A growing interactive encyclopedia of Jewish song: where each song was born, who gave it words and voice, how it traveled the world, and a living version you can hear today. In English and Russian.
Most songbooks give you the words. This encyclopedia gives you the life of the song: the shtetl or the city where it was born, the poet who wrote it, the voices that carried it across a century, and what happened to the people who sang it. Then it gives you the song itself, alive, in a version recorded for today's ears.
The collection already holds dozens of songs with their histories, from Yiddish lullabies to Hebrew anthems, each with its journey told in plain language. This is the seed. The encyclopedia grows from here.
Start anywhere: browse the full song catalog, open the sing-along room, print the lyric sheets, or read in Russian in the Russian wing.
Each entry tells the song's full story: where it was born, who wrote it, how it traveled, and a living version to hear.
The goal is simple to say and worth years of work: a place where the whole world listens to Jewish songs, reads about them, and comes to know the Jewish people and their history through their music. In English, so the songs reach everyone; in Russian, where this work began.
Education first: pages built so a teacher can teach from them, a student can quote them, and a family can sing from them the same evening.
The encyclopedia is being built together with the people who know these songs best. Professors and researchers of Jewish music, writers, archivists, Jewish museums, and cultural organizations are invited to contribute: articles, song histories, corrections, recordings, and the stories your collections hold.
Serious contributions are credited by name, and institutional partners are welcome to present their collections to a worldwide audience through the songs.
Write to us: walter@jewishsong.org. Tell us who you are and which songs or stories you want to bring. We answer personally.
I am bringing Jewish songs into the mainstream, and I invite everyone to join me in this mission.