After a week of cajoling me to join her, I caved and carved time in my busy evening to meet my mom at a Yiddish class. It’s held once a week in the basement of a synagogue local to the town I work in. The space was gigantic. 2,000 carpeted square feet, unfurnished but for three cloth covered round tabled pushed to one corner. 10 or so men and women sat around them. The tables, the kind commonly used for catering, were so vast that the group of 70 and 80 year olds looked like bunch of kindergartners.
I had expected a classroom with rows of chairs and a chalkboard. It was instead very informal. The teacher sat at the head of the cluster of tables and spoke with us, not at us. The lessons, however, were planned and structured. First she reviewed Yiddish history, which included fascinating stories such as that of a Yiddish star who went on tour in Europe dressed as a man because the Orthodox would not let women perform.
Following the history lesson, she handed out a couple of Yiddish song printouts, with the English translation. She sang, and whoever was familiar sang along. See, it was beshert that I went as inspiration fell into my lap when I wasn’t looking for it.
I was particularly taken with Papirosen. You can listen to it here on YouTube. https://youtu.be/Di3R0mk3gEA and I pasted the lyrics below. The title immediately grabbed me. Cigarrettes. The taboo coolness, the curiosity of what such a song could possibly be about. Just a few lines in, it is revealed that a little homeless orphan boy is selling cigarettes to survive. Cold and hungry, he’s begging people that pass on the street to buy from him. If that didn’t tug at our heartstrings enough, the last verse takes a darker turn. He and his sister did everything together, but then she got sick and weak and ended up dying. So now he wanders the earth hungry and with nothing to live for, wishing he too would die. My gosh, this song does not end on a good note. Not a morsel of hope in it.
I have no idea how this will influence my future writing, but I am grateful to have had the opportunity to experience it. I know that it will somehow have great value.
Since the teacher reviews two Yiddish songs every week, I’m going to make it a point of going back at least once a month.
When I was younger, I’d seek inspiration in the back of smokey dive bars where local hip bands were playing, or go dancing at mammoth rave inspired state of the art clubs where DJ’s like Junior Vasquez spun. My how time changes us, lol!
Cigarettes-
lyrics Herman Yablokoff
A cold night, foggy, darkness everywhere
A boy stands sadly and looks around
Only a wall protects him from the rain
He holds a basket in his hand
And his eyes beg everyone silently:
I don’t have any strength left to walk the streets
Hungry and ragged, wet from the rain
I walk around from dawn
Nobody gives me any earnings
Everyone laughs and makes fun of me
REFRAIN
Please, Buy my cigarettes!
Dry ones, not wet from the rain
Buy real cheap
Buy and have pity on me
Save me from hunger now
Buy my matches, wonderful ones, the best
And with that you will uplift an orphan
My cries and my running will be for nought
Nobody wants to buy from me
In the end I’ll perish like a dog
I had a little sister, a child of nature
Together we moved around for an entire year
With her, it was much easier for me
My hunger would become lighter
When I glanced at her
Suddenly she became weak and very sick
She died in my arms on a street bench
And when I lost her
I lost everything
Let death come already for me, too.
xo