Words by the Yiddish poet Mani Leib, pen name of Mani Leib Brahinsky (1883-1953); music by David Beigelman (1887-1944). Transcribed by compilers from a recording by a singer-actor Menashe Oppenheim.
— Oh, mother, my darling, mother, my love, do not chase the young tailor out of the house.
The young tailor is handsome like gold. The young tailor is the one I love.
— Oh, daughter, woe to my years! Is he a suitable match?
Father will bring you a suitor with pedigree and wealth.
— I don’t need a pedigree or wealth.
I don’t want to ruin my young life.
The young tailor is handsome.
The girl neither eats nor sleeps at night.
The tailor wanders in thought near her window.
And father and mother reconsider and arranged the betrothal one Saturday night.
On shabes-nakhmu* they made the wedding.
Such a wedding had never been seen.
The young couple shone like the sun and relatives danced and drank.
They ate and drank lavishly till their beards dripped.
And even the violins and the basses cried and trumpeted their joy.
*The “Sabbath of Consolation,” following the fast of the ninth day of the month Av.
— Oy, mamenyu tayere, mamenyu lib,
Dem yunglinkn shnayderl trayb nit fun shtib.
Der yunginker shnayderl, sheyn iz vi gold,
Dem yunginkn shnayderl hob ikh dokh holt.
— Oy, tokhterl. Tokhterl, vey mayne yor!
Tsi den mitn shnayderl bistu a por?
Der tate vet brengen far dir fun der
velt
A tayern khosn mit yikhes un gelt.
— Ikh darf nit zayn yikhes, ikh darf nit
zayn gelt,
Ikh vil nit farshpiln mayn yunginke velt.
Der yunginker shnayderl, sheyn iz vi gold,
Dem yunginkn shnayderl hob ikh dokh holt.
Dos meydele est nit un shloft nit
bay nakht
Dos shnayderl blondzhet baym genster
fartrakht.
Un tatenyu, mamenyu hobn batrakht
Un tnoyim geshribn a shabes-tsu-nakht.
Un shabes nakhmu is di khupe geven,
Men hot aza khasene nokh nit gezen.
Azoy vi di zun hot dos porl geshaynt
Es hobn getantst mekhutonim un fraynd.
Gegesn, getrunken fun tayerstn sort,
Dos vayn hot gerunen ariber der bord.
Un s’hobn biz iber der zibeter gas
Di fidlen geveynt un geripet der bas.
— אױ, מאַמעניו טײַערע, מאַמעניו ליב,
דעם יונגינקן שנײַדערל טרײַב ניט פֿון שטיב.
דער יונגינקער שנײַדערל, שײן איז װי גאָלד,
דעם יונגינקן שנײַדערל האָב איך דאָך האָלט.
— אױ, טאָכטערל, טאָכטערל, װײ מײַנע יאָר!
צי דען מיטן שנײַדערל ביסטו אַ פּאָרל?
דער טאַטע װעט ברענגען פֿאַר דיר פֿון דער װעלט
אַ טײַערן חתן מיט ייִחוס און געלט.
— איך דאַרף ניט זײַן ייִחוס, איך דאַרף ניט זײַן געלט,
איך װיל ניט פֿאַרשפּילן מײַן יונגינקע װעלט.
דער יונגינקער שנײַדערל, שײן איז װי גאָלד,
דעם יונגינקן שנײַדערל האָב איך דאָך האָלט.
דאָס מײדעלע עסט ניט און שלאָפֿט ניט בײַ נאַכט,
דאָס שנײַדערל בלאָנדזשעט בײַם פֿענצטער פֿאַרטראַכט.
און טאַטעניו, מאַמעניו האָבן באַטראַכט
און תּנאים געשריבן אַ שבת־צו־נאַכט.
און שבת־נחמו איז די חופּה געװען,
מען האָט אַזאַ חתונה נאָך ניט געזען.
אַזױ װי די זון האָט דאָס פּאָרל געשײַנט,
עס האָבן געטאַנצט מחותּנים און פֿרײַנד.
געגעסן, געטרונקען פֿון טײַערסטן סאָרט,
דאָס װײַן האָט גערונען אַריבער דער באָרד,
און ס’האָבן ביז איבער דער זיבעטער גאַס
די פֿידלען געװײנט און געריפּעט דער באַס.
Song Title: Der Yunginker Shnayderl
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.
