Also entitled “Bobenyu” (Dear grandmother) and “Got fun Avrom” (God of Abraham). Words by H. Roisenblatt (1878-1956); music by Sholom Secunda (1894-1974). Published in sheet music by Metro Music Co., N.Y., 1943.
Oh, grandmother, don’t recite yet “God of Abraham.”
What’s your hurry today?
The sun has not yet set in the west.
Oh, grandmother, wait still a bit.
Do not disturb the peace of the holy Sabbath
The quiet, holy rest.
No stars can be seen yet in the sky.
Oh, wait still another moment.
“God of Abraham” — it pulls us back into the heavy daily yoke
To bear the Exile, the kheder, the teacher,
The burden and cares of the week.
The grandmother stands frozen at the window.
She is deaf to my pleas.
“Oh, God of Abraham,” — and a tear rolls down on the dark window pane.
Oy, bobenyu, zog nokh nit “Got fun Avrom”,
Vos iz dos mit dir haynt der ayl?
In mayrev-zayt iz nokh di zun nit fargangen,
Oy, bobenyu, vart nokh a vayl.
Tseshter nit dem fridn fun heylikn shabes,
Di shtile, di heylike ru;
Men zet nokh nit shaynen in himl keyn shtern,
Oy, vart nokh a regele tsu.
Der “Got fun Avrom”, er shpant undz tsurik ayn
In shvern tog-teglekhn yokh, —
Tsu trogn dem goles, dem kheyder, dem rebn,
Dem ol un di dayges fun vokh.
Dokh blaybt vi farshteynert di bobe baym fentster
Zi iz tsu mayn betn vi toyb;
“Oy, Got fun Avrom” — un es kayklt arop zikh
A trer oyf der tunkeler shoyb.
אױ, באָבעניו, זאָג נאָך ניט „גאָט פֿון אַבֿרהם‟,
װאָס איז דאָס מיט דיר הײַנט דער אײַל?
אין מערב־זײַט איז נאָך די זון ניט פֿאַרגאַנגען,
אױ, באָבעניו, װאַרט נאָך אַ װײַל.
צעשטער ניט דעם פֿרידן פֿון הײליקן שבת,
די שטילע, די הײליקע רו;
מען זעט נאָך ניט שײַנען אין הימל קײן שטערן,
אױ, װאַרט נאָך אַ רגעלע צו.
דער „גאָט פֿון אַבֿרהם‟, ער שפּאַנט אונדז צוריק אײַן
אין שװערן טאָג־טעגלעכן יאָך, —
צו טראָגן דעם גלות, דעם חדר, דעם רבין,
דעם עול און די דאגות פֿון װאָך.
דאָך בלײַבט װי פֿאַרשטײנערט די באָבע בײַם פֿענצטער,
זי איז צו מײַן בעטן װי טױב;
„אױ, גאָט פֿון אַבֿרהם‟ — און עס קײַקלט אַראָפּ זיך
אַ טרער אױף דער טונקעלער שױב.
Song Title: Zol Nokh Zayn Shabes
First published in 1988 as Pearls of Yiddish Song: Favorite Folk, Art and Theatre Songs, this anthology contains 115 songs. Some material had never been published, while others, included in rare song collections or sheet music, were largely inaccessible. The songs presented reflect Jewish life in Eastern Europe and the United States and depict childhood, love, family celebrations, poverty, work and struggle. There are also songs from the Hasidic and Maskilic movements, songs of Zion and of America, as well as songs from the Yiddish theater.
The title of this anthology derives from the weekly two-page feature column “Pearls of Yiddish Poetry,” which the compilers Yosl and Chana Mlotek initiated in 1970 in the Yiddish newspaper Der Forvertz (the Yiddish Daily Forward). Hundreds of readers from around the world — including authors, composers, singers, actors — became co-participants in this collective folk project and recalled melodies, lines, fragments, stanzas and their variants of songs, poems, and plays which they had heard in their youth. At first, readers sent in only written material. Later, they also taped songs on cassettes, many of whose melodies had, until then, never been recorded. They also identified and supplied missing information regarding lyricists, poets, and composers and described the circumstances surrounding the songs’ origins, their dissemination, diffusion and impact.
