Whoa, Mary, don’t you weep no more! (Hebrew adaptation by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer)

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation) and Unknown Author(s)

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19 May 2021 under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 International copyleft license

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7th Day of Pesaḥ, Nirtsah

Tags:

19th century C.E., זמירות zemirot, hymns, spirituals

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Translation (Hebrew)	Source (English)
מִרְיָם שִׁירִי אַל־תִּבְכִּי עוֹד מִרְיָם שִׁירִי אַל־תִּבְכִּי עוֹד צְבָא מְצָרִים הֻטְבַּע אָז מִרְיָם אַל־תִּבְכִּי עוֹד׃	Whoa, Mary, don’t you weep no more! Whoa, Mary, don’t you weep no more! Pharaoh’s army got drownded! Whoa, Mary don’t you weep!
אִם הָיָה אֶפְשָׁר לָקוּם בְּצוּר מֹשֶׁה לִרְאוֹת קִיּוּם צְבָא וגו׳	If I could I surely would stand on the rock where Moses stood! Pharaoh’s army…
בַּלַּיְלָה הַבָּא בִּזְמַן כַּחֲצוֹת בְּכׇל־הָעוֹלָם תִּהְיֶינָה רְעִידוֹת צְבָא וגו׳	One of these nights ‘round twelve o’clock, this old world’s gonna reel and rock! Pharaoh’s army…
צִוָּה לְמשֶׁה מָה לַעֲשׂוֹת לְכׇל־יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּנִים וּבָנוֹת צְבָא וגו׳	God told Moses what to do, to lead the Hebrew children through! Pharaoh’s army…
עָמַד מֹשֶׁה עַל־שְׂפַת הַיָּם הִכָּה אֶת־הַמַּיִם לִפְנֵי כׇל־הָעָם צְבָא וגו׳	Moses stood on the Red Sea shore, smote the water with a two-by-four! Pharaoh’s army…
נָתַן לְנֹחַ אֶת־הַסִּימָן שֶׁאֵין עוֹד מַיִם אַךְ אֵשׁ בִּזְמַן צְבָא וגו׳	God gave Noah the rainbow sign: No more water, but fire next time! Pharaoh’s army…

“Mary Don’t You Weep” (alternately titled “O Mary Don’t You Weep”, “Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep, Don’t You Mourn”, or variations thereof) is a Spiritual that originates from before the American Civil War. It is one of the most important of Negro spirituals.^[1] via Wikipedia Singing this hymn is a Gantwerk Mayer family Passover tradition. This is the variation of the hymn sung at their seder during Nirtsah.

Recordings

Source(s)

“97. O Mary, Don’t You Weep, Don’t You Mourn,” National Baptist Jubilee Melodies (1916), p.97

Notes[+]

Notes
1	via Wikipedia

. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike . 4.0 . International .

“Whoa, Mary, don’t you weep no more! (Hebrew adaptation by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer)” is shared through the Open Siddur Project with a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International copyleft license.

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

From a family of musicians, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer believes that creative art is one of the most powerful ways to get in touch with the divine. He composes music and poetry in Hebrew and English. (He also authors his own original works and transcribes Hebrew and Aramaic text, adding niqqud and t'amim as needed.) Isaac runs a Jewish music transcription service, which will transcribe and set any Jewish music in any language, recorded or written. Contact his service on Facebook or via his music blog.

Unknown Author(s)

Sometimes the best we can do in attributing a historical work is to indicate the period and place it was written, the first prayer book it may have been printed in, or the archival collection in which the manuscript was found. We invite the public to help to attribute all works to their original composers. If you know something not mentioned in the commentary offered, please leave a comment or contact us.

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Works of related interest:

A Targ as depicted in the Human drama "Where No One Has Gone Before" (Star Trek: The Next Generation, season one, episode six)

חַד גַּדְיָא |   | וַא תַרְגְחָמְאֶא | wa’ targhHom’e’ (One little targ) — a tlhIngan Hol adaptation of Ḥad Gadya by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

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The Many and the Few | רַבִּים בְּיַד מְעַטִּים (Rabim b’Yad M’atim) — a Hebrew adaptation of Woody Guthrie’s Ḥanukkah ballad by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

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Yā Ḥanukka[t] | יָא חַנוּכָּה | يَا حَنُكَّة — a Judeo-Arabic adaptation of Mordkhe Rivesman’s “Oy Khanike” by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

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איידי! סיליבראמוס | Айде! Селебрамос | Ayde! Selebramos — a Ladino adaptation of Mordkhe Rivesman’s “Oy Khanike” by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

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שָּׁבוּעַ שֶׁל אַחְוָה לְאֻמִּית | National Brotherhood Week (in Israel), an adaptation of Tom Lehrer’s song by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

חַד גַּדְיָא | Ένα κατσίκι | Éna katsíki (אֵנַה קַצִיקִי) — a Yevanic translation of Ḥad Gadya by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

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חַד גַּדְיָא | Kizzum Ištēn — an Akkadian translation of Ḥad Gadya by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer

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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