Scroll down for language notes.
Read by Barry Davis
leyg arop dayn oyer oyfn erd –
her di geshrayen fun tsefoyltn guf,
dos traskn fun koval mit stelmakh,
kortshn un oystsien funem shtrikl-dreyer.
veln di oygn brenen mit der shmikht
fun holtsroykh, loyfn mitn bis
fun amoniak fun ipeshdikn shetn.
tif untn dos alts loyft
der tsaykhn fun budikas nekome
inem dinem roytn penetsl fun smolievetn ayzn; shpaltndik a shoyre fun ash un leym
shikhtenvayz in di shteyner un kakhlyes,
holts, alte sreyfes un beyner.
itst gekvetsht fun tsofn un dorem
ineveynik fun ir blotik-vaykh baleygtn kanal;
hot der taykh gehodevet neandertal,
homo-sapiens; navenadnikes elnte
vandern farbay a halb-milyon yor.
der ershte khate, mit 15,000 yor tsurik,
atsind a krakh fun milias leshoynes
velkhe adoptirt ale vos kumen –
yeger, poyer, di aroysgezetste.
Yiddish
is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews originating from 9th century Central Europe. Yiddish has traditionally been written using the Hebrew alphabet; however, there are variations that employs the Latin alphabet.
Eighty-five percent of the approximately six million Jews who were murdered in the Holocaust were Yiddish speakers, leading to a massive decline in the use of the language.. A 2021 estimate from Rutgers University was that there were 250,000 American speakers, 250,000 Israeli speakers, and 100,000 in the rest of the world (for a total of 600,000).[2]
Translated by:
The late Barry Davis who was a renowned Yiddish scholar and actor. He studied history at LSE and later taught it at Thames Valley University, it was his passion for Yiddish that really defined him