Shulem Lemmer Sings "God Bless America" With a Yiddish Twist

As Jews, we are deeply grateful to America, the land of the free, for providing a haven where we can celebrate our heritage and practice our religion unconditionally. 

Written by Irving Berlin, a Jewish immigrant, "God Bless America" has long symbolized hope and unity. It is our fervent prayer that this country continues to be safe and welcoming, under the right leadership, and remain a symbol of freedom for all. 

This rendition in both English and Yiddish, was performed by Shulem Lemmer at a Tzedek Association event in honor of Senator Cory Booker in February of 2024.  

Raised in Boro Park, Brooklyn, Shulem’s singular voice has gained widespread attention in the Chasidic community and beyond. Shulem made history as the first born-and-raised Orthodox singer to ever sign a major record deal in the U.S. His recent contract with Universal Music’s Decca Gold Label positions him as an artist primed to break through to a global audience with the release of his album, The Perfect Dream.

Lyrics in English and Yiddish appear below the video. Enjoy!

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Lyrics: 

While the storm clouds gather, Far across the sea, 

Let us pledge allegiance, To a land that’s free. 

Let us all be grateful, For a land so fair, 

As we raise our voices, In a solemn prayer. 

 

God bless America, Land that I love, 

Stand beside her and guide her, Through the night with a light from above. 

From the mountains, to the prairies, To the oceans white with foam, 

God bless America, My home sweet home. 

God bless America, My home sweet home.

 

 גאט בענטש אמעריקע לאנד וואס איך ליב

 שטייזשע ביי איר און מדריך זיי איר מיט א שטראל איבעראל איבער איר

 פון די בערגן ביז די טאלן ביז די ים'ן ווייס מיט שוים 

 גאט בענטש אמעריקע מיין זיסע היים

Independence Day Special: A Yiddish "God Bless America" for Brooklyn's First Woman Hasidic Judge

As we celebrate the fourth of July, let's be proud of our great country and the freedoms that it has given us in our 246 years of independence.

Only in America could a Hasidic woman, Rachel "Ruchie" Freier, be elected as a civil court judge in New York State and become the first to serve in public office in United States history.

A Boro Park native, mother of six and Touro alum, Freier also made history when she founded the first all-female volunteer ambulance corps in all of New York City, Ezras Nashim. Comprised of Hasidic women, this global grassroots women’s volunteer agency was the subject of a recent documentary 93Queen (now showing on HBO MAX).

When she was sworn in as civil court judge in December 2016, the occasion was marked by a rendition in Yiddish of God Bless America by Hasidic singer Lipa Schmeltzer.

Enjoy, and a happy 4th!

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Fiddler Cast Sings "God Bless America" in Yiddish

Lisa Fishman and Ben Liebert, members of the cast of the Off-Broadway hit, "Fiddler on the Roof" in Yiddish, conceived and co-produced a performance of "God Bless America" sung in Yiddish. It features the show's director, Academy and Tony Award-winning actor, Joel Grey, along with Steven Skybell, who starred as Tevye. Yiddish was one of the two native tongues of Irving Berlin, who wrote the iconic anthem.

“God Bless America” was originally written in 1918 for a musical revue by Irving Berlin, a Jewish immigrant born Israel Beilin, while Berlin was in the U.S. Army. Deciding the song didn’t fit the tone of the revue, the song was set aside. 

Twenty years later in 1938 with the rise of Adolf Hitler and fascism, Berlin revisited and revised the song and released it as a prayer for the country and a patriotic song of peace. “God Bless America” was introduced on an Armistice Day broadcast in 1938, sung by Kate Smith. 

The Yiddish version of the song being presented by the cast, entitled “Got Bentsh Amerike,” was originally translated by producer, musicologist, performer and Yiddish Radio Project co-creator, Henry Sapoznik, who worked on Yiddish translations for Mandy Patinkin’s album, Mamaloshen.  

The video features Steven Skybell, the award-winning actor who played Tevye in Fiddler in Yiddish, along with Jennifer Babiak, Samantha Hahn, Ben Liebert, Stephanie Lynne Mason, Rosie Jo Neddy, Raquel Nobile, Drew Seigla, and Rachel Zatcoff. The production also includes a special message by  Joel Grey. 

Additional Fiddler cast members appearing in the video (from both the Museum of Jewish Heritage production along with the Off-Broadway, Stage 42 production) include: Joanne Borts, Josh Dunn, Michael Einav, Lisa Fishman, Kirk Geritano, John Giesige, Lydia Gladstone, Abby Goldfarb, Mary Illes, Josh Kohane, Maya Jacobson, Moshe Lobel, Evan Mayer, Jonathan Quigley, Nick Raynor, Bruce Sabath, Kayleen Seidl, Adam B. Shapiro, Jodi Snyder, James Monroe Stevko, Ron Tal, Bobby Underwood, and Mikhl Yashinsky. 

The video also features Lauren Thomas, who played the titular role in Fiddler, on violin, along with the show’s clarinetist, Zisl Slepovitch, on piano. 

Enjoy!

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A tip of the kippah to Stan Lieberman for bringing this video to our attention.

Israel's Shalva Band Sings "God Bless America" at IAC Summit

On Saturday night December 7, Israel's Shalva Band gave an emotional performance of God Bless America at the Israeli American Council (IAC) Summit at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Florida. 

The IAC's mission is to unite Israelis who moved to America with the Jewish State. Attendees spent Thursday through Saturday discussing the most “pressing matters in Diaspora Jewish affairs.” 

The band originally began as a music therapy group started by Shalva, the Israel Association for the Care and Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities. 

They previously made it to the finals in The Rising Star competition leading to representing Israel at Eurovision, but they dropped out because they would have had to violate Shabbat to perform.

At the Summit, President Trump prefaced his introduction of the Shalva Band with a tribute to Irving Berlin, who wrote God Bless America in 1918 and revised it to the current form in 1938. After the performance, they showered him with hugs.

Enjoy!

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Jewish Traces in Unexpected Places: Shulem Sings "God Bless America" at Mets Game

Shulem Lemmer, a young Chassidic singing star and recently signed Universal Music/Decca Gold recording artist, has been making the rounds of sports stadiums and singing our National Anthem and at the start of games around the USA.

Lemmer, who goes by his first name, Shulem, appeared earlier this month at the Folksbiene Summerstage concert in Central Park. He has sung the National Anthem at a Brooklyn Nets basketball game, at a San Francisco Giants baseball game, and God Bless America at a Boston Red Sox baseball game in Fenway Park.

Here he is singing God Bless America during the 7th inning stretch at the New York Mets / Washington Nationals game at Citi Field in New York City on April 7th, 2019. 

Enjoy and Shabbat shalom!

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Happy Birthday USA! Irving Berlin Sings His "God Bless America" in 1968

Irving Berlin when he wrote “God Bless America.”

Today we celebrate America's Independence Day, and also the 100th anniversary of God Bless America, the song first written in 1918 by Israel Balin, the Jewish Russian immigrant later to be known as Irving Berlin.

As Sheryl Kaskowitz wrote this week in The New York Times,

It was a desire to serve his adopted country during World War I that impelled the 30-year-old Berlin, already a successful songwriter, to be naturalized as a citizen in February 1918. That May, he began his military service as an army private at Camp Upton in Yaphank, N.Y., where he was asked to write a soldier show as a fund-raiser.

God Bless America was originally conceived as the finale for the revue, Yip, Yip, Yaphank, but Berlin ultimately decided not to include it. It was shelved and forgotten for 20 years, until he rediscovered the song and provided a revised version to the radio star Kate Smith, who sang it on Nov. 10, 1938, and reprised it weekly.

In this video, Berlin sings the song on The Ed Sullivan Show with Boy Scout and Girl Scout choirs on its 50th anniversary in 1968.

Enjoy!

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Video by The Ed Sullivan Show
Photo by the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization