Re: women in yiddish song

[Asya Vaisman <klezmer...>]

Hi,

I thought this was an interesting analysis; I was just recently
arguing with someone about the gender of the narrator in Sapozhkelekh; it
was hard to explain what exactly made it clear that the singer is female.

I had one comment regarding Gebirtik's Reyzele, however. The girl in the
song *does* come down to be with the young man:

Gey ikh mir a freylekher,               I walk around happily,
Zing, un knak mir niselekh,             Singing and cracking nuts,
Her ikh oyf di treplekh shpringen       I hear springing down the steps
Ire drobne fiselekh                     Her small feet
Shoyn arop fun letstn trepl,            Already from the last step,
Kh'nem zi lib arum,                     I take her down,
Kh'gib ir shtil a kush in kepl          I quietly kiss her head
Kum, kum kum.                           Come, come, come.

Not only that, but she even allows herself to be kissed! Afterwards, he
tells her "Her, dayn mame ruft shoyn, Reyzl" -- "Listen, Reyzl, your
mother is calling you back already". So they definitely spend some time
together before the girl goes back home.

Asya Vaisman

Forwarded message:
-------------------------------------
Reyzele

Here is an exemplary young woman, and the tune is appropriately upbeat
as well. When a suitor whistles under her window, Reyzele tells him that
it is not suitable for a Jewish fellow to whistle like that. She urges
him to be more pious, attend synagogue, and for this she will make him a
bag for his tefillin with a Mogen David on it. He promises to do so, and
although the maiden never leaves her house to be with him, he saunters
off (cracking his nuts!) joyfully after this exchange.

This is a picture of proper behavior for a young lady: be flirtatious,
demand propriety, and above all, don't go off with him! Again, there is
an implied judgment here, albeit a positive one. The tune is
appropriate: a lively quickstep!

(I should note that Reyzele is depicted as remaining in her "heyzele."
This word is the diminutive for house, but in every dictionary that I
checked "heyzele" was defined as a brothel. This led me to wonder if it
were not an ironic depiction of the classic "good hearted prostitute"
letting the underage fellow down gently. But Yiddishist Barry Davis
assured me that the author, Mordechai Gebirtig, had no such intent here).

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