Last weekend I recorded my husband’s 92 year old grandmother, Edna Pomerantz, singing a verse of a Yiddish Lullaby. It’s called Sheyn vi di levone, or Pretty Like the Moon, in English.
Here you can hear the recording and read the transliterated Yiddish lyrics, followed by an English translation (the last line might be a little different in the recording):
Sheyn vi di levone
(Yiddish Transliteration)Sheyn vi di levone,
Likhtik vi di shtern,
Fun himl a matone,
Bistu mir tzugeshikt!Pretty Like the Moon
(English Translation)Pretty like the moon
Bright like the stars
From Heaven you were
Sent to me as a present.
Many thanks to Grandma Edna for singing this song for us and to Monique Palomares of Mama Lisa’s World en français for helping me with the translation!
-Lisa
Come visit the Come visit the Mama Lisa’s World Israel Page for more Yiddish songs.
This article was posted on Friday, December 29th, 2006 at 12:27 pm and is filed under Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, Israel, Languages, Lullabies, Mama Lisa, MP3's, Recommendations, Recordings of Songs, Sites about Music, USA, Yiddish, Yiddish Children's Songs, Yiddish Lullabies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
13 Responses to “A Yiddish Lullaby – Pretty Like the Moon – Sheyn vi di levone”
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August 22nd, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I sure did like the beautiful song but grandma Edna, or in yiddish bobe Edna.
April 11th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
This was a popular theater song in interwar Poland. A European-born friend of my mothers with an irresistable personality got her to join her in dancing while she sung this tune. It is in the NYT Book of Yiddish Theater Songs.
PS: it is much too lively to be effective as a lullaby, at least as I know it. It could get the baby up dancing!
April 11th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Shimke – I’d love to hear that version! -Mama Lisa
June 14th, 2010 at 11:36 am
it is a love song, describing the lover’s attributes, “You were a gift from heaven with eyes like stars, teeth like pearls, charms,…” etc.
December 20th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Lis,
thanks for this site. as for the version — both of the women are no longer with us. The friend, who did the singing, years ago. My Mom passed away this past April. I never recorded it. We don’t realize what rare treasures we have till we lose them…
April 17th, 2013 at 11:54 am
Lovely. My great grandmother supposedly sang a verse that went something like “kussin ninny kussin ke”. This, together with a circular hand movement supposedly put my mother to into a trance like state and caused her to fall asleep in short order! I have no idea what the yiddish translates to – if anyone can help, I’d be grateful!
AJ
June 21st, 2015 at 6:37 pm
Thank you Thank you thank you! My grandmother would sing this to me and she passed away last year. I never wrote it down or recorded it. Now im having two baby girls and I wantes to sing it to them. Thank you for finding the lyrics! Im so happy! Do you know if there’s a recording anywhere of the entire song?
Jennifer
August 7th, 2016 at 4:12 pm
hallo,
I’m looking for text and melody : lullaby in yiddish
my english is not so good
can you help me,I’m german grandmother and I want play piano and sing
this song for the little children of my dother
thankyou Ursula Wahl
August 7th, 2016 at 10:35 pm
Ursula – do you know any of the lyrics that you’re looking for?
April 11th, 2019 at 12:46 pm
thanks for posting this, brought back lovely memories!
December 12th, 2019 at 4:27 pm
My grandmother would also sing this to me as a lullaby. She was Polish, but escaped from Belgium to New York during the Holocaust. This song always reminds me of her.
March 2nd, 2021 at 3:00 pm
Hello! To everyone looking for the full lyrics and/or a recording of the full song, I have found one at this link: https://www.doctoruke.com/_player/sheynvidilevone.html
It even has the chords!
April 4th, 2021 at 9:33 am
No recording on this French and English site but the lyrics in Latin and Hebrew alphabets, a translation into French and English and a glossary. On this site you get the lyrics in Latin alphabet, an English translation and a recording. The music is by Joseph Rumshinksy (1881 – 1956), the lyrics by Chaïm Tauber (1901 – 1972). You can also find some YouTube videos.