Music
This week is Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom Haatzma’ut (Independence Day) of Medinat Yisrael (the State of Israel). A unique combination of mourning and sadness, happiness and celebration. And a big thanks to Hashem for the great miracle He did for Am Yisrael by establishing and building the modern state of Israel.
Israel is perhaps the only country in the world where sadness and happiness are mixed together in this way. Yom HaZikaron LeChayalei Tzahal HaKedoshim, the memorial day for the holy IDF soldiers who fell in the battle, is one of the saddest days in Israel. Since I live in America, I was always amazed and somewhat puzzled by the Memorial Day here, which is often a day of barbecues and shopping. In Israel, restaurants and stores are closed, people are visiting cemeteries, and the radio plays mostly sad music. Then, toward the afternoon, people start getting ready for Yom Haatzma’ut, which begins with the tekes hadlakat ha’masu’ot, the torch-lighting ceremony which officially marks the closure of the Yom HaZikaron commemorations and the opening of the Independence Day celebrations in Israel.
Both Yom HaZikaron and Yom Haatzma’ut have their own unique playlists. One of my favorite websites is Zemereshet, which is a project that aims to preserve and rescue classic Hebrew songs from oblivion. Some of the songs below and more can be listened to on Zemereshet, at https://www.zemereshet.co.il.
The song “Hayalim Almonim” (“Unknown Soldiers”), the anthem of the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel (or LEHI – Lochamei Cherut Yisrael), was written by Yair Stern. This song involves a very important part of Israel’s story.
Growing up, we mostly learned in school about the Palmach and the Haganah and their role in the establishment of the State of Israel. Two other organizations were mostly ignored, and their huge contribution to the establishment of the State in Israel was intentionally disregarded. Not only disregarded – they were often called “terrorists” by the people of the Palmach and the Haganah, and later by the Israeli media and historians. The first of these is the Irgun (also known as Etzel). Among its famous leaders were David Raziel and Menachem Begin. Raziel was a hero who was killed in 1941 during an operation against the Nazis in Iraq. The other military organization was the Lehi.
In school we learned that the Palmach and the Haganah were the reason for the British withdrawal from Palestine which led to the establishment of Israel. However, reading Churchill’s memoirs draws a different picture. It turns out that the main reason for the British withdrawal from Palestine was the operations of the Irgun (Etzel) and the Lehi against the British.
According to Churchill:
The burden of maintaining order in Palestine with some 100,000 troops, at a cost of £30 to £40 million a year, while being attacked by both sides, was one which we could not bear indefinitely… The Labour Government’s decision to abandon the Mandate was a confession of failure…” (The Second World War, Vol. VI, Book II, Chapter 17, p. 595).
The phrase “attacked by both sides” implicitly includes Irgun activities, as their high-profile attacks were a major component of Jewish resistance against British forces – for example, the King David Hotel bombing in July 1946 or the 1947 execution of British sergeants.
For years, the left has called the right-wing “terrorists” and “fascists.” I doubt if they even know what the term “fascist” means…
The song “Chayalim Almonim” expresses an unlimited willingness to sacrifice. The anthem is sung by veteran members of the Lehi in gatherings. “Chayalim almonim hinenu b’li madim,” Unknown soldiers are we, without uniforms. Around us terror and fear. “Kulanu guyasnu lekol hachayim,” We have all been drafted for life. On red days of pogroms, riots and blood, in the towns, in the villages, we raise our flag. And on it, defense and conquest. We were not drafted by the whip, like a mob of slaves, to shed our blood in foreign lands. Our will is to be forever free. Our dream – to die for our country.
The song “Shnei Eliyahu” (“Two Eliyahus”) tells the story of Eliyahu Bet-Zuri and Eliyahu Ḥakim who travel to Cairo and assassinate Lord Moyne – the highest-ranking British official in the Middle East and a vile antisemite and anti-Zionist who was in charge of enforcing the White Paper policy of 1939. They were captured and sentenced to death, and on March 23, 1945 were hanged in Cairo.
At one point during their trial, Hakim told the judges: “We accuse Lord Moyne and the government he represented of murdering hundreds and thousands of our brothers and sisters. We accuse them of stealing our homeland and our property… Where is the law by which they should be tried for their crimes?”
Both Eliyahus sang the HaTikvah and then calmly allowed the executioner to do his job.
“Al shnei Eliyahu yesaper zeh hasher,” This song tells about two Eliyahus. “Milyon chamishi kvar ala be’ashan, ach hasar haBriti laMizrach haTichon, sho’el Yehudi shenishlach mikivshan, ‘Eifo asim hamilyon haacharon?’” The fifth million has already gone into smoke (this refers to the gas chambers), but the British minister for the Middle East asks a Jew who escaped the furnace: “Where should I put the last million?”
Other classical songs for Yom HaZikaron which I like to listen to on Yom Hazikaron are “Shir Hare’ut,” “Ma Avarech,” “Tulik,” “Ben Yafeh Nolad,” “Balada LaChovesh,” and “Givat HaTachmoshet.”
“Shir Hare’ut” begins with the famous flute intro and then the mandolin which, once you hear it, you already feel the atmosphere of Yom HaZikaron; it is perhaps one of the songs most identified with the day.
“Ma Avarech” was written by Rachel Shapira after the Six-Day War in memory of her classmate Eldad (Dedi) Kravek, who had fallen in that war at the age of 21.
“Tulik” is actually a children’s song written by Rama Samsonov and performed by Oshik Levi. A few years before writing the song, she visited with her small child the beach of Hadera. While at the beach, she saw Tuval Gvirtzman, whose nickname was “Tulik,” the five-year-old child of her friend, eating grapes. One young girl on the beach asked Tulik for a grape, but Tulik refused to share. The girl left him crying, and Tulik becomes lonely and sad. Samsonov describes Tulik as a beautiful kid with big blue eyes. When he grew up, he became an officer in the armored corps.
Tulik was 19 when the song was first performed. He was familiar with the song, and when his friends in the army used to sing it to him, he would become embarrassed and deny that the song was about him. Tulik was an admired and respected commander who never had to raise his voice to his soldiers. They loved him and listened to him.
During the First Lebanon War, Tulik was on the first tank that entered Lebanon. When they reached the airport of Beirut, a shell hit an armored personnel carrier (APC) full of Golani soldiers. Tulik ran with a fire extinguisher in his hands, under fire, in order to rescue soldiers from the burning APC. A shell hit him and he was killed. After his death, “Tulik” became one of the most well-known songs of Yom HaZikaron.
“Ben Yaffeh Nolad” (“A Handsome Boy Was Born”) was written by Ehud Manor in memory of his brother Yehuda Winer who fell during the War of Attrition. Another two songs Manor wrote in his brother’s memory are “Achi HaTza’ir Yehuda” (“My Little Brother Yehuda”) and “BaShana Haba’ah” (“Next Year”).
“Ben Yaffeh Nolad” starts with a moving strings intro, which gets you into the mood of the song. “Ben yaffeh nolad al ketef haCarmel,” A handsome boy was born on Mount Carmel. “U’mevarchim hegi’u mikol ever,” And people from all over came to bless the family. “Shemesh cham zarach, ve’ruach kar nashav, hayeled kvar lomed likroh basefer, etz shaked parach, Sivan Tamuz ve’Av, vehatinok harach haya legever,” The warm sun shined, a chilly wind blew, the child already learned to read from a book; an almond tree bloomed, Sivan, Tamuz, and Av [passed], and the baby became a man. “Tziporim ozvot, ba’erev kvar karir, yafa b’leil Shabbat hikta bashaar. Stav barechovot, machar he bat esrim, ach lama lo maluu esrim lanaar,” The birds are leaving, it is already chilly in the evening outside, a beautiful [young woman] waited Friday evening at the gate.It’a autumn in the street, tomorrow she’ll be twenty. But why didn’t the lad reach twenty years old?
“Balada LaChovesh,” written by Dan Almagor and performed by Yehoram Gaon, tells the story of a soldier who is wounded in the battlefield and the military medic who rushes to him to save his life. The wounded soldier begs the medic to leave him and save himself instead – “‘Leave me here and save yourself,’ the wounded soldier requests, but the medic refuses and keeps taking care of him. ‘Don’t worry,’ answers the medic. ‘I’m staying with you. ‘You are also wounded,’ mumbles the wounded soldier. ‘Don’t worry, it’s not bad,’ answers the medic. ‘I’m yours until the day of your death,’ promises the wounded soldier. ‘Today is the day,’ the medic answers. Suddenly there is a cloud of dust and wind, and a shadow of military vehicles on the ground. ‘We are saved! They are coming!’ says the wounded soldier. But he never hears back from the medic.
“Givat HaTachmoshet,” one of the most known and popular songs for Yom HaZikaron, tells the story of the Battle of Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem during the Six-Day War. Another famous song for Yom HaZikaron is “Eretz Tzvi,” which is the theme music from the movie “Mivtsa Yonatan,” which tells the story of the Entebbe raid, also known as Operation Entebbe and officially codenamed Operation Thunderbolt (also retroactively codenamed Operation Yonatan). Yonatan Netanyahu, the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, was Israel’s sole fatality in Operation Entebbe. He had led Sayeret Matkal during the rescue effort.
This takes us to the Yom Haatzma’ut songs.
A song that has become very popular in the last few years is “Mi Sheberach LeChayalei Tzahal” by Shai Abramson. This is the Mi Sheberach prayer for the IDF soldiers. The tune in this performance is that of the aforementioned “Eretz Tzvi” by Yehoram Gaon. I like Abramson’s performance with the children’s choir of Givat Shmuel. You can find it on the IDF Rabbanut’s YouTube channel.
Another song I like to listen to on Yom Haatzma’ut is “Avinu She’ba’shamayim” by Cantor Colin Schachat. There are many performances of this song, but my favorite is the one by Schachat.
Another song for your Yom Haatzma’ut playlist is “Kan” sung by Duo Datz – Israel’s song at the Eurovision Song Contest 1991. The song was written by Uzi Chitman. “Kan beiti po ani noladeti, bamishor asher al sfat hayam, kan ha’chaverim itam gadalti, v’ein li shum makom acher ba’olam,” Here is my home, here I was born, on the plain alongside the coast. Here are the friends I grew up with, and I don’t have any other place in the world. “Kan noladeti, kan noldu li yeladay, kan baniti et beiti bi’shtey yadai. Kan gam ata iti ve’kan kol elef yedidai, ve’acharey shanim alpayim sof li’nedudai,” Here I was born, here my children were born, here I built my house with my two hands. Here you, too, [are] with me, and here, also, my thousand friends. And after two thousand years, [this is] the end of my wanderings.
“Ve’lanu Yesh Falafel” (“And We Have Falafel”) – could we have a Yom Haatzma’ut party without falafel? What is more Israeli than the falafel song? Check out the performance by Nissim Garame.
Other popular and classic Yom Haatzma’ut songs which get onto our playlist are “Hadegel Sheli” (“My Flag”); “K’mo Tzo’ani – Eretz Hatzabar,” also by Uzi Chitman; “Yesh Li Chag,” written and composed by Naomi Shemer for HaGashash HaHiver Trio; “Abba, Ima, Ve’Eretz Yisrael” by Yoram Teharlev; “Shir HaShayara” by Arik Einstein and Miki Gavrielov; “Golani Sheli” – the hymn of the Golani Brigade; “LaTzafon BeAhava” (“With Love To The North); “Hoi Artzi, Moladeti” (“Oh My Country, My Homeland”). And if you listen well to that song, you’ll discover why the word for train in Hebrew is rakevet. (Hint: The answer is in the line “Shir tziltzal gamelet.”)
Despite the controversy and arguments between the different groups, we always need to remember that – left, right, secular, religious, haredi, Ashkenazi, Sefaradi – we are still one nation, Am Yisrael. And Am Yisrael Chai!
Chag Atzma’ut Sameach!
