Re: source of Shnirele Perele

[Sam Weiss <SamWeiss...>]

At 09:33 AM 12/29/03, itzik gottesman wrote:
>I believe that the song was an extension of the "Got fun avrom" prayer 
>that women recite at the end of shabes. Noah Prilutski published 22 
>variants of the "Got fun avrom" prayer  at the end of his first volume of 
>Yiddish folksongs (1911), and among his variants one finds a version of 
>Shnirele Perele.  It makes sense of course that the song would be sung at 
>this time.

I looked through the Prilutski "Got fun avrom"s, and while the phrase 
"Shnirele Perele Gilderne Fon" does not appear among them, indeed 14 out of 
the 23 variants contain at least one of the phrases associated with this 
song -- most commonly:
      Nem [or "nemst, nemt"] dem behker in der rekhter hant
      Makh [or "makhst, makht"] a brokhe ibern gantsn land
In all but one or two of these, it is God who is holding [or being asked to 
hold] the cup, rather than Moshiakh.  This couplet is often followed by a
version of:
      Nokh azoy hoykh, nokh azoy sheyn;
      Ale yidishe kinderlekh zoln zogn Omeyn

In the two variants that contain references to the second line of the song, 
they appear as:
      Eliyohu Hanovi zitst oyvn-on
      In gold un in zilber ongeton

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Cantor Sam Weiss === Jewish Community Center of Paramus, NJ


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