A Poem on Shtetl (jewish ghetto)
Here I wrote a poem by yidishn poet Moshe Nadir, and a (modest) attempt of translation:
ןריצאתשׁ 'מ ֻו ןטראד
dortn vu m'geyt shpazirn (There, where people go walking)
a land vu m'geyt nit shpazirn, vu m'trinkt nit keyn vein.
dass lend fun eysn un shtal, gun gelt un technik.
dass land, vu der, voss ken speyen veyter vi ale andere,
vert derklert alss tshempion un m'trogt im unter di hent.
ich bench aheym.
dortn geyt men shpazirn mit a religieser pinktlechkeyt.
dortn veynt dass ganze shtetl as m'shtarbt
oder men fort avek keyn amerika,
un dortn freyt sichdass ganze shtetl
as m'hot chassene oder m'gevintin der loterey.
dortn seynen di blumen kleyn un hobn keyn nemennit,
un di velder seynen groyss.
un di liebe? shtil is si.
un ful mit der farb fun blut.
sumer. di sseder seynen mid.
demolt vart men bissvanen ess sezt sich di sun
un m'geyt shpazirn. zuessn is nit keyn ssach
honik mi broyt for di kinder,milch for di dervaksene,
ober shpazirn geyen ale.
in yeder trit is a groyssn kunst, a vissenshaft.
dortn hot dass leben stil, un ru, un gemitlichkeyt,
un asoy fil leydike zeyt - m'bodt sich in zeyt!
dortn as men cheybt of doss chitl far a dame,
tutmen ess asoy grintlech un pamelech,
as men kenganz leycht iberleyenen
dem namen fun der firme un der numer funem chitl.
um apilu di eltern yidn, chssidim, shpazirn zumbrunem,
mit krugn in di hent,
un mit dem chlumfun kalt vasser oyf di breyte, berdike penimer.
ich benk noch dem land,
vu shpazirn geyn is a kunst un nit keyn arbeit.
ich bench noch di niderikedecher,
noch di hoyche himlen, noch der erd funblote un sney, un stoyb,
voss is doch a ssachveycher vi di erd fun steyn un eysn.
ich kum fun a shpazirn fun zentral park.
m'kukt oyfmir vi oyf an oysslender,
veil ich gey pamelech,ernst un mit a shtekn.
A land where people don't go for walkings, where people don't drink wine. The land of iron and steel, of money and tecnique. The land where who can spit farther than any other is declared champion, and is held in the hand's palm. I'm homesick. There people go for walkings with a religious punctuality. There the whole ghetto cries when somebody dies or leaves for America, and there the whole ghetto rejoice when somebody got married or wins the lottery. There flowers seem so small, and they even haven't a name, and the fields are so vaste. And love? It's silent. And colourful, of the spring's colours. Summer. The orchards are full. So people waits until the sun sets and go for walkings. There isn't that much to eat - honey and bread for the children, and milk for the grown-ups. And everyone goes for walkings. The life has style there, and peace, and it's easy. And so much leisure - people bath everytime! When you take your hat off, youm make it with so much elegance, that the lady in front of you could read the name of the firm and the serial numer of the hat! And even the old Jews, the Cassidim, walk by the fountain, with the jug in their hands, and with the secret desire of the cool water on their bearded faces. I am homesick of the land where going for walkings was an art, and never a job. I am homesick of the low roofs, the high skies, the land of mud and snow, and dust (much softer tha the stone and iron's ground). I come from a walking in Central Park. They look at me like I was a foreigner, because I walk slowly, and with a stick.
That world is over. Forever. It was replaced by the moder Israel the "Great Israel", glittering, united, with its powerful governement and army. To demonstrate that Jews have regained their lost country, their power. But what is left of two millennia of the Jewish Diaspora's history? Should it be Holocaust's fault? Without any doubt. But where are the Jews who teach Yiddish to their children nowadays, who rebuild the destroyed synagogues? Maybe it's better so. To forget centuries of humiliations, sufferences, persecutions. But isn't modern Israel somehow an artificial State? I'm glad of its existence, sure. But if I lived half a century ago, I would have preferred to stay in the "land of iron and steel", the States. Why? Because it's really a lack of common sense, political dignity and legitimacy what the Israeli government has had over the past fifty years to the Palestinian Arabs.
posted by Ayura P. Gottberg @ 12:20 PM
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