The ninth man

Artist: Abie Rottenberg

Album: Journeys 1

When we were young Yeshiva boys way back in '65,

We were known throughout the city as the bums from the east side.

In school we never studied, all we did was laugh and play,

No Rebbe ever lasted long they all just ran away.

Rebbe tried to teach us Torah each and every day,

But we just closed our eye's and ear's to everything he'd say,

And all we liked to do was sit and watch our T.V. sets,

We'd talk about the Yankees and the Dodgers and the Mets.

Well the Principle brought the new Rebbe in on the first day of the term,

And he said to him 'Show discipline, be strong and tough and firm'.

'Don't think these youngster run the school', he said with a big frown,

'And by the way, for the next few weeks I'm going out of town'.

But this here Rebbe he was strange, he never lost his cool,

He just kept on teaching while we broke all the rules,

And though we hadn't even learnt a single word all year,

It was Pesach time already, and the Rebbi was still here.

Rebbi tried to teach us Torah each and every day,

But we just closed our eye's and ear's to everything he'd say,

And all we liked to do was sit and watch our T.V. sets,

We'd talk about the Yankees and the Dodgers and the Mets.

When Lag B'omer came around it was time to play that game,

Against those boys' from Brooklyn, how we prayed it wouldn't rain.

All nine of us got on that bus with our gloves and bats,

Rebbe also came along in his jacket, tie and hat

Right from the start we all could see things weren't going right,

Some big strong kid from Bensonhurst had hit one out of sight.

And just when things were looking up, the tie about to turn,

Our catcher went a broke his leg while sliding into third.

'It's a forfeit'. cried the other team, 'you only got eight guys',

'No we don't', a deep voice said, much to our surprise,

'Since I am their Rebbe, well the fair thing it would seem,

Is let me be the ninth man, the ninth man on this team'.

Rebbe went, picked up the bat, faced the pitch with a smile,

Knocked the cover off that ball, went about half a mile.

He flew around the bases, and scored the winning run,

We danced and cheered untill he said 'Now boys' you owe me one'.

Next day in the classroom, no one moved and no one stirred,

Rebbe started teaching, and his voice it could be heard,

We all said, 'Hay, its interesting. The man he is no bore',

The legendary side-bums were gone for ever more.

Rebbi used to teach us Torah each and every day,

We opened our eyes and ears to everything he'd say,

No more did we sit all day and watch our T.V. sets,

We talked about the Rashi and the Tosfos and the Mets! Shhhh.