A love song from the Holocaust

Imagine a love song written during the Holocaust. Makes you shiver. But so much Jewish music is a velvety blend of sadness and grace; the intermingling of the two gives resonance to the art.

“Unter Dayne Vayse Shtern” is that rare breed, a love song borne of the Shoah. (I’ve seen the Yiddish title translated both as “Under the White Stars” and “Under Your White Stars.”) As I wrote in this Friday's Weekly, Stanford composer Jonathan Berger was taken by the song, which Abraham Sutzkever wrote in the Vilna Ghetto in 1943. It’s the root of Berger's piece “Tears in Your Hand,” which has its U.S. premiere next month.

Jonathan was kind enough to send me a partial translation of the song:

I am chased by evil spirits
They goad me on stairways and in courtyards
I have only a broken violin string
with which to sing to you:
Under your white stars
extend your white hand to me
My words are tears
which want to rest in your hand

The song has captured the interest of many musicians, including Israeli singer Chava Alberstein and American actor and tenor Mandy Patinkin. (Click on their names to find audio clips of them singing the song.)

As for Sutzkever, he escaped from the ghetto in 1943 and became a resistance fighter, I learned from Wikipedia. He now lives in Tel Aviv.

I hadn’t known what his fate was, but was warmed to hear it was more sweet than bittersweet.

Pictured: Chava Alberstein. Photo from Aviv Productions.