די שטאַל
The Stable
Work 154 of 440
Page 193. 'Di Shtal' (The Stable), 1920 — a poem about desecration and exile. The epigraph, from a letter from home, explains the traumatic image: German soldiers converted the 'Cold Synagogue' into a stable for their horses. This was a common wartime desecration. The Hebrew epigraph is from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) 5:20: 'Be swift as a deer, strong as a lion, bold as a leopard, light as an eagle' — describing Jewish spiritual virtues now bitterly ironized. Section A: Autumn setting, leaves falling with 'weeping-song' and the 'quiet-weeping of decline.' Section B: At crossroads in white (birch?) forests, the poet's 'weary brothers' — Jewish refugees — wander, lie, sleep. The 'kalte shul' (Cold Synagogue) was often a designation for unheated synagogues used seasonally or for specific services. Written 1920, this reflects WWI-era Eastern European Jewish displacement and the violation of sacred spaces.
די שטאַל
(1920)
... אונדזער קאַלטע שול האָבן די דײַטשע חיילות געמאַכט
פֿאַר אַ שטאַל, — אַרײַנגעשטעלט זייערע פֿערד.
(פֿון אַ היימישן בריוו)
הוי כּצבֿי,
גיבור כּאַרי,
עז כּנמר,
קל כּנשר...
א
האַרבסט, האַרבסט.
בלעטער פֿאַלן פֿון די וועלדער
און דער ווינט צעטראָגט זיי
איבער אַלע שליאַכן, אַלע פֿעלדער,
מיט געזאַנג און טרוקענעם געוויין,
מיט געוויין־געזאָנג. —
וויין, וויין,
מיט דעם שטיל־געוויין פֿון אונטערגאַנג.
ב
האַרבסט, האַרבסט.
אויף דער קרײַציקונג פֿון שליאַכן:
אין דעם מיטן האַרץ פֿון ווײַסע וועלדער,
און אויף שליאַכן אויפֿן ראַנד פֿון ווײַסע וועלדער
גייען אום,
אָדער ליגן, אָדער שלאָפֿן
מײַנע מידע ברידער.
Di Shtal
(1920)
... Undzer kalte shul hobn di daytche khayloys gemakht
far a shtal, — arayngeshtelt zeyere ferd.
(Fun a heymishn briv)
Hevey ketsvi,
gibor ke'ari,
az kenomer,
kal kanesher...
A
Harbst, harbst.
Bleter faln fun di velder
un der vint tsetrogt zey
iber ale shlyakhn, ale felder,
mit gezang un trukenem geveyn,
mit geveyn-gezong. —
Veyn, veyn,
mit dem shtil-geveyn fun untergang.
B
Harbst, harbst.
Oyf der kraytsiking fun shlyakhn:
in dem mitn harts fun vayse velder,
un oyf shlyakhn oyfn rand fun vayse velder
geyen um,
oder lign, oder shlofn
mayne mide brider.
The Stable
(1920)
... Our Cold Synagogue the German soldiers made
into a stable — placed in it their horses.
(From a letter from home)
Be swift as a deer,
strong as a lion,
bold as a leopard,
light as an eagle...
A
Autumn, autumn.
Leaves fall from the forests
and the wind carries them
over all the roads, all the fields,
with song and dry weeping,
with weeping-song. —
Weep, weep,
with the quiet-weeping of decline.
B
Autumn, autumn.
At the crossroads:
in the middle heart of white forests,
and on roads at the edge of white forests
wander about,
or lie, or sleep
my weary brothers.
Page 193. 'Di Shtal' (The Stable), 1920 — a poem about desecration and exile. The epigraph, from a letter from home, explains the traumatic image: German soldiers converted the 'Cold Synagogue' into a stable for their horses. This was a common wartime desecration. The Hebrew epigraph is from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) 5:20: 'Be swift as a deer, strong as a lion, bold as a leopard, light as an eagle' — describing Jewish spiritual virtues now bitterly ironized. Section A: Autumn setting, leaves falling with 'weeping-song' and the 'quiet-weeping of decline.' Section B: At crossroads in white (birch?) forests, the poet's 'weary brothers' — Jewish refugees — wander, lie, sleep. The 'kalte shul' (Cold Synagogue) was often a designation for unheated synagogues used seasonally or for specific services. Written 1920, this reflects WWI-era Eastern European Jewish displacement and the violation of sacred spaces.
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