VIDEO: The powerful ‘Ballad of September 11’ (in Yiddish with English subtitles)

Singer Lucette van den Berg performs the song composed by the late songwriter Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman

Courtesy of Lucette van den Berg

By Rukhl Schaechter September 8, 2022

As the world commemorates the victims of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, you might want to watch Yiddish singer Lucette van den Berg perform “The Ballad of September 11.” The song, which is in Yiddish, was composed by the late poet, songwriter and folksinger, Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman just several days after the horrific act.

In a biographic essay in the Jewish Women’s Archive, Linda (Leye) Lipsky notes that Schaechter-Gottesman’s “The Ballad of September 11” is written in the folk tradition of disaster commemoration. “She laments the funeral pyre of history: ‘And it smolders still, smolders without end’. As an international troubadour, Schaechter-Gottesman lends her own improvisational and melismatic style to her concert renditions.”

Schaechter-Gottesman’s songs are regularly performed at klezmer festivals and concerts around the world. In 2005 she won the National Heritage Award given by the National Endowment for the Arts.

(Full disclosure: Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman is my aunt.)

In my humble opinion, “Ballad of September 11” is one of her best works, although it’s performed much less than other songs of hers, like Harbstlid (Autumn Song) and Borekh habo dir, khaver (Hello there, my good friend). One reason could be that no one had recorded the song on YouTube until the Forward did so in 2001. As is often the case in the post-CD era, only songs uploaded online have a chance of being heard and shared widely.

But the lyrics to the “Ballad of September 11” are so on-target, and the music so beautifully simple and pure, it’s a shame that it’s languished in obscurity.

Van den Berg knew Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman well and performs the song with pathos, as the author herself used to sing it.

Now that the ballad is available on YouTube, people can hear, share and even learn to sing the song themselves — a fitting way to commemorate the memory of the 2,996 people who perished in the attacks.

Di balade funem 11tn september

Toyznter tsu der arbet gegangen,
vi zeyer shteyger iz geven,
toyznter shoyn mer nisht krikgekumen,
ven dos groyse umglik iz geshen.

Geshen iz es dem eleftn september,
dos yor tsvey toyznt un eyns.
Baym onheyb fun a nayem yorhundert,
an onheyb blutiker vi vens.

O, di date, vet blaybn af eybik
farkritst in zikorn fun der velt.
Blut royt farkarbte di shtern,
ven di zun hot ir ponem farshtelt.

Geshen iz es dem eleftn september,
a tog vi ale teg zikh gedakht,
ven tsvey teroristn-eroplanen
in di handl-turems arayngekrakht.

Di shlikhem funem roshe Bin Ladin
af a tayvlisher misye bashtelt
tsu tseshtern di yesoydes funem mayrev
di oyftuen fun der frayer velt.

Ven di turems zenen gefaln
tsum ofshoyder fun der gantser velt
hot a pakhed arumgenumen aln
vi af eybik volt nakht dem tog farshtelt.

Geshen iz es dem eleftn september
ven s’helishe fayer zikh tsebrent
toyznter farshlungen in di flamen
un se tliet nokh un tliet on an end.

די באַלאַדע פֿונעם 11טן סעפּטעמבער

טויזנטער צו דער אַרבעט געגאַנגען,
װי זייער שטייגער איז געװען,
טויזנטער שוין מער נישט קריקגעקומען,
װען דאָס גרויסע אומגליק איז געשען.

געשען איז עס דעם עלעפֿטן סעפּטעמבער,
דאָס יאָר צװיי טויזנט און איינס,
בײַם אָנהייב פֿון אַ נײַעם יאָרהונדערט,
אַן אָנהייב בלוטיקער װי װענס.

אָ, די דאַטע, װעט בלײַבן אויף אייביק
פֿאַרקריצט אין זכּרון פֿון דער װעלט.
בלוט רויט פֿאַרקאַרבטע די שטערן,
װען די זון האָט איר פּנים פֿאַרשטעלט.

געשען איז עס דעם עלעפֿטן סעפּטעמבער,
אַ טאָג װי אַלע טעג זיך געדאַכט,
װען צװיי טעראָריסטן־עראָפּלאַנען
אין די האַנדל־טורעמס אַרײַנגעקראַכט.

די שליחים פֿונעם רשע בין־לאַדין
אויף אַ טײַװלישער מיסיע באַשטעלט
צו צעשטערן די יסודות פֿונעם מערבֿ
די אויפֿטוען פֿון דער פֿרײַער װעלט.

װען די טורעמס זענען געפֿאַלן
צום אויפֿשוידער פֿון דער גאַנצער װעלט
האָט אַ פּחד אַרומגענומען אַלן
װי אויף אייביק װאָלט נאַכט דעם טאָג פֿאַרשטעלט.

געשען איז עס דעם עלעפֿטן סעפּטעמבער
װען ס’העלישע פֿײַער זיך צעברענט,
טויזנט פֿאַרשלונגען אין די פֿלאַמען
און סע טליִעט נאָך און טליִעט אָן אַן ענד.

Rukhl Schaechter is the Yiddish editor of the Forward and the producer of the YouTube series, “Yiddish Word of the Day.” She loves cooking, Israeli folk-dancing and talking to her grandchildren.

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