Jews during emigration to three jewish songs - Essay Example

In the letter to the editor there are four themes which are expressed by the writer which can also be found in the four Yiddish songs: the value of studying Torah; the value of returning to one's roots; the loneliness when one loses his love whether it be spiritual or a loved one and the fear of getting old and not being able to study . It must be noted that each of the songs deal with only part of the themes. The purpose of this paper is to present the themes of the songs in terms of the letter of the man who wanted to return to Lithuania to study.

As children studying at their school does not compare to a 30 year old man, what they learn from studying is the same. Losing one's wife is difficult for everyone. No song deals with the anger that this man has. He is looking for peace and comfort of his soul. He knows he is getting old without a wife and a job, he has to prospects. The first Yiddish song chosen is Oyfn Pripetshik (Go My child, to cheder). He is looking for comfort by going back to study. Studying also means reawakening. The man is trying to get rid of the evil in his life in America, the time spent in prison, the four years spent by himself.

He is burdened from his life from exile. "From reading the Gemara, this will shield you from all evil" He already knows this but it will be in his home country. What the children learn in cheder help them understand the tears they shed in life's experience and the knowledge will comfort them because they will have the all that is needed to get them through the most difficult times in life. As the editor said perhaps he should return home to study Gemara and the rabbi will tell him to come back to the New Word.

The song, Gey Mayn kind in cheder, says that he studying is the best profession in the world, he will be nourished and his soul will become resourced. He will have the security and honor what he is missing in life. The most difficult task for this man is to forgive what he has gone through and rely on the knowledge of his childhood. When you are tired of exile, get comfort in studying. The second song explains two major thoughts of this letter. His desire to go back to his roots and his desire to study gemara.

He came to America with so much hope to start a new life and make something of himself. He gave up all his roots and his origins. He gave up study and the Sabbath, he stopped being religious. His life fell to the worst state when he was accused of having burnt up his property. Four years after his prison term, Vos Geven Iz Un Nito, written in 1926 by the American Meyerowitz, talked about getting old. "I suffer from a disease…They call it old age". Our man is 30 years old. He does not have a family and considers it too late.

It was most interesting in the last stanza where the lyrics "when I chance to pass by a school, I weep tears". He goes on to say that the young do not realize what a chance they have to study and when they do it is already too late. He feels this way on his own with no prospect for the future. In Frieling translated as Springtime, it is a man who has lost his love, and has no more purpose in his life. Kaczerginski wrote this song to memorialize his wife in 1943. Much of the song talks about walking thru the ghetto.

Our man lived in a naive ghetto thinking his wife was good and kind. He sees his barricaded house, he sees how destroyed it has become. This was after the ghetto has been liquidated. It can also be a metaphor for how the poet felt after his wife was murdered. This song parallels the life of our man. He needs the spring light to come back into his life and to give him hope. If it is a metaphor for his life, he is looking for a solution to his sorrow; Springtime will give him a reason to see an answer to find a solution to what his wife did to him.

Springtime brings the flowers out. He can possibly find a way of forgiving her with the change of seasons from the harsh winter to the optimism of the sunshine and the flowers. Though he will not forget, he can pardon. and plotted against him. When he writes the