Yeled Kat (Little Child)

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About the Song

Yeled Kat is a Hanukkah song, also known as Chag Ha’Or, the title given to it by Levin Kipnis (1894-1990), the prolific author of Israeli children’s literature.  Kipnis included the poem, together with its melodic setting by the apparently unknown D. Chitrik, in his 1923 collection, published while the author was briefly studying there.  The song was popularized as a result of its inclusion among the “song postcards” published by the Keren Kayemet and distributed throughout the Diaspora in its campaign to raise support for the yishuv.  The sprightly melody captures the youthful innocence of the young children who celebrated the Maccabees’ victory together with their pioneer parents in the land of Israel, where modern Jewish history met and drew inspiration from its ancient heritage.

Yeled Kat (Little Child) Lyrics

A child, a child, a tiny child, each with a candle in hand, Everyone, one after another, with joy in his heart and a song in his mouth:

We have a holiday, a good holiday, it is a holiday for us, a holiday of light,  It is a holiday for us, good for us, a holiday, a good holiday, a holiday of light..

Two by two we will go, everyone with a candle in his hand, There is a great light with us here, throughout the land we thus will go….

We shall go four abreast, each one with a candle in hand,  To every place where there is darkness we will go and light a fire…

We shall go eight abreast, each one with a candle in hand,  There will be no more darkness, no more night, the world is filled with light…