Discover the Music

The song consists of two words written (or possibly arranged) by Joseph Rumshinsky (1881-1956) for Gersham Bader’s operetta Dem rebns nign (The Rabbi’s Melody) in 1919.

In his article, “My First Meeting with Peretz,” Sholem Asch recalls that around 1901 Peretz often sang a Hassldic song consisting of one word “Rebenyu, oy, oy, rebenyu.” This may have been the song he was referring to.

It was published as an anonymous folksong in 1911 by Z. Kisselgof; by Max Persin in sheet music (by Jos. P. Katz), N.Y., 1919; and in subsequent folksong collections. We are indebted to musicologist Meir Noy of Tel Aviv for the sources.

Popular song, also entitled “Unter a grin beymele” (Beneath a green tree). Words by Tzvl Hersh (Dr. H. I.) Margoles (1888-1944). Published for the first time in Dos Brisker Lebn, around 1909. Words and music published anonymously by Leo Kopf in 1914 and elsewhere.

Two additional stanzas were submitted by Brankl Heshes Sheskin (from Grodno, Poland) and appeared in “Pearls,” December 12, 1982: “Zog mir, sheyne meydele, / Meydele batribte,/ Zog mir, sheyne meydele,/ Vemen fun undz libste?/ Ikh lib aykh beydn,/ Beydn vi eynem./ Ven ikh zol kenen makhn/ Fun aykh beydn eynem!” (Tell me pretty maiden, maiden so sad, which one of us do you love? I love you both equally. If I could, I would roll you into one.)

Lullaby written by Cantor Moyshe Oysher (1906-1958) with music by Alexander Olshanetsky (1892-1946). Published in sheet music by Metro Music Co., N.Y. 1940. Sung in the film Der vilner balabes! (Overture to Glory). It was popularized by singers Mimi Sloan and Mina Bern.

Also entltled “Moyshelekh un Shloymelekh.” words by the poet Ḥayim Naḥman Bialik (1873-1934); melody by Platon G. Brounoff (apprx. 1863-1924). Published in sheet music by S. Goldberg, N.Y., 1905. A second melody published by Leo Kopf in 1914 is also presented here.

In 1922 Rumanian folk poet Shimshon Fersht (1886-1968) paraphrased the lines in a song about pogrom victims: “Unter di grininke beymelekh/Valgern zikh Moyshelekh, Shloymelekh” (Beneath the little green trees, Moyshelekh and Shloymelekh are homeless). This evolved into an indictment: “In the Russian forests, our Jewish boys fought like heroes for the Russian army. Pogroms and fires were Russian games, burning Jewish synagogues and slaughtering Jews like lambs, this the Russian ‘lords’ know how to do well.”

The song’s title was adopted as the title of a collection of children’s songs published in Vilna between the wars. Later, the song served as the prototype for a Holocaust song by I. Papiernikov (b. 1899), music by I. Alter: “Unter di poylishe grininke beymelekh,/Shpiln zikh mer nit keyn Moyshelekh, Shloymelekh” (Beneath the Polish little green trees, no longer play any Moyshelekh and Shloymelekh). Published by S. Bugatch in 1951 and in sheet music by Hensley Music, N.Y. 1965.

Poem by ltsik Manger (see Eynzam, on page 162); music by Saul Berezovsky.

A song written after the war which is often heard at commemorative gatherings. Words are by Joseph Papiernikov (1899-), who was born in Warsaw and who settled in Palestine in 1924. He was one of the pioneers of Yiddish poetry in Israel. Music is by Israel Alter (1901-1979), cantor, composer and professor of cantorial music at the Hebrew Union College in New York.

Text by David Edelstadt. (See note to In Kamf, on page 80; Mayn Tsavoe on page 92).

Folksong. Text published by Y. L. Cahan; text and music published by Moishe Beregovski, 1962. In the version that Y. L. Cahan brings, the song ends with: “Avu nemt men a vaybele? / Volt ikh gehat a vaybele, / Volt zi mir gemakht vartsiklekh” (Where does one get a wife? If I had a wife, she would make me dumplings.) The song was also published by M. Goldin in 1972. It was popularized by Mascha Benya Matz in the arrangement of Harry Anik and was also a popular repertory piece of the Soviet-Yiddish singer Misha Alexandrovich, who has a different closing stanza: “Vu nemt men a bokher tsu esn di varnishkes, / Ven ikh bin aleyn on zalts, on fefer un on shmalts” (Where can I get a boy to eat the varnishkes when I myself am without salt, without pepper and without spice? [literally: chicken fat]).

Words written on the first anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in 1944 by poet partisan Shmerke Kaczerginski (see note about author in Friling). The music is by Leon Wajner (1898), pianist, composer, conductor and teacher. Wajner survived the war and settled in Buenos Aires, where he was active in Yiddish cultural life.

Words by popular Yiddish poet Itsik Manger (1901-1969) whose songs are sung throughout the world. Words and music submitted by Masha Benya Matz, who also suggested that Manger might possibly be the composer of the melody.

Words by Joseph Heftman (1888 – 1955). Published in the magazine Ilustrirte Velt (November, 1913) with a letter from the poet: “I wrote the song 16-17 years ago, when I was in Brest Litovsk as a young apprentice. One of my good friends, Gershon Eksman, adapted a melody and the song became so popular among the Jewish masses that, a short time later, it became almost a folksong sung everywhere, wherever there was a Jewish community in Europe. In America, I am told, it was printed several times in almanacs and calendars — naturally without the author’s name. I, therefore, deem it important, once and for all, to print my song with my name, although when I wrote it, I did not feel it printworthy.”

The author’s note, notwithstanding, the song continued to be sung as an anonymous folksong and went through several transformations. Ruth Rubin cites one folkorized version in her Voices of a People, 1963. It evolved into a song of prisoners that was published in 1921 by S. Lehman: “Es dremlt in turme, di lodn farmakht/ Es dreyt zikh arum a soldat oyf der vakh” (in prison everyone is dozing, the shutters are closed; a soldier walks on his watch). Humorous parodies were also popular in pre-war Warsaw: “Es drimlt dos shtetl, di lodn farmakht/ A kats hot gegenetst in mitn der nakht” (The town dozes, shutters are closed; a cat yawned in the middle of the night).

Later, the song was incorporated into two ghetto songs published by M. Prager and R. Pups: “Es drimlt dos geto. di toyern farmakht:/ Aropgelozt hot zikh in troyer di fintstere nakht” (The ghetto dozes, the gates are closed; dark night has descended in sadness); and “Shtil in dem geto, di drotn farmakht,/ Punkt vi oyf a beys-oylem shpet in der nakht” (It’s quiet in the ghetto, the wire gates are closed, just like a cemetery).

Words and music by Mordkhe Gebirtig (1877-1942), popular folk poet killed by the Nazis in the Cracow Ghetto. Published in the author’s collection, 1936. The song was sung in English in the musical Those Were the Days by Zalmen Mlotek and Moishe Rosenfeld, 1991-1992. In her book Singing for Survival, Gila Flam writes that the song was popular in the Lodz Ghetto Revue Theater, where her informants believed that it was an original ghetto composition.

Originally entitled “Ver hot aza meydele” (Who has such a girl?) by Janet Fleishman (1907- 1957). Published in sheet music by J. and J. Kammen Music Co., Inc., Brooklyn, N.Y., 1933. It was popularized by actor-singer Herman Yablokoff during the 1930’s on his radio program Der payats (The clown) on WEVD.

It evolved and appeared as a song about a little boy in the song collection Mir zingen in Warsaw, c. 1957. It became popularly known in this form and was recorded in Israel by Mary Soreanu and others. The melody of the first part resembles the song “Ikh hob a kleynem yingele” (I have a little son) by the poet Morris Rosenfeld (1862-1923).

Also entitled "Di tsherede" (The flock). Words are attributed to Z. Segalovitch (1884-1949). The song was sung by compiler Yosl Mlotek in Warsaw in the 1930's. A slightly different version was published by Kh. Poznyak in Tel Aviv in 1974.

Collected from Sara Rosenfeld (Montreal), who heard it in a Yiddish revue theatre in Warsaw before World War II. Variant published by E. Saculet in 1959.

This version of the song which was sung in the Vilna Ghetto, was published by Shmerke Kaczerginski in 1947. He notes that almost every program in the ghetto opened with it. Original words by A. L. Wolfson (1867-1946) and music by Alexander Olshanetsky (1892-1946) were printed in the compilation Vilne, 1935. The song was revived by Adrienne Cooper in Irena Klepfisz’s play Bread and Candy, presented at the Jewish Museum in 1991, and at KlezKamp in 1992. Joseph Rumshinsky also wrote music to the poem.

Folk song that became a popular theatre song. A version of the text was published by Z. Skuditski in 1936. A similar version of this text and music was collected and published by Chana Mlotek in 1955.

Popular folksong sung by compiler in pre-World War II, Poland. Published in the second choral collection of I. Gershteyn, Vilna, 1939, in the arrangement of Elye Teitelbaum. Melodic and textual variants were published by Y.L. Cahan and M. Kipnis in 1912 and 1918 respectively.

Submitted “Memories of Days Gone By,” words and music by David Meyerowitz (1867-1943). Published in sheet music by J. & J. Kammen, Brooklyn, N.Y. 1043. Sung by such well-known actors and singers Aaron Lebedeff and Sophie Tucker.

Folksong published in 1927-1928 by Y. L. Cahan. The opening stanza resembles other Yiddish folksongs.

Dialogue song made up of questions and answers about the Great Feast in Heaven after the coming of the Messiah. It is a cumulative song in which all the replies are repeated in accelerated tempo. Words and music published by Z. Kisselgof and textual variants with additional stanzas cited by N. Prilutsky in 1911. There were numerous parodies of the song. One about Soviet Russia in the 1920's was submitted by David Dimenstein and appeared in "Pearls," June 11, 1978: "What will happen when the Messiah comes? We will make a sovdepenyu (Russian: soviet representative). What will we eat? Broyt-kartlekh (bread ration cards). Who will teach the Torah? Lenin rabeynu (Lenin our Teacher). Who will conduct war in the sovdepenyu? Trotsky the Hero. Who will tell mesholim (fables)? Lunacharsky the Wise. Who will write notes for us? Chicherin the Scribe [a Russian commissar]. Dance? Kalantaya the Chaste (Director of the women's department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party]. There were also parodies about halutsim (pioneers in Palestine) submitted by Chaim Sheskin ("Pearls," September 10, 1978); and about American life, submitted by Shlomo Ben Israel ("Pearls," October 22, 1978). E. Saculet cites an adaptation sung in Transnistria during the Holocaust which states at the end that when the Messiah comes "Farshvindn veln demolt ale merders un plagers,/ Un s'veln zikh efenen ale tfises un lagers" (All murderers and torturers will vanish and all the prisons and camps will open).

This song was written before the war and was popular in the ghettos and Displaced Persons camps. It is attributed to S. Korntayer, a Yiddish actor, who died in the Warsaw ghetto in 1942. Music is attributed to Oscar Strock. Variants were sung in other ghettos as well.

Folksong published by M. Kipnis in 1925, which he collected from the poet Z. Segalovitsh. Chaim Tauber set his song “Motl der opreyter” to this melody. It also appears in the popular Jewish dance “The Troika.”