Yiddish Curiosities: a library of wonderful but forgotten Yiddish songs from the late 1920s and after (includes Polish Jewish Cabaret). Have a listen!

I've decided to record simple versions of all the Itzik Zhelonek songs, and I've started with the first one in alphabetical order (if you count "A" as a word).

A Chassidic mediation on the omnipresence of God, it was written by a famous rabbi, Levi Yitskhok of Berdichev and is sung almost exclusively by cantors.

From berdichev.org: Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev (1740–1809) was a Hasidic rabbi revered for his enthusiastic dedication to Torah and Mitzvot, but above all for his consuming love of God and his people. He became known as the defender of the people of Israel. He would argue with God, charging Him with being too stern a father to His children, pleading for an end to the long and cruel exile.

At the Dartmouth Jewish Sound Archives there are recordings by Aaron Bensoussan, Art Raymond, Benjamin Siegel, Boris Voronovsky, Chava Alberstein, Emil Cohen, Jacob Barkin, Jan Bart, Leon Lissek, Mordechai Hershman, Moshe Ganchoff, Moshe Geffen, Natania Davrath, Pietro Gentile, Rafael Adler, Sol Zim and others!

If it weren't for my crush on Itzik Zhelonek and my obsessive wish to wallow in his Hit Parade, I would never have considered singing this song. But it's beautiful.

Labels: der rebbe, nostalgia, religion, songs for sale