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Magical Moment 66, "A Moment to Remember"

Today, Aprill 11, is a day to remember the Holocaust. May we all take a moment to remember this horrifying time in history so that it is never repeated, and a moment of prayer and respect for the millions who lost their lives, and lives that were forever changed and affected by this tragedy.

Below are lyrics and videos/recordings of 2 Jewish songs. The first, "Zog Nit Keynmol," is a Jewish anthem from the 1940s, often still sung at Holocaust memorials. It soon became a symbol of resistance against Nazi Germany's persecution of the Jews.

The next, "Wiegala," is a Jewish Lullaby, heard throughout camps during the war years. There is even an account of a woman singing the song to her son as they walked into the gas chamber.


"Zog Nit Keynmol" (Never Say We Are Trodding the Final Path) - words, Hirsh Glik; melody by Pokrass

Never say that you are on your final way,
Though lead gray skies blot out the blue of day.
The hour will come at last for which we all long,
A drumbeat for our steps saying, "We live on!"

From green lands of palms to white lands of snow,
We come bearing our hurt and our pain,
And wherever there is a spurt of our blood,
There will sprout our courage, our rebirth.

The morning sun will gild our today,
And our yesterday will fade with our foes,
Yet, if the sun delays in its scheduled rise,
This song must go as password from generation to generation.

This song is written with blood and not with lead,
It's not the song that birds sing freely,
This one has people midst collapsing walls,
This song, sung with grenades in our hands.



"Wiegala" (Cradle Song) - Ilse Weber

Rock, cradle, rock.
The wind is playing the lyre.
Playing so sweetly on the green reeds.
The nightingale sings her song.
Rock, cradle rock,
The wind is playing the lyre

Rock, cradle rock,
The moon is the lantern,
Sitting in the dark canopy of Heaven,
Looking down on the world.
Rock, cradle, rock,
The moon is the lantern.

Rock, cradle, rock,
How still the world is.
No sound disturbs this sweet calm,
Sleep, my dearest child, sleep,
Rock, cradle rock,
How still the world is.

*Arranged and performed by Elizabeth Grimes*


Comments

Mary M. Valencia said…
In each song, the notes you play are so melancholy & reflective of their courage upon their pain. Their grand finale, I cry. I lived nine months in Franfurt Germany. The Baunach Family befriended me. Thank You, ELizabeth, for this very tender "Moment."

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