Secular Zionism

Warning: Contains Kol Isha (a woman singing solo)

What I like about this video is that it's clearly secular. The girls are wearing jeans, and one of them has a solo. The boys aren't wearing kippas, but listen to what they're singing about.

the words are over here:
http://www.mp3music.co.il/Lyrics/3868.html
על כפיו יביא

Here's a quick translation of the first verse:

In our narrow street
Lives one strange carpenter
He sits in his shack
And doesn't do anything

No one comes to buy
No one comes to visit
It is two years that he doesn't
Do carpentry

And he keeps one dream in his heart
To build a chair for Eliahu who shall come
He will bring it in his palms
To Eliyahu the Prophet

He sits waiting for him
For years, he's dreamed that he will merit him
He keeps his secret and he waits for him
When will the day come already?

-----
Oh yeah, I have a point here... my point is that this country is built upon the ideals of being Jews and the upcoming (soon, we pray) redemption.

You don't have to wear a kippa or study gmara all day to believe in it.

Today's government seems to have forgotten that this is the Jewish homeland, which means, first and foremost, that it is a home for Judaism.

The city of Hebron has a Jewish history. Abraham bought the cave of the patriarchs. There was a continued Jewish presence in Hebron even after the 1929 massacre, until the British Mandatory Authority moved the remaining Jews out in 1936.

But Ehud Olmert's appeasement plan involves beating Jews to keep the Arabs happy.

An Israeli War Song

This is a song written years and years ago. It was remade this year, and it still rings true.

After the attack on Ashkelon yesterday, it seems very much like we're at war, whether the government says so or not. The translation follows the Hebrew.

האם את בוכה או צוחקת?

פגז אחרון התפוצץ ושתק,
עטפה הדממה את העמק.
ילדה בגדות יצאה ממקלט,
ואין בתים עוד במשק.
אמא, היה לנו בית ירוק
עם אבא ובובה ושסק.
הבית איננו, ואבא רחוק,
אימי את בוכה או צוחקת?

הביטי למעלה, בתי, אל ההר,
ההר שהיה כמפלצת.
עוד יש תותחים, ילדתי, על ההר,
אך הם מאיימים על דמשק.

הביטי למעלה, בתי, לגולן,
שם יש חיילים, אך להבא -
דגלם בצבעים של כחול ולבן,
בוכה וצוחק שם גם אבא.
יהיה לנו בית ירוק, ילדתי,
עם אבא ובובה ושסק,
ולא עוד אימה, ילדתי, ילדתי,
בתי, את בוכה או צוחקת?

שקיעות באדום וזריחות בזהב
פוגשות בירוק ובמים.
ובלי תותחים של אויב על ההר
יוריק עוד העמק כפליים.

זורם הירדן, מתפתל כשיכור,
פריחה את העמק נושקת.
ואיש לא יסב את מימיו לאחור,
בתי, את בוכה או צוחקת.
זורם הירדן, בין גדות יעבור,
פריחה את העמק נושקת,
ואיש לא יסב את מימיו לאחור,
בתי, את בוכה או צוחקת.
בתי, את בוכה או צוחקת.


Are You Crying or Laughing?

The last shell exploded and was quiet
The valley was wrapped in silence
A girl in [Kibbutz]Gadot left the shelter
And there are no more houses in the farm

"Mom, we had a green house
with Dad and a doll and a loquat [tree]
The house is gone and Daddy is far
Mom are you crying or laughing?"

"Look up, my daughter, at the mountain
The mountain that was like a monster
There are still cannons, my child, on the mountain,
But they threaten Damascus

"Look up, my daughter, to the Golan,
There are soldiers there, but from now on -
Their flag is colored blue and white,
Up there, Dad is crying and laughing too
We'll have a green house, my little girl,
With Daddy and a doll and a loquat
And no more fear, my girl, my girl
My daughter are you crying or laughing?

"Sunsets in red and sunrises in gold
Meet in the green and the water.
And without enemy cannons on the mountain
The valley will be twice as green.

"The Jordan flows, turning like a drunkard
The flowers of the valley it kisses
And no one will turn its waters back
My daughter, are you crying or laughing?
The Jordan flows, through [Kibbutz] Gadot it passes
The flowers of the valley it kisses
And no one will turn its waters back
My daughter, are you crying or laughing?
My daughter, are you crying or laughing?"

Zionism.

For the first time since I moved to Israel, I will not be hanging a flag for Independence Day. It makes me very sad, but my husband feels very strongly about it, and his happiness is more important to me than a piece of cloth, no matter what it symbolizes to me.

He didn't, however, mention anything about blogging about it. (ah the beauty of loopholes).

Y's claim against Zionism is that the country of Israel was created for a specific kind of Jew. I'll buy that. There are a lot of dirty little secrets in the history of the country. There are stories of stolen Yemenite children, systematic removal of religion from newcomers, and more.

It's true that religious Jews were placed in non-religious kibbutzim to help them "get over all that backwards religion stuff." Last year, after our seder, one of our guests, an older man, said that he hadn't been at such a nice seder since he left Europe. He meant that he hadn't been at a religious seder since then, since he'd been placed on a kibbutz here in Israel.

So why am I still a Zionist? It's complicated. First, I have difficulty separating between the land and the country, because I know that the land I live on was fought for by secular Zionists and religious Jews alike. I know that the Zionists formed this country for some of the wrong reasons, but also for a lot of the right reasons. Since the country of Israel came into existence, any Jew can live in the land of Israel, for the first time in 2000 years.

Yesterday, I was at my niece's school for a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony. My niece was one of the soloist singers, and she was excellent, but what really bowled me over was hearing a hundred or more children singing "Hatikva" - the hope.

"Hatikva bat shnot alpayim" - The hope is two thousand years old
"L'hiyot am hofshi b'artzenu" - to be a free nation in our land
"Eretz Zion V'Yerushalayim" - the land of Zion and Jerusalem.

These children are growing up in the land of Israel, they have never experienced this hope, yet they are learning about it. They are learning that we waited two thousand years to live here.

And they live here.

If that's not a miracle, I can't imagine what would be.



*This post was sponsored by DrSavta.com, who provided the ride to the ceremony, as well as some of the raw material which created the aforementioned niece.