"Oyfn Pripetshik" (Yiddish: אויפן פריפעטשיק, also spelled "Oyfn Pripetchik", "Oyfn Pripetchek", etc.;[1] English: "On the [[Hearth]]")[2] is a Yiddish song by M.M. Warshawsky (1848–1907). The song is about a rabbi teaching his young students the aleph-bet. By the end of the 19th century it was one of the most popular songs of the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, and as such it is a major musical memory of pre-Holocaust Europe.[3]
The fourth stanza introduces tragic pathos into the song: "When, children, you will grow older / You will understand / How many tears lie in these letters / And how much crying."[4] The lyrics hint at the traditional Yiddish saying that "The history of the Jews is written in tears".[4]
Refrain:Zet zhe kinderlekh, gedenkt zhe, tayere,Vos ir lernt do;Zogt zhe nokh a mol un take nokh a mol:Komets-alef: o!
Lernt, kinder, mit groys kheyshek,Azoy zog ikh aykh on;Ver s'vet gikher fun aykh kenen ivre –Der bakumt a fon.
Lernt, kinder, hot nit moyre,Yeder onheyb iz shver;Gliklekh der vos hot gelernt toyre,Tsi darf der mentsh nokh mer?
Ir vet, kinder, elter vern,Vet ir aleyn farshteyn,Vifl in di oysyes lign trern,Un vi fil geveyn.
Az ir vet, kinder, dem goles shlepn,Oysgemutshet zayn,Zolt ir fun di oysyes koyekh shepn,Kukt in zey arayn!
Refrain:See, children, remember, dear ones,What you learn here;Repeat and repeat yet again,"Komets-alef: o!"[5]
Learn, children, with great enthusiasm.So I instruct you;He among you who learns Hebrew pronunciation faster –He will receive a flag.
Learn children, don't be afraid,Every beginning is hard;Lucky is the one has learned Torah,What more does a person need?
When you grow older, children,You will understand by yourselves,How many tears lie in these letters,And how much lament.
When you, children, will bear the Exile,And will be exhausted,May you derive strength from these letters,Look in at them!
רעפריין:זעט זשע, קינדערלעך, געדענקט זשע טייערע,וואס איר לערנט דא;זאגט זשע נאך א מאל, און טאקע נאך א מאל:קמץ־אלף: אָ!
לערנט, קינדער, מיט גרויס חשק,אזוי זאג איך אייך אן;ווער ס'וועט גיכער פון אייך קענען עברי,דער באקומט א פאן.
לערנט, קינדער, האט נישט מורא,יעדער אנהייב איז שווער;גליקלעך איז דער ייד לערנט תורה,וואס דארפן מיר נאך מער?
ווען איר וועט, קינדער, עלטער ווערן,וועט איר אליין פארשטיין,וויפל אין די אותיות ליגן טרערןאון וויפל געוויין...
אז איר וועט, קינדער, דעם גלות שלעפן,אויסגעמוטשעט זיין,זאלט איר פון די אותיות כוח שעפן,קוקט אין זיי אריין.
At the Kovno Ghetto, poet Avrom Akselrod wrote the song with the melody of "Oyf'n Pripetshik" known under the titles "Baym geto toyerl" ("At the ghetto gate", the first line) and "Fun der arbet" ("Back from work"). The song is about smuggling (food, firewood, money) into the ghetto. [6] Ghetto survival depended on this smuggling.[7] It was published in Lider fun di Getos un Lagern by Shmerke Kaczerginski, 1948.[8] [9] The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem collections have a 1946 recording of the song by an unknown person at the Bavarian displaced persons camp.[10] [8]
The first 3 lines in Yiddish:
בײַם געטאָ טױרערל ברענט אַ פֿײַערל, די קאָנטראָל איז גרױס
The first stanza:
It is also available on the audio CD Ghetto Tango: Wartime Yiddish Theater, track 10, "Fun Der Arbet", sung by Adrienne Cooper, piano and arrangement by Zalmen Mlotek.
The song has been featured on soundtracks including:
Vinkovetzky, Aharon, Abba Kovner and Sinai Leichter, eds. Anthology of Yiddish Folksongs, vol. 4. Jerusalem, 1987, Magnes Press, Mount Scopus Publications, p. 135)