Intermountain Jewish news., 1925-12-31
Song-Soul Of a People
py SARAH {. setback

Wfs az tictt NuS otfH totgttHU ituiH
songs for he>pdst seren uears, gutjier-
mg them IL all parts of the icorid.
from qrandmothers. chore,oome,', Yid-
dish titerry societies, professional
singers and pdriots friends. In this
article she attempts 10 shoiD hoIc thes,
songs. phich have become her special
field more than probably any other hp-
ing persons. reveal the life of the Yid-
dish fok in Eastoyn Euope-its joys
tinged Nth sorroiu, lis ingenious
h,tnor. its ndirete, its diGdont c,t'iosi-
ties about The st,dnge wortd outside
tkhe Pale. its pcitstic abandon and
apocoiyptic hopc, as no sociological
studies could. Whether IN a h,iiuby, a
song Of lore or work, or a pdedn TO the
,oorshiptM rebbe, some keB to Yid,iish
is ui,caDs turned.
Miss Setback points out that these
songs become incyvusingiY Interesting
and uni,tdbie 10 the collector in riew
of the fnct that the life ,chich then re-
feet is ureswrcctibig passing dnuy
before our pery eDes.., Her intense
interest in the subject has resulted in
a compilation Of Yiddish FoH Songs,
which she has done in collaboration
Nth Ethel .Silberman Cohen. In this
particular article. she declares that
the character of the Jeics OF Eastern
Europe NAY best be gathered from a
study of Yiddish songs. The spirit
whict they reflect ,couid 90 far towtrd
completing the understanding betwecn
those Yiddish people and the Jecs of
the Western World, not to speak OF the
aon-Jeu. Her intimate knorfedge Of
these songs, and her sympathetic np-
troach 10 the people give 10 her words
an authority and charm iureis to be
found among professional students Of
the particular field
Miss Setback has uiso gained fame
as The leader of the Yubaai Trio, re-
nouned for their iecture-recitdls Of
Yiddish songs. Associated Nth Miss
Schacl. gre Ethel Cohen and Nine.
Anna Rothenberg. The three of them
hare moued innumerubie audiences to
mirth and sadness by their programs,
which hare portrayed the gaDut Of
Jewish life from birth to death in
cradle songs, cheder songs, songs OF
lore and marriage, songs chassidic and
phitosophie.-THE EDIToR.
Very few matters on earth are the
subject of so much generalization as
the jew. Like those on the sexes
those on the Jew contain all kinds oi
contradictions He is II Grass material
fusable and at tle same time he Is
friendly to assimilation he Is the con
| servative of the sinister financial inter
| csts. Yet he is also. when it suits tn,
writer's purpose. the active agent II
revolution Adding all these gcneraliza
tions together, the net result Is tha
zero equals zero. Jews are comple'
human beings and cannot be crowded
! into generaliZations on The Jew. Th
slightest reference to reality destroy
all these CONGRATULATIONS. Evidence col
lccted from Jewish life and from it
mirror. Jewish culture, puts them t.
shame. Yiddish folk songs as an i'm
portant ingredient in that culture. Ger
tainly run afoul of these gcneraliZa
lions.
There are certain unlovely things il
| human nature that have never beel
celebrated in the songs of any nation
They do not appear in these Jewisl
songs either; otherwise one can truth
| fully find in them the whole range .
the Jewish character, The iiddisl
songssare the free and unsophislicatc'
expression of n people and they orig
mated in Eastern Europe on that sol
which has been most zealous In persc
cutting them in modern times. The,
were composed far from the peacefu
Libraries of Jcw-theory makers In pr
mitive and perhaps unsantnry village
where Jews. dwelling in constant fea
Of torture and murder nevertheless
lived out their lives as children of III
sun.
Slavic strains run through the habit
recorded in those songs. and yet the
are peculiarly of the Jews. II is th
village life reflected in these songs tina
has produced the old types Of the rae
one sees in this country. so strange t
our ways and 50 unfriendly to ther
that they are mysterious even to thei
children who have grown mp IN thi
soil. The average peppy America
youth has no time to waste on tles
old folk songs. In his great enthusiasm
for 'hot Mamma" favorites. he ove'
looks the fact that most of the maker
of these "Mamina" fnvoritcs are pre-
duets of the life portrayed by the fit
dish folk songs and that that gren