Music is, for most, a vital part of being a mother. It is in the playlists we make for ourselves for birth, in the lullabies we sing to our children (for some of us while they’re still growing in our wombs), in those early years a way to pass language and emotion, in the later years a connective tissue — those songs you love and learn to love through your kids are something you bond over forever.
And for those of us who are Jewish, Jewish music inevitably makes its way into these moments, from “Bim Bam” to Debbie Friedman classics to watching videos of Jewish holiday parodies together. But there is also a trove of beautiful Jewish music explicitly about the experience of Jewish motherhood, and so this year in celebration of Mother’s Day (coming up on Sunday, May 11), it only felt right to highlight some of those tunes.
“My Yiddishe Momme” (My Jewish Mother), originally sung by Sophie Tucker — Yiddish
Is there a more iconic Jewish tune about Jewish mothers? The Jack Yellen and Lew Pollack tune has been sung by so many, from the Barry Sisters to Neil Sedaka to Tom Jones. Yet it was Sophie Tucker, the saucy vaudeville “hot mama” who first made it iconic, singing it with longing and love to the Jewish mother she had lost. Since then, it’s become a nostalgic hymn for Jews — especially those who, like Tucker and Yellen, immigrated to America in their youth and while living in the thrall of the glitz and glamour of their new country, never gave up their love for Yiddish, the language of their youth. The song created drama between Jews and antisemites who attended Tucker’s 1931 concert in France, was banned by Hitler (Tucker wrote him an angry letter in response) and was sung at concentration camps, even in one reported occasion moving a Nazi guard to better feed his Jewish prisoners.
The song, like Jewish mothers themselves, became a moving, heartrending piece of comfort during a very dark time. As the chorus rightfully asserts: “A Yiddishe Momme/It doesn’t get better on this earth.”
“La Bendizyon Di Madre” (A Mother’s Blessing) — Flory Jagoda (Ladino)
There are so many beautiful Ladino songs about motherhood and mothers and daughters. This song, sung by legend of Ladino song Flory Jagoda, is a gorgeous prayer from a mother for her child: “Let me deserve/that you give them a good life/that you give them a good life/and fortune/and let me see with my own/eyes, their good fortune.”
“Ima Yekara Li” (My Mother Dear) — Traditional lullaby (Hebrew)
This song is one of the first songs Israeli children learn, a simple love letter to one’s dear mother, in which the child sings of the smiles and the gifts he offers as a sign of his love. The song dates back to 1904 when its writer, Moshe Daphna, penned it for his mother, whom he left behind in Ukraine when he moved to pre-state Israel. When he realized there weren’t many Hebrew songs for children, Moshe decided to fill in the gaps, writing what remain more than a century later some of the most iconic children’s songs. And two decades after he left his mother behind, the two got to reunite when he got his parents permits to join him; Daphna was fortunate enough to spend the last two years of his dear mother’s life with her.
“Chaim Sheli” (“My Life”) — Zehava Ben (Hebrew)
In my opinion, no song about mothers is more iconic in Israel then this one from the queen of Mizrahi music herself, Zehava Ben. The song is written from the perspective of a mother, relishing in the sweetness of those small moments of parenthood: porridge made for a little one, that first taste to make sure that it isn’t too hot and that it is as sweet as Shabbat challah. It’s a mother’s promise to always give everything for her child, which, in our modern days we know is a little too much, but still, it’s hard to argue with its chorus that states: “There is no love in the world like the love of a mother.”
“Oy Qui Muevi Mezis” (“Oh What Nine Months”) — Sarah Aroeste (Ladino)
This beautiful song honors the trials and tribulations of pregnancy and birth. “Oh, what nine months/Of discomfort you have had/A son was born/His face like the moon/Long live the child’s mother/With her newborn,” Sarah Aroeste sings in the language of her Sephardi ancestors in this beautiful video, shot in Israel:
“Min Nhar Li Mshiti (Ya Mama)” (“From the Day You Left”) — Shimon Buskila/Idan Raichel (Arabic)
This heartbreaking song was a collaboration between Mizrahi singer Shimon Buskila and Idan Raichel. Raichel played the singer a melody he was working on that took him back to decades earlier, when he lost his mother. He wrote the song in Moroccan Arabic, the language spoken by his mother at home. “Mother why did you go/You are my life,” he sings, “You taught me and worked hard for me/I missed you beauty, the light of my eyes.” It’s an incredibly moving tune that taps into the grief over losing a mother, one that can still feel so fresh no matter how many years or decades have gone by.
“Ima Sheli” (My Mother) — Arik Einstein (Hebrew)
Every mom deserves a “Beach Boys” styles anthem and this one comes from one of the greatest Israeli singers, the late and oh so revered Arik Einstein. “Ima, you brought me/You spoiled me,” Einstein sings. “You were always with me/Even when I was all by myself/I will always be with you, my mom.”
“Ima” (“Mother”) — Marina Maximilian Blumin (Hebrew)
There are so many songs from Israeli pop stars, and especially from those who sing Mizrachi music, titled “Ima,” the Hebrew word for mother. I am partial to this intense ballad from Marina Maximilian Blumin: “Mother/Thanks to you my heart beats,” she sings. “Our moment together/Heal me, write my songs.”
“How in your eyes/I would disappear/How in your arms/You always keep me save/With prayers,” she sings about her immigrant mother, who like many of the writers of the song, left her home in Europe to build a better life for her child, escaping from the Soviet Union to Israel.
“Prayer of The Mothers” — Yael Deckelbaum (Hebrew, Arabic, English)
This song is a collaboration between Deckelbaum and the group Women Wage Peace, co-founded by Vivian Silver, who was killed on October 7. Her son, Yonatan Zeigen, has since taken up her fight for peace in the region. In this song, Deckelbaum sings with Palestinian singers like Lubna Salame, Miriam Toukan and Daniel Rubin. The track also features a speech from Nobel Prize for Peace winner Leymah Gbowee. “From the north to the south/From the west to the east/Hear the prayer of the mothers/Bring them peace/Bring them peace,” Deckelbaum and her collaborators sing.
“Ima Toda” (Mother, Thank You) — Aviad
Since we all have different musical styles I thought I might share this reggae inspired song from Aviad in which he thanks his mother. “Who I am today is thanks to you,” he tells her. Pretty adorable and very uplifting.
