Alfie and Yiddish Songs

My father always sang out loud when we were kids. He used to sing the song, Alfie (from the movie of 1966) so much, that we shusshed him in public. He may have sung Alfie when we were in our kind-of unaware ages of 4 to 5 but we did not shush him then. Or did we?

On the other hand, we may have been embarrassed then too, as our realization of certain things compared to other children were turned-on a slight bit earlier as opposed to the age of 8 to 12. We thought other fathers did not sing loudly and embarass their children – other fathers were perfect!


Anyhow, today I needed some CDs to listen to in the car. I was tired of playing the same old iTunes back ups so I grabbed a few things off the 3-D rack in my home. I picked Mamaloshen by Mandy Patinkin. Mamaloshen means mother tounge in Yiddish. The CD came about when Joseph Papp asked Mandy to sing some Yiddish songs for a benefit at the YIVO Institute in NYC.

There are a few songs that Dad used to sing all of the time as he said his mother sang them to him. My grapndmother, Annie Garfinkel was from the old country. She was born on a shtetl in Divin (Diwin, Dzvin), just south of Kobryn, Belarus. I dont know if she knew these songs from childhood or learned them as she got older. I dont know how old the songs really are.

I heard Dad sing a variety of these off and on my entire life. So when the album came out in the 1990s I was super curious and bought it. Of course the lyrics he sang are different - I suppose there are many versions and I never knew the correct lyrics. I do love many of these songs and my favorite is Raisins and Almonds as the meaning is heart wrenching and beautiful. I encourage the purchase of the CD Mamaloshen if you are interested in some of these old world songs.



RAISINS AND ALMONDS

In the corner of the Temple the widowed daughter of Zion sits,
rocking her only son Yidele to sleep. She sings a tender lullaby:

"Under Yidele's cradle stands a snow-white kid.
The kid has been to market. That will be your calling:
trading raisins with almonds; so sleep now, Yidele, sleep.

There will come a time when trains will cover the earth;
you'll travel on iron roads and earn great wealth.

But even when you become rich, Yidele, remember this lullaby:
Raisins with almonds; that will be your calling!
You will trade everything, so sleep now, Yidele sleep."

Abraham Goldfaden (1840-1906), Henry Lefkowitch, and Stanley Lionel orch. Don Sebesky

Handkerchief

Today, being that I was in pain from the chemotherapy drug called Taxol, I went to the Cancer clinic to pick up more Lortab for bone pain. Yeah, I heard Taxol would be easier to tolerate. Easier than throwing up from Adriamycin/Cytoxan? Well, I never threw up from AC. But easier than nausea 24/7? Hmm, let me choose: terrible nausea or terrible pain... Ahhh just cant make up my mind!

Taxol has given me such pain that I have to take pain killers. Of course I won't do Percocet. Yet. I try to avoid that one. How people can get addicted to pain killers is beyond me. Beeluchhhh. I won't describe side effects of pain killers. Anyhow, Lortab is part Tylenol and part something else. I guess I can tolerate lots of pain as I waited too long to take the pain pills and spent a good 15 minutes crying from pain last night. I can take lots of stress and not cry, but cried I did. Wow!

Anyhow, as I walked out of the building (my bag, now heavy with 90 Lortabs....) a handkerchief on the ground caught my eye and I stopped in disbelief... I was certain my father was trying to reach me. you see my Dad used handkerchiefs and not kleenex until the day he died. He always had them in his pants pocket. I mean, who uses handkerchiefs these days? The sight of the handkerchief made me think of these psychic shows where some one asks if their family member wanted to reach them with some object and the psychic says yes. Anyhow, I am certain that he was making sure that I was ok. I wonder what would transpire in a real phone call today:

DAD: Hey, darlin' I am just calling to see how you are doing. I think about you all of the time. I am just calling to day I love you. Plus I dropped my handkerchief so you would think about me. I wanted to make sure you'd remember me.

ME: How can I forget you Dad. Thanks, Dad. It is good to hear your voice after so many months. When I saw the handkerchief on the ground I thought about you immediately. I do miss our regular chats...so Thanks for making my day today by getting in touch with me. I know you are worried about the cancer but Dad, I am better. The chemo is hard but not as tough as some things in life.