Words by M. Jaffee, music by Joseph Rumshinsky (1881-1956). Transcribed by the compilers from a recording of Aaron Lebedeff, 1928. The song was revived in the musical The Golden Land.
A young father, bent over,
On Ellis Island, woeful and sad,
Two little children he raised,
Both of them orphans.
They’ve lost their mother,
And have come here with great effort;
The gates are closed to them
Their father is not allowed to go to them.
Broken, torn apart,
Without conscience,
That’s what hearts become here at the door;
Oh Jews, in tears cry out:
It’s time you heard.
The whole world cries out to you:
Let us in, let us in!
Don’t have hearts of stone.
Open the gates of the golden land.
You see people falling, stretch out your hand.
Let us in, let us in!
Don’t break our hearts, oh no!
The whole world will bless you for it.
Open the gates
And let us in!
A yunger tate ayngeboygn,
In elis-ayland, vind un vey,
Tsvey kinder kleyne hot er dertsoygn,
Yesoymim beyde zaynen zey.
Di mame hobn zey farloyrn,
Un ahergekumen mit groys mi;
Farshlosn iz far zey di toyern,
Dem tatn lozt men tsu zey nit tsi (tsu).
Tsebrokhn, tserisn,
On gevisn
Vern hertser do far der tir;
Oy, yidn, trern,
Shoyn tsayt zolst hern
Di gantse velt shrayt yetst tsu dir:
Lozt arayn, lozt arayn!
Hot nit keyn hertser fun shteyn.
Efnt di toyern fun dem goldn land,
Ir zet mentshn faln, shfrekt oys zey a hant!
Lozt arayn, lozt arayn!
Tsebrekht nit keyn hertser, o neyn.
Di gantse velt mentshn
Vet aykh derfar bentshn,
Di toyern makht oyf
Un lozt undz arayn!
אַ יונגער טאַטע אײַנגעבױגן
אין עליס־אײַלאַנד, װינד און װײ,
צװײ קינדער קלײנע האָט ער דערצױגן,
יתומים בײדע זענען זײ.
די מאַמע האָבן זײ פֿאַרלױרן,
און אַהער געקומען מיט גרױס מי;
פֿאַרשלאָסן איז פֿאַר זײ די טױערן,
דעם טאַטן לאָזט מען צו זײ ניט צו.
צעבראָכן, צעריסן,
אָן געװיסן,
װערן הערצער דאָ פֿאַר דער טיר;
אױ, ייִדן, טרערן,
שױן צײַט זאָלסט הערן —
די גאַנצע װעלט שרײַט יעצט צו דיר:
לאָזט אַרײַן, לאָזט אַרײַן!
האָט ניט קײן הערצער פֿון שטײן,
עפֿנט די טױערן פֿון דעם גאָלדן לאַנד,
איר זעט מענטשן פֿאַלן, שטרעקט אױס זײ אַ האַנט!
לאָזט אַרײַן, לאָזט אַרײַן!
צעברעכט ניט קײן הערצער, אָ נײן,
די גאַנצע װעלט מענטשן
װעט אײַך דערפֿאַר בענטשן.
די טױערן מאַכט אױף
און לאָזט אונדז אַרײַן!
Song Title: Lozt Arayn!
The Songs of Generations: New Pearls of Yiddish Song anthology comprises songs that were either never printed before or appeared in rare and inaccessible publications — sometimes in different versions and without proper sources. Most of the songs in this book were submitted by readers of Chana and Yosl’s column “Perl fun der yidisher poezye” (Pearls of Yiddish Poetry) in the Yiddish newspaper Der Forverts (The Forward), initiated in October, 1970. Over 25 years, thousands of songs were collected in correspondence and on cassettes from readers throughout the world, and they represent a veritable national Yiddish song archive. Chana Mlotek, in her introduction, writes, “In the course of years the inquiries, contributions and enthusiasm of these readers have kept our own interest unflagging and have reinforced our dedication to this effort. And in recent years our participants have also been augmented by new readers from the former Soviet Russia, who receive our newspaper there or from newly-arrived immigrants in this country and Israel.”
