Shtiler, shtiler [Hush]

Initially a bootmaker by trade, Mani Leyb (1883-1953) was the leading figure of Di Yunge, a group of New York Yiddish writers. According to the editors (Irving Howe, Ruth Wisse and Khone Shmeruk) of The Penguin Book of Modern Yiddish Verse, Leyb’s Shtiler, shtiler (Hush), written in 1914, was “…read as an aesthetic call for modulation against the fervid oratory of the earlier Yiddish labor or sweatshop poets. It invokes, also the classic posture of the diaspora Jew, eternally poised in expectation of the Messiah.” His inspiration for the poem reportedly came as he heard Rosh HaShanah (Jewish New Year) prayers emanating from synagogues in Brooklyn as he walked past.

Hush and hush—no sound be heard. Bow in grief but say no word. Black as pain and white as death, Hush and hush a hold your breath. Heard by none and seen by none Out of the dark night will he, Riding on a snow-white steed, To our house come quietly. From the radiance of his face, From his dress of shining white Joy will shimmer and enfold; Over us will fall his light. Quieter—no sound be heard! Bow in grief but say no word. Black as pain and white as death, Hush and hush and hold your breath. If we have been mocked by them, If we have been fooled again And the long and weary night We have waited all in vain, We will bend down very low To the hard floor, and then will Stand more quiet than before, Stiller, stiller and more still. [Translation by Marie Syrkin]