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 and not belonging feelings of Jewish immigrants. This made 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 motivation for Jewish immigrants to take political action.
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 Autumn 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 Jewish Immigrants 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” means that there would be a change in their rights. Margolin writes in her poem Autumn:
I think
that the earth
in her desire to turn
has transformed us into stones. (Margolin 12-15)
Anna is emphasizing that Jewish immigrants were “stones” because they didn’t do anything to change the way they lived and to change and improve their rights.
Some Yiddish poets used criticism as an encouragement. 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 happening very slowly. In addition, Margolin is criticizing how slow Jewish Immigrants took to finally realize that they had to do something.
Aaron Glanz Leyeles most known as A. Leyeles was a Jewish immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1909. Leyeles’s poem published in 1963 “Worms” including many other of his poems like “Manhattan Bridge” has functioned politically for Jewish immigrants to have a different response in the way that they were living. In the poem “Worms” A. Leyeles writes:
They don’t devour me,
They entangle me, (Leyeles 9-10)
The poet uses imagery to display how the fear of advocating and rising “entangle” him, however, it does not “devour” him which means that there is still a chance to detangle and speak up. Aaron Leyeles in the poem Manhattan Bridge writes:
The Bowery, home of the Chinese theater, of bums and missions,
Canal street, the row of cheap Jewish trade–
Are linked and locked,
In their screeching rush,
By a sparking buckle–
The ornate portal
Of Manhattan Bridge. (Leyeles 3-9)
This stanza shows the radical ideology of Leyeles, that Jewish exile is good because of the mix of culture and languages that help rise higher to get rights for all. He uses:
Canal street, the row of cheap Jewish trade–
Are linked and locked,
Meaning that all immigrants and races are one and are going to work together to reach success.
In addition, Leyeles writes:
Canal street and Bowery! Sing your joy to the sky,
Roar drunkenly your glory in the cupolas of Lower Broadway,
Your pride in Woolworth, Municipal, in so many temples of business:
Shining suns for your smudged windows,
Elaborate cornices of refind riches for your poor grayness.
But above all, raise your voice in a grateful hymn
For the joy
Of being best men
To Manhattan Bridge. (Leyeles 10-18)
Leyeles wanted Jewish immigrants to celebrate that they are in New York and to learn and see the richness that was raised with hard work, “Elaborate cornices of refind riches for your poor grayness.” coming mostly for immigrants.
But above all, raise your voice in a grateful hymn
For the joy
Of being best men
To Manhattan Bridge. ( Leyeles 15-18)
He demands that the communities of the Lower East Side, the Bowery, and Manhattan Bridge with all of its imperfections rise higher because when you celebrate where you are, you can see the fruitfulness and abundance that comes with it, meaning that you expand and do great things in that one place instead of lamenting yourself and doing nothing.
Jewish immigrants came to the United States for a better life, however, not everything went as planned. Many people were living in troubling conditions and didn’t have sufficient rights to help them succeed. Some of those Jewish immigrants became poets and with their poetry, they helped other Jewish immigrants speak up because they were silent, slow, and not taking action to rise and become successful people in New York. Yiddish Poetry criticized their slowness, silence, and inaction and also had a huge political function. Remember that when you enjoy, work hard and see yourself where you are, you will see the beauty that comes with it and the achievement of everyone united as one.
