by Sheva Zucker

Candles of Song: Yiddish Poems about Mothers Chaim Leib Fox

Yiddish poems about mothers, in memory of my mother, Miriam Pearlman Zucker, 1914-2012.

Chaim Leib Fox (Fuks) (1897-1984) was born in Lodz, Poland. He developed worldly interests even as a yeshiva student, and was soon involved with founding the Yiddish Writers’ Group in Lodz, engaged with the Bund, and then the Zionist workers movement. He began publishing articles and poems in journals and newspapers at the age of 17, debuting with poems in the Folksblatt and he published extensively after that time. He published his first book of verse Durshtike lemer (Thirsty lambs) in 1926. When war came, he fled with his expecting wife to the Soviet-controlled Bialystok and then to Kazakhstan. In 1946 he returned to Lodz and subsequently moved to Paris where in 1951 he published another volume of verse, Shoh Fun Lid (Hour of song).

In 1953 he resettled in the United States . Through the course of his lifetime he published several monographs and ten volumes, including six books of poetry. He considered his literary biography of the city of Lodz, Lodzh shel mayle, (Lodz on high) a paean to the city that nurtured and formed him. Chaim Leib spent his last active years in Montreal, Canada, where in 1980 he produced the literary lexicon, 100 Yor Yiddishe un Hebreishe Literatur in Kanade, (100 Years of Yiddish and Hebrew literature in Canada which serves as a central source of much literary research on this topic to this day. He died in New York.

Here, Mayn Mame Tsindt Likht, by Chaim Leib Fox, read by Sheva Zucker:

My Mother Lights Sabbath Candles

The house suffused in stillness
From floors to every wall that stands
And we small children, silent, awestruck
Stare wide-eyed at Mother’s hands

Whiter have they now become
In the hour by Sabbath blessed
The candles she has kindled bathe them
In the light of Sabbath rest

From the heavens wafting downward
Alights the Sabbath with silent grace
It seems to me that beams of light now
Emanate from Mother’s face

And they spread in bright profusion
As my mother lifts her hands
And light shines from every corner
And brighter is each wall that stands

In the hush of Mother’s prayer
Our hearts begin to beat aloud
And an apparition rises
From the candles’ blue smoke shroud
It’s the Messiah, who’s been in all
Our reveries this Sabbath eve
Our sufferings to redeem, our burdens
Has Sabbath brought him to relieve

His face now shining, and his eyes
Fluttering flames are they tonight
As they gaze, so mild and kindly
From our Mother’s candlelight

And they utter words so softly
Like those in mother’s adulation
You see, it’s been fulfilled already
My mother’s quiet supplication

Released are we now from our burdens
We join to sing our Sabbath song
Mother has lit the Sabbath candles
Her prayers have kept our people strong
Sho fun lid ( Hour of Song), 1951

Tr. by Michael Fox, 1951

Mayn Mame Tsindt Likht

Shtil in shtub in yedn vinkl
Fun di diln biz di vent.
Mir, di kinder mit a tsiter
Blikn af der mames hent.

Vayser zenen zey gevorn
In der shabesdiker sho.
Fun di likht, vos ongetsundn,
Laykhtn zey in Shabes-ru.

S’hot der Shabes do genidert
Fun di himlen shtil arop.
Un es dukht mir: kh’ze vi shtraln
Tsien zikh fun mames kop

Un zey shpreytn zikh funander.
Fun der mames hoyb fun hent
Vern likhtik ale vinklen,
Vern heler ale vent.

Tsu der mames shtiler tfile,
Undzere hertser klapn hoykh.
Un es dukht mir: kh’ze, vi emets
Geyt aroys funbloyen roykh.

– S’iz moshiekh! Fun im gekholemt
Hobn mir a gantse nakht.
Oystsuleyzn fun di paynen,
Hot der Shabes im gebrakht.

– S’laykht zayn ponem, zayne oygn
Flamen fayer zenen zey.
Un zey kukn milde, gute,
Fun der mames likht di tsvey.

Un zey redn shtile verter
Vi mayn mame hot geredt.
Ze: mekuyem iz gevorn
Shoyn der mames shtil gebet.

Oysgeleyzte fun di paynen,
Zingen mir dos Shabes-lid.
S’hot di mame likht getsundn,
Zikh far undzer folk gemit.

מײַן מאַמע צינדט ליכט

שטיל אין שטוב אין יעדן װינקל
פֿון די דילן ביז די װענט.
מיר, די קינדער מיט אַ ציטער
בליקן אױף דער מאַמעס הענט.

װײַסער זענען זײ געװאָרן
אין דער שבתדיקער שעה.
 פֿון די ליכט, װאָס אָנגעצונדן,
לײַכטן זײ אין שבת־רו.

ס’האָט דער שבת דאָ גענידערט
פֿון די הימלען שטיל אַראָפּ.
און עס דוכט מיר: כ’זע װי שטראַלן
ציִען זיך פֿון מאַמעס קאָפּ

און זײ שפּרײטן זיך פֿונאַנדער.
פֿון דער מאַמעס הױב פֿון הענט
װערן ליכטיק אַלע װינקלען,
װערן העלער אַלע װענט.

 צו דער מאַמעס שטילער תּפֿילה,
אונדזערע הערצער קלאַפּן הױך.
און עס דוכט מיר: כ’’זע, װי עמעץ
גײט אַרױס פֿון בלױען רױך. 

— ס’איז משיח! פֿון אים געחלומט
האָבן מיר אַ גאַנצע נאַכט.
אױסצולײזן פֿון די פּײַנען,
האָט דער שבת אים געבראַכט. 

— ס’לײַכט זײַן פּנים, זײַנע אױגן
פֿלאַמען פֿײַער זענען זײ.
און זײ קוקן מילדע, גוטע,
פֿון דער מאַמעס ליכט די צװײ.

און זײ רעדן שטילע װערטער
װי מײַן מאַמע האָט גערעדט.
זע: מקוים איז געװאָרן
שױן דער מאַמעס שטיל געבעט.

אױסגעלײזטע פֿון די פּײַנען,
זינגען מיר דאָס שבת־ליד.
ס’האָט די מאַמע ליכט געצונדן,
זיך פֿאַר אונדזער פֿאָלק געמיט.
שעה פֿון ליד, פּאַריז,1951

Poems cross-posted with ShevaZucker.com.

Dr. Sheva Zucker is currently the Executive Director of the League for Yiddish and the editor of its magazine Afn Shvel. She has taught and lectured on Yiddish language, literature and culture on five continents.