Happy birthday, Israel 

64 years and going strong ... 

Tomorrow night will mark the beginning of the celebrations. In my household we feel the holiday by listening to Hebrew songs, of any kind.


This year I chose to post a love song, written by Nathan Alterman, one of Israel's greatest poets. It's called: ZEMER SHALOSH HATSHUVOT, which means:  SONG OF THE THREE ANSWERS. One comment following the youtube vid characterized it, most appropriately, as a psychotically totalitarian love song. If you read the lyrics you will understand why. Read as an allegory, it could also be an expression of the abiding love that the house of Israel bears for the state of Israel, in the Biblical tradition exemplified in Jeremiah 2:2, when God said to his  long-suffering "chosen" nation:

"I remember your youthful grace, your bridal love, when you followed me in the desert, in a waterless sterile land..."

When Paula Ben-Gurion passed away, it was said that her husband stood next to her bed and whispered these words to her.

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   Rivka Zohar sings:

He said if you follow me there will be no fine velvet or silk gowns, Our life will be bitter to exhaustion perhaps She said slowly, "I have strength If need be, I will walk in rags as if they were priceless velvet if need be I will wash floors and regard myself a queen   All that you will request and ask, I will do and continue joyous all will be well, my beloved, and easy I will never run out of strength So he said "what if I cheat and I leave you, unwanted, for long nights, waiting, waiting, until I return from another's arms? "if I need to wait, I'll wait" she said, and her face all lit up "if I must not cry, I won't cry,  so long as I know you'll come back

All that you will request and ask, I will do and continue joyous All will be well, my beloved, and easy I will never run out of strength So he said: "what will you do if I tell you to pack up and leave and to forget all about me, never to return or you'll be thrown out? She was momentarily silent and smiling And then she spoke her face frozen "If you tell me to go, I will go If you tell me not to return, I won't return but don't ever ask this one thing don't tell me to forget you for this, my beloved, I cannot do for this I will not have strength.