Forever

Source language

Yiddish

Historical authorship

Mark Warshavsky

English words

Walter J. Kin

The melody comes from Di Mizinke Oysgegebn, a Yiddish wedding song by Mark, or Mordechai, Warshavsky. In Reuven Becker’s investigation for Jewish Action, YIVO archivist Chana Mlotek identifies Warshavsky as author of both words and music. The article reproduces the 1901 edition of his songs.

The original title concerns marrying off the youngest daughter; the song’s history and the later wedding dance customs are related subjects, but not identical ones.

Forever keeps that musical connection and supplies original English words by Walter J. Kin. The release credits Kin for arrangement and production and RIGLI and the Riglis Band for performance. Its English words are expressly described as new, not a translation.

The title moves attention from one family milestone to a promise that friends and a couple can share.

The opening calls people into the celebration. A hug makes the invitation physical before the refrain declares lasting friendship. The next verse turns toward the couple, a kiss and the decision to marry. The song then brings children, brothers and sisters into the gathering, widening its circle through the words themselves.

Notice how the repeated declarations change their relationship: friends together, one beloved addressing another, and finally the speaker offering belonging in return. The melody provides continuity while these shifts give the new lyric its own path. The language is conversational, with playful exaggeration beside a brief expression of thanks to God.

The English recording illustrates this new use of the wedding tune. It should not be presented as a literal account of the older song’s youngest-daughter celebration, or as a description of every Jewish wedding.

This Russian article offers another way to understand Forever; a Russian sung adaptation and an original Yiddish recording remain separate illustrations to verify.

Credits & rights

Music Mark Warshavsky · Di Mizinke Oysgegebn; arrangement and production: Walter J. Kin

Lyrics Walter J. Kin (RIGLI)

Language English

Publisher Rigli Publishing (Walter J. Kin)

Rights owner Rigli Publishing

Licensing Rigli Publishing

Copyright Registered (SR0000891444)

ISRC CBEYJ2570429

Free to sing, free to teach

These songs are free for synagogues, JCCs, museums, schools, yeshivas and families. For everyone else, free to start, and a modest fee later, so the songs travel and take root.

Questions, or a use we have not thought of? Write to doublesign28@gmail.com.

More about the wider Jewish Songs. For All project at havanagila.org.

Reuven Becker · The Mizinke Dance

Listen here

Читать по-русски