WATCH: A powerful song by a young woman who left the Hasidic world behind
Image by Hannah Gee
By Forverts Staff November 21, 2020
Read this article in Yiddish.
Although there have been a number of new Yiddish songs recorded in the past couple of years, it‘s rare to see songs written by women who have left the Hasidic community.
Hannah Gee was raised Hasidic but decided early on that this wasn’t the life for her. Yet, in contrast to most other young people who have gone “off the derekh”, or abandoned the religious lifestyle, she still enjoys speaking and writing in Yiddish.
Now Hannah has released a subtitled music video of a Yiddish song she composed, called “Shtil,” or “Silence.” In the YouTube clip, which she directed herself, she expresses the loneliness of a young woman who’s chosen a very different path from her parents, asking plaintively in the refrain:
“Tatte, where are you? I can’t see you!
Mama, where are you? What’s happened?”
The video was sponsored by the New Yiddish Rep.
A message from Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forverts' 127-year legacy — and its bright future.
In the past, the goal of the Forverts was to Americanize its readers, to encourage them to learn English well and to acculturate to American society. Today, our goal is the reverse: to acquaint readers — especially those with Eastern European roots — with their Jewish cultural heritage, through the Yiddish language, literature, recipes and songs.
Our daily Yiddish content brings you new and creative ways to engage with this vibrant, living language, including Yiddish Wordle, Word of the Day videos, Yiddish cooking demos, new music, poetry and so much more.
— Rukhl Schaechter, Yiddish Editor
