Yiddish Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes with a Nod to Chanukah (Khanike)

The Barry Sisters on the cover of one of their record jackets with songs listed in Yiddish (courtesy of YouTube: www.youtube.com, accessed 12-12-16).

Growing up in a family environment in which Yiddish was yet another vernacular spoken language along with English, I was exposed from a very early age to Yiddish songs and even nursery rhymes, which were generally sung to and by my younger siblings and me.  Indeed, some of my earliest memories include dancing and singing along to records of Klezmer music that played on our record player.  The songs amplified on that old and overworked record player included Yiddish language singers that were especially popular (and several of whom are still musically active today) in the early-to-mid-1980s – musicians and vocalists such as Henry Sapoznik of the then Klezmer ensemble, “Kapelye”; Chava Alberstein; Dudu Fisher; Mike Burstyn; Hankus Netsky of the Klezmer Conservatory Band; the late Barry Sisters; and the recently deceased, Theodore Bikel (1924-2015).

It has been some time since I have heard those songs played with any regularity – and certainly not on a record player or tape recorder, for that matter – in our age of CDs, YouTube, and the like.  However, in recently surfing the selections of Klezmer music available today on YouTube, I am reminded of specific songs that were once so familiar to me – and likely very familiar to many of my readers, as well: (and here, I am using the most commonly used orthography for these songs) “Rumania, Rumania,” “Mayn Shtetele Belz” (“My Small Town of Belz”), “Der Rebbe Elimelech” (“The Rabbi Elimelech”), “Papir iz Dokh Vays” (“Paper is Still White”), “Oyfn Veg Shteyt a Boym” (“On the Road Stands a Tree”), “Tumbalalaika” (“Play Balalaika”) and a host of others that are simply too many to include here.  If you were to ask me which of these numerous songs I considered my favorite, I would be hard-pressed to answer you.  It really depended on the given day and my particular mood at the time.  And all these years later, I still feel exactly the same way.

Musical notes and lyrics of "Tumbalalaika," written in transliterated Yiddish (courtesy of Pinterest: www.pinterest.com, accessed 12-13-16).

Sheet music for “Mayn Shtetele Belz,” one of the lead songs in the musical, “The Song of the Ghetto,” c. 1930 (courtesy of Antiwar Songs: www.antiwarsongs.org, accessed 12-13-16).

My grandfather would often accompany these Yiddish songs with children’s nursery rhymes – namely, “Patshe, Patshe Kikhelekh” (“Clap, Clap Little Cookies [i.e., Little Hands]”).  I doubt I realized it at the time, but this is essentially a Yiddish version of the widely recited children’s nursery rhyme, “Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake”/ “Patty-cake.”

To honor the memory of my late grandfather and in remembrance of childhood, I would like to present some of the lyrics to the aforementioned “Rozhinkes mit Mandlen” and “Patshe, Patshe Kikhelekh,” as I recall my grandfather singing them to us, his grandchildren:

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​“Rozhinkes mit Mandlen” / "ראזשינקעס מיט מאנדלען"/ “Raisins and Almonds”       
 
אין דעם בית המקדש,
אין א ווינקל חדר,
זיצט די אלמנה בת ציון אליין.
איר בן יחידל, יידעלען,
וויגט זי כסדר
און זינגט אים צום שלאפן א לידעלע שיין:
 
איי ליו, ליו, ליו…
 
אונטער יידעלעס וויגעלע,
שטייט א קלאר ווייס ציגעלע,
דאס ציגעלע איז געפארן האנדלען –
דאס וועט זיין דיין בארוף:
ראזשינקעס מיט מאנדלען.
שלאף זשע, יידעלע, שלאף.
 
In dem beys hamikdesh, 
In a vinkl kheyder,
Zitst di almone Bas Tsien aleyn.
Ir ben yokhidl, Yidelen,
Vigt zi keseyder 
Un zingt im tsu shlofn a lidele sheyn:
 
Ay-lyu-lyu-lyu…
 
Unter Yideles vigele,
Shteyt a klor-vays tsigele,
Dos tsigele iz geforn handlen –
Dos vet zayn dayn baruf:
Rozhinkes mit mandlen.
Shlof zhe, Yidele, shlof.

Painting, “Chanukah Lights,” by Alex Levin (courtesy of Alex Levin Judaica Gallery: www.ArtLevin.com, accessed 12-13-16).

​Among the more memorable songs she instructed us to sing were: “Oy Khanike, Oy Khanike” (“Oh Chanukah, Oh Chanukah”) and “Ikh Bin a Kleyner Dreydl” (“I Am a Little Dreidel”).  These are the Yiddish versions of the perhaps more commonly known English: “Oh Chanukah” and Hebrew: “Yemei Ha-Chanuka”; and English: “I Have a Little Dreidel” versions. The noteworthy difference between the dreidel song in its various language adaptations is that in Yiddish, the singer is the dreidel, whereas in English, the dreidel is the object of the singer.  Not surprisingly, the song lyrics also reflect these differences.
​  ​
Let me close by presenting you with the playful lyrics to the perhaps less familiar “Ikh Bin a Kleyner Dreydl,” which were both written and composed by the popular folk song composer, Mikhl Gelbart (1889-1962).

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Ikh Bin a Kleyner Dreydl” / "איך בין א קליינער דריידל" / “I Am a Little Dreidel”
 
איך בין א קליינער דריידל,
געמאכט בין איך פון בליי.
קומט, לאמיר אלע שפילן
אין דריידל – איינס, צוויי, דריי.
 
אוי דריידל, דריידל, דריידל,
אוי דריי זיך, דריידל, דריי.
טא, לאמיר אלע שפילן
אין דריידל, איינס און צוויי.
 
און איך האב ליב צו טאנצן,
זיך דרייען אין א ראד.
קומט, לאמיר אלע טאנצן
א דריידל קאראהאד.
 
אוי דריידל, דריידל, דריידל...​

​Ikh bin a kleyner dreydl,
Gemakht bin ikh fun blay.
Kumt, lomir ale shpiln
In dreydl – eyns, tsvey, dray.
 
Oy, dreydl, dreydl, dreydl,
Oy, drey zikh, dreydl, drey.
To, lomir ale shpiln
In dreydl, eyns un tsvey.
​​​

I would like to wish all of my readers a Freylekhn Khanike – a Happy Chanukah – and festive holidays.  In addition, I invite you to share your own memories ​of Yiddish folk songs, nursery rhymes, and Chanukah songs that bear a special meaning to you or place ​in your heart. 
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Should you have any folk songs, nursery rhymes, or anything else for that matter that you would like translated from the Yiddish, please do not hesitate to contact me at: ​​rivka@rivkasyiddish.com.

When my siblings and I were especially young, my mother – our teacher of informal, Polish-dialect Yiddish – taught us Yiddish renditions of popular English children’s songs, such as “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” and “Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed.”  I believe that she took her own creative liberties with these songs,” which in Yiddish translated respectively to: “Alte Yosl Hot a Farm” and “Tsen Kleyne Malpes Shpringn oyfn Bet.”  These were sung with special frequency during seemingly long car rides, along with the well-known, “The Wheels on the Bus” and “The Eensie Weensie Spider,” in an attempt to keep the crying of us youngsters at bay. 
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In addition, my maternal grandfather, Sam (Shloime) Pinkus (1904-1998) of blessed memory, whom we called “Zayde Shloime,” would sing to us children in Yiddish.  Among his favorite songs were “Rozhinkes mit Mandlen” (“Raisins and Almonds”) and “Oyfn Pripetshik” (“On the Hearth”).  Although I knew virtually nothing about the background of these songs as a child, I subsequently learned that some of these late 19th century and early 20th century pieces stemmed from the Yiddish stage.  In the case of “Rozhinkes mit Mandlen,” for example, this lullaby was written by the Yiddish theater giant, Abraham Goldfaden (1840-1908) for his play, “Shulamis.”  ​

Sheet music of “Rozhinkes mit Mandlen” (“Raisins and Almonds”) for Abraham Goldfaden’s late-19th century play, “Shulamis” (or “Shulamith,” as it is presented here) (courtesy of John Hopkins University, The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection: goo.gl/bC1WPg, accessed 12-13-16).

In the Temple,
In a corner of the chamber,
Sits alone the widow, the daughter of Zion.
Her only son, Yidele,
She constantly rocks
And sings him to sleep with a beautiful song:
 
Ay-lyu-lyu-lyu…
 
Beneath Yidele’s cradle,
Stands a snow-white kid,
The kid has been to market –
This shall be your calling [as well]:
[Trading in] Raisins and almonds.
Sleep, Yidele, sleep.
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“Patshe, Patshe Kikhelekh” / "פאטשע, פאטשע קיכעלעך" / “Clap, Clap, Little Cookies [i.e., Little Hands]”

פאטשע, פאטשע קיכעלעך, מאמע 'עט קויפן שיכעלעך, טאטע 'עט קויפן זעקעלעך, און [נאמען פון
קינד] 'עט האבן רויטע בעקעלעך.  

“Patshe, patshe kikhelekh, mame ‘et koyfn shikhelekh, tate ‘et koyfn zekelekh, un [child’s name] ‘et hubn [hobn] royte bekelekh.”

“Clap, clap little cookies [i.e., little hands], Mother will buy shoes, Father will buy socks, and [child’s name] will have rosy cheeks.

Since the title of this blog includes “a nod to Chanukah (Khanike)” – the soon-to-be-upon-us Jewish holiday – I would also like to recall here the tradition that my siblings and I had every Chanukah of singing in a small group of children at a local JCC (Jewish Community Center).  This involved performing various Chanukah songs before an eager audience of elderly Holocaust survivors.  Every year we would practice several minutes before performing with our conductor, the energetic Bella Korn – herself a Holocaust survivor – who at most, in heels, stood five feet tall. ​

Chanukah in the shtetl painting by Vyacheslav Braginsky (courtesy of the Alexander Gallery: www.alexandergallery.biz, accessed 12-13-16).

Un ikh hob lib tsu tantsn,
Zikh dreyen in a rod.
Kumt, lomir ale tantsn
A dreydl karahod.
 
Oy, dreydl, dreydl, dreydl…​

I am a little dreidel,
I am made of lead,
Come, let's all play
At dreidel – one, two, three.
 
Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,
Oh, spin dreidel, spin.
So, let's all play
At dreidel, one and two.
 
And I love to dance,
To spin in a circle.
Come, let’s all dance
A dreidel round dance.

Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,
Oh, spin dreidel, spin.
So, let's all play 
At dreidel, one and two.​

“Oyfn Pripetchik Brant A Fayrl” (“A Fire Burns on the Hearth”) painting by Eduard Gurevich (courtesy of Fine Art America: www.fineartamerica.com, accessed 12-13-16).