You can sing a Jewish song in any language but there’s something about Yiddish that makes the heart stir and the soul yearn — even for those who aren’t Yiddish speakers. Yiddish lyrics have come a long way since the old classics like “Chanukah Oy Chanukah” — and Yiddish remains a favored language of modern compositions among some popular chassidic songwriters. In many circles no album is complete without a token Yiddish song.

Which One Is Your Favorite?

Singer Shloime Daskal:

Avremel Fried’s “Tatenyu” (that he recorded back in 1983 on the Forever One album) — the words are so comforting: “A Tatte bist Du gohr a gertrier… — You are our loyal Father Your love for us is infinite… and every Yid is an only son to You.” I lost my own father when I was just seven years old but this song is about my eternal Father in Heaven and that makes it very special for me.

Pianist and Musical Director Mendy Hershkowitz:

“Ich Hub Gevant” composed by Reb Yom Tov Ehrlich and sung by MBD back in 1982 on an album with the same title. The way the stirring lyrics and the melody come together is perfect.

Yiddish vocalist Michoel Schnitzler:

My favorite is MBD’s “Mama Rochel” from his album The Double Album. Those words — “Kinderlach eihere tefillos tuen dergreichen… Children your prayers reach (above)…/the tears shine like diamonds/…/and every Jewish child will shine like the sun/in the Beis Hamikdash with everlasting joy/and then you will understand that everything was for the best/and the children will return to their borders” — are so powerful.

Head of Mezamrim choir Chilu Posen:

I love the old song “A Succah’le a Kleine.” It was also the first song I ever sang with the choir in studio.

Singer Avraham Fried:

One of my Yiddish favorites is “Tatenyu.” I wrote the lyrics based on a saying of the Baal Shem Tov that in the eyes of Hashem every Yid is a ben yachid. The niggun was composed by Reb Sholom Charitonov from Nikolayev and is one of many Chabad classics composed by him and others in that very musical family.

Composer and badchan Pinky Weber:

I love the songs I composed for Michoel Schnitzler and “A Lechtele” — about a woman who’d been mourning her son since the war and decades later discovers he’s still alive — is probably my favorite. The tune became very popular because Abish Brodt recorded it for the words “Mimkomcha” from Kedushah on Shabbos morning. I was in Tannersville New York this past summer when a group of litvisher bochurim recognized me and we made a kumzitz — of course they all knew “A Lechtele.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha Issue 685)