פעלד־מעסטען | Feldmesten | Measuring of the Graves, a prayer-poem by Morris Rosenfeld (before 1898)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription), Helena Frank (translation), Rose Pastor Stokes (translation), Leo Wiener (translation) and Morris Rosenfeld

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4 June 2023 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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Yom Kippur

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19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., Prayers as poems, Yiddish vernacular prayer, cemetery prayers, rhyming translation, feldmesten

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Source (Yiddish)	1898 Transliteration, Leo Wiener (Romanization)	1898 Translation, Leo Wiener (English)	1914 Rhyming Translation, Rose P. Stokes & Helena Frank (English)
פעלד־מעסטען	Feldmesten	The Measuring of the Graves	Measuring of the Graves
פאָראויס געהט דיא אַלטע מינע און פון הינטען פּעסיע־צווייטעל, מינע וויינט און זאָגט דיא תחינה, און דיא צווייטע לייגט דעם קנייטעל.	Seht — varaus die alte Mine Un’ vun hinten Peßje⸗Zweetel! Mine wēint un’ sāgt die Tchine, Un’ die Zwēite lēgt dem Knoetel.	See! In front is old Minneh and behind Pessyeh-Tsvaitle! Minneh weeps and says her prayer, while the other lays the yarn.	First old Minna, bent and lowly, Eyes with weeping nearly blind; Pessyeh-Tsvaitel, slowly, slowly, With the yarn creeps on behind.
און עס קייקלען זיך דיא טרעהרען שטיל און װאַרעם אויף דער תחינה;— כליפּענדיג, נאָר קוים צו הערען, זאָגט פערקלעהמט דיא אַלטע מינע:	Un’ es keiklen sich die Trähren Still un’ warem auf der Tchine: — Chlipendig, nor kaum zu hören, Sāgt varklemmt die alte Mine:	And the tears roll, silent and hot, on the prayerbook; sobbing, but scarcely audible, old Minneh says, with oppressed heart:	On the holy book of Minna Fall the tear-drops—scarce a word (For the heart is moved within her) Of her praying can be heard.
„שטארקער האַרר פון אַלע וועלטען! איך דיין דיענסטמאָיד, שװואַך און אָרעם, מעסט דיא רוהיגע געצעלטען, דיא צדיקים’ס שטילע קברים.	„Starker Harr vun alle Welten! Ich, dein Dienstmoid, shwach un’ ārem, Mest’ die ruhige Gezelten, Die Zadikim’s stille Kworim.	“Strong Lord of all the worlds! I, thy handmaid, weak and poor, measure the quiet abodes, the still graves of the just.	“Mighty Lord, whose sovereign pleasure Made all worlds and men of dust, I, Thy humble handmaid, measure, God, the dwellings of the just.
„אלע בּערגעלאַך דיא שטומע מעסט איך, גוטער גאָטט, אַצינדער, וואו עס רוהען דיינע פרומע, דיינע הייסגעליעבּטע קינדער,	„Alle Bergelach die stumme Mest’ ich, guter Gott, azünder, Wu es ruhen deine Frumme, Deine hēißgeliebte Kinder,	“All silent mounds I now measure, good God, where there rest thy pious, thy warmly beloved children,	“Speechless here the ground they cumber, Where the pious, gracious God, Where Thy heart’s beloved slumber Underneath the quiet sod.
„וועלכע זינגען דאָרטען שירה פּאַר דיין שטוהל אין הויכען הימעל, יעדער איינער פון זיין דירה דורך זיין אייבּיג זיסען דרימעל.	„Welche singen dorten schire Var dein stuhl in hōchen Himmel, Jeder Ēiner vun sein Dire, Durch sein ēbig süßen Drimmel,	“Who sing the Hymns before thy throne in the high heaven, each one from his habitation, through his eternal, sweet dream.	“They who sing in jubilation. Lord, before Thy holy seat. Each one from his habitation, Through the dream for ever sweet.
„און פון דעם געלייגטען קנייטעל ועט מיט פורכמיגקייט און מורא מאַכען ליכט דיין פּעסיע־צווייטעל, אום צו לערנען, גאָטט, דיין תורה,	„Un’ vun dem gelēgten Knoetel Wet mit Forchtigfeit un’ Mōre Machen Licht dein Peßje⸗Zweetel, Um zu lernen, Gott, dein Tōre,	“And with this measured yarn thy Pessyeh-Tsvaitle will make candles in awe and fear, in order, O God, to study thy Law by it,	“From the yarn with which I measure, Pessyeh-Tsvaitel, filled with awe, Wicks will make, to search the treasure. Nightly, of Thy holy Law.
„אום צו בּעטען דיך מחילה, אַז דו זאָלסט שוין פּאָרט דערהערען יעקב’ס אמת’דיגע תפילה און דערזעהן ישראל’ס טרעהרען !“….	„Um zu beten dich Mechile, Dās du sollst schōn fort derhören Jajnkew’s emesdige Tfile Un’ dersehn Jisrojel’s Trähren!“ . . .	“And to ask thy forgiveness, that thou mayest, at last, hear Jacob’s fervent prayer, and accept the tears of Israel.”	Praying still, by faith sustained: ‘Thou with whom the holy dwell, Scorn not Jacob’s prayer unfeigned, Mark the tears of Israel!'”

This is the poem “פעלד־מעסטען” by Morris Rosenfeld (1862-1923) written sometime before 1898. (If you know the date of the earliest publication of this poem, please leave a comment or contact us.) We have transcribed the poem as it was published in Rosenfeld’s collection of poems Gezamelṭe lieder (1906) pp. 135-136. The poem was romanized and translated into English by Leo Wiener and published under the title, “Feldmesten (The Measuring of the Graves)” in Songs from the Ghetto (1898), pp. 46-49. A rhyming translation by Rose Pastor Stokes & Helena Frank under the title, “Measuring of the Graves” was published in Songs of Labor and Other Poems (1914), pp. 70-71. I have set these all side-by-side for the first time ever. –Aharon Varady

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. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“פעלד־מעסטען | Feldmesten | Measuring of the Graves, a prayer-poem by Morris Rosenfeld (before 1898)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Aharon N. Varady (editing/transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Helena Frank (translation)

Helena Constance Frank (1872-1954) was a British translator and writer. The founder of the Anglo-Jewish Yiddish Literary Society, she was the first English translator of works by Y.L. Peretz and Morris Rosenfeld, having been introduced in 1902 to the Jewish Publication Society by Henrietta Szold. Her work introduced Yiddish as a literary language to the English-speaking world.

Rose Pastor Stokes (translation)

Rose Harriet Pastor Stokes (née Wieslander; July 18, 1879 – June 20, 1933) was an American socialist activist, writer, birth control advocate, and feminist. She was a figure of some public notoriety after her 1905 marriage to Episcopalian millionaire J. G. Phelps Stokes, a member of elite New York society, who supported the settlements in New York. Together they joined the Socialist Party. Pastor Stokes continued to be active in labor politics and women's issues, including promoting access to birth control, which was highly controversial at the time. In 1919, Pastor Stokes was a founding member of the Communist Party of America and helped develop it into the 1930s. In addition to her writing on politics, she wrote poetry and plays; one was produced in 1916 by the Washington Square Players. She started her autobiography in 1924 but had not completed it at her death; it was published in 1992.

Leo Wiener (translation)

Leo Wiener (1862–1939) was an American historian, linguist, author and translator.

Morris Rosenfeld

Morris Rosenfeld (Yiddish: מאָריס ראָסענפֿעלד; born as Moshe Jacob Alter; December 28, 1862 in Stare Boksze in Russian Poland, government of Suwałki – June 22, 1923 in New York City) was a Yiddish poet.

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Works of related interest:

Feldmesterins in S. Weissenberg, Neue Folge, (1906), pp. 39-45 (with gratitude to Annie Cohen and her writing on feldmesterins)

Feldmesten or Measuring the Graves, a poem by Alter Abelson (1913)

die erste twile (Morris Rosenfeld 1906) - cropped

דיא ערשטע טבילה | Die erste Twile | The First Bath of Ablution, a prayer-poem by Morris Rosenfeld (before 1898)

kiddesh-lewone (Morris Rosenfeld 1906) - cropped

קידוש לבנה | Kidesch⸗Lewone | The Moon-Prayer, a prayer-poem by Morris Rosenfeld (before 1898)

detail of Fanny Neuda's prayer "Am Tage vor dem neuen Jahre oder dem Versöhnungsfeste, wenn man die Gräber besucht"

Am Tage vor dem neuen Jahre oder dem Versöhnungsfeste, wenn man die Gräber besucht | [Prayer] for when you visit the graves on Erev Rosh haShanah or Yom Kippur before

Bar Kochba, Arthur Szyk,1927, watercolor and gouache on paper.

דיא חנוכה ליכט | Ḥanukkah⸗Lichter | Ḥanukkah Lights, a poem by Morris Rosenfeld (1897)

מײן אַמעריקא (אונזער נײע הימנע) | My America (Our New Hymn) by Morris Rosenfeld (1917)

Gebet am Tage vor Neujahr und am Tage vor dem Versöhnungsfeste (Yehoshua Heshil Miro 1835) - cropped

Gebet am Tage vor Neujahr und am Tage vor dem Versöhnungsfeste | Prayer on the day before Rosh haShanah and on the day before Yom Kippur, a teḥinah by Yehoshua

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." –Psalms 90:17