The album, Jewish Dances, by the George Schwartz Orchestra and Singers was my favorite album growing up. I loved the whole album, every cut, however, one of my favorites was Zuntig Bulbes. You can probably guess that Jewish music was the music of choice in my childhood home.
I was born into a Yiddish speaking family, however, they did not teach me Yiddish, as was the case in most Yiddish speaking homes back then. I had a basic idea of what the songs on the Jewish Dances album were about, however, it didn’t matter much; I just loved how lively the songs were and how authentic they sounded.
I imagined whatever came to mind, about the meanings of the songs, whether I understood every word or not. Each time, I was transported to my Jewish community’s roots and an imaginary, joyful celebration much like the family Weddings and Bar mitzvah celebrations that I attended.
I listened to Bulbes and the rest of this album until the winter of 1969. That’s when we moved out of our tightly packed, Jewish community with our Shul on the corner, to a newer, ritzier community where ne’er a Yiddish word was muttered. We were modern now, in the suburbs, in a Ranch style house with a lawn and landscaping, shag carpets and push-button phones.
Gone was the record player on the wooden floor of the unfinished attic where I would escape to and play my favorite Jewish songs and dream…. A high-end multi-component Hi-Fi system in my bedroom was gleefully substituted and it was mostly Joni Mitchell who pulled at the heart strings of my newly formed teenage angst. My mother and I would pull out Jewish Dances from the family record collection at special times when we needed a boost.
Zuntig Bulbes is a playful lament about the lack of variety in an old world diet of very modest means, consisting mostly of potatoes. To call it “peasant fare” nowadays seems a little out of sync because of the current price of root vegetables! Our ancestors would be shocked! I am reticent to fess up to what I paid for an elusive celery root last High Holy Day season and a few chic organic purple sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving!
Here is a basic translation:
Sunday potatoes, Monday potatoes,
Tuesday and Wednesday potatoes,
Thursday, and Friday potatoes.
Shabbat for a novelty we’ll have a potato kugel (potato pudding)!
Back again on Sunday, potatoes.
(More lamenting…) Bread with potatoes,
meat with potatoes, over and over again, potatoes.
Maybe a potato kugel, again?
Night and morning, potatoes;
Even in our cholent (Shabbat slow cooking stew)?
Then once again, on Sunday, we’ll start again with potatoes!
