Behind the song
The song’s story
A child on the ghetto stage
Yisrolik was created for the Vilna ghetto theatre in 1942, with words by Leyb Rozental and music by Misha Veksler. Rozental's sister Khayele became closely associated with its performance. The central figure is a child selling cigarettes and facing deprivation with wit.
Defiance in a small voice
The song's energy does not make the child's circumstances harmless. Song, pride and a brave outward manner stand against the surrounding danger. Knowing its theatrical birthplace changes how we hear the apparently jaunty voice.
The child in Olga's version
In Olga Anikina's 2017 Russian adaptation, Yisrolik insists that he has parents and denies his tears. That dramatic ambiguity is part of her writing; we do not add a literal explanation the lyric itself withholds. Elechka performs this version.
A voice worth carrying forward
Yisrolik is one of our five priority Holocaust-remembrance songs. The next English adaptation should preserve Olga's images and the tension between bravado and vulnerability, while acknowledging the older Yiddish theatre song.
About this recording
Yisrolik sells cigarettes and saccharin for tiny coins. He has torn clothes but can sing and whistle, and he dares anyone to laugh at him. His claims about family and his denial of tears reveal how much that toughness conceals.
Elechka performs Olga Anikina's 2017 Russian adaptation. The source Yiddish song pairs Leyb Rosenthal's words with Misha Veksler's music from the Vilna Ghetto.