Language:
German
Year of publication:
2012
Titel der Quelle:
Jiddistik heute = Yiddish Studies Today = Leket; yidishe shtudyes haynt
Angaben zur Quelle:
(2012) 321-355
Keywords:
Agunahs
;
Jews
;
Yiddish poetry History and criticism
;
Yiddish language Songs and music
;
Jews, Polish
;
Hamburg (Germany)
Abstract:
The song "A beautiful new song / what happened in Hamburg" (איין שין נייא ליד / וואש צו האמבורג איז גישעהן ) was written by one "Ezekiel, son of the learned fellow Rabbi Zechariah, the Scribe". The title clearly refers to the genre this text belongs to, and is further supported by indication of a melody. The song tells the story of a Polish Jew who emigrated to Hamburg, where he married a second woman without being divorced. His first wife, in Poland, therefore remains an "agune". She seeks him out in Hamburg, goes to a Jewish court ("beys-din"), and after trials and tribulations receives her "get". This is one of the many Early Modern Yiddish songs that were printed, alone or together with one or two other texts, in a pamphlet and then sold to Ashkenazi customers. It was published in 1675 in Amsterdam, one of the major Yiddish printing centers of the time. The song gives insight into various aspects of Ashkenazi life in the Early Modern period – such as the pursuit of legal cases, the status and situation of Jews in Hamburg-Altona, common ways and means of travelling, and so forth – that are historically plausible and sound.
Note:
Includes the Yiddish text with transliteration, pp. 336-351.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
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