Outline
- Introduction Analysis of the article given and comparing it to the song
- Hof un Gleyb (Hope and Faith)
- Under the Green Little Polish Tree
- Schlof Mein Kind (Sleep My Child)
- Conclusion
Introduction Analysis of the article given and comparing it to the song
As it is known, the first half of the nineteenth century is marked in the history with the commencing of a large-scale Jewish immigration in the United States of America. This process was caused by a set of different factors, such as historical events, economical situation, and social relationships. Jews had their rights restricted in Europe and Slavic lands and this prompted them to leave homes in pursuit of a better life abroad.
The United States of America with its democracy and humanistic principles of its socio-political policies appeared to be the most hospitable place for immigrants, but it also disillusioned them in many respects. Although nowadays Jews have become a part of American community, the process of their assimilation was very complicated and lasted for more than a century.
Therefore, not only is it important to analyze the factors which might have influenced this process, but also to take into consideration the experience which Jewish nation had to face. The Yiddish songs that we will analyze in the next parts of this paper provide us with the insight on psychological anxieties, felt by Jewish immigrants in America, thus helping us to get a better understanding of metaphysical essence of America’s Jewish lyrics at the turn of 20th century.
Hof un Gleyb (Hope and Faith)
The process of Jews immigrating to USA and the impact it had on their lives is described in a brief and yet detailed way in one of the letters sent to the Yiddish newspapers. The author tells about himself as of an immigrant who had both negative and positive experiences in United States. Having arrived as a shokhet, which meant that he had a written permission to be a ritual slaughterer, he hoped to escape the problems he had at home, while utilizing thee economical opportunities of the New World.
But he was soon disenchanted with the reality, which appeared as being very challenging. Obviously, this problem concerns all the migrants and is very typical to the Jews who sought a better life in the New World. They faced various difficulties, as their work was paid less, they were treated unfairly, and, in addition, they often becoming overcome with stress – living in a hostile community is very draining, in emotional context of this word.
The pursuit of material riches had failed to make immigrants any happier. Moreover, it caused them to bear a negative attitude towards surrounding reality. The emotional tension, which every immigrant had to face is best represented by the lines of one of the most favored Jewish songs – Hof un Gleyb (Hope and Faith):
Father left home early
To go to the factory
He won’t be back
To the little house tonight. (Lyrics Handout 6, p. 1)
What is especially Interesting about these lyrics is that they describe the life of an immigrant but by mentioning his absence from home. This point out to his daily routine, full of hard work, and also reveals immigrant’s suffering and his longing for a change that he and his closest people experienced.
The song gives us a hint about Jews doing all the donkey work, as it tells that in spite of their efforts to succeed economically, they often were still living in destitute. In this case, such a statement may be questionable, as the Jew who wrote the article, managed to achieve a lot in his life. But this example should rather be treated as an exception, because the tragedy of author’s character appears to be accidental: both his accident (ship accident) and success (becoming extremely rich) were just the whims of his fate.
Turning back to the song being analyzed, it is seen that rude deprivation of human rights is an emotional challenge for the whole family. But what is surprising about this song is its optimistic tone: Jews express support to each other and try to see the light at the end of a tunnel. In general, Hope and Faith is a very cheerful song and its content matches its name.
This corresponds to the article, in a sense that its author also had some hopes, which eventually became fulfilled, after much of exhausting work was performed, on his part. That is why we can say that immigrants were feeling deprived and lonely, but they still hoped for better and this helped them to preserve their initial values and the traits of character, throughout the history.
Under the Green Little Polish Tree
Another song, Under the Green Little Polish Tree, tells about how the rights of Jewish nation were repressed in Slavic countries:
“Jewish children with their great big eyes,
Black, as if veiled by darkness,
Eyes filled with horror,
Marked by the brown terror” (Lyrics Handout 8, p. 3)
These lines are devoted to those who had been treated unfairly at home. They mirror the fear that was brought in the hearts and minds of the immigrants, which fallowed them even in the New World. Such fear is also implied in the article. Author says that he was not satisfied with the job of a cloakmaker, because “The physical labor and degradation we had to endure in the shops was unbearable”.
Still, he had to work there for a long time, because he had no choice – a fear to be repressed again suggested that he served the America. Indisputably, the experience of being rejected by society’s unfairness makes people feel unconfident and depressed, and Jews had to deal with it on a daily basis. Thus, it is quite understandable why the key feeling of Jewish immigrants in America was insecurity.
Schlof Mein Kind (Sleep My Child)
Another insight onto the life of Jewish immigrants in America is given in Sholem Aleichem’s song of Schlof Mein Kind (“Sleep My Child”), which can be found in Ruth Rubin’s book “Voices of a People: The Story of Yiddish Folksong”. It is a lullaby, in which mother tells her child about its husband, who went to America in hope to earn money. The life of Jewish people is not being directly referred to as “poor”, but it appears to be so the case, while being compared to the life in New World:
“There they eat even on the weekdays
White bread, little son”
Such a “luxurious” way of living was unaffordable for most of the immigrants and they had to work hard to make their way up. The employers in USA were very strict to their workers and did not miss a chance to deceive Jews by paying less to them. For instance, the author of the article, mentioned in paper’s previous part, talks about his own workers, who are being abused and treated with no respect by the company.
The dishonest clock, the threatening stick and miserable wages are enough to illustrate how the Jewish immigrants were being treated in the New World. Undoubtedly, such attitude made it extremely hard for them to find happiness. In the last part of the lullaby the mother says:
“He will send us twenty dollars
And his picture, too,
And will take us – long life to him!
To America” (Rubin, p. 24)
The idea shown here illustrates how helpless people were at the conditions they were forced to live in. While seeking for political and social liberties, Jews only hoped for America to shelter them, but even there they were not taken as equal.
Apparently, anti-Semitism is phenomenon of a global magnitude, which continues to hamper the lives of many Jews in America even today, despite the fact that this country prides itself on being multicultural.
Conclusion
The economical, social, and political situation in Europe was very complicated for Jewish nation in the nineteenth century, and this caused the great shift of immigrants to the United States of America. However, as we can see from the article, life there appeared to be a real challenge for them as well.
The immigrants had to face a lot of negative experiences, such as underestimation, degradation, low wages etc. After having compared a few Yiddish songs, we can conclude that despite the harsh reality, the values of Jewish nation remain unchanged. There is no aggression or hatred in their national songs; they are all very cheerful and kind. Even though that the motif of grief define the semantic essence of analyzed songs, their authors had made a point in not focusing on negativity.
This is reason why the contextual message of hope can be easily recognized between lyrics’ lines. In its turn, this explains why many decedents of first Jewish immigrants to America were able to succeed fabulously in the New World. Apparently, these descendants were able to overcome their deep-seated fears, associated with Jewish memories of historical injustice, and to achieve something their ancestors had never ceased dreaming of – financial prosperity and social security.
Bibliography
Rubin, Ruth “Voices of a People: The Story of Yiddish Folksong”. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. 2000.
Lyrics Handout 6.
Lyrics Handout 8.