FIRST DRAFT OF RESEARCH PAPER

Yiddish Theater and Poetry Causing Change in Rights

Jewish immigrants make up a large part of New York’s population. Jewish immigrants suffered to have the rights that they deserved due to not having the motivation. One motivation for Jewish immigrants to speak out was Yiddish poetry. Yiddish poetry was a big eye-opener for Jewish immigrants. Yiddish poets wrote about the sufferings of Jewish immigrants and made people Jewish immigrants realize the injustice that they went through at work, and the way they lived in. Yiddish poetry of the early 20th c. functioned as a call to action for Jewish immigrants. Many of the Yiddish poems were written by Jewish immigrants. They used imagery in their poems to show the hardships that Jewish immigrants went through and how that made them be counted. In the poem Autum written in the 1920s Anna Margolin says: Heavy autumn, heavy steps, I am old. Dark heart of mine, don’t curse, believe in miracles: Somewhere in the world, in a city I am flowering like a lily. (Margolin 4-8)The imagery “Dark heart of mine, don’t curse,” delivers how Anna Margolin displays that JewishImmigrants were tired of all the injustice but deep down they wanted to “believe in miracles:” like “flowering like a lily”. Therefore, “flowering like a lily” meaning that there would be change in their rights. Margolin writes in here poem Autumn:I think that the earth in her desire to turn has transformed us into stones. (Margolin 12-15) Anna is emphizing that Jewish immigrants were “stones” because they didn’t do anything to change they way they lived and to change and improve their rights. Some Yiddish poetry poets used criticism in order to call for action. Mani Leyb in the poem Hush writes:We will bend down very low To the hard floor, and then will Stand more quiet than before, Stiller, stiller and more still (Mani Leyb 21-24)Mani Leyb conveys how Jewish Immigrants “stand more quiet than before” meaning that Jewish immigrants didn’t speak out for their rights. The word “quiet” really emphasizes how Jewish immigrants did not speak out. Anna Margolin in the poem Autumn writes: See how a naked branch with a leaf flowers from the asphalt, gentle as a lily. (Margolin 3-4) Anna establishes that Jewish Immigrants “flowers from the asphalt” as “gentle as a lily” meaning that there was change happening among Jewish Immigrants trying to stand up for their rights however, it was happing very slowly. In addition, Margolin is criticizing how slow JewishImmigrants took in order to finally realize that they had to do something.In the poem The Street Drummer by Moyshe-Layb Halpern, Halpern writes