Yiddish Song "Geven Amol Iz A Shtetl"

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MyZeidi Yiddish Song "Geven Amol is a Stetl" by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman. http://www.Myzeidi.com She was born in Vienna into an Eastern-European, Yiddish-speaking family; her family left for Czernowitz, Ukraine (then Romania) and settled there when Schaechter-Gottesman was a young child. She was brought up in a multi-lingual environment that included Yiddish, German, Romanian, and Ukrainian; she also studied French and Latin at school. They were a singing family and her mother, Lifshe Schaechter, was known for her wide folk repertoire. Schaechter-Gottesman was sent to Vienna for art lessons, but was forced to return to Czernowitz when the Germans invaded Austria in 1938. In 1941 she married a medical doctor, Jonas (Yoyne) Gottesman, and together they lived out the war in the Czernowitz ghetto, along with her mother and several other family members. After the war, Schaechter-Gottesman lived several years in Vienna, where her husband had a chief position ("Chefarzt") in the DP camps in the area. Their daughter Taube was born there in 1950; the family moved to New York in 1951, where the Gottesmans had two other children, Hyam and Itzik. In New York the Gottesmans took part in an experimental Yiddish community in the Bronx, centered around Bainbridge Avenue. There a half-dozen Yiddish-speaking families bought adjacent houses and reinvigorated the existing Sholem Aleichem Yiddish School. Schaechter-Gottesman became an important member of this community, writing classroom materials, plays and songs for the school as well as editing a magazine for children ("Kinderzhurnal") and a magazine of children's writings ("Enge-benge"). Schaechter-Gottesman's first book of poetry, "Mir Forn" (We're Travelling) appeared in 1963. Her books, eight in total, have appeared regularly since then. They include poetry for adults, children's books and song books. She has recorded three CDs of her songs and one recording of folk songs. Her work does not revolve around a single theme but ranges widely from Eastern European subjects to contemporary New York, and from lighthearted children's fare to such sombre reflections as "Di Balade Funem Elftn September" (The Ballad of September 11th). Her best-known single work is "Harbstlid" (Autumn Song). Schaechter-Gottesman's songs have been performed by Theodore Bikel, Adrienne Cooper, Theresa Tova, Lucette van den Berg, Michael Alpert, Lorin Sklamberg, Sharon Jan Bernstein, Fabian Schnedler, Massel-Tov and others. A song written for her nephew, "Binyumele's Bar Mitsve", was adapted by Adrienne Cooper for her daughter as "Sorele's Bas Mitsve" and was recorded on the CD Mikveh. Schaechter-Gottesman continues to serve as a resource for researchers of both Yiddish folk and art music. She has been recorded and interviewed numerous times and participated in such cultural events as KlezKamp, KlezKanada, Buffalo on the Roof, Ashkenaz, and Weimar KlezmerWochen. " In 1998 Schaechter-Gottesman was inducted into the People's Hall of Fame at City Lore in New York; and in 2005 she received a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship, one of the highest cultural honors given by a United States government agency. She was the first Yiddish poet or musical figure to receive this honor. A shtetl (Yiddish: שטעטל, diminutive form of Yiddish shtot שטאָט, "town", pronounced very similarly to the South German diminutive "Städtle", "little town") was typically a small town with a large Jewish population in pre-Holocaust Central and Eastern Europe. Shtetls (Yiddish plural: שטעטלעך, shtetlekh) were mainly found in the areas which constituted the 19th century Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Galicia, and Romania. A larger city, like Lemberg or Czernowitz, was called a shtot (Yiddish: שטאָט); a smaller village was called a dorf (Yiddish: דאָרף). The concept of shtetl culture is used as a metaphor for the traditional way of life of 19th-century Eastern European Jews. Shtetls are portrayed as pious communities following Orthodox Judaism, socially stable and unchanging despite outside influence or attacks. The Holocaust resulted in the disappearance of the vast majority of shtetls, through both extermination and mass exodus...

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@dailup115 Yes, it's Lorin Sklamberg from the "Klezmatics". His new album "Saints and Tzadiks" is a collaboration with Susan McKeown. Wonderful songs!

Is this sung by Lorin Sklamberg also known from "the klezmatics" ? I guess. Love his voice. Thanks for posting!

@MrShmuly אױב אַזױ, לאָמיר הערן װי איר קענט טאָן ס'איז אַ ליטװישע אַקצענט אָבער ער טױשט די װאָקאַלן בײַ אַ פּאָר װערטער כּדי צו גראַמען װײַל דאָס ליד איז געשריבן אױף אַ דרומדיקן ייִדיש.

@lsophial With DNA or whatever, you will have some trouble convincing fundamentalists on either side who believe in creation!! But peace would be nice.

@lsophial With DNA or whatever, you'll have some trouble convincing fundamentalists on either side who believe in creation!! But peace would be nice.

Dem shoykhet mit vayb un akht kinder, in tales gehilt zey - shma yisrol! Di geshreyen farshlungen der Nester di khvalyes farshtumt zeyer kol. Haynt grinen dort vayter di lonkes un s'pashet der poyer zayn ki. vi keyn mol geven dort keyn yidn, vi gor nisht geshendortn vi.

Nor plutsem vi a duner gekumen dos eyn un fertsikste yor Der nester tut strashedik brumen, der himl fartsoygn zikh gro, Un zelner in grine mundirn, mit biksn tsum shisn gevendt. Af der brik vos ibern Nester zey ale biz eynem farlendt.

einfach toll. der singt auch was von boris. es wäre toll wenn mehr leute jiddisch reden würden.

The song is from the CD "Af di gasn fun der shtot" original yiddish songs by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (1920- living in 2010 in Bronx). Available at CDBaby. Translation of Geven A mol iz a shtetl with the yiddish lyrics are in the accompanying booklet. The composer would like to add that these true events of this town, were not unique but occured to many Jewish towns and villages in Besserabia and Bukovina (then Romania).

Agreed. Under the right circumstances, anyone can either be the victim or the perpetrator of genocide. Everyone must watch for the evil from themselves ten times harder than the evil from others.

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