Put Your Hands on Your Feet and Your Feet on Your Hands

Hert zikh tsu kinderlekh tsu mayn gezang (Listen up kiddos to my song) 

Listen up close and try to follow along 

Hert zikh tsu kinderlekh, tsu vos ikh aykh zing (Listen kiddos, to what I sing) Listen really close so you don’t miss a thing

Ay di day, put your hands on your head 

Point to something that’s red 

Leyg di hent afn kop (Put your handles on your head)

Now wiggle both your hands around until I say stop…. Stop! 

Ay, ay--Patsht mit di hent! (Clap your hands) 

Ay, ay--Nokh finf mol eyb ir kent! (Five more times if you can) 

Ay, ay--Leygt di hent af di kni (Put your hands on your knees) 

Ay, ay--Point your hands towards me 

When I say bim bum, stick out your thumb 

Biddy biddy bim bum, don’t ask me how come 

When I say yada-day, reach your hands way up high 

Yada-dadada-day, all the way to the sky 

Af eyn fus tu a shprung (Jump on one foot) 

Itst shtek aroys di tsung (Now stick out your tongue) 

Put your hands on your hips 

Put one finger to your lips. Shhh! 

Ay, put your hands on your shoe 

Ay, point to something that’s blue 

Leyg di hent af der podloge (Put your hands on the floor) 

Stick one foot in the air, now you’re doing some yoga 

Ay day day day, close only just one eye 

Ay day day day, it’s kinda hard to do, but I bet you can if you try

Ay da day, Put your hands in your lap 

Ay day day, now get them ready to clap 

The unmetered prelude to this tune is styled after the opening lines often chanted by badkhonim, a traditional Jewish wedding jester who sings improvised rhymes to lead the community through the complexities of the old-world wedding ceremony. 

The next section in this set is a hora collected by Jewish ethnographer Mosei Beregovski around 1916 from musicians around the area of Kyiv, Ukraine. His handwritten documents were preserved in the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine and in 2020 digitized by volunteers working with the The Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project to be made available again to practitioners of Ashkenazi creative arts. 

The ending tune--the clapping section--is a bulgar dance tune learned from clarinetist Margot Leverett, who learned it from her mentor, Sid Beckerman, in New York. The Beckerman family came to the US from Zhytomyr, Ukraine, and brought a beautiful repertoire of Yiddish dance music with them.  This tune is still played in different versions by musicians of various ethnic groups throughout Southern Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania.

Try it out: Toddlers can follow along with the “Simon Says”- style movements that are called out in English and Yiddish and caretakers of even littler kids can help them or model the motions. 

Participatory songs like this one help children understand that live music is something that we do together as an active audience, and is different from the recorded music which is often playing in the background. The singer leads by demonstration, so by the first few movements the Yiddish instructions are clear to those who are new to the language. This form of comprehensible input coupled with participation supports the acquisition of passive language skills.

4. Plant a World of Trees בײמער מיט װעלט אַ 

This song leads the kids through play motions of planting a tree, watering it in, picking out an imaginary fruit from a basket, taking a juicy bite, and dancing together in a circle. 

Ay Ay, dig with a shovel / Ay ay, dig it double 

Sprinkle some compost everywhere 

Then pick up the heavy tree and set it there 

Now shovel some dirt back on the roots 

Stomp it down with your heavy boots 

Now everybody join up hands with me 

Let’s dance around the baby tree 

A Yeder yor kheydesh shvat (Every year in the month of Shvat) 

Punkt in mitn akurat (Right smack in the middle of the month) 

A nayer yor far beym un blat (It’s a New Year for each tree and leaf) 

Let’s have a feast, kumt kinder, nat! (Here, have one!) 

Mit der lopete, makh a lokh (With the shovel, dig a hole) 

Ay ay, tifer nokh (Ay, ay, make the hole deeper!) 

Mitn gantsn keyekh, heyb uf dem beym (With all your strength, lift up the tree) Zets im delikat in zayn nayer heym (And set him gently down in his new home) Khap di lopete, breng zi aher (Grab the shovel and bring it here) 

Farshit di vortslen mit a bisl erd (Sprinkle some soil over the roots) 

Itst tupet mit di fis inem nayem sod (Now stomp your feet in the new orchard) S’blaybt nor tsu tantsn a karahod (All that’s left to do is to dance around in a ring) 

Oy gikher kinder lomir tantsn (Faster, children, let’s all dance) 

A velt mit beymer lomir flantsn (Let us plant a world with trees) 

Volt ikh a fidl nor gehat (If I only had a fiddle) 

Volt ikh opgeshpilt a vivat, far ale beymer tu b’shvat! 

(I would play a special fanfare for all the trees on their special day) 

Ay Ay, we’re not finished yet / Let’s water the ground til it’s good and wet Make sure the water gets down on the roots

So the tree can grow big and make some fruits 

Now if you would like a fig or a pear 

I brought a basket a fruit to share 

Come and pick up the one you’d like 

Now take a big old juicy bite 

Far di beymer s’iz Roshhashone, (For the trees it’s a brand new year) 

in kheydesh shvat ba der fuler levone (In the month of Shvat by the full moon’s light) Oy gikher kinder lomir tantsn (Faster, children, let’s all dance) 

A velt mit beymer lomir flantsn (Let us plant a world with trees) 

This is a Litvish Yiddish adaptation of “Mândru zice cetera,“ which was recorded by Maria Butaciu for Electrecord Records in Romania in the 1990’s. Accompanied by master lăutari musicians Marin Bunea and his Taraf de Chișinău in Chișinău, Moldova, who added their own direction to the upbeat instrumental sections.

Spin around like a Dreydl/Khanike iz Freylekh פ 

חנוּכה איז ֿפרײלעך • חנוּכה איז שײן sheyn iz khanike ,freylekh iz Khanike 

חנוּכה איז יום-טו ֿב • ֿפַאר גרױס און ֿפַאר קלײן kleyn far un groys far ,yontif iz Khanike 

א חנוּכה לעמּפל • מיט ליכטעלעך ַאכט akht likhtelekh mit ,lempl khanike A 

צינדט מען די ליכטעלעך ַא נַאכט נָאך ַא נַאכט nakht a nokh nakht a likhtelekh di men Tsindt ליכטעלעך און דרײדל • און חנוּכה געלט gelt khanike un dreydl un Likhtelekh 

ס‘ איז יום-טו ֿב ב ַײ ייִדן אױף דער גַאנצער װעלט velt gantser der af yidn ba yontif iz’S חנוּכה יום-טו ֿב אױף דער גַאנצער װעלט velt gantser der af yontif Khanike 

Now spin around like a dreydl, spin around like a top! 

Spin around like a dreydl, until I say, “Stop!” 

Spin around like a dreydl, spinning in the breeze. 

Spin around like a dreydl, until I say, “Freeze!” 

Spin around like a dreydl, spin just a little bit more. 

Spin around like a dreydl, and fall down on the floor! 

Likhtlekht un dreydl, un khanike gelt, 

Khanike iz yontif af der gantser velt 

Eight happy days and nights, af der gantser velt! 

Hanukkah is a happy time, Hanukkah is fun 

Hanukkah is a holiday for everyone 

A Hanukkah menorah, with eight little lights 

Put them in the window to light up the night 

Likhtlekh and dreydls, and khanike gelt 

Hannukah is a happy time af der gantser velt 

Eight happy days and nights af der gantser velt 

Now everybody get ready to spin around like a dreydl, spin around like a top. Spin around like a dreydl, until I say, “Stop!” 

Spin around like a dreydl, as fast or as slow as you please. 

Spin around like a dreydl, until I say, “Freeze!” 

Spin around like a dreydl, spin just a little bit more. 

Spin around like a dreydl, and fall down on the floor! 

Likhtlekht un dreydl, and khanike gelt, 

Khanike iz yontif af der gantser velt 

Eight happy days and nights, af der gantser velt! 

Jordan learned this Yiddish Hannukah song from Moishe Katsov, a refugee from Kiev, Ukraine who came to live in Overland Park, Kansas; the English adaptation and spinning game were created in conjunction with preschoolers. Accompanied by Taraf de Chisinau: Marin Bunea (violin), Vladislav Tanas (tsimbl), Ion Croitor (upright bass), and Mihai Sorocan (accordion).