In zaltsikn yam fun di mentshlekhe trern
gefint zikh a shreklekher tom
er ken shoyn nisht tifer nisht fintsterer vern
im tseykhnt a blutiker strom

dem tom hobn toyznter yorn gegrobn
emune un sine un payn
un toyznter yorn ale trern nokh tropn
es gisn zikh trern arayn

un ful in der tom … dos iz yiddisher trern
nor hot nisht keyn toyes in zey:
a blutike trer tut dem kabtsn gehern,
dem noged - a vayse vi shney.

nor aykh baley-melokhes, evyoynim, kabtsonem,
gehert dokh der blutiker tom,
un ayere “brider,” di raykhe gazlonem
gehert nor fun oybn der shoym.

shoyn ful iz der yam un farfleytst ale bregn
vu zenen di heldn, di layt,
di, velkhe veln zikh mutik dervegn
tsu varfn in tom zikh un shtrayt?

dem arbeter ver zhe vet endlekh derleyzn
fun hunger un eybike layd
un ver vet dem veg im tsu frayhayt bavayzn
tsu bridershaft, glaykhkayt un frayd

di gevirishe kinder, maskilem, rabonem,
zey rufn in Tsien dem yid
a lidl, an alte, fun undzere sonem
“a geto dem eybikn zhid”

zey rufn un zukhn, di kaltinke maysem
fun vaylike kvorim a land,
un dos vos es laydn un ziftsn “ha kedoyshem”
tsu dem iz men toyb vi di vant

moshiekh un yidntum beyde geshtorbn
an ander moshiekh kumt an
der yiddisher arbeter gvirisher korbn
heybt oyf shoyn fun frayhayt di fon

der held vet di velt i bafrayen i heyln
er’t greykhn dem tom bizn grunt!
zol lebn fun rusland, fun lite, un peyln
der “yidisher arbeter bund!”


Beneath the salt sea of humanity’s weeping
A terrible chasm abides
It couldn’t be darker, it couldn’t be deeper
It’s stained with a bloody red tide

And thousands of years have created this chasm
Of piety, hatred, and pain
And for thousands of years all humanity’s weeping
Flows like a limitless rain

So much of this sea has been filled with the sorrows
Endured by the suffering Jews
But only the tears of the poor ones are bloody,
The rich cry as clear as the dew

Yes only the worker, the pauper, the beggar
Belong to the bloody abyss
While those you call “brother”, the rich and the greedy,
Fly high overhead in their bliss

The ocean flows over and floods out the levees
There isn’t a hero in sight
Yes where are the ones who will stand at the ready
To dive in the chasm and fight?

Yes, who will at last free the worker from slavery,
Give hunger its final relief?
And who will be guiding the pathway to freedom,
To brotherhood, justice and peace?

The children of wealth, the enlightened, the clergy,
Into Zion they call the Hebrews
We’ve heard this old story before from our enemies
“A ghetto for the eternal Jew”

With Zion we answer the prayers of our fathers
From deep in their graves they must call
While souls who are living are hungry and crying
To them we are deaf as the wall

Messiah and Jewry are both dead and buried
Another messiah is come
The new Jewish worker the banner will carry
To signal that justice is done

The world will be freed and be healed by this hero,
Who dives to the root of its wound.
In Russia, in Vilna, in Poland all hail now
The Great Jewish Worker’s Bund!