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The Ruth Rubin Legacy
Archive of Yiddish Folksongs

Undzer lid iz ful mit troyer -- Yugnt himen

Playlists: Songs from Vilna Ghetto

Title

Undzer lid iz ful mit troyer -- Yugnt himen

Gender

Male

Date

1948

Location

New York

Track Number

9

Description

[Spoken introduction by informant explaining that children learned this song in the Vilna ghetto and adults began to sing it in the ghetto, in German camps, and in every place where Jews were. Unidenitified whistler in background; probably Ruth Rubin. Informant identifies composer as Basye Rubin, from Vilna, who he says wrote it before World War Two and asked him to write a lyric, which he did.

Lyrics

YUGNT-HIMEN (Youth-Hymn)
Words by Shmerke Kaczerginsky
Music by Basye Rubin
Singable English version courtesy Hershl Hartman, ©2000.
Submitted by the author.

Undzer li iz ful mit troyer, –
Dreyst iz undzer munter-gang,
Khotsh der soyne vakht baym toyer, –
Shturemt yugnt mit gezang:

TSUZING
Yung iz yeder, yeder, yeder ver es vil nor,
Yorn hobn keyn batayt,
Alte oyb zey viln kenen oykh zayn kinder
Fun a nayer, frayer tsayt.

Ver es voglt um oyf vegn,
Ver mit dreystkeyt s’shtelt zayn fus,
Brengt di yugnt zey antkegn
Funem geto a gerus. Yung iz yeder...

Mir gedenken ale sonim,
Mir gedenken ale fraynt,
Eybik veln mit dermonen,
Undzer nekhtn mitn haynt. Yung iz yeder...

Klaybn mir tsunoyf di glider,
Vider shteln oyf di rey.
Geyt a boyer, geyt a shmider –
Lomir, ale, geyn mit zey. Yung iz yeder...

Our song is full of sorrow,
Yet our marching step is strong.
Though the foe blots out tomorrow,
Young folks answer: with a song!

Young is everyone who truly, truly wills so:
Years can’t stop the upward climb.
Even older folks are happy children, also,
In a better, freer time!

Those who wander off the highways,*
They who march with spirits bright:
From the ghetto and its byways,
Youth salutes them through the night. Young is everyone...

We remember all our foemen,
We recall our truest friends.
Darkness past is not an omen:
A brighter future now portends. Young is everyone...

Gather up the shards remaining,
Form our marching ranks in throngs:
Workers building, smiths creating—
Let us, young folks, march along! Young is everyone...

*Refers to the partisans (guerrilla fighters) in the forests outside Vilna, for which the ghetto underground recruited.

Additional Participants

Unidentified

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Citation

“Undzer lid iz ful mit troyer -- Yugnt himen,” YIVO Online Exhibitions, accessed December 21, 2024, https://ruthrubin.yivo.org/items/show/1882.
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