A school of Jewish song

Jewish songs that kids, families and teachers love.

A joyful place to sing Jewish songs in English, learn the holidays, and bring them into your classroom or choir, all free. Press play and sing along.

46
Songs
in English and Russian, more on the way
7.7M
streams
plus 4.5M YouTube views worldwide, earned by our Russian language versions
2017
Singing since
nine years of work
Free
For schools
choirs, camps, classrooms
New series

The Story Behind the Song.

Every Jewish song that survived did so for a reason. One song per episode: its true story, then the song itself, reborn in English. Every episode becomes a permanent page in our growing encyclopedia of Jewish song.

Walk through the school

Four rooms, one happy place.

However you arrived, there is a room with your name on it.

New this season

Jewish songs in English, fresh from the channel.

Every song here comes straight from our English playlist on the RIGLI YouTube channel, in the same order. Press play and sing along.

Dreidel song coverHanukkah
Hanukkah
Dreidel

A brand new melody for the little spinning top. Full lyrics and free downloads for your choir.

Watch and sing →
Shavuot song coverNew!
Shavuot
Shavuot

A bright klezmer-meets-Motown song for the festival of first fruits and the giving of the Torah.

Watch and sing →
We Are Sisters We Are Brothers song coverFree
Folk anthem
We Are Sisters We Are Brothers

An English version of the Yiddish anthem "Ale Brider," a song of kinship across all peoples.

Watch and sing →
Hold On (Kid's Version) song coverNew!
For kids
Hold On (Kid's Version)

A gentle little anthem of courage and kindness for the hard days. Easy for the youngest singers.

Watch and sing →
Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah song coverHanukkah
Hanukkah
Hanukkah Oh Hanukkah

The candle-lighting classic in warm new English, with the full lyrics and the song's long history.

Watch and sing →
Happy Purim! song coverNew!
Purim
Happy Purim!

A bouncy klezmer-pop song for the happiest, noisiest holiday of the year. Costumes and groggers ready!

Watch and sing →
Passover Light song coverNew!
Passover
Passover Light

A short, glowing song for the seder table about matzah, freedom, and the light we pass on.

Watch and sing →
Chiribim Chiribom song coverNew!
Yiddish folk
Chiribim Chiribom

The beloved call-and-response Yiddish classic, now with English verses everyone can answer back.

Watch and sing →
Pesach (Passover) song coverNew!
Passover
Pesach (Passover)

A joyful new Passover song for the seder table and the spring of freedom.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Happy Birthday song coverNew!
Celebration
Happy Birthday

A playful, theatrical birthday song with bright klezmer clarinet, ready for any simcha.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Rebbe Elimelekh song coverNew!
Yiddish folk
Rebbe Elimelekh

The merry classic about Rebbe Elimelekh and his musicians, now singable in English.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Hanukkah oh Hanukkah song coverNew!
Hanukkah
Hanukkah oh Hanukkah

A big, theatrical new setting of the candle-lighting classic.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Jewish or Not song coverNew!
Kid friendly
Jewish or Not

A joyful, playful song about being proud of who you are. Light, kind, and easy for a whole class to sing.

Watch and sing →
Mommy song coverNew!
For families
Mommy

A tender thank-you song to mom, simple enough for the youngest voices. Full lyrics on the song page.

Watch and sing →
Katerinka Mine song coverNew!
Katerinka Mine

New on the RIGLI channel. Words and the full story are on the way.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Mommy | from JewishSong.org song coverNew!
Mommy | from JewishSong.org

New on the RIGLI channel. Words and the full story are on the way.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Free use

Free for schools, museums and communities

Any non-profit organization may sing, perform and teach these songs for free: schools, colleges and universities, museums, libraries, research and cultural institutes, choirs, camps, community centers, houses of worship, and educational non-profits of any community or faith. You may also build classes and courses about these songs, using our materials and your own. No fee, no royalties, and no need to email us. Just sign our one-page free-use agreement online and start singing.

For non-commercial, non-profit use. For-profit or commercial use is handled separately.

🌍 Two wings, one songbook

Jewish songs in Russian · Еврейские песни на русском

This school has two wings. In English, a joyful new songbook for kids, families and teachers. In Russian, the catalog that started it all: Hava Nagila, Tumbalalaika, Hatikvah, Belz and more, with Russian poetry by Olga Anikina and the voice of Elechka, watched and streamed millions of times. Both wings are here, and both are free to sing.

Тумбалалайка song cover
🎵 Yiddish Classic
Тумбалалайка

The Yiddish folk song that crossed every border. A young man asks his beloved riddles - and the answers shape his understanding of love.

Read the story →
Ханука о Ханука song cover
🛏 Hanukkah · Family
Ханука о Ханука

A light, joyful Hanukkah song - warm home in the storm, mama making latkes, the dreidl spinning, candles lit. A modern setting of Mordkhe Rivesman's 1912 classic, with new Russian lyrics by Anikina.

Read the story →
Хава нагила song cover
🎶 Crown Jewel
Хава нагила

The classic Russian adaptation of the most beloved Jewish song in the world. Lyrics by Olga Anikina, vocals by Elechka - the recording that launched the catalog.

Read the story →
Дрейдл и дети song cover
🛏 Hanukkah
Дрейдл и дети

A bright Hanukkah song about children and the spinning dreidl. Russian lyrics make the festival accessible to families who don't speak Yiddish.

Read the story →
Чирибим-чирибом song cover
🎶 Joyful Standard
Чирибим-чирибом

The bouncy Yiddish dance tune known across continents. The chorus everyone joins in on - even those who weren't born into Yiddish.

Read the story →
Ребе Элимелех song coverNew!
Retro Chanson
Ребе Элимелех

A dreamy, slow retro-chanson of the Rebbe Elimelekh story, with Russian lyrics by Olga Anikina.

Watch on YouTube ↗
7-40 (Семь-сорок) song cover
🎺 Dance Hit
7-40 (Семь-сорок)

The legendary Odessa dance returns - a new version of the Jewish wedding klezmer favorite, reimagined for a new generation.

Read the story →
Бельц song cover
🏡 Hometown Ballad
Бельц

The Yiddish nostalgia classic about a hometown left behind - given new Russian poetry. One of the most emotionally weighted songs in the catalog.

Read the story →
Горсточка счастья song cover
✨ Quiet Classic
Горсточка счастья

A tender meditation on the small things - a handful of happiness, carried close to the heart. One of the quiet favorites of the catalog.

Read the story →
Едут дети song cover
🚂 Holocaust Memory
Едут дети

A song of children carried away - a piece of Holocaust memory carried forward in Russian. Required listening for museums and educators.

Read the story →
Весна в гетто song cover
🕯️ Holocaust Memory
Весна в гетто

A tango from the Vilna Ghetto. Music by Avrom Brudno (perished in Klooga camp), Yiddish text by Shmerke Kaczerginski. A song of spring that won't come - for the wife who was led away «такой же весною». Used in Yad Vashem and US Holocaust Museum programs.

Read the story →
Ребе Элимелех (исп. Элечка) song coverNew!
Yiddish Folk
Ребе Элимелех (исп. Элечка)

An early, intimate guitar recording of Rebbe Elimelekh in Elechka's voice.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Нету денег song coverNew!
Klezmer Humor
Нету денег

A playful klezmer song about empty pockets and a rich heart.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Атиква song cover
🇮🇱 National Anthem
Атиква

The national anthem of Israel - in Russian. A meditation on hope across centuries. Listeners across many nationalities have written letters about this recording.

Read the story →
В путь народ мой в путь song coverNew!
Spiritual
В путь народ мой в путь

A Russian take on the African-American spiritual 'Go Down, Moses' (Let My People Go), a call to freedom shared by two peoples.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Все мы сёстры все мы братья song coverNew!
Folk Anthem
Все мы сёстры все мы братья

The Yiddish anthem Ale Brider with Russian lyrics: we are all sisters, we are all brothers.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Исролик song cover
🕯️ Holocaust Memory
Исролик

A boy from the Vilna Ghetto who sells cigarettes to survive. He whistles and sings instead of crying. Music by Misha Veksler, Yiddish text by Leib Rosenthal - both perished in the camps. Russian text by Olga Anikina, 2017.

Read the story →
Танго Освенцима song cover
🕯️ Holocaust Memory
Танго Освенцима

One of the most piercing songs born in the camps. Original Polish text by 12-year-old Irka Janowski, who perished at Auschwitz. Russian poetic reconstruction by Olga Anikina, performed by Elechka.

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Летний день song cover
🕯️ Holocaust Memory
Летний день

A mother sings her son to sleep - «за рекою гром грохочет, а у нас в округе тишь да гладь». Original Russian poem by Olga Anikina (2017), inspired by Rikl Glezer's «S'iz geven a zumertog» from the Vilna Ghetto (1941). The melody - the same folk tune as in «Купите папиросы».

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Возле печки song cover
🔥 Home Warmth
Возле печки

A song of the warm hearth and the warm home. The kind of song grandmothers used to sing when winter came.

Read the story →
Если был бы я портным song cover
🧵 Workshop Song
Если был бы я портным

A playful Yiddish song about trades and dreams - what would I be if I were a tailor, a baker, a shoemaker? Now in Russian.

Read the story →
7-40 (Семь-сорок) 🎺 song coverNew!
7-40 (Семь-сорок) 🎺

New on the RIGLI channel. Words and the full story are on the way.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Ступенька раз-два ступенька song coverNew!
Ступенька раз-два ступенька

New on the RIGLI channel. Words and the full story are on the way.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Летний вечер темнеет song coverNew!
Летний вечер темнеет

New on the RIGLI channel. Words and the full story are on the way.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Шарманщик song coverNew!
Шарманщик

New on the RIGLI channel. Words and the full story are on the way.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Да конечно дочка song coverNew!
Да конечно дочка

New on the RIGLI channel. Words and the full story are on the way.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Дрейдл и дети (исп. Элечка) song cover
🎲 Hanukkah · Elechka
Дрейдл и дети (исп. Элечка)

The dreidl Hanukkah song in Elechka's voice, the classic version. A modern version (Riglis Band) plays on the same page.

Read the story →
Шарманщик song coverNew!
Шарманщик

New on the RIGLI channel. Words and the full story are on the way.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Шарманщик song coverNew!
Шарманщик

New on the RIGLI channel. Words and the full story are on the way.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Тумбалалайка song coverNew!
Тумбалалайка

New on the RIGLI channel. Words and the full story are on the way.

Watch on YouTube ↗
Why we do this

We don't let these songs fade away.

Yiddish as a living language is fading, and that we cannot stop. But we can keep the songs alive, and give them new voices in new languages, so that a new generation can sing them.

For years we have done exactly that in Russian, thanks to the poetry of Olga Anikina and the voice of Elechka. Those songs have drawn more than 7.7 million streams across distribution platforms and approximately 4.5 million views on the RIGLI YouTube channel, with more than a thousand listeners writing to say the songs touched them.

Now we are doing it in English, as a joyful school of Jewish song for children, families, and teachers everywhere. That is what JewishSong.org is for.

JewishSong.org - Jewish songs for all.

Join us

We are looking for people to carry this forward.

Walter J. Kin is openly looking for collaborators to help write and grow this school of song. If this sounds like you, or someone you know, we would love to hear from you.

✍️

Lyricists

To write new Jewish songs in English, for the classroom, the stage, and the screen.

🎵

Composers & arrangers

To shape original music for the new Jewish songbook, from first sketch to finished track.

🎤

Music producers

To produce recordings that can stand beside anything in the mainstream.