Vaadat Charigim - Odisea

One week in. It's crazy how quickly you can get used to a new situation, like not sleeping a full night and adjusting all your routes so you'll be near a bomb shelter. I've taken to walking my dog along the route of the underground light rail, so we'll have a dog-friendly shelter if needed, but the siren caught us once while we were in a small side street, and we took refuge in a nearby private building shelter. It was packed, and I felt a bit uncomfortable as the 'outsider', but one of the neighbors kindly offered water, and my dog loved the attention. With places closed and almost everyone working from home, or not working this past week, there was an early Covid vibe, only this time we are encouraged to be with other people, and I'm grateful to have neighbors I feel comfortable being in the shelter with at 3 am. But the home front updated the rules, and workplaces are encouraging workers to return, a strange situation when schools are still closed.

The threat from Iran has always been in the back of the mind, a matter of when, not if. Despite the danger, I feel okay with suffering a bit now if there is a chance that we won't have to live with an existential threat in the future, but only time will tell how this will play out.

When missiles will fall on Tel Aviv's streets

What will we wear? What music will we like?

And what will we do till then?

When Dizengoff Center will collapse into itself,

And the city within the city will vanish along

Please, please, please, please, kiss me at the end of the world

When missiles will fall on the central station

And the black city will disperse into the air,

And devour the White [city]

We will all be done in a great shock wave,

Let's live today as if it were yesterday

Please, please, please, please, kiss me at the end of the world

Thank you to youtube user @snurts for the translation!

Liraz - Roya

It started on Thursday. As I was rushing to finish the work week, news came in that there might be an attack on Iran. This wasn't a far-stretched possibility, considering the stalled talks with the U.S. and, yes, also Netanyahu's fragile coalition, which was on the brink of falling apart due to tensions with the ultra-Orthodox parties. But we all agreed that if there was something, it would be sometime the next week, right after Netanyahu's son's much-discussed wedding. On Thursday night we were busy getting ready for Pride weekend, which was supposed to make a festive comeback after last year's low-key event due to the war. And then the siren woke us up at 3 am. At first I thought it was a missile from Yemen, which we've somehow gotten used to. But it was strange that there was no information in the red-alert app. We soon learned that Israel had attacked Iran, and we were instructed to be alert and near a shelter in case there was immediate retaliation. I understand the rationale behind this, especially when not everyone has a shelter in their house, but I was pretty annoyed that I had been woken up by this very loud FYI when no rockets had been launched yet. My thoughts turned to Caitlyn Jenner, who had just landed in Israel as a guest of honor for the Pride parade. She had come to Israel to support us, and now she was stuck in the country during a war with no option to leave due to the closed airspace. But the next day, after Iran's first retaliation attack, a photo of her sitting in a shelter with a glass of wine went viral and lifted our spirits. We'll get through this. This isn't another attack, and things will be different this time, as we learned when we woke up to sirens later in the night and again early this morning, seeing the devastation of the missile strikes targeted at civilian areas.

There's still so much uncertainty, but I want to share the words the singer Liraz Charhi posted yesterday to her followers in Iran: "My sisters and brothers, freedom is coming. Don't be afraid - the songs we wrote together are coming true, we sing together. Music will connect our hearts until the day comes when we will all live, free. We are with you, closer than ever. Our dream to live together, without dictatorial rule - so close. A new day is coming when you can rejoice, dance, sing, hug and kiss in the streets. We will sing again in Freedom Square in Iran and Israel. Soon. Love and support you, Liraz". 

I vow to myself, myself

To fly my flags

tall and high

To gaze upon the horizon

With my valor

And march towards the fantasy

A heavenly innocence 

Filled with goodness

Pure and translucent as rain

Our body will glide over the ocean

My voice is intoxicated,

And you, facing me, so real

My fantasy

I wished for peace in the world

But could not understand

Who is fighting whom

I will not lose my hope

You'll see, our hearts will cross

My fantasy

Yuval Raphael – New Day Will Rise

Good luck Yuval! It was amazing to watch Yuval's journey on 'A Star is Born', from a girl who dreamed of singing professionally but never put herself out there, to the winner of the show and our representative in this year's Eurovision. During the show, she said that surviving the Nova massacre gave her the courage to fulfill her dreams, capturing our hearts along the way with her calm presence and beautiful voice. No matter what happens, it's so happy to see her live life to the fullest and enjoy her journey. 

And even if you say goodbye

You'll never go away

You are the rainbow of my sky

My colours in the grey

My only wish upon a star

Sunshine in the day

The only song that my piano ever plays

And even if you say goodbye

You'll always be around

To lift me up and take me high

Keep my feet close to the ground

Are you proud of me tonight

Dreams are coming true

I choose the light

Nothing to lose if I lose you

New day will rise

Life will go on

Everyone cries

Don't cry alone

Darkness will fade

All the pain will go by

But we will stay

Even if you say goodbye

Et meme si tu dis adieu (And even if you say goodbye)

Tu ne partiras jamais (You'll never go away)

T'es l'arc-en-ciel de mon ciel bleu (You are the rainbow of my sky)

Mes couleurs dans le gris (My colours in the grey)

Et mon seul souhait sous un ciel d'art (My only wish upon a star)

Un rayons dans ma journee (Sunshine in the day)

La seule chanson que mon piano peut jouer (The only song that my piano ever plays)

New day will rise

Life will go on

Everyone cries

Don't cry alone

Darkness will fade

All the pain will go by

But we will stay

Even you say 

New day will rise

Life will go on

Everyone cries

Don't cry alone

Darkness will fade

All the pain will go by

But you will stay

The love of my life

מים רבים

לא יכבו

את האהבה 

ונהרות לא ישטםוה

(Many waters cannot quench love. Neither can the floods drown it)

New day will rise

Everyone cries

Don't cry alone

Darkness will fade

All the pain will go by

But we will stay

Even if you say goodbye

A new day will rise

New day will rise

Aviv Guedj - Little Sun

Another incomplete holiday.

Little sun, come and fall on this narrow room

Come and fall

Little sun, come and light up this sad house

Come and light up

Don't tell me what you think

Just tell me what you feel

You don't care, you're burning slowly

And you don't know about what

Little sun, come and wake up this broken man

This captive man

What are you waiting for?

I'll circle around you

To warm up a little next to you

The sands of the south came and covered me

The storms of the north came and scattered me

All around

Little sun

Come, come today

I arranged a place for us

What are you waiting for?

I'll circle around you

To warm up a little next to you

Little sun, come and light up this sad house

Come and light up

Don't tell me what you think

Just tell me what you feel

Rotem Bar Or - Who

♥

Who will build the future if not us, who

From this ruined land we will grow

I want to plant a tree inside your heart

Inside my heart

If not us, who

Will magnetize the spring and the gold

If not us, who will love

If not us, who will say Shalom

Somehow even now

If not us, who will guard the garden

Will guard and will be happy, so happy

From the bunker will escape until everything blooms again

If not us, who knows that every story is always about them

If not us, who will love

If not us, who

If the mountain does not come to Muhammad

We will go to the mountain

If not us, who

Who will build the future if not us, who

From this ruined land we will grow

I want to plant a tree inside your heart

Inside my heart

If not us, who

rotembaror.bandcamp.com

Zehu Ze - Along the Sea

Every Friday morning I check to see which songs Zehu Ze performed in their weekly show the night before. They usually perform two songs - one with a guest and the other one on their own. The song they choose to perform on their own often feels like a barometer, a few minutes that capture the country's mood that week, and Thursday's choice was no exception. A chill went down my spine when I heard their version of the late Ofra Haza's timeless song, which has long been associated with Yitzhak Rabin's assassination after she performed it at his memorial service (I took the translation here from the description in the video). Obviously, there is no comparison to Ofra's singing, and Zehu Ze's performance was more of a tribute to her and the song's legacy. I couldn't help but gasp at the relevance of the line 'I will run into the fire if they return from there' and when Shlomo Baraba closed his eyes after singing the line 'And the one who disappeared, will he return, or is he already dead?'. I heard in an episode of the podcast 'One Song' that the song was written by Ayala Ashrov when she was just 19, and is about coping with her boyfriend's sudden loss of his sister, which happened very early in their relationship. The song reached Ofra and her producer, Bezalel Aloni, and they loved it but Bezalel made two significant changes to the lyrics. The dark line "So why try and continue now to live" became "So why try and continue now to cry" and in the original song, Ayala wrote the line "And the one who disappeared, he won't return because he's already dead". Bezalel told Ayala that the line must be changed because it's too pessimistic, he has to come back, there is no greater hope than for people who are gone to return. 

It's been a difficult time lately with so much happening all at once. The ceasefire collapsed and Netanyahu decided to fire Ronen Bar, the Shin Bet chief due to a "lack of trust" at a very questionable time, to say the least. There is a severe possibility that the government will not abide the High Court's order preventing Bar's immediate dismissal and it's not clear at all where things are headed and what will happen with the hostages. One thing for certain is that as Bezalel said, there must always be hope.

Tell me how to stop the tears,

Tell me where there is another world to live in,

Tell me why there is no truth, only illusions

So why try and continue now to cry?

Along the length of the sea

There are no waves, there is a world

Broken into fragments on the pier

Along the length of the sea

There are no waves, there is a world

Broken into fragments on the pier

Tell me how to stop the tears

Tell me where there's another world to live in

When people run into an inferno as into the sea

I will run into the fire if they return from there

Along the length of the sea

There are no waves, there is a world

Broken into fragments on the pier

Along the length of the sea

There are no waves, there is a world

Broken into fragments on the pier

Tell me how you live with death

Hiding the tears every night

Tell me, how much longer?

The fire that calls me is not really there

And the one who disappeared, will he return, or is he already dead?

Along the length of the sea

There are no waves, there is a world

Broken into fragments on the pier

Along the length of the sea

There are no waves, there is a world

Broken into fragments on the pier

Tell me how to stop the tears,

Tell me how...

The Backyard - Will We Know How to Be Reborn Again

Everything lies here in the balance

The abysses are open 

We have come to the threshold 

War or brothers

A week of mourning and reflection. On Wednesday, we watched Yarden Bibas's heartbreaking eulogy for his wife Shiri and children Ariel and Kfir at their funeral. On Thursday, the bodies of four hostages were returned to Israel for burial: Itzik Elgarat, Tsahi Idan, Shlomo Mantzur, and Ohad Yahalomi. 59 hostages remain in Gaza, and it is not clear when they will be released. I'm still thinking about the interview that Eli Sharabi gave on Thursday night, in which he shared chilling details from his captivity. During most of his captivity, he was held in terrible conditions in a tunnel together with Or Levy and Eliya Cohen, both recently released, and with Alon Ohel, who remains in captivity. He said that the main reason he decided to do the interview was to advocate for Alon's urgent release, as well as the other remaining hostages in Gaza. It was touching and chilling to hear about how, as the oldest hostage among the four, he took on a father role and prepared Alon for his time in captivity on his own. Later in the interview, he talks about how much the country has changed since the war, and I can see the sadness and frustration in his eyes upon learning how the hostage situation has become so political. I thought of this song, written by Yankele Rotblit in 2005, after the second Intifada and the disengagement from Gaza. The Backyard, Rotblit's group with a trio of musicians, gave it a new life, and it was released last year during the war. The moving performance here is from last year's alternative "torch-dousing and hope-lighting" ceremony, which was organized by hostage families and was held during the government's Independence Eve torch-lighting ceremony. I don't know if we were ready to answer the questions the song asks back then, during the intense fighting stage, but now we don't have a choice.