Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Turkish Patriotic Song Uses Melody from "Der Rebbe Elimelech"

We never expected to feature a Turkish patriotic song on Jewish Humor Central, but we just had to share this revelation by Zecharia Golden in the Forward this weekend.

In honor of the hundredth jubilee of the Turkish Republic, a patriotic song from 1972 is often heard in the Turkish social media this year. The song, "Bir Bashkadr Benim Memleketim" (My hometown is special) has a beautiful melody and the words paint a rural scene. It sounds like a classic Turkish folk song.  

The melody of the song comes from the Yiddish song Der Rebbe Elimelech, which
was first translated into a French song "Lavougl" from 1969 (The Blind Man), and then into the Turkish "Memlektim".

Here is a video of the Turkish song followed by a video of Eynat Betzalel singing Der Rebbe Elimelech. acccompanied by L'Orchestre Festival led by arranger and conductor Meinrad Koch. 

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO. 

  

 

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: A Yiddish Singer in Mongolia Talks About Her Roots

In May 2017 we posted a video of Amalia Rubin singing Der Rebbe Elimelech on Mongolian television, as reported by The Jewish Daily Forward.

Back then all we knew about Rubin was that she was an English teacher who lives in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar, specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet, and also performs in Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew, and Chinese.

The Forward has since posted another video in which Rubin describes her fascinating life in the land of Genghis Khan. The Asian Studies major talks about her Eastern European roots and how she came to plant traces of Jewish life in this unexpected place.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Jewish Singer Sings "Der Rebbe Elimelech" on Mongolian TV

Besides Mexico City, which hosts the annual Yiddish Idol competition, there really is nowhere on earth where you would expect to hear a Yiddish song performed as part of a singing competition, let alone on national television. Recently, however, the American-Jewish singer Amalia Rubin performed an excellent rendition of Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” on the Mongolian TV show Universe Best Songs, a local take-off of American Idol.
Mongolia? Yes, really in Mongolia. Amalia Rubin, who lives in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar where she works as an English teacher, specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet. As can be gleaned from her Youtube channel, she is comfortable speaking both Mongolian and Tibetan. Rubin is well known in Tibet and among the Tibetan diaspora as one of the few western women who sings traditional songs in that language. Besides Tibetan and Mongolian she performs in a wide range of languages including Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew and Chinese.

Her performance on Universe Best Songs, which has been viewed more than 43,000 times, was accompanied by traditional Mongolian musicians. Although one judge critiqued her and the musicians for not having practiced together enough it is clear from the audience’s reaction that they greatly enjoyed the song.
Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” was written in 1927 and quickly became so popular that most Eastern-European Jews believed it to be a folksong. It is essentially a Yiddish take on the traditional English song “Old King Cole” that describes how the Rebbe Elimelech becomes merrier and wilder the more he drinks.
Read more: http://forward.com/schmooze/370583/we-cant-make-this-up-yiddish-song-performed-on-mongolias-american-idol/

Besides Mexico City, which hosts the annual Yiddish Idol competition, there really is nowhere on earth where you would expect to hear a Yiddish song performed as part of a singing competition, let alone on national television. Recently, however, the American-Jewish singer Amalia Rubin performed an excellent rendition of Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” on the Mongolian TV show Universe Best Songs, a local take-off of American Idol.
Mongolia? Yes, really in Mongolia. Amalia Rubin, who lives in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar where she works as an English teacher, specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet. As can be gleaned from her Youtube channel, she is comfortable speaking both Mongolian and Tibetan. Rubin is well known in Tibet and among the Tibetan diaspora as one of the few western women who sings traditional songs in that language. Besides Tibetan and Mongolian she performs in a wide range of languages including Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew and Chinese.

ADVERTISEMENT

Her performance on Universe Best Songs, which has been viewed more than 43,000 times, was accompanied by traditional Mongolian musicians. Although one judge critiqued her and the musicians for not having practiced together enough it is clear from the audience’s reaction that they greatly enjoyed the song.
Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” was written in 1927 and quickly became so popular that most Eastern-European Jews believed it to be a folksong. It is essentially a Yiddish take on the traditional English song “Old King Cole” that describes how the Rebbe Elimelech becomes merrier and wilder the more he drinks.
Read more: http://forward.com/schmooze/370583/we-cant-make-this-up-yiddish-song-performed-on-mongolias-american-idol/

Besides Mexico City, which hosts the annual Yiddish Idol competition, there really is nowhere on earth where you would expect to hear a Yiddish song performed as part of a singing competition, let alone on national television. Recently, however, the American-Jewish singer Amalia Rubin performed an excellent rendition of Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” on the Mongolian TV show Universe Best Songs, a local take-off of American Idol.
Mongolia? Yes, really in Mongolia. Amalia Rubin, who lives in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar where she works as an English teacher, specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet. As can be gleaned from her Youtube channel, she is comfortable speaking both Mongolian and Tibetan. Rubin is well known in Tibet and among the Tibetan diaspora as one of the few western women who sings traditional songs in that language. Besides Tibetan and Mongolian she performs in a wide range of languages including Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew and Chinese.

Her performance on Universe Best Songs, which has been viewed more than 43,000 times, was accompanied by traditional Mongolian musicians. Although one judge critiqued her and the musicians for not having practiced together enough it is clear from the audience’s reaction that they greatly enjoyed the song.
Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” was written in 1927 and quickly became so popular that most Eastern-European Jews believed it to be a folksong. It is essentially a Yiddish take on the traditional English song “Old King Cole” that describes how the Rebbe Elimelech becomes merrier and wilder the more he drinks.
Read more: http://forward.com/schmooze/370583/we-cant-make-this-up-yiddish-song-performed-on-mongolias-american-idol/

Besides Mexico City, which hosts the annual Yiddish Idol competition, there really is nowhere on earth where you would expect to hear a Yiddish song performed as part of a singing competition, let alone on national television. Recently, however, the American-Jewish singer Amalia Rubin performed an excellent rendition of Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” on the Mongolian TV show Universe Best Songs, a local take-off of American Idol.
Mongolia? Yes, really in Mongolia. Amalia Rubin, who lives in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar where she works as an English teacher, specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet. As can be gleaned from her Youtube channel, she is comfortable speaking both Mongolian and Tibetan. Rubin is well known in Tibet and among the Tibetan diaspora as one of the few western women who sings traditional songs in that language. Besides Tibetan and Mongolian she performs in a wide range of languages including Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew and Chinese.

Her performance on Universe Best Songs, which has been viewed more than 43,000 times, was accompanied by traditional Mongolian musicians. Although one judge critiqued her and the musicians for not having practiced together enough it is clear from the audience’s reaction that they greatly enjoyed the song.
Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” was written in 1927 and quickly became so popular that most Eastern-European Jews believed it to be a folksong. It is essentially a Yiddish take on the traditional English song “Old King Cole” that describes how the Rebbe Elimelech becomes merrier and wilder the more he drinks.
Read more: http://forward.com/schmooze/370583/we-cant-make-this-up-yiddish-song-performed-on-mongolias-american-idol/

Besides Mexico City, which hosts the annual Yiddish Idol competition, there really is nowhere on earth where you would expect to hear a Yiddish song performed as part of a singing competition, let alone on national television. Recently, however, the American-Jewish singer Amalia Rubin performed an excellent rendition of Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” on the Mongolian TV show Universe Best Songs, a local take-off of American Idol.
Mongolia? Yes, really in Mongolia. Amalia Rubin, who lives in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar where she works as an English teacher, specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet. As can be gleaned from her Youtube channel, she is comfortable speaking both Mongolian and Tibetan. Rubin is well known in Tibet and among the Tibetan diaspora as one of the few western women who sings traditional songs in that language. Besides Tibetan and Mongolian she performs in a wide range of languages including Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew and Chinese.

Her performance on Universe Best Songs, which has been viewed more than 43,000 times, was accompanied by traditional Mongolian musicians. Although one judge critiqued her and the musicians for not having practiced together enough it is clear from the audience’s reaction that they greatly enjoyed the song.
Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” was written in 1927 and quickly became so popular that most Eastern-European Jews believed it to be a folksong. It is essentially a Yiddish take on the traditional English song “Old King Cole” that describes how the Rebbe Elimelech becomes merrier and wilder the more he drinks.
Read more: http://forward.com/schmooze/370583/we-cant-make-this-up-yiddish-song-performed-on-mongolias-american-idol/

Besides Mexico City, which hosts the annual Yiddish Idol competition, there really is nowhere on earth where you would expect to hear a Yiddish song performed as part of a singing competition, let alone on national television. Recently, however, the American-Jewish singer Amalia Rubin performed an excellent rendition of Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” on the Mongolian TV show Universe Best Songs, a local take-off of American Idol.
Mongolia? Yes, really in Mongolia. Amalia Rubin, who lives in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar where she works as an English teacher, specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet. As can be gleaned from her Youtube channel, she is comfortable speaking both Mongolian and Tibetan. Rubin is well known in Tibet and among the Tibetan diaspora as one of the few western women who sings traditional songs in that language. Besides Tibetan and Mongolian she performs in a wide range of languages including Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew and Chinese.

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Her performance on Universe Best Songs, which has been viewed more than 43,000 times, was accompanied by traditional Mongolian musicians. Although one judge critiqued her and the musicians for not having practiced together enough it is clear from the audience’s reaction that they greatly enjoyed the song.
Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” was written in 1927 and quickly became so popular that most Eastern-European Jews believed it to be a folksong. It is essentially a Yiddish take on the traditional English song “Old King Cole” that describes how the Rebbe Elimelech becomes merrier and wilder the more he drinks.
Read more: http://forward.com/schmooze/370583/we-cant-make-this-up-yiddish-song-performed-on-mongolias-american-idol/

Besides Mexico City, which hosts the annual Yiddish Idol competition, there really is nowhere on earth where you would expect to hear a Yiddish song performed as part of a singing competition, let alone on national television. Recently, however, the American-Jewish singer Amalia Rubin performed an excellent rendition of Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” on the Mongolian TV show Universe Best Songs, a local take-off of American Idol.
Mongolia? Yes, really in Mongolia. Amalia Rubin, who lives in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar where she works as an English teacher, specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet. As can be gleaned from her Youtube channel, she is comfortable speaking both Mongolian and Tibetan. Rubin is well known in Tibet and among the Tibetan diaspora as one of the few western women who sings traditional songs in that language. Besides Tibetan and Mongolian she performs in a wide range of languages including Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew and Chinese.

ADVERTISEMENT

Her performance on Universe Best Songs, which has been viewed more than 43,000 times, was accompanied by traditional Mongolian musicians. Although one judge critiqued her and the musicians for not having practiced together enough it is clear from the audience’s reaction that they greatly enjoyed the song.
Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” was written in 1927 and quickly became so popular that most Eastern-European Jews believed it to be a folksong. It is essentially a Yiddish take on the traditional English song “Old King Cole” that describes how the Rebbe Elimelech becomes merrier and wilder the more he drinks.
Read more: http://forward.com/schmooze/370583/we-cant-make-this-up-yiddish-song-performed-on-mongolias-american-idol/

Besides Mexico City, which hosts the annual Yiddish Idol competition, there really is nowhere on earth where you would expect to hear a Yiddish song performed as part of a singing competition, let alone on national television. Recently, however, the American-Jewish singer Amalia Rubin performed an excellent rendition of Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” on the Mongolian TV show Universe Best Songs, a local take-off of American Idol.
Mongolia? Yes, really in Mongolia. Amalia Rubin, who lives in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar where she works as an English teacher, specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet. As can be gleaned from her Youtube channel, she is comfortable speaking both Mongolian and Tibetan. Rubin is well known in Tibet and among the Tibetan diaspora as one of the few western women who sings traditional songs in that language. Besides Tibetan and Mongolian she performs in a wide range of languages including Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew and Chinese.

ADVERTISEMENT

Her performance on Universe Best Songs, which has been viewed more than 43,000 times, was accompanied by traditional Mongolian musicians. Although one judge critiqued her and the musicians for not having practiced together enough it is clear from the audience’s reaction that they greatly enjoyed the song.
Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” was written in 1927 and quickly became so popular that most Eastern-European Jews believed it to be a folksong. It is essentially a Yiddish take on the traditional English song “Old King Cole” that describes how the Rebbe Elimelech becomes merrier and wilder the more he drinks.
Read more: http://forward.com/schmooze/370583/we-cant-make-this-up-yiddish-song-performed-on-mongolias-american-idol/

Besides Mexico City, which hosts the annual Yiddish Idol competition, there really is nowhere on earth where you would expect to hear a Yiddish song performed as part of a singing competition, let alone on national television. Recently, however, the American-Jewish singer Amalia Rubin performed an excellent rendition of Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” on the Mongolian TV show Universe Best Songs, a local take-off of American Idol.
Mongolia? Yes, really in Mongolia. Amalia Rubin, who lives in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar where she works as an English teacher, specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet. As can be gleaned from her Youtube channel, she is comfortable speaking both Mongolian and Tibetan. Rubin is well known in Tibet and among the Tibetan diaspora as one of the few western women who sings traditional songs in that language. Besides Tibetan and Mongolian she performs in a wide range of languages including Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew and Chinese.

ADVERTISEMENT

Her performance on Universe Best Songs, which has been viewed more than 43,000 times, was accompanied by traditional Mongolian musicians. Although one judge critiqued her and the musicians for not having practiced together enough it is clear from the audience’s reaction that they greatly enjoyed the song.
Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” was written in 1927 and quickly became so popular that most Eastern-European Jews believed it to be a folksong. It is essentially a Yiddish take on the traditional English song “Old King Cole” that describes how the Rebbe Elimelech becomes merrier and wilder the more he drinks.
Read more: http://forward.com/schmooze/370583/we-cant-make-this-up-yiddish-song-performed-on-mongolias-american-idol/

Besides Mexico City, which hosts the annual Yiddish Idol competition, there really is nowhere on earth where you would expect to hear a Yiddish song performed as part of a singing competition, let alone on national television. Recently, however, the American-Jewish singer Amalia Rubin performed an excellent rendition of Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” on the Mongolian TV show Universe Best Songs, a local take-off of American Idol.
Mongolia? Yes, really in Mongolia. Amalia Rubin, who lives in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar where she works as an English teacher, specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet. As can be gleaned from her Youtube channel, she is comfortable speaking both Mongolian and Tibetan. Rubin is well known in Tibet and among the Tibetan diaspora as one of the few western women who sings traditional songs in that language. Besides Tibetan and Mongolian she performs in a wide range of languages including Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew and Chinese.

ADVERTISEMENT

Her performance on Universe Best Songs, which has been viewed more than 43,000 times, was accompanied by traditional Mongolian musicians. Although one judge critiqued her and the musicians for not having practiced together enough it is clear from the audience’s reaction that they greatly enjoyed the song.
Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” was written in 1927 and quickly became so popular that most Eastern-European Jews believed it to be a folksong. It is essentially a Yiddish take on the traditional English song “Old King Cole” that describes how the Rebbe Elimelech becomes merrier and wilder the more he drinks.
Read more: http://forward.com/schmooze/370583/we-cant-make-this-up-yiddish-song-performed-on-mongolias-american-idol/

Besides Mexico City, which hosts the annual Yiddish Idol competition, there really is nowhere on earth where you would expect to hear a Yiddish song performed as part of a singing competition, let alone on national television. Recently, however, the American-Jewish singer Amalia Rubin performed an excellent rendition of Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” on the Mongolian TV show Universe Best Songs, a local take-off of American Idol.
Mongolia? Yes, really in Mongolia. Amalia Rubin, who lives in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar where she works as an English teacher, specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet. As can be gleaned from her Youtube channel, she is comfortable speaking both Mongolian and Tibetan. Rubin is well known in Tibet and among the Tibetan diaspora as one of the few western women who sings traditional songs in that language. Besides Tibetan and Mongolian she performs in a wide range of languages including Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew and Chinese.

ADVERTISEMENT

Her performance on Universe Best Songs, which has been viewed more than 43,000 times, was accompanied by traditional Mongolian musicians. Although one judge critiqued her and the musicians for not having practiced together enough it is clear from the audience’s reaction that they greatly enjoyed the song.
Moishe Nadir’s “The Rebbe Elimelech” was written in 1927 and quickly became so popular that most Eastern-European Jews believed it to be a folksong. It is essentially a Yiddish take on the traditional English song “Old King Cole” that describes how the Rebbe Elimelech becomes merrier and wilder the more he drinks.
Read more: http://forward.com/schmooze/370583/we-cant-make-this-up-yiddish-song-performed-on-mongolias-american-idol/

We thought we'd seen it all when we posted videos of Hava Nagila on a Thailand TV show and Abanibi on a Spanish TV show.

But this week we came across a video of the Yiddish song Der Rebbe Elimelech performed on the Mongolian TV show Universe Best Songs, a local take-off of American Idol.

As reported in the Forverts, the Yiddish language edition of the Jewish Daily Forward, the singer is Amalia Rubin, an English teacher who lives in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar and specializes in the music of Mongolia and Tibet. She also performs in Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew, and Chinese.

Der Rebbe Elimelech was written in 1927 by Moshe Nadir. It's a Yiddish version of the traditional English song Old King Cole that describes how the Rebbe Elimelech becomes merrier and wilder the more he drinks and ends up confusing the fiddlers, drummers, and cymbal players.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.