For the children and grandchildren of Central and Eastern European
Jews, Yiddish is the once-upon-a-time language of the ancestors that gives
expression to centuries of culture and history.
Life for Jews in Central and Eastern Europe prior to the mass emigration
of the 1800s and early 1900s was, for many, characterized by poverty,
instability and persecution. Survival was a way of life, symbolized in popular
culture today by Sholem Aleichem’s famous fiddler on the roof. How hard is it
to make music while balancing on a rooftop? Yiddish is a language full of
riddles, ironies, and the mingling of the sweet with the bitter.
Rozhinkes mit Mandlen (Raisins
and Almonds) is a well-known Yiddish lullaby. The lyrics describe a small white
goat selling the fruits and nuts that were considered a luxury in those days.
The small white goat appears throughout Yiddish stories, songs and
art. The goat appears in the Passover song “Chad Gadya”and in Marc Chagall’s
paintings, where it sometimes smiles, wears clothing, and plays the
violin. It is said that even the poorest
shtetl family kept a goat for its milk, and on cold nights the goat would be allowed
to sleep inside the house. It is easy to imagine affection blossoming between children
and a gentle creature not much bigger than themselves.
It is just such a friendly and clever goat that appears in Raisins
and Almonds, Susan Tarcov’s reimagining of the traditional lullaby. A mother
explains to her daughter that the noises under her bed come from a little
goat’s store. The girl is not afraid.
Along with her animal friends, she imagines all the wonderful things the
little goat might be selling.
To read the words of a language is to be immersed in the culture of its people. Kar-Ben’s My First Yiddish Word Book is a perfect entry into Yiddishkeit. You won’t find the humble goat in this book, but you will find everyday words for home, school, and the store. Most people don’t keep goats today anyway.