The Fire’s Victims

The composer and lyricist Louis Gilrod was raised in the Vinnytsya-region village of Ulaniv, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine). Gilrod studied in a heder before immigrating to America with his father in 1891. Living with his uncle in Newark after his father returned to the Russian Empire, Gilrod was drawn to the world of New York’s Yiddish theater. He wrote Yiddish lyrics for popular American songs as well as songs for the Yiddish theater, notably “Got un zayn mishpet iz gerekht” (“God and His Judgment Is Correct,” with David Meyerowitz, 1903) for Jacob Adler’s Tsebrokhene hertser (Broken Hearts) and “Yisrulik kum ahaym” (“Yisroel, Come Home,” 1904) for a Boris Thomashefsky performance. Gilrod also acted in and wrote for Yiddish theater and vaudeville. His “Di fayer korbones” (“The Fires’ Victims”) uses the melody Meyerowitz composed for “Bor kara va-yakhperehu” (He Has Dug a Pit and Deepened It, from Psalm 7:16, 1905).

Born in Dvinsk, Russian Empire (today Daugavpils, Latvia), David Meyerowitz received no formal education and began working in manufacturing early in his life. Immigrating to New York City in 1890, Meyerowitz started his career performing in music halls and cafés, eventually selling his songs to prominent figures of the burgeoning New York Yiddish stage. A vocal supporter of Zionism, Meyerowitz composed several songs around Zionist themes, including a piece commissioned by Boris Thomashefsky. Meyerowitz frequently collaborated with Louis Gilrod and adapted the latter’s “Bor kara va-yakhperehu” (He Has Dug a Pit and Deepened It, Psalms 7:16), which Gilrod wrote with Jacob Kamenetzky (1905).