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?
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.
