Words are by Z. Segalovitch Yiddish poet who survived as a war refugee from Warsaw. He lived the first year of the war in Vilno and Kaunas later Israel and eventually the United States. In his work he memorialized the life and creativity of the Jews in Poland. Music is by Ben Yomen, an American Jewish composer (1901-1969).
Many are no longer here,
Holy be the hour and dear.
We now mourn them all alas,
— Yisgadal veyiskadash . . .
What for us has then remained,
Only futile tears sustained
Of our dead and tragic ash .
— Yisgadal veyiskadash . . .
Vifl zaynen shoyn nito.
Zol geheylikt zayn di sho.
Mir baveynen zey on rash,
— Yisgadal veyiskadash. . .
Vos farblibn iz undz mer,
Vi di durkhgeglite trer
Af di kvorim, af dem ash.
— Yisgadal veyiskadash. . .
װיפֿל זײַנען שױן ניטאָ,
זאָל געהײליקט זײַן די שעה,
מיר באַװײנען זי אָן רעש,
— יתגדל ויתקדש. . .
װאָס פֿאַרבליבן איז אונדז מער,
װי די דורכגעגליטע טרער
אױף די קבֿרים, אױף דעם אַש,
— יתגדל ויתקדש. . .
Song Title: Kadish
Compiled by sisters Malke Gottleib and Chana Mlotek, this collection of 40 songs, issued on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, reflects the suffering, despair, longing, as well as the strength, hope and courage that led the last remnant of enfeebled Jews to take up arms against the mammoth Nazi war-machine. Save for five songs, this compilation comprises songs that were actually written or sung in the ghettos and concentration camps. Four exceptions written after the war: “Babi Yar,” “Moyshelekh un Shloymelekh,” “Kadish,” and “Mayn mame hot gevolt zayn oyf mayn khasene” are often presented at commemorative gatherings and were therefore included. The fifth song “Am Yisroel Khay” was written in a D.P. camp and is an affirmation of the will of the survivors to build new lives for themselves, holding high their belief in the endurance of the Jewish people. To enable readers and singers not conversant with the Yiddish alphabet to utilize this collection, We Are Here! Songs of the Holocaust provides parallel transliterations and singable English translations by Roslyn Bresnick Perry.
