Bella Schaechter-Gottesman
Yiddish poet and songwriter
1920-
Tomorrow's A Wonderful Day
Directed by Helmar Lerski
This film is a docu-drama about a young holocaust survivor in the children's village of Ben-Shemen. At around the half hour mark there is a Shabbat dinner ceremony in which the children and the adults sing Louis Lewandowski's version of Lecha Dodi, a tune that brings solace and calm to the film's protagonist.
Material Type:
Films
Year:
1948
Das Reichsorchester
Directed by Enrique Sánchez Lansch
Material Type:
Films
Year:
2007
Singing in the Dark
Directed by Max Nosseck
This film is one of the first Hollywood films to deal with the Holocaust and starts cantor and star of the Yiddish cinema Moyshe Oysher in his only English language role. It is about a cantor who is a holocaust survivor with traumatic amnesia and who can only sing when he is inebriated.
Film include footage shot in the historic Levetzow Synagogue in Berlin that was razed shortly thereafter.
Excerpt from the film:
Material Type:
Films
Year:
1956
Our Children - Unzere Kinder
Directed by Natan Gross and Shaul Goskind
This semi-documentary film (and Poland’s last Yiddish feature) features the comedy duo Szymon Dzigan and Israel Shumacher who had recently returned from the Soviet Union, and Jewish children who had survived the Holocaust.
Material Type:
Films
Year:
1948
Otto Klemperer's Long Journey though his Times
Directed by Philo Bregstein
Material Type:
Films
Year:
1985
Mir Leben Geblibene
Directed by Natan Gross
Material Type:
Films
Terezin Music Foundation
This website is dedicated to the preservation, performance, and research of the music written by composers who perished during the Holocaust, with a special emphasis on those in Theresienstadt. Includes information about the foundation's research activities, archives, and educational programs, as well as a calendar of upcoming musical performances. (Description found on US Holocaust Memorial Website; Music, Web Resources)
Moyshelekh Un Shloymelekh (part 1)
Babi Yar
Composer
For string orchestra, piano and percussion. The work is influenced by the Darmstadt School.
Material Type:
Books
Year:
1971
- A Polka Mazurka
- Niggun of the Meggid of Mezerich From the album, "The Hasidic Niggun as Sung by the Hasidim." This dance niggun is the seventh and last in a series of niggunim sung by Bratslav Hasidim as they dance after the Shabbat evening service on Friday night. Some have attributed the niggun to R. Dov Ber, the meggid of Mezerich.
- Kol B'ru'ei (Padua, Italy) From the album, "Italian Jewish Musical Traditions from the Leo Levi Collection (1954-1961)." The poem depicts "all creatures" singing and praising the unity of God, and was recited in the Italian rite during the daily morning prayer. This melody was sung only on Rosh Hashanah (New Year) in the Italian tradition of Padua.
- Yigdal From the album, "Judeo-Carribean Currents, Music of the Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue in Curaçao," performed by Gideon Zelermyer. The Yigdal is part of the ceremonial section of the liturgical order of Shabbat and the Holy Days in the Curaçao synagogue. It is one of the ending hymns of the service.
- Eres Chiquita y Bonita From the album, "Judeo-Spanish Moroccan Songs for the Life Cycle," sung by Alicia Bendayan from Tetuan. This is a song about courtship, related to the Jewish rituals that mark the events of the life cycle.
- Sweet Shalt Be My Chant From the album, "Kulmus Hanefesh," performed by Yair Harel on voice and tar, and Matti Kovler on voice and piano. A sacred hymn attributed to Rabbi Yehuda ha-Chasid, this is a Chabad tune with a near-Eastern arrangement.
- Lyr II From the album, "The Music of the Mountain Jews." Lyr is a genre found among all Turkish peoples, consisting of long, complex compositions usually comprised of three parts.
- Gilu ha-Galilim (Rejoice Galileans) From the album, "Nights in Canaan, Early Songs of the Land of Israel (1882-1946)." This is a Second Aliyah (1904-1914) song which became an integral part of the historical repertoire of Hebrew song. Both native-born and newly arrived pioneers sang this song in all circumstances.
- Saperi Tama From the album, "With Songs They Respond: The Diwan of the Jews from Central Yemen." This is a girdle poem by Se'adia ben Amram. Saperi Tama is sung to many melodies and is one of Yemenite Jewry's most common poems.