What is the last place you would expect to see a young Jewish-American woman singing in Yiddish on the local version of American Idol? How about Mongolia?! Amalia Rubin, who lives in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar and teaches English there, sang her rendition of the iconic Yiddish song “Der Rebbe Elimelech” on that nation’s televised talent show. Rubin speaks both Mongolian and Tibetan; she sings in those languages, plus Hindi, Thai, Ladino, Hebrew and Chinese. Her performance on the talent show has
been viewed 43,000 times on the Internet. Source: Wikipedia
Amalia Rubin explains what “a nice Jewish girl” like her is doing in
Mongolia [3:42]. >>
Rubin performs “Der Rebbe Elimelech” on Mongolian TV, accompanied by a traditional Mongolian band [3:54]. >>
Photo: Amalia Sings