Yehuda A Holz's blog



Rabi Ben Bag Bag Song (My Yiddish Version)

By Yehuda A Holz, April 30, 2010

Recently I came across a song about the famous sage Rabbi Ben Bag Bag. It is written by somebody called Jeff Klepper and from what I understand it is a reasonably popular sing-along number at American Jewish summer camps. Sort of an American Jewish equivalent of Gin Gan Goolie or John Brown’s Baby.

Here is a link to the lyrics:
http://www.ruachcd.com/music/5763/rabbi_ben_bagbag.htm

And here is a YouTube Recording:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaRFcy768u8

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Yiddish Teddy Bears Picnic

By Yehuda A Holz, March 18, 2010

So I took a break from planning just how I'm gonna fit an orange on my Seder plate and whether I should put an apple and a banana on there to keep it company to translate the well known song "The Teddy Bears Picnic" into Yiddish. I have used standard YIVO transliteration.

oyb du vest geyn in vald haynt
vestu hobn a groysn khidesh
oyb du vest geyn in vald haynt
muzstu brengen a bekher far kidesh

vayl yedes berele vet geyn
tsu esn kukhn un trinken tey
vayl haynt iz der tog ven di berelekh makhn a sude!
... haynt iz der tog ven di berelekh makhn a sude!

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Manis Friedman's Non-Jewish Friend

By Yehuda A Holz, March 4, 2010

Those of us in the community who have found themselves addicted to the fine web publication entitled Chabad.org are familiar with the mighty R' Manis Friedman and his online show 'It's Good to Know'. The show has a late-night feel to it with cool jazz music and a dimly lit ambiance. It features pearls of wisdom such as:

'When you hear something you've never heard before and you have no information on the subject, the normal, sane, healthy, and constructive thing to do is to assume that it's true and that you've just learned something new.'

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Rabbi Belovski's Megilla

By Yehuda A Holz, February 28, 2010

Purim is one of those festivals that I always dread...

I don't like clowns, I don't like sweets, I don't like dancing and something about the prescribed atmosphere of silliness seems so terribly un-British...

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