Oyfn Pripetshik (“On the Hearth”) is one of the most popular and well-known Yiddish songs, written by Mark Markovich Varshavsky, a composer born in Odessa in 1848. The term pripetshik is Russian and refers to the traditional masonry stove, common in the homes of ordinary people since the 15th century.

The song’s lyrics tell the simple story of a Jewish community gathered around the hearth, where a teacher instructs children in the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Learning these ancient letters...