Chicken soup with watches, with hands,
With dishes that ran away with the spoon,
With lavish garlands of peels and shells,
And with cellar-damp, fungus-mould strewn.
Sacks with borsht and packs with worn holy pages,
With burgers made of ambrosia-spread,
With market-days and town fairs,
And with squeaks of doors and beds.
- From ‘Missy Mousey’ by Der Nister
Below are our projects in development. All of our work is funded privately, through universities and grant bodies. Please visit our donate page for any assistance you can give to Di Farbogene Khalyastre
Soul Joy 1727: Old-New Fusions
A new Yiddish album by the Bashevis Singers based on the oldest extant Yiddish musical notation in the world and the poems of Elkhonen Kirkhen 1727.
Written by Husky Gawenda and Gideon Preiss and recorded and performed by Evie Gawenda, Husky Gawenda and Gideon Preiss.
Although not a household name today, in the 18th and 19th centuries, Elkhonen Kirchen’s (1655-1735) Simkhes ha-Nefesh (Joy of the Soul) was a best-seller. His Yiddish classic (first published in 1707 in Frankfurt) was printed dozens of times throughout Europe, and of all the musar (morality-guides) works of the time attained a special place in the hearts of the Yiddish reading masses. Part anthology, part moral guide, part inspirational, Simkhes ha-Nefesh comprises Yiddish paraphrases and folkloristic retellings of stories from the Talmud and medieval sources informed by his core message—niks zorgen zol / don’t worry; instead serve God with the simple joy of your soul. Despite the great popularity of his work, Kirchen felt that his Yiddish tales weren’t accomplishing their goal, and so in 1727 he published a second volume—this time comprising thirteen songs including musical notation and lyrics. It is here that we find the oldest Yiddish musical notation.
Chagall illustration to “A Story about a Rooster”
The Hidden Farmacopeia:
Ten Mysterious Yiddish Tales for Children-Adults in Verse by Der Nister
Translated and Introduced by Nathan Wolski
Illustrated by Anita Lester
A bilingual illustrated edition of Der Nister’s rhyming short stories for children. Rightly considered the greatest Yiddish symbolist writer, Pinkhas Kahanovitch (nom de plume, Der Nister, 1884-1950) also wrote for children, and his widely celebrated “Mayselekh in ferzn” was published numerous times between 1919-1923. In fact, two of his stories were illustrated by Marc Chagall, and their collaboration is considered by some as the beginning of the Yiddish avant-garde. Be that as it may, his stories for children are enigmatic, uncanny, playful, and brilliant, and recount the adventures of diverse animals engaged in mysterious and mystical quests. Think Rabbi Nakhman meets Kafka meets Chagall.