fbpx

My Grandmother’s Yiddish Song From Her Childhood

[additional-authors]
November 23, 2010

In honor of the holidays and the shame my family is enduring due to this blog, I thought I would post something a little more good-natured than normal.  This past year on my birthday, my Grandmother sang this song to me for the first time.  My Dad and Uncle got her to retell it for posterity a little later on video.  I could feel her trying to pass on not just the song but the wisdom and history of hundreds of years of ancestors before her who sang this song to their daughters and granddaughters; I found myself trying to memorize every single second of it, just hoping that I was soaking up what I was supposed to take from her.  I don’t know if I did yet, but I know that by the time I pass it on, I will have.

The first video is her explaining the story of how her mother shared this Yiddish song with her and then her singing it to us.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

The Joy Within

Sukkot asks us to receive the harvest that has actually come in—not the one we imagined or wished for.

A Bisl Sukkot ~ Don’t Be Afraid, Go Outside

The sukkah reminds us to go out into the world, especially when the comforts of insularity beckon us closer—to explore paths we have yet to take and seek journeys ready for wandering.

A Harira Hug in the Sukkah

I love making soup for this holiday because even if the days are still warm, the cooler evenings make you start craving something warm and comforting.

The Beat Goes On

While so much of the world seems obsessed with and consumed by its hatred of Israel and Jews, Israelis continue to build, create, work, celebrate, argue, raise families, and plan for the future.

Viral AI Video Targets Jewish Comedian

“The biggest concern is that people now have a pathway to shut down Jewish voices through complete falsities that people will believe. … For the future of Jewish entertainment, it’s very scary.”

Yiddish Historians: Writing in Their Own Language for Their Own People

Mark Smith has compiled an important anthology of Jewish history using 49 works by Yiddish historians to recreate or at least open the door to a world of Jewish thought that was once almost mainstream, but which no longer exists, except in the minds of too few specialists.

The Everlasting Melody

Most Jews who have sung “Eitz Chaim” over the past half-century probably never knew Portnoy. They did not know when he wrote the melody or how young he was when he composed it. They simply knew the song.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.