Dona dona yiddish free#

One fine afternoon, on the road to the market The author accepts responsible for all copyright infrigments.Aru hareta hirusagari ichiba e tsudzuku michi Material and Opinions in all Jewish Magazine articles are the sole responsibility of the author the Jewish Magazine accepts no liability for material used.ДЄll opinions expressed in all Jewish Magazine articles are those of theДЄuthors. Lyrics by Aaron Zeitlin, music by Sholom Secunda, (1940/41).ДЇrom the June 2010 Edition of the Jewish Magazine You will live enslaved to your desires and your body will die without understanding the purpose of your life.Д«ut if you treasure freedom, the freedom of the soul, then you will learn to transcend the limitations of the body and small mind and you will understand your life from a higher perspective. If you remain unconscious of the soul, you will be easily bound and slaughtered. The final stanza is the teaching for all men. Fly in the spiritual realm and feel your soul's power. 'Why don't you have wings to fly with?' Connect to your soul and transcend your physical limitations.

The farmer represents the tzadik, the holy, righteous man who scolds us saying, 'Who told you a calf to be?' Why do you identify yourself with your body? If you do, you are no better off than a calf on the way to be slaughtered for you will be bound by your desires and destined to die. There is a time of judgment at the beginning of the night. The Creator is patient with our failures and struggles and His kindness is present most of the time, but not all the time. What the song is saying is that the character of G-d, the spiritual creative force of the universe is primarily loving kindness. The summer's day is when the daylight is at its maximum and the night is relatively short. The second part of the night, from midnight until dawn is a time of chesed, of kindness and this kindness continues throughout the day. This is not the time for laughter rather it is a time of taking account of the day's actions and reflecting on them. The first part of the night, from sunset until midnight is considered a time of din, of strict judgment. But why are the winds laughing the whole day and only half the summer's night?ДЄccording to the Torah, the night is divided into two parts.

From the perspective of heaven, man's struggle to fulfill the desires of the body and animal soul must appear quite absurd. The chorus to the song speaks of the winds laughing. The soul does not fear death for it is more at home in heaven than on earth.

Dona dona yiddish free#

It is free to soar in the spiritual realms high above the earthly one. The Divine Soul is a part of G-d's Being and is not bound by the material limitations of the physical world. The swallow winging swiftly through the sky represents the soul. the body) is mournful because it has become attached to life and pleasure and fears the unknown of the next world. The calf bound on the way to market to be slaughtered is a metaphor for the body's journey towards death. But like an animal, the body is a slave to these desires. The body and the animal soul that enlivens it desire pleasure, wealth, and honor.

The calf in the song represents the body, the seat of desire. But there a deeper message in this song that points towards spiritual liberation. They all find in it a universal message about the victims of oppression and the desire for political freedom. Many folk singers have sung this song, from Yiddish sopranos to klezmer bands to Joan Baez who sang it in English. The final line, however, does give a hint that this song is not talking about a calf and a swallow, but about freedom. The song concludes with a wry observation about the helplessness of calves and how easy it is to end their short lives. The farmer rebukes the calf, criticizing him for being one and goading him into growing wings like the swallow, as if he could. The calf is sad because he is going to die and the swallow is flying overhead, indifferent to the calf's plight. Is it just nostalgia or is there a deeper message? First let's review the words, and then look beneath the surface to find the hidden treasure of meaning.ДЄt first glance, this song seems like a light-hearted, somewhat sentimental dialogue between a farmer and his calf on the way to the slaughterhouse. There is old Jewish folk song called Dona Dona that I learned as a child in summer camp and it calls to me now.