Tonight’s the first night of Chanukah
[NOTE: This is a heavily revised version of a previous post.]
This is the first night of Chanukah, and I wish everyone a happy one. Chanukah is about a successful revolt and a miracle of light:
The miracle of the one-day supply of oil miraculously lasting eight days is first described in the Talmud, committed to writing about 600 years after the events described in the books of Maccabees. The Talmud says that after the forces of Antiochus IV had been driven from the Temple, the Maccabees discovered that almost all of the ritual olive oil had been profaned. They found only a single container that was still sealed by the High Priest, with enough oil to keep the menorah in the Temple lit for a single day. They used this, yet it burned for eight days (the time it took to have new oil pressed and made ready).
The words of the following Chanukah song are in Yiddish. It was written in 1924 before the Holocaust and before the establishment of Israel – and the lyrics are not happy. But I didn’t know that when I first heard it, because I think it’s very beautiful:
Here are the lyrics in translation:
Oh, you little candles,
You tell histories,
Uncountable stories.
You tell of bloody deeds,Of resourcefulness and courage,
Miracles of long ago.
When I see you sparkling
A vision comes flickeringTelling a dream of old:
Jew, you fought once,
Jew, you prevailed once,
God, it’s hard to believe.Oh, you little candles
Your moments of history
Awaken my torment;
It moves me deep in my heart
And, tearfully, it wonders
What will happen now?
Written in 1924, and it seems prescient. Two-thirds of the Jews of Europe were murdered during the Holocaust, and vibrant Jewish communities in country after country were destroyed. When this song was written those communities still existed, as did others in the Arab countries of the Middle East as well as Persia (modern-day Iran). No more. Now the Jewish population is centered mostly in the Western Hemisphere – particularly the US – and Israel.
Israel was established after the war, and its existence has been threatened time and again right from the start. Now it faces one of its toughest challenges ever. The “dream of old” in the song: “Jew, you fought once, Jew, you prevailed once” was fulfilled in Israel, but the threat of destruction remains and seems unending.
What will happen now? What, indeed?
One of my favorite prayers begins, “Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord.” American Jews, light those Chanukah candles this week, and help lead us all out of darkness.
It is my utmost hope you have a glorious holiday.
Have a good one. Go IDF!!!!
Hanukkah sameach!
God bless Israel!
Happy Hanukkah, Neo and everyone!
Has anyone else noticed that one can often tell Jewish tunes (even without words) because they typically begin in a sad minor key, have brief episodes of happiness switching to a major key, but then go back and end on the sad minor key?
I hope this is correct…and I apologize if Madame Google led me astray.
“Chag urim sameach”
My best Chanukah wishes to all.
Happy Hanukkah!
It’s interesting, having read the lyrics, how similar Yiddish seems to Dutch.
Perfect! John.
“Happy Festival of Lights”! (“Or”, pronounced more like o’er, meaning “light”—of “Let there be Light” fame, “urim” being the plural, thereof….)
(Do you speak Gaelic, too?)
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Well, those Germanic languages, you know…
(One of the nice things about Finland is that they often have street and highway signs in Finnish AND Swedish—because of the sizable Swedish minority—which latter makes things much more understandable, Finnish, of course being more than a bit of a challenge…even if all you really have to know is “sauna”. And “coffee”…)
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And many thanks for all those Chanuka/Hanukah wishes…
(Time to haul out those Books of Maccabees, I guess…talking about asymmetrical warfare…and precocious women…)
It’s been said. But it can’t be said too many times. God bless Israel!
Thanks much, Steve.
(Are you by any chance a scion of the Heinz dynasty?)
Thanks, Neo.
The version sung has an additional verse, published here: https://forward.com/forverts-in-english/572637/video-yiddish-hanukkah-song-candles-oppression/
I love that song. It is so beautiful, and sad. It is hard to believe it didn’t come out of the Holocaust.
One tiny quibble on the translation: I would break the grouping up differently:
Oh, you little candles,
You tell histories,
Uncountable stories.
You tell of bloody deeds,
Of resourcefulness and courage,
Miracles of long ago.
When I see you sparkling
A vision comes flickering
Telling a dream of old:
Jew, you fought once,
Jew, you prevailed once,
God, it’s hard to believe.
There are more than one race or ethnicity willing to concelebrate, at least informally, the Maccabee moment.
I do wonder though why the persistance of the “C”.
Our Jewish confreres must know perfectly well that no matter how often we are reminded, we of “the coastlands” are going to mentally recite “chunk uh nuh” no matter what.
Bill K,
It’s a different scale than the common “major” scale typically deployed in western music. You are correct, that it is close to the western “minor” scale.
This wikipedia entry does a good job of explaining: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygian_dominant_scale
By the way, I absolutely love it! And you don’t have to listen too closely to hear the huge influence it had on American music; like jazz and the American Songbook. All those brilliant, “American” composers grew up hearing Cantors and playing klezmer and Hebrew music.
Thanks, Rufus! Took piano for 10 years and some unofficial music theory and did NOT know that!