YEKKE

(by an anonymous poet)

When you’re a Yekke
You find satisfaction
In knowing your name
Is of German extraction
Other good names
You treat with disdain
For only true Yekkes
Know what’s in a name.

Felsenstahl, Katzenstein
Ullmann und Breuer
Westheimer, Hildesheimer.
Merbach und Meyer
Metzger und Vronker,
Sussbach und Tietz
Pappenheim, Würzburger,
Glücksstadt und Dietz.

When you’re a Yekke
You’ve lots of obsessions
Time and a watch
Are your cherished possessions.
If there’s a meeting
Called promptly for eight
And you arrive early,
The whole world is late!

Steinschneider, Frankfurter,
Rheinheimer, Kahn,
Jeselsohn, Neuhaus,
Brendheim and Hahn
Bravermann, Neubeck
Schmidt, Sondheimer, Haas,
Herzfeld and Grünspecht
And Dulden and Maas

Being a Yekke’s
A full-time occupation
One even wears a tie
When off on vacation

When you’re a Yekke
You never relent
Even your foods are
Of German descent:
Gurken and Grimsel
Hanckas mit Tomaten,
Griesbrei und Rotkraut
Und Sauerbraten

Haferschleim, Gugelhupf
Forelle and Pretzel
Schleie mit Mayonnais
Kartoffel-Klös und Spätzel

When you’re a Yekke
You can always be proud
That you are a member
Of an illustrious “Crowd”.

Westheimer, Pforzheimer
Wimpfheimer, Stein,
Müller und Bender
And Vogel and Rhein.
Halberstadt, Kaufmann,
Bondi und Stern
Are the original
Names you must learn.

Bamberger, Neuberger,
Munk, Loeb and Hess,
Schwarzschild and Rothschild,
Rosenblut, no less
Steingold and Rheingold
Gumpertz and Sichel
Grünfeld and Steinfeld,
Ehrlich and Michel

Horowitz and Epstein
Leopold and Klein
Rehfeld and Krefeld
Eichenberg and Fein
Levi and Strauss,-
Fränkel and Weil,
Frohwein and Schlesinger-
There’s no end to this file!

But woe to the Yekkes, if future
generations,
Refuse to abide by time-honor’d
traditions
And defying all that their parents
had told
Go off and get married out of the
fold
Time will tell what will be their fate
If Moshiach’s a Yekke, why is he so
late?

—
Peter Landé
Chiffre 122103