Thursday, 24 April 2014

Am Yisrael Chai!

Am Yisrael Chai- The children of Israel still liveth- was one of the exclamations made by Rabbi Leslie Hardman, the British[Orthodox, Welsh-Jewish] Army Chaplain who was part of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen death camp, after the first Shabbat of the liberation of the camp, in 1945, after the singing of Hatikvah. Perhaps it is difficult for others to understand the determination of Jews, to never, ever suffer such a fate again & that we have Hatikvah- The Hope.

Of which,  the Jewish anthem [ upon which the national anthem of Israel & tune is taken from]:

"As long as in the heart, within, 
A Jewish soul still yearns, 
And onward, towards the ends of the east, 
An eye still gazes toward Zion; 

[Refrain]:

Our hope is not yet lost, 
The hope of two thousand years, 
To be a free people in our land, 
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

Our hope is not yet lost, 
The ancient hope, 
To return to the land of our fathers, 
The city where David encamped. 

As long as tears from our eyes 
Flow like benevolent rain, 
And throngs of our countrymen 
Still pay homage at the graves of (our) fathers; 

As long as our precious Wall 
Appears before our eyes, 
And over the destruction of our [G-d's] Temple 
An eye still wells up with tears; 

As long as the waters of the Jordan 
In fullness swell its banks, 
And (down) to the Sea of Galilee 
With tumultuous noise fall; 

As long as on the barren highways 
The humbled city gates mark, 
And among the ruins of Jerusalem 
A daughter of Zion still cries; 

As long as pure tears 
Flow from the eye of a daughter of my nation, 
And to mourn for Zion at the watch of night 
She still rises in the middle of the nights; 

As long as drops of blood in our veins 
Flow back and forth, 
And upon the graves of our fathers 
Dewdrops still fall; 

Hear, O my brothers in the lands of exile, 
The voice of our Prophets, 
(Who declare) That only with the very last Jew — 
Only there is the end of our hope! 

Go, my people, return in peace to your land 
The balm in Gilead, your healer in Jerusalem, 
Your healer is G-d, the wisdom of His heart, 
Go my people in peace, healing is imminent... "