On YouTube, there are 1421 comments in response to this video – here are just some of them :
- As a Muslim, as a human, as a woman this moves me to my soul. Leonard Cohen is an amazing, cathartic, raw, world weary, inspired & truth-filled artist , but Daniel Kahn has taken this song to the level of a holy psalm. Alhumdullilah! and Mazel tov
- Unbelievably amazing. Not only translated, but translated so it carried the original message of Leonard Cohen without using the same exact words. The Yiddish words were different than the straight translation. It’s difficult to do this without “losing something in the translation” it was done expressing the deeper meaning. Fantastic
- We just lost my mother at age 90. She was the daughter of Russian immigrants, members of the Workmen’s Circle in NYC. She spoke Yiddish before she spoke English (though didn’t remember much of it later). During this time of mourning, I can’t listen to news/politics (when I’m usually a junkie for that stuff); I just keep listening to this video endlessly. Thank you, Daniel Kahn
- No matter how often I listen to this, I am moved to tears each time. It brings back the tiny homes in Eastern Europe and the lives never lived out, memories of what should have been, memories of the elders in the family, of the old neighborhood. They knew the heavy price of being “Americanized” and assumed/hoped it would keep us all safe. Maybe it’s time to learn/speak Yiddish again.
- it really fills me with sorrow when I think about what an assault and what distruction the Yiddish culture/language suffered. I’m not Jewish … the part of Eastern Europe my ancestors came from, I believe, was as much Jewish country as Polish or Ukrainian … it was the birthplace of that Jewish culture, but people don’t acknowledge that. the cities could be as much as 30% or 50% Jewish … the non-Jews treated Jews as “outsiders”, but if you look at it without prejudice, these were multinational countries and the presence of Jews made those countries what they were. the existence of distinct Jewish languages and dialects in all the countries Jews lived in is a testament to this … they were a part of the culture everywhere they went. when Jewish lands were annexed by Russia in the 1790s, and Russians were put into contact with Judaism, many (called Judaizers, Talmudists or Subbotniks) were influenced by their beliefs, they started following Old Testament law again or even converted to Judaism altogether. that cultural syncretism was a threat to the Russian crown and its own religious ideology so it persecuted those people and ramped up its anti-Semitism. when you look at that situation though, you understand that anti-Semitism is a convenient ideology for the oppressor, not something that naturally arises. those Russian Judaizers did not see the Jewish faith as something alien to their own beliefs; even those who continued to profess Christianity learned more about their own faith from Judaism. anti-Semites idealize something they call “European civilization” and fear “Jewish influence” on it … but since at least Roman times there has never been such a thing as “European civilization” without Jews. all modern European cultures became what they were in the presence of Judaism, and all the great kingdoms and empires people look to in the past depended in some way on the presence of Jews, even while persecuting them. the prophets of Islam and Christianity were all informed by the teachings of Abraham and Moses. the existence of Yiddish is also a testament to the importance of that Jewish presence … it should be recognized as one of the most important literary languages of European history. non-Jews should understand that the Holocaust did irreversible damage to their cultures and their societies too … not saying that they should see themselves as the victims, but I’m saying they should refuse the whole premise that Jewish culture was something “foreign” that didn’t belong among them.
- I love the original by L. Cohen, but hearing this in Yiddish was awesome. I am not Jewish, nor do I speak Yiddish, but I simply love the natural musicality of whatever language I’m listening to.
- Thank you…I am crying and it is hard to write…My Mother has passed on…but in these beautiful, Yiddish words…I hear my Mommy. I am 63 and will say it, again, thank you for allowing me to “hear” my Mommy, in the language of her childhood, but not mine, one more time. Thank you. May G-d bless you for this.
- As a Scottish Presbyterian with a little knowledge of German, thank you. Superb!!