Ya’alili by 8th Day

My mother sent me the link to this music video by 8th Day. The music is great, but what made me smile the most was the little boy in peyos and a sweatshirt with a Batman patch bopping to the beat. I also really appreciate the mixing of Sephardic and Ashkenazic language/references throughout. Discussion of lyrics, etc. is below the video.

According to this discussion on Jewish Lyrics, Ya’alili:

is a combination of the sepharadic “Ya’lah”, a common phrase in sephardic songs which roughly translates as “come on”, and “li li li”, a common filler in yiddish songs (BTW, the word for ‘song’ in yiddish is “leid”).

The lyrics–though it’s worth reading the whole discussion at the above link–can be roughly translated as follows:

Ya’alili, dance my beloved

It should be fortunate, may it be,
G-d willing, it will be

The bridegroom, sephardi
the attractive bride, ashkenazi

Mother Imeinu [our mother] sephardi,
Mama Rachel, ashkenazi

Baba Salli [a famous rabbi] sephardi,
Rabbi Nachman, ashkenazi

It should be fortunate, may it be,
G-d willing, it will be

Ya’alili, dance my beloved

Gina Gina sephardi
may we hear more ashkenazi

Yosef our father, sephardi
the eith day, ashkenazi

days for joy, sephardi,
have a good yom tov, ashkenazi

It should be fortunate, may it be,
G-d willing, it will be

Cross posted on It’s All Connected.