Мамеле

Mamele

Вдохновлено классической песней «Mamale» (идиш, 1920-е) Проект: Еврейские песни. По-русски | HavaNagila.org

Mamele, a thank-you to a mother

Mamele, little mother, is one of the tenderest words in Yiddish. Inspired by the classic Yiddish Mamele of the 1920s, this song is a simple, aching thank-you: the quiet light of a mother's tired eyes, the smile that once saved a child from every hurt, and the grief of watching her hair turn grey.

Olga Anikina's Russian keeps it plain and true, and ends where such songs always end, with a blessing: God keep you, mamele.

Why bring it into English

Some songs are small and hold everything. Bringing Mamele into Russian and English lets anyone, of any background, hear their own mother in it. That is the heart of what Jewish Songs for All is for.

The words, line by line

Russian lyrics by Olga Anikina. The English is a literal, line by line rendering for meaning, prepared for review, not a singing version.

Credits & rights

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.