Certifiably the best. . .
tune, which Rosenblatt described
as "the aristocratic Jewish neigh-
borhood of New York."
Rosenblatt was a tenor with a
2 1/2-octave range whose singing
was both emotional and power-
ful. At Ohab Zedek he earned
$2,400 a year (it might not buy
much these days, but back then
it was an absolute fortune) and
found quick and extensive suc-
cess among both Jews and gen-
tiles in the United States. Hours
before he was to appear in con-
cert, the streets would be lined
with men and women waiting to
buy a ticket.
In 1928, Rosenblatt made his
film debut. Though he himself
was never seen, his voice was
the star of the famed Jazz
Singer, the first feature film with
sound.
Rosenblatt was successful pro-
fessionally but lacked any busi-
ness acumen. After a series of
poor investments, and giving
away much of his money to char-
ity, Rosenblatt went bankrupt.
In an effort to pay off his debts,
he began working nonstop. He
was in Jerusalem making a film
when he died in 1933.
In addition to singing, Rosen-
blatt wrote a number of musical
pieces, mostly based on Jewish
liturgy. He both wrote and
recorded this lullaby, "Sleep Qui-
etly."
Ai, li, lu, li lu
"never again will see her little
boy."
One of the most beautiful,
most haunting lullabies ever
written, "Dremlen Feygl" ("Birds
are Dreaming") tells a true sto-
ry.
Lea Rudnitska was born in
1916 in Kalvarie, Lithuania. She
was a teacher and poet whose
works were known throughout
the country. In 1939 she moved
to Vilna, where she served on the
staff of the Yiddish journal Vilna
Truth.
The Nazis occupied Vilna in
1941, forcing thousands of Jews
into the ghetto. Among those im-
prisoned was Lea Rudnitska.
Although Lea was active in life
in the ghetto — she joined a cul-
tural arts group and continued to
write — her spirit became a well
of despair, and her poetry was
filled with words that seemed to
weep.
In the ghetto Lea met a
woman named Pesye Aronowicz,
who had survived a Nazi mas-
sacre in Ponar, just outside Vil-
na. Inspired by the story of a
3-year-old who perished at Ponar,
Lea wrote the words for "Birds
Are Dreaming," then adapted the
tune from a piece by Leyb Yam-
polsky, a Russian-Jewish com-
poser whose own works often
focused on poverty-stricken Jews
in Russia. The song was first pub-
lished in 1948.
Sleep, now, my precious little bird.
On the branches the birds are
dreaming,
Close now your pure little eyes.
Sleep, my precious child,
Sleep now, sleep in sweet repose.
Beside your cradle, at the dugout,
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Sits a stranger, singing.
Sleep through the whole night.
Over your head an angel watch-
es.
Close your little eyes.
Little doves, little birds,
Little goats, calves sleep.
All sleep and rest at night
Like all the little children.
Sleep now, my little bird.
Close your little eyes.
Once you had a little cradle,
Made of joy,
But your mother, oh your mother
Will never see her child again.
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I saw your father running
Under a hail of stones.
His sad cry echoes in the field,
He is abandoned, all alone.
Lea Rudnitska was deported
in 1943 to Majdanek, and died ei-
ther there or at Treblinka.
The Dreaming Birds
Editor's Note
n the tree branches rest
birds who dream in the
dark night. And in a cra-
dle in the Vilna Ghetto lies a
baby whose parents are gone for-
ever.
At the cradle sits a stranger,
singing. She tells the child of his
father "running under a hail of
stone" and of his mother, who
Ghana Mlotek, an expert on
Jewish folk songs and music
archivist for YIVO, the New
York-based institute for Yid-
dish studies, was especially
helpful in researching some
material for this story, notably
Lea Rudnitska's "Birds Are
Dreaming."
C
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