Raisins and Almonds

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Rozhinkes mit Mandlen (Raisins with Almonds) is a traditional Jewish lullaby. It was popularized by Abraham Goldfaden in his 1880 Yiddish play Shulamit, based on an older Yiddish folk song. It has been recorded by many artists, including Itzhak Perlman in an instrumental version, and singers Chava Alberstein, Benita Valente, and Ella Jenkins. The lullaby is common among Ashkenazi Jews and has many translations and slightly different lyrics. Ghetto writers used Goldfaden’s lullaby as a basis for new songs, such as In Slobodker yeshiva from the Kovno Ghetto and Nit keyn rozhinkes, nit keyn mandlen from the Łódź Ghetto. One verse appears in Herman Wouk’s War and Remembrance in Yiddish and English, and in the TV miniseries adaptation. The motif of a cradle, a goat kid, and raisins and almonds also appears in earlier tunes before Goldfaden, like Unter soreles vigele (Under Little Sarah’s Cradle) and variants such as Unter yankeles vigele and Unter dem kinds vigele.