Wednesday, February 20, 2008

A sakh zmires un veynik lokshn (or, lots of sacred songs but very few noodles)

A drawing of a man carrying a pole of grapes (from the blog In Mol Araan)Funny how things connect. I haven't posted about Yiddish music in a while. Then, a couple of hours after posting the "Yiddish Language and Song" documentary I received a lovely note from "The Chocolate Lady" about her Yiddish food and song blog "אין מױל ארײן, In Mol Araan" My wife and I are obsessed foodies with a wall full of cookbooks and and happy kitchen table where a lot of songs get sung (zemirot, as well as as selections from "High School Musical 2") so I completely empathize with her connection of the two.
One of things The Chocolate Lady does, under the category of "sacred songs for the welcome table" (in Yiddish "A sakh zmires un veynik lokshn" or, lots of sacred songs but very few noodles - meaning "lots of effort for a small reward") is to transcribe the lyrics to Yiddish zimrot (religious table songs). While I can't read the Yiddish, here's an example called Oylem habe iz a gute zakh, ober lernen toyre iz di beste zakh.” “The world to come is a good thing; but learning Torah is the best thing.”

די װערטער זענען באמת אַ ביסל שװערלעך צו פֿאַרדײַען;
דאָס ניגונדל, אָבער, איז זײער לעבעדיק.
עולם הבא איז אַ גוטע זאַך;
לערנען תּורה איז די בעסטע זאַך.
װאַרפֿט אַװעק איעדן יאָך,
לערנען תּורה נאָך און נאָך,
עולם הבא איז אַ גוטע זאַך.


Her blog is almost exclusively in Yiddish, so I can't read it. But if you can, or are interested in in seeing Yiddish in action, you should check it out. The sections I read were in Yiddish, but I was assured that the blog is about 2/3rds in English. So everyone should check it out.

(By the way, how come I don't have a cool name like "The Chocolate Lady?" The only nickname I've had recently is "Kneesocks," given to me by one of my brothers after a certain fashion disaster I perpetrated last summer. )

1 comment:

the chocolate doctor מרת שאקאלאד said...

Thanks for linking! Actually, my blog is about two thirds in English, but all the zmires-related posts are in Yiddish so far. they are mostly for people who have heard the zmires, but never managed to catch all the words. I will get around to posting some translations when I can, and if I can get a little geekier I will see what I can do about sounds.