Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

DER YIDDISH-VINKL May 7, 2004

Dr. Barnett Zumoff, who in addition to being a prominent doctor and a motivating spirit in the world of the Forverts and the Workmen’s Circle, is also a prolific translator of Yiddish poetry into English. For some time now, he has been working on an anthology of Yiddish writings by women and about women, titled “Women in Yiddish Poetry.” Zumoff presents the pieces in both Yiddish and English.

Of the many pieces in his forthcoming book, Zumoff, who is also co-president of the Congress for Jewish Culture, has selected 20 to be published by the Congress under the title “About Mother.”

What follows is one of the poems, “Mayn Mame” by Perets Miranski. We chose it for this column in the spirit of Mother’s Day, this Sunday. Both the transliteration and the translation are by Zumoff.

Mayn Mame

Mayn mame shteyt nokh alts in Sodom,

Oyf koyl farbrent, a verbe shtume,

Mit “Got fun Yitskhok un Avrom”

Farloshn oyf di lipn frume.

Mayn mame hot in toytntol

Di viste rotskhim nit gesholtn

Zi hot gehert dayn viderkol

“In kalkhoyvn, fun flam tseshpoltn.

Un hot tseflakert zikh — a knoyt

A likhtike — in yam fun fayer.

Zi hot gemeynt, az mit ir toyt

Iz zi dem khoyte, mikh, m’tayer.

Nor ikh, ikh bin a khoyte alt,

Un shtekhedik in mir dayn shem iz.

Ikh shtey in Sodom — a zayl fun zalts —

Un ruf tsum din dem dayin emes.

My Mother

My mother stands in Sodom still

A silent willow burned to coal,

Her prayers to God her lips ne’er will

Speak out — they live on in her soul.

Facing death, ‘twas mother’s choice

To keep her silence, speak no curse.

She felt she heard God’s holy voice

In ovens, camps and even worse.

And when she burned into a coal

Her soul glowed pure and bright

She hoped her death would cleanse my soul

And bring me to the holy light.

But I’m a lonely sinner still

And God’s name hurts my ears.

I stand in Sodom, always will —

Call God to judgment with my tears.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.