלײדער װאָס פֿאַר אהרֹנען, אַזױ װי {dn גאָט} האָט באַפֿױלן משהן.
אין בלױען באַגינען 9
זיצן זײ און שפּינען
זיבן װײַבער בײַ דעם ברונעם.
צען פֿעדעם װײַסע װײַסע,
שעפּטשען אָן אַ סוף אַ מעשׂה.
זאָגט די ערשטע:
כ’פֿיטער ציגן, װײַסע ציגן,
פֿאַר די קינדער אױף פֿאַרװיגן.
זאָגט די צװײטע:
איך פֿלאַנץ בײמער, איך זײ בלומען
פֿאַר די קינדער װאָס’ן קומען.
זאָגט די דריטע:
איך בײג בױגן, איך שלײַף פֿײַלן
אױף זיך שפּילן און דערװײַלן.
זאָגט די פֿערטע:
איך מאַך קײטן, קײטן רונגען
אױף פֿאַרבינדן הערצער יונגע.
פֿינפֿטע שװײַגט;
ציט זיך פֿעדעם רױט װי פֿונקען
און זי גײט אין ברונעם טונקען.
זאָגט די זעקסטע:
איך מאַך מאָס,
איך מאַך װאָג
מעסט איך װעג איך מײַן פֿאַרמאָג.
זאָגט די לעצטע:
פֿעדעם קורצע,
פֿעדעם װײַסע,
ענדיק איך אַזױ די מעשׂה. חשוונדיקע נעכט, ווילנע, 1927
AT BLUE DAWN
IX
By the well they’re sitting, spinning,
Seven women, seven women,
Ten threads, white on white, they’re spinning,
Whispering the story, never-ending.
Says the first:
White goats are what I raise and keep
For rocking children fast asleep.
Says the second:
I plant the trees and sow the flowers
For children in the coming hours.
Says the third:
I sharpen arrows and bend bows
For amusement and repose.
Says the fourth:
I make chains, link part to part
For the binding of young hearts.
The fifth says nothing:
Red as sparks, the thread she pulls
And dips into the well and cools.
Says the sixth:
I determine weight
And measure
To measure fortune and weigh treasure.
Says the last:
This thread of mine
Is white, short-spun—
And with this thread, the story’s done!
By pemission of translator
Kathrn Hellerstein, Paper Bridges: Selected Poems of Kadya Molodowsky
in bloyen baginen
9
zitsn zey un shpinen
zibn vayber bay dem brunem.
tsen fedem vayse vayse,
sheptshen on a suf a mayse.
zogt di ershte:
kh’fiter tsign, vayse tsign,
far di kinder oyf farvign.
zogt di tsveyte:
ikh flants beymer, ikh zey blumen
far di kinder vos’n kumen.
zogt di drite:
ikh beyg boygn,ikh shlayf fayln
oyf zikh shpiln un dervayln.
zogt di ferte:
ikh makh keytn, keytn rungen
oyf farbindn hertser yunge.
finfte shvaygt;
tsit zikh fedem royt vi funken
un zi geyt in brunem tunken.
zogt di zekste:
ikh makh mos,
ikh makh vog
mest ikh veg ikh mayn farmog.
zogt di letste:
fedem kurtse,
fedem vayse,
endik ikh azoy di mayse. kheshvn|dike nekht, vilne, 1927
Meylekh Ravitsh, Vayikro — Un er hot gerufn, I
39: 1And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made plaited garments, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the LORD commanded Moses. 2And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 8And he made the breastplate, the work of the skilful workman, like the work of the ephod: of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 9It was four-square; they made the breastplate double; a span was the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof, being double.
40 13And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments; and thou shalt anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister unto Me in the priest’s office. 14And thou shalt bring his sons, and put tunics upon them. 15And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst anoint their father, that they may minister unto Me in the priest’s office; and their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.’
ל”ט: 1 און פֿון דער בלאָער װאָל, און דעם פּורפּל, און דעם װערמילרױט, האָט מען געמאַכט די געשטריקטע קלײדער אױף צו דינען אין הײליקטום, און געמאַכט די הײליקע קלײדער װאָס פֿאַר אהרֹנען, אַזױ װי {dn גאָט} האָט באַפֿױלן משהן.
For a biography of Meylekh Ravitsh in English, click here.
For a biography of Meylekh Ravitsh in Yiddish, click here.
This is the first part of a chapter of Ravitsh’s Dos mayne-bukh fun mayn lebn (The Storybook of My Life), Vol. I. The second part will be publshed next week in Vayikro.
My mother’s father, Yosele Rosenblatt, was a simple but self-important man who, by dint of luck and hard work, went from poverty to great riches. No, actually, to being the richest man in town, yet he could barely sign his name in Polish. My father’s father, Zelik Bergner, came from a wealthy family, and was a maskl, an enlightened Jew, the son of a maskl, who knew classical German literature well and was also well-versed in traditional Jewish texts. My mother was drawn to Polish assimilation and my father to German assimilation, because half his family lived in Vienna. We children were given a very wishy-washy Jewish education. To kheyder, we—my brother and I—didn’t go.
And, according to my father’s wishes, my brother didn’t have a ceremony for starting to learn Khumesh, the Five Books of Moses. But when I turned five, my mother’s father waged an offensive on our house for me to begin studying Khumesh as was doneamong respectable folk. First, my grandfather conquered me with the help of angels. We were already at the stage of learning to read syllables and also elementary passages from the sider, prayer book, with a melamed, a teacher of small boys, who had a long double-pointed pitch black beard—and his name was Ayzik. With us he spoke Polish. He had an artfully carved ivory pointer and pleading with us in Polish, his voice trailed after this pointer on the page of the little prayer book with its big letters, instructing, Movzhe—So say,—Komets-alef—O, the ”O” sound with the letter Alef makes “O.” Movzhe—Pasekh-Giml—Ga, the “A” sound with the letter Giml makes Ga.
During these tedious pointer lessons my grandfather would come in, stand behind me, and gleaming kreutzers and sometimes candy wrapped in silver paper would beginfalling from above onto my little sider. There was no doubt that the coins actually came from heaven because they were all fresh and gleamed like gold. My grandfather carried out this part of his offensive on my soul with the assistance of angels who threw kreutzers from heaven—because they knew that any day now I was supposed to start studying Khumesh, and when I started studying Khumesh—my grandfather assured me—whole silver crowns would begin to rain down.
My grandfather found waging his offensive against my father and mother for me to study Khumesh, complete with a speech and a festive meal on a Saturdayafternoon, as was done among respectable folk, harder. During this battle hot tears would fall from his eyes onto his silvery beard—he was already close to seventy at the time. The first to agree was my mother and she took on the offensive against my stubborn son of a maskil father—with her own tears. And so the ceremony was set for one fine Shabes afternoon.
mayn mames tate, yosele rozenblat, iz geven a pshuter, ober zeyer a statetshner yid, vos iz fun dales, durkh mazl un flaysikayt, ariber tsu groys ashires, neyn take tsum grestn gevir in shtetl. oyf poylish hot er zikh koym gekent untershraybn.mayn tatns tate, zelik bergner, hot geshtamt fun a farmeglekher mishpokhe, a maskeun misnaged ben-maskel, vos hot gut gekent di daytshe klasishe literatur un nisht veynik gut lernen. un mayn mamen hot es getsoygn tsu poylisher asimilatsye un mayn tatn tsu daytsher asimilatsye, makhmes a helft fun zayn mishpokhe hot gevoynt in vin. un undz kinder hobn zey, in yidishn zinen, gegebn a zeyer nisht detsidirte dertsiung. in kheyder zenen mir — tsvey yinglekh — nisht gegangen.
un — loyt dem viln fun mayn foter — hot men bay mayn, eyn yor eltern, bruder nisht durkhgefirt di tseremonye fun onheybn khumesh. ober, az ikh bin alt gevorn 5 yor, hot mayn zeyde fun der mames tsad ongehoybn an ofensive oyf undzer shtub, az ikh zol yo onheybn khumesh vi es firt zikh bay laytn. tsu ersht hot der zeyde mikh ayngenumen mit der hilf fun malokhem. mir hobn shoyn gelernt traf un oykh shoyn ivre mit a dardake_melamed, mit a langer tsveyshpitsiker, pekh shvartser bord — un zayn nomen iz geven ayzik. geredt hot er mit undz oyf poylish,
gehat a kuntsik geshnitstn beynernem taytl un nokh ot dem taytl oyfn bletl fun siderl mit di groyse oysyes iz keseyder nokhgegangen zayn betn zikh bay undz oyf poylish ,,movzhe” — zog shoyn. movzhe — kmts-alf — o; pasekh|-giml — ga.beshas ot di langvaylike taytl-lektsyes flegt der zeyde araynkumen, shteln zikh hinter mir tsukopns un es hobn ongehoybn faln fun oybn oyfn siderl blankendike graytsers un oft mol greyte tsukerlekh, ayngeviklt in zilber-papir. az digraytsers kumen take fun himl iz keyn sofek nisht geven, vayl zey zenen ale geven frishe un blankendike vi gold. ot dem teyl fun der ofensive oyf mayn neshomehot der zeyde durkhgefirt mit der hilf fun malokhem, vos flegn varfn graytsers fun himl — vayl zey hobn gevust, az a lyade tog darf ikh onheybn khumesh, un az ikh vel onheybn khumesh — hot der zeyde farzikhert — veln onheybn faln gantse zilberne “kronen”.
shverer iz dem zeydn ongekumen di ofensive oyf mayn tatn un mayn mamen,az ikh zol onheybn khumesh vi bay laytn, mit a droshe un a sude in a shabes|-nokhmitik. bay ot der ofensive flegn faln fun mayn zeydns oygn heyse trern oyf zayn zilberner bord — er iz shoyn demolt alt geven noent tsu di shivim. di ershte hot maskem geven di mame un zi hot fun ir zayt forgezetst di ofensive bay mayn
ayngeshpartn ben-|maskel|-tatn — mit ire eygene trern. un oyf eyn sheynem shabes|-nokhmitik hot men bashtimt di tseremonye.
tsu di lektsyes fun ayzik melamed flegn itst kumen nokh tsvey yinglekh, a bisl eltere fun mir — moyshele un Binyomen. moyshele iz geven der freger un Binyomen der bentsher. yidish redn hob ikh nisht gekent un oykh nisht getort khotsh tate-mame hobn tsvishn zikh geredt yidish. afile mayn zeyde hot mit mir geredt poylish, der melamed un di khaveyrem — avade. un itst iz plutsling mayn moyl un mayn kop gevorn ful mit fremde verter, vos ikh hob in gantsn zeyer taytsh nisht farshtanen un nokh veyniker di gantse tsugreytungen. es hot zikh in shtub bavizn a groyser zilberner brustshild oyf keytelekh, vos hot gehat in mitn a toyerl mit tsvey tirelekh, a min zilbern orun-kudshl. ot der brustshild, vos me hot im gerufn “tsits kley_koydesh”, oder khoyshn-ve’eyfed”, hot der zeyde spetsyel gekoyft tsu der gelegnhayt fun mayn khumesh|-onheybn un shpeter hot ot der Kheyfets gedint der gantser shtot. orem un raykh flegn es borgn tsu enlekhe gelegnhaytn.tsu mayne probes fun khumesh|-onheybn flegt kumen der zeyde aleyn un flegt mir tsu di probes onton dem tsits kley_koydesh. er hot lib gehat zikh tsu shpiln mit gold un mit zilber un hot afile zikh aleyn nisht eyn mol ongemostn dem Kheyfets,ober zayn lange zilberne bord hot in gantsn farshtelt dem khoyshn-ve’eyfed. un er flegt lakhn mit zayn naiv gelekhterl, az er ken nisht zen vi es past im.
Yankev Glatshteyn, Mayn getselt
40 34Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.— 36And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys. 37But if the cloud was not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. 38For the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and there was fire therein by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.—
פֿאַרשװער מיך, אַ געטרײַען,
צו דיר מיט גורלדיקער באַשערטקײט,
אַז ס’זאָל מיך קײנער פֿון דײַנע אָרעמס נישט באַפֿרײַען.
אמת, איך װעל נישט זײַן אוניװערסאַל,
אָבער אַז איך װעל אַװעק,
װעל איך װערן אַ װאָלקנזײַל,
אַ ליכטשטראַל,
איבער אונדזער קלײנעם מישכּן. די פֿרייד פֿון ייִדישן וואָרט, ניו־יאָרק, 1961
MY TENT
Embrace me with choking devotion,
language mine, like a jealous wife;
confine me to my tent;
let the world never grasp what I meant,
even in the best translation.
Let them exclude me,
diminish me, disparage me.
I don’t care if I’m not in their number.
Summon me, irrevocably,
to your destiny.
let no one coax me from your arms.
Take my word. I don’t want to be universal.
When I take my leave
I will become a pillar of cloud,
a gleam of light
above our small sanctuary.
By permission of translator
Richard J. Fein, Selected Poems of Yankev Glatshteyn, JPS, 1987
mayn getselt
nem mikh arum mit vergndiker getrayshaft.
loshn mayns, ver mir an eyferzikhtik vayb,
bind mikh tsu tsum getselt,
loz mikh vern shtum-loshn far der velt,
afile in der bester iberzetsung.
zoln zy mikh farteyln.
farkleyn mikh biz nit-dershetsung,
mikh art nisht, az zey veln mikh nisht tseyln.
farshver mikh, a getrayen,
tsu dir mit goyrldiker bashertkeyt,
az s’zol mikh keyner fun dayne orems nisht bafrayen.
emes, ikh vel nisht zayn universal,
ober az ikh vel avek,
vel ikh vern a volknzayl,
a likhtshtral,
iber undzer kleynem mishkn. Di freyd fun yidishn vort, Nyu-York, 1961
WEEK 22
Brurye Vigand, שבת, Shabes
Avrom Sutskever, געזעגעניש, Farewell
Sholem Ash, דער חינוך פֿון דער שול, The Dedication of the Synagogue
Khayke Brurye Vigand, Shabes
1And Moses assembled all the congregation of the children of Israel, and said unto them: ‘These are the words which the LORD hath commanded, that ye should do them.2Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD; whosoever doeth any work therein shall be put to death. 3Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.’
/35:1 און משה האָט אײַנגעזאַמלט די גאַנצע עדה פֿון די קינדער פֿון ישׂראל, און האָט צו זײ געזאָגט: דאָס זײַנען די װערטער װאָס {dn גאָט} האָט באַפֿױלן זײ צו טאָן: /35:2 זעקס טעג זאָל געטאָן װערן אַרבעט, אָבער אױפֿן זיבעטן טאָג זאָל אײַך זײַן הײליק, אַ שבת פֿון רוּונג צו {dn גאָט}; איטלעכער װאָס טוט אין אים אַן אַרבעט, זאָל געטײט װערן. /35:3 איר זאָלט ניט אָנצינדן קײן פֿײַער אין אַלע אײַערע װױנערטער אין טאָג פֿון שבת.
Dr. Beruriah Wiegand is the Woolf Corob Lector in Yiddish at the University of Oxford. She holds a BA and MA in Hebrew and Jewish Studies from Leo Baeck College, London, and a Ph.D. from University College London. Beruriah Wiegand is also a Yiddish poet, who has published two bilingual collections with the H. Leyvik-farlag inTel Aviv: Tsi hot ir gezen mayn tsig? – Have You Seen My Goat? (2012) and Kales-breyshis – Kalat Bereshit (2018). She has published a bilingual edition of A.N. Stencl’s early verse, co-translated with Stephen Watts (Five Leaves, 2007), as well as a translation of a book of memoirs by the Grodno writer Leib Reizer (Yad Vashem, 2009). Her Yiddish translation of Ilan Stavans’s collection The Disappearance has just come out with the H.Leyvik-farlag in Tel Aviv under the title Der opgang (2021).
Perhaps it is the calm
after the storm,
the weariness
after a weeek of rushing,
suffering, faltering
the blessed peace
after a whirlwind
of dishevelled waves,
a touch of bliss
after the primeval chaos.
Or perhaps it is the calm
before a new storm,
the weariness
before a new week of rushing,
suffering, faltering,
the blessed peace
before a new whirlwind
of dishevelled waves,
a touch of bliss
before a new primeval chaos.
It is the calm,
the weariness,
the blessed peace,
perhaps
a touch of bliss.
Shabes.
Tr. Khayke Beruriah Wiegand, Have You Seen My goat? and Other Poems, Tel Aviv, 2012
shabes
s’iz di shtilkayt efsher
nokhn shturem,
di midkayt
nokh a vokh fun yogenishn,
plogenishn, plonternishn,
di gebentshte ru
nokh a vikher
fun tseshoyberte khvalyes,
a hoykh fun khedve
nokhn toye-voye.
s’iz di shtilkayt efsher
far a nayem shturem,
di midkayt
far a nayer vokh fun yogenishn,
plogenishn, plonternishn,
di gebentshte ru
nokh a nayem vikher
fun tseshoyberte khvalyes,
a hoykh fun khedve
farn toye-voye.
s’iz di shtilkayt,
di midkayt,
di gebentshte ru,
efsher
a hoykh fun khedve.
shabes.
Avrom Sutskever, Gezegenish
35 10And let every wise-hearted man among you come, and make all that the LORD hath commanded: 11the tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its clasps, and its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets;
36: 8 And every wise-hearted man among them that wrought the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains: of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim the work of the skilful workman made he them.
ו
פֿון גאָרער וועלט עס וועלן קומען באָרוועסע מרגלים
מיט גרינע ווערבעצווײַגלעך אין זײַן גאָלד־גערויבטן היכל.
און איטלעכער וועט שעפּן פֿון דײַן האַרץ
אַ הויפֿן אַש
און מיטנעמען אַהיים
דעם לאַנגן דרימל צו באַלײַכטן.
נאָר איך, וואָס איך בין געוואַקסן אינעם שאָטן פֿון דײַן פּראַכט,
אין גאַנצן טראָג דיך ווײַטער — ווי אַ בלוטיקע מגליה.
ווילנער געטאָ, נאַראָטשער וועלדער, 1943־1944
FAREWELL II
You are my first love and my first love you will remain.
I bear your name through the world
As my distant grandfather bore
Through the desert flame the Mishkan mishkan on his shoulders.
(Oh, grandfather, you too hoped to see a shore!)
And anywhere I wander –
All the cities will
Transform into your image.
I will not strike roots
in any other soil,
As the water torn from its umbilical cord
Cannot strike roots again
In a scrap of soil under water’s pressure —
And swings, lost over abyss of waves,
And no one, no one sees that the cord is torn.
V
… And if no more Jews remain in my city —
Their souls live on its alleys.
And he who thinks a house is empty And walks in
And puts up an idol, a table, makes a bed
Puts on an abandoned shirt,
A dress,
A shawl —
At night, he will hear the crying of children,
And the shirt will become a grater, shredding his skin.
Until he runs madly out of the house
As if his conscience,
Turned into a crow,
Went back into his brain
And he will run — his own shadow will not catch up with him.
VI
From the whole world, barefoot scouts will come
With green willow-branches to our gold-stripped temple.
And everyone will dip into your hear
For a handful of ash
And take it home
To light his long slumber.
But I, who grew in the shadow of your splendor,
A carry you whole — a bloody scroll. Vilna Ghetto and Narocz Forests, 1943-44
Tr. Benjamin and Barbara Harshav, A. Sutzkever: Selected Poetry and Prose, UC Press, 1991
Gezegenish
B
du (vilne) bist mayn ershte libe un azoy vestu farblaybn.
ikh trog dayn nomen durkh der velt
vi s’hot mayn zeyde
getrogn durkhnmidbr-flam dem mishKn oyf zayn aksl.
(o, zeyde mayner, host dokh oykh gehoft tsu zen a breg!)
un vu ikh zol nit vandern —
es veln ale shtet
farvandlen zikh in dayn geshtalt.
ikh vel zikh nit farvortslen
in keyn shum ander erd,
azoy vi s’kon zikh nit farvortslen
di vaserblum, aropgerisn fun ir langn nopl,
tsurik in pitsl bodn unter drikndikn vaser, —
un hoydet zikh farloyrn iber opgrunt fun di khvalyes,
un keyner, keyner zet nit az der fodem iz tserisn — — —
HEY
un oyb es veln mer nit blaybn in mayn shtot keyn yidn —
iz veln zeyere neshomes voynen in di geslekh.
un ver s’vet meynen az a hoyz iz pust
un vet arayngeyn,
un oyfshteln a gets, a tish, un greytn a geleger,
un onton a gefunen hems,
a keyd
tsi a fatsheyle, —
vet er bay nakht derhern a geveyn fun kleyne kinder
un s’hemd vet vi a rib#ayzn tseratsn im dos layb.
biz loyfn vet er — az der shotn vet im nit deryogn.
VOV
fun gorer velt es veln kumen borvese mrglim
mit grine verbetsvayglekh in zayn gold-geroykhtn heykhl.
un itlekher vet shepn fun dayn harts
a hoyfn ash
un mitnemen aheym
dem langn driml tsu balaykhtn.
nor ikh, vos ikh bin gevaksn inem shotn fun dayn prakht,
in gantsn trog dikh vayter — vi a blutike megile/
vilner geto, narotsher velder, 1943-1944
Sholem Ash, Der khinekh fun der seul
Actually, almost of all of chapters 35, 36 and 37 could be taken as proof texts, but these seemed particularly compelling.
35: 22 And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought nose-rings, and ear-rings, and signet-rings, and girdles, all jewels of gold; even every man that brought an offering of gold unto the LORD 36:20And he made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia-wood, standing up. 36: 35And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; with the cherubim the work of the skilful workman made he it. 37: 17And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick, even its base, and its shaft; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, were of one piece with it.
For a biography of Sholem Ash in English, click here.
The following is an excerpt from Sholem Asch’s novel Kidesh-Hashem (Martyrdom) set in what was then Poland in the mid seventeenth century. Mendl the innkeeper, his wife Yokheved and their son Shloymele are the only Jews living out on the steppe in the town of Zlotshev. It is Mendl’s dream to establish a Jewish community in Zlotshev and he succeeds only to have it destroyed soon by the infamous pogroms of 1648 led by the Cossack Bogdan Chmelnitski. In this chapter, however, all is hope and optimism as Asch describes the dedication of the synagogue.
דער חינוך פֿון דער שול
פֿון קידוש־השם שלום אַש
באַלד איז באַקאַנט געװאָרן אין גאַנץ פּאָדאָליע און װאָלין, װוּ ייִדן האָבן זיך נאָר געפֿונען, אַז עס האָט זיך אױפֿגעעפֿנט אַ נײַער ייִשובֿ. זלאָטשעװ האָט געקראָגן רשות אױף אַ שול, און עס האָבן אָנגעהױבן אָנציִען ייִדן קײן זלאָטשעװ פֿון דער גאַנצער געגנט אַרום.
די ערשטע זאַך האָט מען זיך גענומען בױען די שול. די ייִדן האָבן זיך צונױפֿגעלײגט װאָס זײ האָבן געקענט. די װײַבער האָבן געבראַכט דאָס צירונג, און מע האָט אַראָפּגעבראַכט מײַסטערס פֿון נעמיראָװ און באַשטעלט בײַ זײ בױען די שול. די שול האָט געדאַרפֿט דינען צו צװײ צװעקן, גאָט צו דינען און צו באַשיצן זיך פֿון פֿײַנד. האָט מען די שול געבױט װי אַ פֿעסטונג, מיט אײַזערנע טירן און רינגען. נחמן דער קאָװאַל, װאָס האָט געהאַלטן די קוזניע, האָט אױסגעקאָװעט די אײַזערנע טיר פֿאַר דער שול, אַ גדר צו דעם באַלעמער, אַ גרױסע מנורה פֿאַרן עמוד, און אַ גרױסן חנוכּה־לאָמפּ. פּראָסט איז געװען זײַן אַרבעט, פּראָסטע קאָװאַלסקע אַרבעט, אָבער מיט גרױס ליבע און חשק. אַלע קונצשטיק, װאָס נחמן האָט געקענט אין זײַן קאָװאַלערײַ האָט ער אַרײַנגעקאָװעט אין דעם גדר פֿאַרן באַלעמער, אין דער מנורה און אין דעם חנוכּה־לאָמפּ. דאָס זעלבע האָט אױך געטאָן ברוך דער דרעקסלער. אונדער דער אױפֿזיכט פֿון די צװײ מײַסטערס פֿון נעמיראָװ האָט ער אױסגעשניטן פֿאַרשידענע דרײדלעך און קונצן, װאָס ער האָט נאָך געדענקט פֿון זײַנע בחורישע יאָרן אין האָלץ־שניצערײַ: פֿײגל און טױבן, הירשן און לײבן, די סימנים פֿון שבֿטים און די סימנים פֿון די חדשים . . . און יעדער באַלעבאָס, אַז ער איז געפֿאָרן אױף אַ יאָרמאַרק אין די גרױסע שטעט און געזען אַ שײנע זאַך, אַ שײן זײַדנס פֿאַר אַ פּרוכת, אַ מיזרח, אַ אליהו הנבֿיאס־שטול אָדער אַן אַנדער צירונג, האָט ער עס געקױפֿט און געבראַכט אַהײם פֿאַר דער שול. און די װײַבער זײַנען אױפֿגעזעסן אין די װינטערדיקע נעכט בײַ מענדלס װײַב יוכבֿד, אין קרעטשמע, און בײַ פֿרומע געזאַנגען האָבן זײ זײערע צירונג אַרײַנגענײט אין די פּרוכתן און די העמדלעך פֿאַר די ספֿר־תּורות.
THE DEDICATION OF THE SYNAGOGUE
From Kiddush Hashem; An Epic of 1648
By Sholom Ash
Promptly it became know throughout Podolya and Volhynia, wherever Jews were to be found, that a new Jewish settlement had been established. Zlochov, having obtained permission to build a synagogue, Jews from all the surrounding districts began to move into that town…
First all the Jews set to work building the synagogue. They contributed towards the common fund whatever they could, the women offering their jewels. Two Jewish master builders were brought from Nemirov and commissioned to build the synagogue…
The synagogue had to serve two purposes: as a house of prayer and as a place of defense against enemies. The syngagoue was therefore built like a fort with iron doors and bolts. Nachman the blacksmith, who ran the town smithy, fashioned the iron door for the synagogue, the railing for the central platform a large menorah for the pulpit-stand and a large Chanukkah lamp. His work was simple and rough, but performed with great love and diligence. Al the artifices of which Nachman was capable he lavished on the railing for the central platform, on the Menorah and on the Chanukkah lamp. Under the supervision of the two master builders from Nemirov he carved various figures and designs which he remembered from the days of his apprenticeship, pigeons and other birds, stags and lions, the symbols of the twelve tribes and the signs of the Zodiac… And when the head of a household went to the annual fair in one of the large cities and saw an attractive object, a fine piece of silk for an ark-curtain, a biblical scene to hang on the east wall, a fancy chair in honor of the prophet Elijah or some other ornament, he bought it and took it home for the synagogue. And the women sat up through the winter nights in the inn with Mendel’s wife and singing pious songs, sewed their jewels into the curtains for the Ark and into the covers for the scrolls of the Torah.
____________________________
The synagogue was ready for Passover, but the dedication was postponed until Lag B’Omer, for that day is considered to be very lucky.
On this day the Ark was draped in the new festive curtain, which was embroidered with silver threads on blue Florentine brocade. The crown of the Torah shone down from the curtain with the subdued Sabbath glow of the chaste pearls which used to lend so much grace to the pure white throats of the Sabbath candles. Those pearls were hallowed with the tranquil charm of Sabbath evenings. And deep-red rubies sparkled like red wine out of the clusters of grapes which hung on green branches made of emeralds. The names of the pious women and maidens were embroidered on the curtain, as well as their prayers, prayers for virtuous children and sweet hopes and modest and chaste longings for love, Thus did the little curtain exhale a feminine charm bestowed by the delicate fingers of women, and suggesting the chaste music which is heard issuing from Jewish homes on Sabbath nights.
In the center of the synagogue stood the platform built of hard chestnut wood and carved with the names of the twelve tribes and their standards.Each tribe had its own flag and color.
Tr. Rufus Learsi, Kiddush Hashem, Philadelphia, JPS, 1926
der khinekh fun der shul
bald iz bakant gevorn in gants podolye un volin, vu yidn hobn zikh nor gefunen, az es hot zikh oyfgeefnt a nayer yishev. zlotshev hot gekrogn reshus oyf a shul, un es hobn ongehoybn ontsien yidn keyn zlotshev fun der gantser gegnt arum…
di ershte zakh hot men zikh genumen boyen di shul. di yidn hobn zikh tsunoyfgeleygt vos zey hobn gekent. di vayber hobn gebrakht dos tsirung, un me hot aropgebrakht maysters fun nemirov un bashtelt bay zey boyen di shul…
di shul hot gedarft dinen tsu tsvey tsvekn, got tsu dinen un tsu bashitsn zikh fun faynd. hot men di shul geboyt vi a festung, mit ayzerne tirn un ringen. Nakhmen der koval, vos hot gehaltn di kuznye, hot oysgekovet di ayzerne tir far der shul, a geder tsu dem balemer, a groyse menoyre farn omed, un a groysn khanike-lomp. prost iz geven zayn arbet, proste kovalske arbet, ober mit groys libe un kheyshek. ale kuntsshtik, vos Nakhmen hot gekent in zayn kovaleray hot er arayngekovet in dem geder farn balemer, in der menoyre un in dem khanike-lomp. dos zelbe hot oykh geton Borekh der dreksler. unter der oyfzikht fun di tsvey maysters fun nemirov hot er oysgeshnitn farshidene dreydlekh un kuntsn, vos er hot nokh gedenkt fun zayne bokher|ishe yorn in holts-shnitseray: feygl un toybn, hirshn un leybn, di simonem fun shvotim un di simonem fun di khadoshem… un yeder balebos bale-bos, az er iz geforn oyf a yormark in di groyse shtet un gezen a sheyne zakh, a sheyn zaydns far a poroykhes, a mizrekh, a eliyohu hanove|s-shtul oder an ander tsirung, hot er es gekoyft un gebrakht aheym far der shul. un di vayber zaynen oyfgezesn in di vinterdike nekht bay mendls vayb yokheved, in kretshme, un bay frume gezangen hobn zey zeyere tsirung arayngeneyt in di poroykhesn un di hemdlekh far di seyfer-toyres.
____________________
di shul iz fartik gevorn oyf peysekh, nor opgeleygt hot men dem khinekh oyf l”g boymer, vos dos iz zeyer a mazl|diker tog…
ibergetsoygn iz haynt geven der orn mit dem nayem yontev|dikn poroykhes, vos iz geven oysgehoftn mit zilberne fedem oyfbloyen florentinishn brokad. es hot di kroyn fun der toyre aropgeshaynt fun poroykhes mit a tsnies|dikn shabes-glants fun di kosher|e perl, vos flegn azoy bakheynen di vays-frume heldzer fun di yunge yidishe froyen tsu shabes-likht-bentshn. geheylikt zaynen geven di perl mit yenem tsnies|dikn reyts fun di shabes-nakht-ovntn, un tife roye rubinen-shteyner vi royter vayn hot zikh aroysgefinklt fun di vayntroybn, velkhe zaynen gehangen oyf grine fun safirshteyner oysgeneyte tsvaygn. ayngeneyt iz geven in poroykhes mit di nemen fun di frume froyen un meydlekh oykh zeyere vuntshn, vuntshn fun gute kinder hobn, fun zise hofenungen, fun shtile, frume farlangen nokh libe. azoy hot dos poroykhes|l bagosn mit vaybershn kheyn, eyngetrift durkh eydele froyen-finger, aropgezungen yenem tsnies|dikn gezang, vos zingt fun yidishe shtubn aroys in di shabes-nakhtn.
in mitn der shul iz geshtanen der balemer, oysgeshnitst oys hartn nis-holts di nemen fun di tsvelf shvotem. yeder sheyvet hot gehat zayn degl un zayn kolir.
THIS WEEK
Alexander Shpiglblat, דער מאַמעס הענט, My Mother’s Hands
Yankev Shternberg, אָװנט אין די בערג, Evening in the Mountains
Avrom Sutzkever, אין מידבר סיני, In the Sinai Desert (Poem 8)
Kadye Molodowsky, אל חנון, Merciful God
Folksong, קײן קאָצק פֿאָרט מען נישט, Kotsk
Aleksander Shpiglblat, Der mames hent
31 12And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 13‘Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying: Verily ye shall keep My sabbaths, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the LORD who sanctify you. 14Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you; every one that profaneth it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD; whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased from work and rested.’
When the workaday sorrow
Glistens in the November-grey
My longing summons forth
Far-off Sabbath eves
When my mother, full of awe,
Would light the Sabbath candles.
It is not so much the candles, truth to tell,
That summon forth my longing,
As my mother’s blessing hands,
That quietly worked magic
And fluttered over them,
Over the tiny flames
Reflected in the gleam
Of silver candlesticks.
Now the holy flutter
Of my mother’s hands
Finds it way to me,
And sends a dazzle of light
Into my week-a-day sorrow
of November grey.
Tr. Sheva Zucker
DER MAMES HENT
Ven der vokhediker umet
Minyet in November-groy,
Ruft aroys mayn benkshaft
Fraytik-tsu-nakhtsn vayte,
Ven di mame fleg a forkhtike
Ontsindn di Shabes-likht.
Nit azoy di likht, leman-hoemes,
Ruft aroys mayn benkshaft,
Vi der mames bentshndike hent,
Vos hobn frum getsoybert
Un geflatert iber zey,
Iber di flemlekh
Geshpiglt in glants
Fun laykhter, zilberne.
Dergeyt tsu mir atsind
Der heyliker geflater
Fun der mames hent,
Un tut a blend
In mayn vokhedikn umet
fun November-groy. Afn Shvel, Harbst-Zumer, 2010, num’ 348-349
Yankev Shternberg, Ovnt in di berg
32 15And he said unto Him: ‘If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 16For wherein now shall it be known that I have found grace in Thy sight, I and Thy people? is it not in that Thou goest with us, so that we are distinguished, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth?’
32 17And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses: ‘There is a noise of war in the camp.’ 18And he said: ‘It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome, but the noise of them that sing do I hear.’ 19 And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount.
ל”ב 15און משה האָט זיך אומגעקערט, און האָט אַראָפּגענידערט פֿון באַרג, מיט די צװײ לוחות פֿון געזעץ אין זײַן האַנט, לוחות באַשריבן פֿון זײערע בײדע זײַטן; פֿון דער זײַט און פֿון יענער זײַט זײַנען זײ געװען באַשריבן. /32:16 און די לוחות זײַנען געװען די אַרבעט פֿון {dn גאָט}, און דער כּתב איז געװען דער כּתב פֿון {dn גאָט}, אױסגעקריצט אױף די לוחות.
געענדיקט — איז אַן אַנדערער געקומען האַקן
און אױך געפּיקט, אױך אות נאָך אות געקליבן
די משה־שריפֿט װאָס איז געשריבן
אױף אַלע בערג—גאָטס נישט צעבראָכענע לוחות . . .
יעקבֿ שטערנבערג, ליד און באַלאַדע אױף די קאַרפּאַטן, פּאַריז 1968
EVENING IN THE MOUNTAINS
The mountains are crammed together with mountains and multiply . . .
On their biting feet a star falls down
And pecks with his beak on the nape of its neck.
Done — so someone else came to chop
And also peck, also gathered letter after the letter
The Moses script that is written
On all the mountains — God’s unbroken tablets. . .
Yankev Shternberg
Literal translation, Sheva Zucker
ovnt in di berg
di berg mit barg zikh shtopn un zikh mern . . .
es flit arop oyf zayne bisik-fis a shtern
un pikt mit shnobele in zeyer nakn.
geendikt — iz an anderer gekumen hakn
un oykh gepikt, oykh os nokh os geklibn
di Moyshe-shrift vos iz geshribn
oyf ale berg — gots nisht tsebrokhene lukhes . . .
Yankev shternberg, lid un balade oyf di karpatn, Pariz 1964
Avrom Sutskever, In midber Sinay, khes
22And it shall come to pass, while My glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with My hand until I have passed by. 23And I will take away My hand, and thou shalt see My back; but My face shall not be seen.’
The mountain! The mountain! Its silence blooms with the fragrance
Of all the generations, pure as a diamond.
The mountain! The mountain! The sun caresses it,
But the sun’s rays melt in the beauty of the mountain.
Above the mountain the rays rise in two ladders —
And footsteps that can barely be felt on the rungs,
A sound . . . Coppers are blaring.
A sound . . . And the pupils of the eyes become thornbushes.
A frosty silver pounds out of its cracks,
A shiver runs up and down my spine,
As if the spirit hidden in the boulders
Had moved me to accept the commandments. In midber Sinay = In the Sinai Desert: a poem / by Abraham Sutzkever; translated from the Yiddish by David Hirsch and Roslyn Hirsch.
IN MIDBER SINAY
KH
der barg! der barg! di shtilkayt blit mit besomem
fun ale doyres.dimentene reynkayt.
der barg! der barg! di zun git a bashtrom im.
tseshmoltsn vert ir shlite in zayn sheynkayt.
un iber im tsvey shtralndike leyters –
un trit, vos bloyz men filt zey oyf di shtaplen.
a klang… es blozn kuperne trumeyters.
a klang… un sne-en vern di shvartsaplen.
a frostik zilber shlogt fun zayne shpaltn.
un oyf mayn ruknbeyn loyft durkh a tsiter,
vi dos volt mikh zayn gayst, in feldz bahaltn,
barirt mit der haskome fun gebiter.
Kadye Molodowsky recites “Eyl Khanon,” from The Golden Peacock: The Voice of the Yiddish Writer by Sheva Zucker.
34: 5And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed: ‘The LORD, the LORD, God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; 7keeping mercy unto the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and unto the fourth generation.’
אל חנון,
הייב אויף דײַן פֿײַערדיקע ברעם,
און זע די פֿעלקער פֿון דער וועלט —
גיב זיי די נבֿואות און די יום-נוראָים.
אין יעדן לשון פּרעפּלט מען דײַן וואָרט — לערן די מעשׂים זיי, די וועגן פֿון נסיון.
אל חנון,
גיב פּראָסטע בגדים אונדז,
פֿון פּאַסטעכער פֿאַר שאָף,
פֿון שמידן בײַ דעם האַמער,
פֿון וועשוואַשער, פֿון פֿעלשינדער,
און נאָך מער געמיינעס.
און נאָך איין חסד טו צו אונדז:
אל חנון,
נעם צו פֿון אונדז די שכינה פֿון גאונות.
1945
MERCIFUL GOD
Merciful God, Choose another people,
Elect another.
We are tired of death and dying,
We have no more prayers.
Choose another people,
Elect another.
We have no more blood
To be a sacrifice.
Our house has become a desert.
The earth is insufficient for our graves,
No more laments for us,
No more dirges
In the old, holy books.
Merciful God,
Sanctify another country,
Another mountain.
We have strewn all the fields and every stone
With ash, with holy ash.
With the aged,
With the youthful,
And with babies, we have paid
For every letter of your Ten Commandments.
Merciful God,
Raise your fiery brow,
And see the peoples of the world –
Give them the prophecies and the Days of Awe.
Your word is babbled in every language –
Teach them the deed,
The ways of temptation.
Merciful God,
Give us simple garments
Of shepherds with their sheep,
Blacksmiths at their hammers,
Laundry-washers, skin-flayers,
And even the more base.
And do us one more favor:
Merciful God,
Deprive us of the Divine Presence of genius.
1945 By permission of Translator, Kathryn Hellerstein, Paper Bridges
eylkhanun
eyl khanun,
klayb oys an ander folk,
derveyl.
mir zaynen miyad fun shtarbn un geshtorbn,
mir hobn nit keyn tfiles mer,
klayb oys an ander folk,
derveyl,
mir hobn nit keyn blut mer
oyf tsu zayn a korbn.
a midber iz gevorn undzer shtub.
di erd iz karg far undz oyf kvorem
nishto keyn kloglidin di alte sforem.
eyl khanun,
heylik an ander land,
an ander barg.
mir hobn ale felder shoyn un yedn shteyn
mit ash, mit heylikn bashotn.
mit zkeynem,
un mit yunge,
un mit eyfelekh batsolt
far yedn os fun dayne tsen gebotn.
eyl khanun,
heyb oyf dayn fayerdike brem,
un ze di felker fun der velt —
gib zey di nevues| un di yum-nuroyem.
in yedn loshn preplt men dayn vort — lern di maysem zey,
di vegn fun nesoyen.
eyl khanun,
gib proste bgodem undz,
fun pastekher far shof,
fun shmidn bay dem hamer,
fun veshvasher, fun felshinder,
un nokh mer gemeynes.
un nokh eyn khesed tu tsu undz:
eyl khanun,
nem tsu fun undz di shkhine fun geoynes.
1945
“Kotsk”, sung by Alexander Botwinik on Yiddish An Introduction to the Language, Literature & Culture, Vol. II by Sheva Zucker
34: 23Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel. 24For I will cast out nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders; neither shall any man covet thy land, when thou goest up to appear before the LORD thy God three times in the year.
One does not ride to Kotsk,
one walks to Kotsk;
Because Kotsk is a substitute Temple (of Jerusalem).
To Kotsk you have to make the pilgrimage on foot.The translation of “regl” is “a foot” –
One needs to go to Kotsk on foot,
singing and dancing,
Kotsk,
they go with a song.
The translation of “regl” is (also) “a habit” –
One needs to get in the habit of going to Kotsk,
singing and dancing,
and when the Hassidim go to Kotsk,
they go with a dance.
The translation of “regl” is (also) “a holiday” –
Happy holiday, happy holiday, happy holiday!
And when the Hassidim go to Kotsk,
it is, after all, a great holiday.
Tr. from Pearls of Yiddish Song, by Khane and Yoysef Mlotek
keyn kotsk fort men nisht folkslid
keyn kotsk fort men nisht,
keyn kotsk geyt men,
vayl kotsk iz dokh bimkem-hamikdesh (2)
keyn kotsk darf men oyle-regl zayn,
oyle-regl zayn.
vos iz der taytsh “regl”? — a fus.
keyn kotsk darf men geyn tsu fus,
zingendik un tantsndik,
un az khsidim geyen keyn kotsk,
geyt men mit gezang.
keyn kotsk fort men nisht,
keyn kotsk geyt men,
vayl kotsk iz dokh bimkem-hamikdesh (2)
keyn kotsk darf men oyle-regl zayn,
oyle-regl zayn.
vos iz der taytsh “regl”? — a gevoyntshaft.
me muz zikh tsugevoynen tsu geyn keyn kotsk,
zingendik un tantsndik,
un az khsidim geyen keyn kotsk,
geyt men mit a tants.
keyn kotsk fort men nisht,
keyn kotsk geyt men,
vayl kotsk iz dokh bimkem-hamikdesh (2)
keyn kotsk darf men oyle-regl zayn,
oyle-regl zayn.
vos iz der taytsh “regl”? — a yom-tov.
gut-yom-tov. (4)
un az khsidim geyen keyn kotsk,
iz a groyser yom-tov.
WEEK 20
Arye Shamri, דאָס ליכט פֿון קאָסעװ און קיטעװ, The Light of Kosev and Kitev Kadye Molodovski, אַ ליד צו מײַן קלײדערשאַנק, A Poem to My Clothes Closet
Miryem Ulinover, לכּבֿוד שבת, In Honor of Shabes
Arye Shamri, Dos lid fun Kosev and Kitev
27: 20And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. 21In the tent of meeting, without the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall set it in order, to burn from evening to morning before the LORD; it shall be a statute for ever throughout their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.
לײמען — אַ הימל מיט װוּנדער באַגאָסן,
קושן פֿון גאָט אױף יעדערנס פּנים.
איך עפֿן מײַן פֿענצטער — שײַנט מיר פֿון קאָסעװ — —
ביך איך מיט ייִדן מחדש לבֿנה.
THE LIGHT OF KOSEV AND KITEV
On my village — moon from Kosev,
From my village — stars to Kitev.
Green carpets, blue-blue dews,
And the dusty days pass in enchantment.
What was today and what yesterday? The moment’s eternal
The perpetual flame in a hard kindling case
Stars like buttons on a simple fur coat
Towards Kosev and Kitev face.
Grayish — a sky beaded with wonders,
On everyone’s visage God sends his kisses.
I open my window — light shines in from Kosev
Together with Jews, I bless the new moon. Translation attempt — Sheva Zucker
dos likht fun kosev un kitev
oyf derfl maynem —levone fun kosev,
fun derfl maynem — shtern tsu kitev.
tepekher grine, blo-bloe roses,
un di shtoybike teg geyen far|kishef|t.
vos haynt un vos nekhtn? eybik di rege,
neyr tomed brent in a hart kinik heltsl.
fun kosev un kitev shaynen antkegn
shtern gekneplt oyf prost-poshet peltsl.
leymen — a himl mit vunder bagosn,
kushn fun got oyf yederns ponem.
ikh efn mayn fens|terfenster — shaynt mir fun kosev — —
bin ikh mit yidn mekhadesh levone.
Arye shamri
Kadye Molodovski, A lid tsu mayn kleydershank
27: 2And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for splendour and for beauty.
29: 21And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him; and he and his garments shall be hallowed, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.
ליג איך אַזױ אין דבֿקות
און טראַכט אַרײַן װעגן מײַן ברױנער קאַצאַװײקע.
קאַדיע םאָלאָדאָװסקי, דזשיקע גאַס, װאַרשע 1933, 1936
A POEM TO MY CLOTHES CLOSET
The shadows see-saw on the walls,
And through the window comes gray light.
I lie and cogitate all night
About my brown quilt-peasant jacket.
If I should make a dress from it It will be short, with a tight fit,
Nevertheless—
It’s still worth something, such a dress.
Then I life in devout, ecstatic guilt
And think about my jacket of brown quilt.
Meanwhile the bed gives a push and a pull,
And creaks like an old enemy: Fool,
A dress more, a dress less,
The main thing is, your hair’s a mess.
And the old cat meows with a wide-opened throat:
—Sometimes I, too, change the patches on my coat,
So don’t be such a stingy flibbertigibbet,
And bid farewell to your brown peasant jacket.
Then I life in devout, ecstatic guilt
And think about my jacket of brown quilt. By permission of the translator
Kathryn Hellerstein, Paper Bridges: Selected Poems of Kadya Molodowsky, 1999
a lid tsu mayn kleydershank
es hoyden zikh di shotns oyf di vent,
un durkhn fenster kumt a groye shayn.
s’iz nakht. ikh lig un trakht arayn
vegn mayn broyner katsaveyke.
zol ikh makhn derfun a kleyd,
vet zi shmol zayn un vet zayn kurts,
fun dest vegn — — —
a kleyd iz fort a shtikl guts.
lig ikh azoy in dveykes,
un trakht vegn mayn broyner katsaveyke.
git dervayl di bet a ruk zikh un a for.
un s’kripet vi an alter soyne: nar,
a kleydl mer, a kleydl veyniker,
der iker zaynen gor di hor.
un di alte kats myauket mit a breyter kel:
— ikh bayt oykh a mol di lates oyf der fel,
zay nisht aza-o karger dreykop
un zog a gutn tog der broyner katsaveyke.
lig ikh azoy in dveykes
un trakht arayn vegn mayn broyner katsaveyke. kadye Molodovski, dzhike gas, varshe 1933, 1936
Miryem Ulinover, Lekoved Shabes
29: 29 And the holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be consecrated in them.30Seven days shall the son that is priest in his stead put them on, even he who cometh into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.
כ”ט: 29 און די הײליקע קלײדער פֿון אַהרֹנען זאָלן זײַן פֿאַר זײַנע זין נאָך אים, אױף צו זאַלבן אין זײ, און צו דערפֿילן זײער האַנט אין זײ. /29:30 זיבן טעג זאָל זײ אָנטאָן דער פֿון זײַנע זין, װאָס װערט דער כֹּהן אױף זײַן אָרט, דער װאָס קומט אין אוֹהל-מוֹעד צו דינען אין הײליקטום.
איז פֿאַרגאַנגען אין געלעכטער
זיך די פֿרעמד, די שלעכטע,
װײַל באַהאַלטן כ‘האָב אױף שבת מיר די זײַט די רעכטע.
מרים אולינאָװער, אַ גרוס פֿון דער אַלטער הײם: לידער, פּאַריז, 2003
IN HONOR OF SHABES
Like the silver atore on my father’skitl
At the seyder
So do your Shabes clothes suit you,
My shtetl.
But sometimes if I’m far from home,
And I’m down to my last dress
And I’ve worn it all week long
Inside out,
That strange and wicked place
Bursts out laughing,
Because I’ve set aside for Shabes The right side. Literal, non-rhyming translation, Sheva Zucker
lekoved shabes
vi di zilberne atore
tsu mayn tatns seyder,
pasn haynt tsu dir, mayn shtetl
dayne shabes-kleyder.
nor az in der fremd geblibn
kh’bin a mol in letstn kleyd
un a gantse vokh getrogn
hob ikh’s fun der linker zayt,
iz fargangen in gelekhter
zikh di fremd, di shlekhte,
vayl bahaltn kh’hob oyf shabes
mir di zayt di rekhte.
Miryem ulinover, a grus fun der alter heym/Un bonjour du pays natal, Pariz, 2003
THIS WEEK
Rivke Basman Ben-khayim, די מתּנה, The Gift
Dovid Hofshteyn, זאָל זײַן דערװײַל די װענט פֿון האָלץ, Let the Walls Be Made of Wood for Now
Sheve Tsuker, דבֿר־תּורה — פּרשת תרומה, Dvar-Toyre on Terumah
25: 1And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 2‘Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take for Me an offering; of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take My offering.
כ”ה 1 און {dn גאָט} האָט גערעדט צו משהן, אַזױ צו זאָגן: /25:2 רעד צו די קינדער פֿון ישׂראל, זײ זאָלן נעמען פֿאַר מיר אַן אָפּשײדונג; פֿון יעטװעדער מאַן װאָס זײַן האַרץ װעט אים באַװיליקן, זאָלט איר נעמען מײַן אָפּשײדונג.
For a biography of Rivke Basman Ben-Haim in English, click here.
For a biography of Rivke Basman Ben-Haim in Yiddish, click here.
די מתּנה
זאָגסט ס’איז אונדזער לעבן
אַ מתּנה,
מיר, פֿאַרבליבן פֿון די שײַטערס און פֿון גרויל,
בין איך מסכּים מיט דײַן מיין, —
וויל דאָך יעדער אַ מתּנה
גאַנץ און שיין. לֹכּבֿוד איך און דו, באַנד 2, תּל־אָבֿיבֿ 2006
THE GIFT
You say: our lives are
a gift,
we survivors of pyres and horror,
and I do agree with your view.—
But everyone wants his gifts
whole and true. Tr. Zelda Kahan Newman, The Thirteenth Hour: Poems by Rivka Basman Ben-Haim/די דרײַצנטע שעה
di matone
zogst s’iz undzer lebn
a matone,
mir, farblibn fun di shayters un fun groyl,
bin ikh maskem mit dayn meyn,—
vil dokh yeder a matone
gants un sheyn. le|koved ikh un du, Band II, Tel-Oviv, 2006
26: 1 Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains: of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim the work of the skilful workman shalt thou make them. 7And thou shalt make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; eleven curtains shalt thou make them 15And thou shalt make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia-wood, standing up.
For a biography of Dovid Hofshteyn in English, click here.
In this poem Hofshteyn, a major Soviet Yiddish writer, sentenced to death by Stalin on “The Night of the Murdered Poets,”August 12, 1952, talks, not about the mishkan, but about a different kind of venerated Jewish space — Birobidzhan, in the Former Soviet Union. In 1928 Birobidzhan was designated as the Jewish homeland and in 1934 as the Jewish autonomous region. Yiddish was, and still is, an official language of the region. Hofshteyn’s poem echoes the optimism surrounding the building of this new land for Jews, a land where Jews will work with their hands and do honest labor, and not have to engage in “swindle” as petty merchants in order to make a living.
Let the walls be made of wood for now,
And of shingles let us make the roof!
We are working, we are proud,
From swindle we remain aloof.
At every trade, or thing we’re tasked
Each one of us must be a model
You farmer, builder, tailor, cobbler
We’re all doing what we’ve been asked.
Record it well and do remember:
For a new life and spirits lifted,
This lovely region has been given,
This new region has been gifted.
Let the walls be made of wood for now,
And of shingles let us make the roof!
We are working, we are proud,
From swindle we remain aloof.
Tr. Sheva Zucker
zol zayn dervayl di vent fun holts,
zol zayn dervayl der dakh fun shindlen!
mir arbetn, mir zaynen shtolts,
mir hobn gornit shoyn mit shvindl.
bay yeder arbet, yeder fakh
a yeder darf do zayn a muster,
du poyer, boyer, shnayder, shuster —
mir ale tuen do eyn zakh.
fartseykhn gut un fargedenk:
far gor a nay un munter lebn
di sheyne gegnt iz gegebn,
di naye gegnt iz geshenkt.
zol zayn dervayl di vent fun holts,
zol zayn dervayl der dakh fun shindlen!
mir arbetn, mir zaynen shtolts,
mir hobn gornit shoyn mit shvindl.
Dovid hofshteyn, birobidzhan—a kant a vayter un a noenter: verk fun sovetishe yidishe shraybers, Moskve, 1984
Sheve Tsuker, Dvar-toyre Parshes Trume
25: 1And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 2‘Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take for Me an offering; of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take My offering.
כ”ה 1 און {dn גאָט} האָט גערעדט צו משהן, אַזױ צו זאָגן: /25:2 רעד צו די קינדער פֿון ישׂראל, זײ זאָלן נעמען פֿאַר מיר אַן אָפּשײדונג; פֿון יעטװעדער מאַן װאָס זײַן האַרץ װעט אים באַװיליקן, זאָלט איר נעמען מײַן אָפּשײדונג.
25: 31And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, even its base, and its shaft; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, shall be of one piece with it. 32And there shall be six branches going out of the sides thereof: three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candle-stick out of the other side thereof; 33three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower; and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower; so for the six branches going out of the candlestick. 34And in the candlestick four cups made like almond-blossoms, the knops thereof, and the flowers thereof.
Forgive me for indulging myself, but it suddenly occurred to me that I had done a dvar-toyre in Yiddish on this very sedre! It was my farewell speech given when I retired as the Executive Director of the League for Yiddish and the Editor-in-chief of its all-Yiddish magazine, Arn Shvel. At first, I despaired, and wondered what on earth I could do with this parshe but then I discovered how relevant Trume was to my work. I am sharing here parts of the speech relevant to it.
אָפֿט מאָל טראַכט איך מיר, די װעלט ברויזט און זידט אַרום מיר, מענטשן קומען אום, רעגירונגען ווערן אַראָפּגעוואָרפֿן און איך זיץ און זאָרג זיך וועגן אַזעלעכע זאַכן צי אַ פֿיקטיווער האָז האָט געהייסן האָזע־נאָזע, האָזע־באָזע אָדער נאָזע־באָזע, אָדער צי איך דאַרף זיך אײַנשפּאַרן און פּועלן בײַ גיטלען, אונדזער סטיל־רעדאַקטאָר, אַז אַ געוויסער שרײַבער זאָל מעגן ניצן דאָס וואָרט „שילער” און נישט „תּלמיד” אָדער „סטודענט” און איך פֿרעג זיך, צי איז דאָס וויכטיק?
און דער ענטפֿער איז, אַז אין לעצטן סך־הכּל מיין איך אַז יאָ. אין דעם באַלדיקן נומער אויפֿן שוועל, דער לעצטער וואָס איך רעדאַקטיר האָב איך אויסגעקליבן ווי די טעמע „ייִדישע חלומות” און דאָרטן האָב איך זיך געטיילט מיט מײַנע אייגענע חלומות פֿאַר דעם זשורנאַל און אַ סך וואָס איך האָב דאָרטן געשריבן איז שייך צום ענין קפּדנישקייט. „גלײַך פֿון אָנהייב”, האָב איך געשריבן, „האָב איך געוואָלט אַז אויפֿן שוועל זאָל זײַן אַ זשורנאַל װאָס זאָל קענען קאָנקורירן סײַ אין איכות סײַ אין אױסזען מיט די בעסטע אַנגלאָ־ייִדישע און אַפֿילו נישט־ייִדישע זשורנאַלן. זײַן אויסזען זאָל זײַן אַזוי שיין ווי זײַן תּוכן איז אינטערעסאַנט, טיפֿזיניק און טיף ייִדישלעך. די שיינקייט איז נישט געווען קיין צופֿעליקער אָדער זײַטיקער ענין, נאָר דווקא הידור מיצווה (די באַפּוצונג פֿון דער מיצווה) וואָס איז אַליין פֿאַר זיך אַ שטיקל מיצווה. דער אױסזען און אינהאַלט דאַרפֿן זײַן געקניפּט און געבונדן, די אויסערלעכע שײנקײט דאַרף זײַן אַן אָפּשפּיגלונג פֿון דעם אינערלעכן תּוכן”.
צי מע וויל צי מע וויל נישט קען מען נאָר דערגרייכן אַזאַ שיינקייט דורך אַ קפּדניש אָפּגעבן זיך מיט פּרטים. יעדער פּרט באַזונדער זעט אפֿשר נישט אויס אַזוי וויכטיק נאָר צוזאַמען שאַפֿן זיי אַ גאַנצקייט, אַ שלמות וואָס וואָלט נישט רעאַליזירט געוואָרן אָן די אַלע פּרטים. צי וועט דער לייענער ווייניקער געניסן אויב ער לייענט אַן אַרטיקל וווּ סע פֿעלט עפּעס אַ פּרט? איך בין נישט זיכער אָבער אין לעצטן סך־הכּל מיין איך אַז יאָ. און כאָטש דאָס גאַנצע איז גרעסער ווי די סומע פֿון די טיילן, אָן די אַלע טיילן איז נישטאָ קיין שלמות. און דאָס שלמות איז אונדזער תּרומה צום ייִדיש־לייענער און דער ייִדישער וועלט.
איך האָב זיך אַ ביסל געטיילט מיט מײַנע חלומות. די וואָס קומען נאָך מיר וועלן האָבן זייערעאייגענע חלומות און זייערע אייגענע אופֿנים צו ברענגען זייער „אָפּשיידונג”. צום נײַעם רעדאַקטאָר, מרים טרין, — דו האָסט פֿאַר זיך אַ גוואַלדיקע מתּנה, אַ געלעגנהייט צו פֿורעמען דעם זשורנאַל לויט דײַן אייגענעם גײַסט און דער באַוויליקונג פֿון דײַן האַרץ און אים פֿירן אויף נײַע וועגן. ס’איז אַ געלעגנהייט מקיים צו זײַן דײַנע אייגענע חלומות ווי אויך די חלומות פֿון אַ נײַעם דור לייענערס. זאָלסט עס טאָן מיט מזל און מיט ברכה.
Dear Friends, Terumah is the first of the parshes concerned with the building of the mishkan, the portable sanctuary that the Israelites constructed in the desert to serve as God’s dwelling and resting place. Those familiar with the parshe know that it is chock full of details on how the sanctuary was to be built, how high, how wide, with what materials, how long the curtains were supposed to be and how many hooks were needed to hang them, etc. It’s hard to find there what Dr. Chaim Zhitlowsky, the philosopher of secular Jewishness, would have called, “spiritual-national” moments, elevating moments that resonate, even for skeptics, on some deep ethical and emotional level.
As I thought about it I realized that the mishkan was a perfect metaphor for the Yiddish language. It was portable, it accompanied the Jewish people through the desert, just as Yiddish, the ultimate goles–loshn (language of our exile), has accompanied Ashkenazic Jews for over 1000 years serving if not as a dwelling for God’s divine presence, then as a vessel to embody and express the essence of Jewish life. The League for Yiddish has made it its mission to preserve, nurture and further develop the literature and culture associated with this language.
At the very beginning of the portion there is a fragment of a sentence that spoke very directly to me, and that is, “Whose heart is so moved.” ”God spoke to Moses, saying: Tell the Israelite people to bring me gifts; you shall accept gifts for me from every person whose heart is so moved.” I feel myself lucky and blessed, as I think many of us who work in the field of Yiddish do, that my terumah, my contribution to the League for Yiddish as Executive Director and Editor-in-chief of its magazine Afn Shvel has always been according to the will of my heart.
Were there parts of these jobs I didn’t love? Of course, it’s work and it’s life. On occasion writers would drive my crazy with their imprecise answers to my incessant editorial questions (which I’m sure drove them crazy) or with their refusal to address certain questions or criticisms at all.
Yet most of my work for the League for Yiddish/Afn Shvel spoke directly to my heart. As the editor of Afn Shvel I had rare creative and intellectual opportunities. These included the privilege of working with the last writers of the pre-Holocaust generation such as Alexander Spiegelblatt, Yonia Fain, Yechiel Shraibman and Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman. I was also able to support and publish the work of younger Yiddish writers, may their numbers increase, and to select topics that interested me for each issue. Finally I could write when and how much I wanted.
The League for Yiddish also let me choose projects for the organization that moved my heart. Thus we were able to execute our film project Worlds within a World: Conversations with Yiddish Writers directed by the wonderful Josh Waletzky. These films record for posterity four of the most important Yiddish writers of the older generation on this continent. It was a gift to work on this project with the support of our board members: they immediately understood its importance and didn’t focus on the high cost of production or the limited likely audience but just eagerly endorsed it.
The second thing that intrigued me about Terumah was the amount of detail in the descriptions. As I mentioned earlier the details in this parshe do paint a very vivid picture but also seem over the top. Listen to these instructions about how to make the menorah which will be placed in the mishkan, abbreviated by me: (Exodus: 25: 31-34) You shall make a lampstand (menorah) of pure gold… Six branches shall issue from its sides; three branches from one side of the lampstand and three branches from the other side of the lampstand. On one branch there shall be three cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals, and on the next branch there shall be three cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals; so for all six branches issuing from the lampstand. And on the lampstand itself there shall be four cups shaped like almond-blossoms, each with calyx and petals. [abridged from Jewish Publication Society translation]
I could go on but that’s enough – you get the point. The question that is begging to be asked and answered is, why does the Torah include so many details in the description of how to build the sanctuary? Why is it so important that there be three cups and not four and that they be shaped like almonds and not figs? We understand that every detail, every branch of the menorah, every pole on which the Holy Ark was carried and every one of the four golden rings into which the poles were placed is important, and that there have to be four rings and not three or five and not of silver or copper but of gold, etc.. We understand that all that is important because this is, after all, God’s dwelling we’re talking about.
As an editor I often found myself wrapped up in the minutiae of a text and wondering if these details were indeed important. Not infrequently, as I went through draft after draft with a writer I felt like a nudnik (annoying bore) and would be reminded of the poet Itsik Manger’s line in the Megile-lider (Songs of the Purim-Megillah), about “Vayesatha the editOR who is a big and crashing bore.”
One humorous incident comes to mind. I was editing an article about Yiddish children’s literature in Hebrew, written by the Israeli Benny Mer, a very fine writer in both Hebrew and Yiddish and a member of our editorial board, for our Translation Issue and Israel was in crisis at the time. (Although Israel is almost always in crisis, this situation was particularly tense.) The Jews of France were reeling from a terrorist attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris that had taken four lives and Israel had to respond somehow. But yet, as this email to Benny written January, 12, 2015 shows, I still had to do my job which meant paying attention to the details despite the greater happenings in the world.
“Dear Benny,” (I wrote),
‘There’s a problem with the sentence about Hoze-Noze, first of all, the name of Kadye’s [Molodowsky] poem was not “Hoze-Noze” but “A Hare with an Elephant’s Nose.” Secondly, the name of the hare was not Hoze-Noze (I’m looking in Kadye’s book, Martsepanes (Marzipan, p. 104)), but in the fourth verse of the poem it’s Noze-Boze and then following that, twice Hoze-Boze (on p. 106). See the verse: “Hoze-Boze, disasters disaster/Hide your nose even faster.” Should we assume that “Noze-Boze” is a mistake and call him “Hoze-Boze or maybe he was just being taunted with the name Hoze-Boze? PS This all seems a bit absurd in light of recent world events, but what can you do, an article is still an article and an editor remains an editor. Warm regards, Sheva’”
To which Benny replied, “Very much agree, and let’s hope for better times.”
Sometimes I think, the world teems and seethes around me, people perish, governments topple and I’m sitting and worrying about such things as whether a fictional hare is named Hoze-Noze, Hoze-Boze or Noze-Boze, or about whether to insist to Gitl, the Yiddish-language editor, that a writer be allowed to use the word “shiler” (pupil) rather than “talmed” (student) or “student” (more adult student) [This argument is difficult to explain here to the uninitiated], and I ask myself, is this important?
Ultimately, I believe it is. For the forthcoming issue of Afn Shvel, the last under my editorship, I chose the topic “Yiddish dreams” and there I shared my own dreams for the magazine. Much of what I say in my editorial relates to the issue of meticulousness. There I wrote, “From the very start I wanted Afn Shvel to be able to compete both in quality and appearance with the best Anglo-Jewish and even non-Jewish magazines and its appearance to be as beautiful as its contents would be interesting, meaningful and deeply Jewish. This beauty was not to be an accidental or secondary matter, but rather hidur mitsvah (the decoration of the mitzvah (commandment; good deed)) which is in and of itself something of a mitzvah. The appearance and the content must be connected, the outer beauty must be a reflection of the inner content.”
Like it or not, this beauty can only be attained by meticulous attention to detail. Details may not seem so important in and of themselves but together they form a shleymes, a whole, something (almost) perfect which could never be realized without these all being in place. Will the reader gain less from reading an article if some small detail is missing? I don’t know for certain, but ultimately I think so. While the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, without the parts there is no wholeness. And this wholeness is our terumah (gift) to the Yiddish reader and to the Jewish world.
I’ve shared some of my dreams; those who come after me have and will have their own dreams and other ways of bringing gifts. To the new editor, Miriam Trinh, you have a wonderful opportunity to shape Afn Shvel in a way that moves your hearts and to lead it onto new paths. It’s an opportunity to realize your dreams in mazlun in brokhe (with luck and blessing).
Sheva Zuckerשבֿע איטע צוקער
THIS WEEK Sholem Aleichem, פֿון „מיר איז גוט — איך בין אַ יתום”, It’s Grand to be an Orphan
Khayiim Grade, די אַלמנה, The Widow
Yankev Glatshteyn, נישט די מתים לויבן גאָט, Not the Dead Praise God (see Week 17)
Sholem Aleichem, “Mir iz gut ikh bin a yosem,” Motl Peyse dem Khazns
22: 21Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. 22If thou afflict them in any wise—for if they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry— 23My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
For a biography of Sholem Aleichem in English and Yiddish, see Week 3.
פֿון „מיר איז גוט — איך בין אַ יתום”, מאָטל פּייסע דעם חזנס
פֿון זינט איך בין צו מײַן שׂכל געקומען, געדענק איך נישט, איך זאָל זײַן אַזאַ מיוחס, ווי אַצינד. וואָס איז מיט מיר דער ייִחוס? — מײַן טאַטע, פּייסע דער חזן, ווייסט איר דאָך, איז געשטאָרבן דעם ערשטן טאָג שבֿוֹעות, און איך בין געבליבן אַ יתום.
פֿון דעם ערשטן טאָג נאָך שבֿועות האָבן מיר אָנגעהויבן זאָגן קדיש — איך און מײַן ברודער אליהו. ער טאַקע האָט מיך אויסגעלערנט זאָגן קדיש.
מײַן ברודער אליהו איז אַ געטרײַער ברודער, אָבער נישט קיין גוטער רבי. ער איז אַ כּעסן. ער שלאָגט זיך! ער האָט אויפֿגעעפֿנט אַ סידור און האָט זיך אַוועקגעזעצט מיט מיר און אָנגעהויבןמיט מיר שטודירן:
יתגדל ויתקדש שמיה רבה. . . ער וויל, אַז איך זאָל שוין קאָנען אויסנווייניק. ער חזרט איבער מיט מיר נאָך אַ מאָל און נאָך אַ מאָל, פֿון אָנהייב ביזן סוף, און הייסט מיר, אַז איצט זאָל איך שוין זאָגן אַליין. איך זאָג אַליין, אָבער עס גייט נישט.
ביז „ויצמח פּורקניה” איז נאָך ווי עס איז, און קומט צו „ויצמח פּורקניה” פֿאַרטשעפּע איך מיך. דערלאַנגט ער מיר מיטן עלנבויגן און זאָגט מיר, אַז דער קאָפּ איז מיר, הפּנים, ערגעץ אין דרויסן (גלײַך ווי געטראָפֿן), אָדער ערגעץ בײַם קעלבל (גלײַך ווי ער איז געווען דערבײַ) . . . ער פֿוילט זיך נישט און חזרט אײַן מיט מיר נאָך אַ מאָל. איך האָב מיך קוים דערשלאָגן ביז לעילא ולעילא מן כל ברכתא ושירתא תושבחתא” — און ווײַטער נישט אַ טראָט. ער נעמט מיך אָן פֿאַרן אויער און זאָגט, אַז דער טאַטע זאָל אויפֿשטיין און זען, וואָס פֿאַר אַ זון ער האָט! . . .
וואָלט איך פֿאַרשפּאָרט זאָגן קדיש. . .
אַזוי זאָג איך צו מײַן ברודער אליהו און כאַפּ פֿון אים אַ געשמאַקן פּאַטש מיט דער לינקער האַנט אין דער רעכטער באַק אַרײַן. דערהערט די מאַמע און גיט אים אַ פּסק, ער זאָל מיך נישט שלאָגן, וואָרעם איך בין אַ יתום.
—גאָט איז מיט דיר! וואָס טוסטו? וועמען שלאָגסטו? האָסט פֿאַרגעסן, הפּנים, אַז דאָס קינד איז אַ יתום?!
שלאָפֿן שלאָף איך מיט דער מאַמען אינעם טאַטנס בעט — דאָס איינציקע שטיקל מעבל אין שטוב. די קאָלדרע גיט זי אָפּ כּמעט אין גאַנצן מיר.
— דעק דיך אײַן, זאָגט זי צו מיר, און ווער אַנטשלאָפֿן, מײַן טײַערער יתום. עסן איז נישטאָ וואָס. . .
דעקן דעק איך מיך אײַן, אָבער שלאָפֿן שלאָף איך נישט. איך חזר מיר דעם קדיש, אויף אויסנווייניק. איך חדר גיי איך נישט, לערנען לערן איך נישט, דאַוונען דאַוון איך נישט, זינגען זינג איך נישט. פּטור פֿון אַלצדינג.
מיר איז גוט — איך בין אַ יתום.
שלום עליכם, מאָטל פּייסע דעם חזנס
“IT’S GRAND TO BE AN ORPHAN,” THE ADVENTURES OF MOTTEL, THE CANTOR’S SON
Never do I remember having been such a grand and important person as now. What’s it all about? Well, as you know, my father, Peissi the Cantor, died on the first day of Shevuoth, and I was left an orphan.
From the first day after Shevuoth, we began to recite the Kadddish, that is, my brother Eli and I. It was Eli who taught me to say it.
My brother Eli is a devoted brother but a poor teacher. He is an irritable fellow. He smacks me. He opens the prayer book, sits down with me and starts the lesson, “Yisgadal, v’yiskadash shmei rabo . . .’ He wants me to know it all by heart from the very start. He goes over it with me once, and once again from beginning to end, and then he makes me say it all by myself. I say it all by myself, but somehow it doesn’t turn out right. I manage about half of it pretty well, but in the middle I get stuck. Eli treats me to a dig of his elbow and says it’s obvious my head is somewhere out of doors (how did he guess?) or somewhere with the calf (he might have read my thoughts!). Still, he doesn’t lose hope and repeats it with me again. I manage another bit, leyla u’v’layla min kol birkhoso u’shiroso tushb’khoso, and not a step farther. He takes hold of my ear and says that father ought to rise up and see what a son he has!
”Then I wouldn’t have to say Kaddish!” I answer and catch a sound slap on my right cheek from Eli’s left hand. Mother gets wind of this and reads him a sermon: he mustn’t hit me because I’m an orphan.
“God preserve you, what are you doing! Whom are you hitting! Have you forgotten that the child is an orphan?”
I sleep with mother on father’s bed—the only piece of furniture left in the house. She gives me practically all of the quilt.”
“Cover yourself,” she says, “and fall asleep, my poor orphan. There’s nothing to eat.” I cover myself, but I don’t sleep. I repeat the Kaddish by heart. I don’t have to go to school; I don’t have to study: I don’t have to pray; I don’t have to sing. I’m free of everything.
It’s grand to be an orphan!
Tr. Tamara Kahana, Adventures of Mottel, the Cantor’s Son, 1961
“mir iz gut — ikh bin a yosem”.— motl peyse dem khazn|s
fun zint ikh bin tsu mayn seykhl gekumen, gedenk ikh nisht, ikh zol zayn aza meyukhes, vi atsind. vos iz mit mir der yikhes? — mayn tate, peyse der khaznת veyst ir dokh, iz geshtorbn dem ershtn tog shvues, un ikh bin geblibn a yosem.
fun dem ershtn tog nokh shvues hobn mir ongehoybn zogn kadesh — ikh un mayn bruder Elye. er take hot mikh oysgelernt zogn kadesh.
mayn bruder Elye iz a getrayer bruder, ober nisht keyn guter rebe. er iz a kaysn. er shlogt zikh! er hot oyfgeefnt a sider un hot zikh avekgeztst mit mir un ongehoybnmit mir shtudirn: “Yisgadal, v’yiskadash shmei rabo . . . er vil, az ikh zol shoyn konen oysnveynik. er khazer|t iber mit mir nokh a mol un nokh a mol, fun onheyb bizn sof, un heyst mir, az itst zol ikh shoyn zogn aleyn.ikh zog aleyn, ober es geyt nisht.
biz “vayismakh| purkanya” iz nokh vi es iz, un kumt tsu “vayismakh| purkanya” fartshepe ikh mikh. derlangt er mir mitn elnboygn un zogt mir, az der kop iz mir, haponim, ergets in droysn (glaykh vi getrofn), oder ergets baym kelbl (glaykh vi er iz geven derbay) . . . er foylt zikh nisht un khazer|t ayn mit mir nokh a mol. ikh hob mikh koym dershlogn biz “leylo u’v’leylo min kol birkhoso u’shiroso tushb’khoso,” — un vayter nisht a trot. er nemt mikh on farn oyer un zogt, az der tate zol oyfshteyn un zen, vos far a zun er hot! . . .
volt ikh farshport zogn kadesh. . .
azoy zog ikh tsu mayn bruder Elye un khap fun im a geshmakn patsh mit der linker hant in der rekhter bak arayn. derhert di mame un git im a psak, er zol mikh nisht shlogn,vorem ikh bin a yosem.
—got iz mit dir! vos tustu? vemen shlogstu? host fargesn, haponim, az dos kind iz a yosem?!
shlofn shlof ikh mit der mamen inem tatns bet — dos eyntsike shtikl mebl in shtub. di koldre git zi op kemat in gantsn mir.
— dek dikh ayn, zogt zi tsu mir, un ver antshlofn, mayn tayerer yosem. esn iz nishto vos. . .
dekn dek ikh mikh ayn, ober shlofn shlof ikh nisht. ikh khazer mir dem kadesh, oyf oysnveynik. ikh kheyder gey ikh nisht, lernen lern ikh nisht, davnen davn ikh nisht, zingen zing ikh nisht. poter fun altsding.
mir iz gut — ikh bin a yosem.
22: 21Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. 22If thou afflict them in any wise—for if they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry— 23My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
At midnight the widow awakes
and fearfully lights a candle.
The half-moon
turns its split face
toward her window
and flickers like a lamp on a gate.
The widow looks around the room
and gazes sternly into the mirror.
Her clothes hang on the night-stool
and, as always,
a sad smile hangs
from the corners of her mouth.
Half of her wide double-bed
is untouched—
the corpse lies snow-covered in the grave.
Her body glows at night,
but her breath freezes by day in her veil.
The street shadows merge.
Quickly she flings open her wardrobe—
and jumps back in horror:
two men’s-shoes wait there,
but their owner lies rotting in the grave.
She stretches her hand to the hangar—
the blood drains from her heart.
The dead man, gray and stern,
looks back at her from beneath his hat—
it’s his face, stern and gray.
She closes her eyes in fear
and feels for her wedding-dress.
Now she puts on the dress
and looks vengefully with joy,
at the black silk mourning-veil. Tr. Barnett Zumoff, Songs to a Moonstruck Lady: Women in Yiddish Poetry,
Selected and Translated by Barnett Zumoff, 2005
di almone
halbe nakht vekt zikh oyf di almone
un tsindt on dershrokn a likht.
in ir fenster di halbe levone
kert op ir tseshpoltn gezikht
un tsankt vi a lomp oyf a toyer.
di almone kuk tum zikh in kheyder,
kukt ayn zikh in vantshpigl shtreng.
oyf ir nakhtbenkl hengen di kleyder,
un oykh in ir moylvinkl hengt,
vi shtendik, a shmeykhl fun troyer.
ir geleger, dos shneyike, breyte,
iz biz tsu der helft nit gerirt—
der mes shtumt in grub a farshneyter.
ir layb glit bay nakht, nor es frirt
ir otem bay tog in ir shleyer.
s’farflekhtn di shotns geheyme—
zi rayst oyf dem kleydershrank gikh
un shpringt oyf tsurik ful mit eyme:
dort vartn tsvey menershe shikh,
nor s’foyln di fis funem geyer.
zi shtrekt oys ir hant tsu dem henger—
antloyft fun ir hartsn dos blut.
der toyter, a groyer, a shtrenger,
afer kukt fun hinter zayn hut—
zayn ponem, dos shtrenge, dos groye.
mit shrek shlist zi tsu ire oygn
un tapt on ir khasene-kleyd.
ot hot zi dos kleyd ongetsoygn
un kukt mit nekome un freyd
oyf ir zaydshvartsn tsudek fun troyer. Farvoksene vegn, 1947
di almone
halbe nakht vekt zikh oyf di almone
un tsindt on dershrokn a likht.
in ir fenster di halbe levone
kert op ir tseshpoltn gezikht
un tsankt vi a lomp oyf a toyer.
di almone kuk tum zikh in kheyder,
kukt ayn zikh in vantshpigl shtreng.
oyf ir naktbenkl hengen di kleyder,
un oykh in ir moylvinkl hengt,
vi shtendik, a shmeykhl fun troyer.
ir geleger, dos shneyike, breyte,
iz biz tsu der helft nit gerirt—
der mes shtumt in grub a farshneyter.
ir layb glit bay nakht, nor es frirt
ir otem bay tog in ir shleyer.
s’farflekhtn di shotns geheyme—
zi rayst oyf dem kleydershrank gikh
un shpringt oyf tsurik ful mit eyme:
dort vartn tsvey menershe shikh,
nor s’foyln di fis funem geyer.
zi shtrekt oys ir hant tsu dem henger—
antloyft fun ir hartsn dos blut.
der toyter, a groyer, a shtrenger,
afer kukt fun hinter zayn hut—
zayn ponem, dos shtrenge, dos groye.
mit shrek shlist zi tsu ire oygn
un tapt on ir khasene-kleyd.
ot hot zi dos kleyd ongetsoygn
un kukt mit nekome un freyd
oyf ir zaydshvartsn tsudek fun troyer.
Yankev Glatshteyn, Nisht di meysim loybn Got/Not the Dead Praise God
24: 12 And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Come up to Me into the mount and be there; and I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law and the commandment, which I have written, that thou mayest teach them.’
12:24און {dn גאָט} האָט געזאָגט צו משהן: קום אַרױף צו מיר אױפֿן באַרג, און זײַ דאָרטן, און איך װעל דיר געבן די שטײנערנע לוחות מיט דער תּוֹרה און דעם געבאָט װאָס איך האָב אױפֿגעשריבן זײ צו לערנען.
I am cross-referencing the poem Nisht di meysim loybn Got/Not the Dead Praise God, by Glatshteyn because it is appropriate in both places. To read the poem go to Week 17 Yitro/Yisre.
We received the Torah at Mount Sinai
and in Lublin we gave it back.
Not the dead praise God —
the Torah was given for the living.
And as we all together
stood in a body
at the Granting of the Torah,
so truly did we all die in Lublin.
The treelike head, the solemn eyes,
the trembling mouth of a Jewish child
I shall marvel into such a dread tale.
For him I shall star a Jewish sky
and speak to him thus:
“The Jewish people is a fiery sun
from Beginning to beginning to beginning.
Repeat it, dear Jewish lad: from beginning to beginning to beginning.”
The entire imagined people stood at Mount Sinai
and received the Torah”
the dead, the living, the yet unborn.
All the Jewish souls responded: We will hearken and obey! And you, the saddest Jewish lad
of all generations,
stood at Mount Sinai, too.
Your nostrils smelled the raisin-almond
scent of each word in the Torah.
You were wrapped in a piece of the mountain
as in a prayer shawl.
it was Shvues, holiday of greens.
Like a songbird, you too sang”
“I will obey and hearken,
hearken and obey,
from beginning to beginning to beginning.
Jewish lad, your life is especially marked
on the starred Jewish sky.
You were never absent,
you dared not be absent.
We hoped and prayed you into being;
always, wherever we were, you too were there.
And when we became nought,
you also vanished
together with us.
And as we all together
stood in a body
at the Granting of the Torah,
so truly did we all die in Lublin.
From everywhere pious souls came flying:
those who had lived out their lives
and the youthfully dead;
the persecuted, those tested in all fires,
he yet unborn.
All the departed Jews,
from Grandfather Abraham on,
were in Lublin at he holocaust.
And all who stood at Mount Sinai
and received the Torah
took upon themselves the sacred deaths.
The souls clamored:
“We want to be dead together with our people.
we want to die once more.”
Mother Sarah and Mother Rachel;
Miriam, and Deborah he Prophetess,
who perished praying and singing;
Moses, who so much did not want to die
when his time came,
died once more;
and his brother Aaron,
and King David,
and the Rambam, and the Vilna Gaon;
the Maharam and the Maharashel,
the Seer and Abraham Eiger. . .
Accompanying each sacred soul
died hundreds of souls
of pious, already departed Jews.
And you, darling lad, were also there,
Especially marked on the starred Jewish skies,
you were there too,
and died together with us.
Sweet as a dove you stretched out your neck
and sang with the fathers and mothers: from beginning to beginning to beginning.
Shut your eyes, beloved Jewish lad,
and recall how the Bal-Shem
rocked you in his arms
when the entire imagined people
perished in the gas chambers of Lublin.
An extinguished desolate Sinai smoked
above the gas chambers
and pious departed souls.
Lad with the treelike head,
solemn eyes and trembling mouth,
it is you after all,
you were the hushed, desolate, returned Torah.
You stood on Mount Sinai
and wept your tears into a dead world — from beginning to beginning to beginning.
And this is what you cried:
“We received the Torah at Mount Sinai
and in Lublin we gave it back.
Not the dead praise God —
the Torah was given for the living.”
Tr. Etta Blum, Jacob Glatstein: Poems, Selected and translated from the Yiddish
by Etta Blum, Tel Aviv, 1970
nisht di meysem loybn got
ditoyre hobn mir mekabl geven baym sinay,
un in lublin hobn mir zi opgegebn.
nisht di meysem loybn got,
ditoyre iz gegebn gevorn tsum lebn.
un azoy tsuzamen vi mir zaynen ale bazamen
geshtanen bay matn-|toyre,
azoy vor zaynen mir ale geshtorbn in lublin.
dem tsetsvaygtn kop, di frume oygn,
dos tsiterdike moyl fun a kleyn yidish kind
vel ikh aynvundern
in aza forkhtik maysele.
kh’vel far im oysshterenen a yidishn himl
un im zogn azoy:
s’yidishe folk iz a fayerdike zun
fun onhoyb, biz onhoyb, biz onhoyb.
lern zhe, yingele, tayer yidish yingele,
funonhoyb, biz onhoyb, biz onhoyb.
s’gantse oysge|kholem|te folk
iz baym barg sinay geshtanen
un mekabl geven ditoyre.
geshtorbene, lebedike, nokh nisht geborene.
ale yidishe neshomes hobn opgeentfert:
mir veln horkhn un hern.
du, dos troyerikste yidishe yingele fun ale doyres,
bist oykh baym barg sinay geshtanen.
dayne nozlekher hobn geshmekt
dem rozhinke-mandl fun yeder vort in der toyre.
bist geven arumgeviklt mit a shtik barg vi mit a tales.
s’iz geven shvues — yontef fun grins.
host vi a zingfoygl mitgezungen:
kh’vel horkhn un hern, hern un horkhn,
fun onhoyb, biz onhoyb, biz onhoyb.
yidish yingele, ongetseykhnt iz dayn lebn
oyfn oysgeshterntn yidishn himl,
host keyn mol nisht gefelt,
host nisht getort feln.
m’hot dikh oysgehoft un oysgebetn,
ale mol ven mir zenen geven, bistu oykh geven.
un ven mir zenen gevorn oys,
bistu mit undz nisht gevorn.
un azoy tsuzamen vi mir zenen ale bazamen
geshtanen bay matn-|toyre,
azoy vor zenen mir ale geshtorbn in lublin.
fun umetum zenen tayere neshomes ongefloygn,
oysgelebte, yung geshtorbene,
farpaynikte, oyf ale fayern oysgeprvute,
nokh nisht geborene,
ale geshtorbene yidn, fun elter-zeydn avrom on,
zaynen geven in lublin baym groysn khurbn.
ale vos zaynen baym barg sinay geshtanen
un mekabl geven ditoyre
hobn genumen oyf zikh di heylike mises.
mir viln mitshtarbn mitn gantsn folk
mir viln nokh a mol toyt vern,
hobn di neshomes geyomert.
di mame sore, di muter Rokhl,
Miryem un Dvore haneviye
zenen mit tkhines un gezangen oysgegangen.
Moyshe rabeynuvos hot azoy nisht gevolt shtarbn,
ven zayn tsayt iz gekumen
iz nokh a mol geshtorbn.
un zayn bruder Arn,
un Doved hameylekh
un der rambam, der vilner goen,
der maharam un maharshal,
der khoyzhe un avrom|ele eyger.
un mit yeder heyliker neshome
vos iz oysgegangen in yesurem,
zenen mitgeshtorbn hunderter neshomes
fun tayere geshtorbene yidn.
un du, geshmak yingele, bist dortn oykh geven.
du, ongetseykhnter oyf dem oysgeshterntn yidishn himl,
bist dort oykh geven un geshtorbn.
zis vi a toyb hostu geshtrekt dayn haldz
un gezungen mit di oves un di imoes.
fun onhoyb, biz onhoyb, biz onhoyb.
farmakh di oygn, lib yidish yingele,
un dermon zikh vi der balshem hot dikh ayngevigt
in zayne orems,
ven s’gantse oysge|kholem|te folk
iz oysgegangen in di gazkamern fun lublin.
un iber di gazkamern,
un heylike geshtorbene neshomes,
hot zikh geroykhert an eynzamer, a farloshener sinay.
yingele mit tsetsvaygtn kop,
frume oygn un tsiterdikn moyl,
dos bistu dokh geven, di shtile, kleyne, elnte,
opgegebene toyre.
bist geshtanen oyfn sinay un geveynt,
arayngeveynt dayn geveyn in a toyter velt.
fun onhoyb, biz onhoyb, biz onhoyb.
un azoy hostu geveynt:
ditoyre hobn mir mekabl geven baym sinay,
un in lublin hobn mir zi opgegebn.
nisht di meysem loybn got.
ditoyre iz gegebn gevorn tsum lebn. Yankev glatshteyn, shtralndike yidn, nyu-york, 1946
Hirsh Osherovitsh, Beyn odem lamokem
Exodus 20:5-6: “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love …
כ: 5 זאָלסט זיך ניט בוקן צו זײ, און זאָלסט זײ ניט דינען; װאָרום איך יהוה דײַן גאָט בין אַ צערנדיקער גאָט, װאָס רעכן זיך פֿאַר די זינד פֿון די פֿאָטערס מיט די קינדער, מיטן דריטן און מיטן פֿירטן דור פֿון די װאָס האָבן מיך פֿײַנט, 6 און טו חסד מיטן טױזנטסטן גליד פֿון די װאָס האָבן מיך ליב, און פֿון די װאָס היטן מײַנע געבאָט.
For a biography of Hirsh Osherovitsh in English, click here.
אַװדאי ביסטו גרױס,
אַװדאי האָסטו מיך
פֿון אַלע דײַנע אַנדערע באַשעפֿענישן אױסגעטײלט.
פֿאַר װאָס זשע איז דערװידער דיר
מײַן פֿלײַסן זיך צו שטײַגן העכער?
צי איז, אַלמאַכטיקער, דיר טאַקע אַזױ שװער
דאָס מינדסטע ביסל חשיבֿות בײַ אַ צװײטן צו פֿאַרטראָגן?
דו װײסט דאָך, אַז װאָס קלערער איך באַנעם דײַן װעלט,
אַלץ שטאַקער דריקט אױף מיר
די אומאױסשעפּלעכקײט פֿון דײַנע סודות.
פֿאַרגין זשע מיר די מיך דערפֿרײענדיקע כּמו־געװינסן,
און לאָמיר מודה זײַן זיך אײנער פֿאַרן צװײטן:
איך בין מקנא דיר דײַן אומענדלעך יכולת,
און דו ביסט אײפֿערזיכטיק אױף מײַן אומאױפֿהערלעך שטײַגן. הירש אָשעראָװיטש, ייִדיש־ליטעראַטור אין מדינת ־ישׂראל, באַנד 1
BETWEEN MAN AND GOD
So what if I sometimes carry on
A mild flirtation with idols?
If you would speak to me, as to an equal,
I wouldn’t feel so rejected
And wouldn’t look for illicit love affairs.
Of course you are great,
Of course you have singled me out
From among all your other creatures. So then why is my trying to rise higher
Repugnant to you?
Or is it, Almighty, really so difficult for you
To bear the slightest bit of importance in another?
You know, after all, that the more clearly I comprehend your world
The stronger the inexhaustibility of your secrets
Presses upon me.
So don’t begrudge me my cheery quasi-winnings
And let’s confess to each other:
I envy you your endless capacity,
And you are jealous of my incessant rising. Hirsh Osherovitsh
Tr. by Sheva Zucker
beyn odem lamokem
got, zay nit azoy eyferzikhtik!
iz vos, az kh’fir a mol
mit opgeter a laykhtn flirt?
ven volst geredt tsu mir, vi tsu a glaykhn,
volt ikh nit azoy opgeshtoysn zikh geshpirt
un nit gezukht keyn linke libes. . .
avade bistu groys,
avade hostu mikh
fun ale dayne andere bashefenishn oysgeteylt.
far vos zhe iz dervider dir
mayn flaysn zikh tsu shtaygn hekher?
tsi iz, almakhtiker, dir take azoy shver
dos mindste bisl khshives bay a tsveytn tsu fartrogn?
du veyst dokh, az vos klerer ikh banem dayn velt,
alts shtaker drikt oyf mir
di umoyssheplekhkayt fun dayne soydes.
fargin zhe mir di mikh derfreyendike kmoy-gevinsn,
un lomir moyde zayn zikh eyner farn tsveytn:
ikh bin mekane dir dayn umendlekh yekhoyles,
un du bist eyferzikhtik oyf mayn umoyfherlekh shtaygn.
hirsh osher|ovitsh,
For a biography of Avrom Sutzkever in English and Yiddish, see weeks 13 and 9.
For a biography of Kadye Molodowsky in English and Yiddish, see Weeks 3,5 and 11.
