On "Am Yisroel Chai"

[Lee Goldberg <leegoldberg2002...>]

In Eleanor Gordon Moltek's collection of Yiddish songs, "Mir Trogn a Gezang" 
(NY: Workmen's Circle, 1989, 5th ed.), Mlotek annotates a Yiddish version of 
the song as follows: "Text by M. Knapheise, music by S. Beresovsky.  This song, 
written right after the Nazi holocaust, and sung in the D.P. camps in Europe, 
affirms the will of the survivors to rebuild their lives".  This version 
begins: Efnt tir un efnt toyer,Shoyn genug, genug der troyer,Mit fonen-flamen 
shpant atsind di fray.Fun di bunkers, fun di lekher,Shtaygn veln mir alts 
hekher,Vayl mir zogn: "am yisroel khay"!
(Open wide the doors and gates, enough of mourning; for freedom, with its 
banners waving, is here!  From the bunkers and holes we climb, as we sing: the 
Jewish People lives! [translation by Mlotek]) I was thinking the song must have 
been by Sh. Kaczergynski, the Partisan author of the "Yugnt Himn" of the same 
period, until I found it in Khane Mlotek's book.  Of course, this only 
illustrates Gavriel's remark about the phrase "Am Yisroel Khai" being used in 
popular tunes early in the 20th century; it doesn't show where the words came 
from. 
Gavriel Bellino wrote:
Does anyone know of the history of the song "Am Yisroel Chai" ?   

.....

2. When did it become part of our national consciousness? When was it
first sung? As far as I know it appeared in a couple of folk melodies
from of the 20's and 30's, with popularity extending thru the 70's.




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