Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Oyfn Pripetshik

There's an old Jewish song that is taught in Jewish kindergartens. If you've seen the movie Schindler's List than you've heard it. The name of the song is Oyfn Pripetshik (אויפֿן פּריפּעטשיק) meaning "On the Hearth" in Yiddish. There is a verse in the song (quoting from Wikipedia since I don't speak Yiddish) that says "When, children, you will grow older/You will understand/How many tears lie in these letters/And how much crying." Let me say this again: the song is taught in kindergarten about how as Jews their children will suffer. That resilience my friends is what makes Jewish culture so interesting to me.

And for those who don't know it here it is (around 2:35 it goes into a different song):