“The Greatest Hebrew Ace”: “Levine mit Zayn Flaying Mashin”

The day after Charles Lindbergh reached Paris in May 1927, the only headline on the front page of the New York Times that did not directly concern the young American aviator read “Levine Abandons Bellanca Flight.” It chronicled the unsuccessful efforts of Charles Levine of the Columbia Aircraft Company to complete the first transatlantic flight. Later that year the thirty-year-old millionaire did fly to Berlin with Clarence Chamberlin, breaking Lindbergh’s record. Yiddish vaudevillian Charles Cohen decided to commemorate the flight in song when President Calvin Coolidge outraged Jews by receiving Chamberlin but not Levine at the White House. The song, sung in Yiddish and English, reflected the ambivalence of American Jews who were still outsiders but also wanted to be part of the mainstream. Like the Americans who greeted Lindbergh’s flight by looking forward and backward, Jews were also caught between the past and the future. [English translation follows Yiddish.]

Es flien heldn iber groyse yamen

Un men zingt fun zey fil umetum.

Nor eyn yidn darf men nit farzamen,

Zingen loybgezangen vegn im.

Levin, levin, bist der held yetst fun yisroel,

Levin, levin, vi di oves fun amol.

Ven tsheymberlin iz gekumen dort

Bistu geven mit im bald oyfn ort.

Levin, levin, nisht geklert un nisht getrakht,

Hostu dayn nomen groys gemakht.

Fun brokhes on tsol vintsh dir dayn yisroel,

Levin mit zayn flaying mashin.

Levine, Levine, you’re the hero of your race.

Levine, Levine, you’re the greatest Hebrew ace.

We got a thrill when Chamberlain flew

But you were right there too, we’re proud of you.

Levine, Levine, just an ordinary name

But you brought it everlasting fame.

We welcome you home from over the foam,

Levine with your flying machine.

Azoy iz oykh in ale visnshaftn.

Vu an oyftu, dortn iz a yid.

Say in khokhme, zay in groyse kraftn

Iberal iz er bald in dermit.

Levin, levin, bist der held yetst fun yisroel,

Levin, levin, vi di oves fun amol.

Ven tsheymberlin iz gekumen dort

Bistu geven mit im bald oyfn ort.

Levin, levin, nisht geklert un nisht getrakht,

Hostu dayn nomen groys gemakht.

Fun brokhes on tsol vintsh dir dayn yisroel,

Levin mit zayn flaying mashin.

Translation:

Heroes fly over great seas

And they are sung everywhere

But one Jew’s praise

One must not fail to sing.

Levine, Levine, you’re now the hero of Israel,

Levine, Levine, like the patriarchs of antiquity.

When Chamberlain arrived there,

You were with him right there on the spot.

Levine, Levine, without the slightest reflection

You made your name great.

Your Israel wishes you blessings without end,

Levine with your flying machine.

So it is in all sciences.

Where an achievement, there a Jew.

Both with wisdom and with great powers

The Jew is soon in the middle of things.

Levine, Levine, you’re now the hero of Israel,

Levine, Levine, like the patriarchs of antiquity.

When Chamberlain arrived there,

You were with him right there on the spot.

Levine, Levine, without the slightest reflection

You made your name great.

Your Israel wishes you blessings without end,

Levine with your flying machine.

Source: Charles Cohen, “Levin mit zayn flaying mashin.” Recording issued withMark Slobin,Tenement Songs: The Popular Music Of The Jewish Immigrants (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982). Translated by Kalmen Weiser.

See Also:Welcoming Home a Hero: Calvin Coolidge and Charles Lindbergh Speak