Der sholem zokher

 

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Liner Notes

Der sholem-zokher (1973), adapted from a 1937 choral piece to the same text, is another narrative scena that is full of Hassidic song and dance figures and idioms. The dramatic contrasts and the sense of continuity suggest an operatic impulse.

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Editor's note by Neil W. Levin:

The full title of Itzik Manger’s poem is “Avrom ovinu pravet a sholem-zokher” (Abraham Our Patriarch Hosts a sholem-zokher). It is part of Manger’s larger cycle of poetry, Khumesh lider (Songs of the Pentateuch; 1935), in which biblical accounts are recast within 19th-century settings of typical eastern European villages and shtetlekh (market towns), and in which patriarchal and other biblical personalities are portrayed as contemporary Jews—with the sensibilities, concerns, superstitions, and failings of Jewish inhabitants of those towns. A sholem-zokher (lit., welcoming a son) is a home ceremony and celebration for friends and relatives that is held on the first Friday night following the birth of a son. In some traditions the event is also called y’shu’at ha’ben (redemption of a son) or sh’vu’at ha’ben or a ben zokher. In Sephardi ritual, this ceremony includes additional prayers and readings in honor of the prophet Elijah—the symbolic patron of the child at his circumcision. This poem recounts the birth of Isaac in the context of a 19th-century Hassidic-oriented sholem-zokher hosted by his father, Abraham, while Sarah, having just given birth, is still in the lying-in chamber. The three angels of the biblical story—here recast as three “Turks,” or disciples (hassidim) of the so-called Turkisher Rebbe—visit and remind Abraham of Sarah’s laughter in disbelief at their announcement a year earlier that she would bear a child in her old age. The poem contains references to certain customs, folkways, and superstitions then common among many nonurbanized religious Jews living in a world that was still barely affected by modernity—even after the dawn of the 20th century. The shir hamaylesn were amulets, or charms, that customarily were hung on the doors of a newborn’s home in order to protect the child from the evil demon Lilith, as well as from other perceived evil spirits. Those amulets contained words from Psalm 121 (one of the fifteen Psalms that begin with the words shir hama’a lot) and various kabbalistic quotations. Other amulets, k’mi’ot, could be worn during pregnancy to ward off miscarriage. Still others were placed above the head and under the pillow of a woman in labor. Chickpeas (bob) are customarily served in connection with birth celebrations in many Jewish traditions—perhaps because their round shape is perceived as symbolizing the recurring life cycle. The shtrayml is a distinct fur hat worn by certain Hassidim. The “ten Jews” singing and dancing probably refers to the custom in some circles then of a vigil kept by a minyan (prayer quorum of ten) until the day of circumcision.

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Lyrics

• English
• Yiddish

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Credits

Composer: Lazar Weiner

Performers: Raphael Frieder, Baritone;  Yehudi Wyner, Piano

Additional Credits:

Translations and Transliterations: Eliyahu Mishulovin
Preliminary preparations by Adam J. Levitin