Welcoming Shabbat with a Yiddish Translation of a Classic Jimmy Buffett Song

We never expected to put the words Yiddish, Shabbat, and Jimmy Buffett in the same sentence. But last week a funny video with just this combination started spreading on the Internet and already has 7,500 views.

Rokhl Kafrissen, the columnist and playwright, translated a Jimmy Buffet classic song with the family-friendly shortened title of Let's Get Drunk into Yiddish.

As Jessica Steinberg wrote in The Times of Israel,

The Margaritaville Resort Times Square — part of Buffett’s hospitality company, which manages and franchises restaurants, stores and casinos named for the singer’s hit song, “Margaritaville” — is located at the center of Manhattan’s garment district.

The neighborhood once housed three synagogues serving the many Yiddish-speaking garment industry workers. While most of the textile businesses no longer exist, the historic Garment Center Congregation is now on the ground floor and two sub-floors of the Margaritaville entertainment complex, part of a complicated real estate negotiation.

In honor of that unusual situation, Yiddish culture nonprofit Congress for Jewish Culture commissioned playwright Rokhl Kafrissen to adapt Buffett’s tale of a man’s bar hookup into a woman’s Yiddish plea to skip Shabbat dinner and go right to dessert.

The song is performed by a formidable crew of klezmer performers: Sasha Lurje (voice), Craig Judelman (violin) and Lorin Sklamberg (guitar, voice). 

Enjoy, and Shabbat Shalom!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.